Although Gaby's family is still undergoing the bracelet program, her pregnant sister Erika was allowed to undergo a different type of surveillance program that is yet to be determined.
More help is needed from people out there.
This is a message that Gaby and friends sent earlier today where a sample letter and contact info is attached if you wish to help out:
Sample Letter:
Dear Congressman,
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and honor you for your continuous support of DREAM Act efforts in the past couple of years and especially your role as a beacon of leadership for immigrant students throughout south Florida. Thousands of us have heard of and have been anxiously following the many initiatives you have taken on behalf of our human rights and our rights as committed students to have equal access to education. I commend you and assure you that these efforts have never gone unnoticed.
But I come to you today because of a sudden and extremely urgent matter. Perhaps you are familiar with the name Gabriela Pacheco. Since the age of 15, Gaby has been a passionate advocate for the rights of immigrants and DREAM students nationwide. She was the SGA president of Miami Dade College, and the FJCCSGA (Florida Juior Community Colleges Student Government Association) President for 2005-2006. During this time, she toured the country representing 1.1 million students in the state of Florida and fighting for their rights.
It is this activism and fervor that has brought ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to target her family –specifically telling them that they would be deported because their daughter was too outspoken.
Gaby just fights for what is right and just in this world… and as one of the core leaders of the organization SWER (Students Working for Equal Rights) she has forged alliances with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and student-led coalitions nationwide that are here to support her and fight for her as she has fought for us.
Today, ICE has announced that they plan on putting Gaby’s whole family under the ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) which would place ankle bracelets on each individual in the family and would force them to remain within a designated perimeter of their house. They would also have to check in to an ISAP office one hour away from their house 12 times a month. This is an outrageous and unnecessary burden, particularly for Gaby’s sister, Erika, who is 7 months pregnant.
At SWER, we fear for the spirit and morale of this loving family, we fear for the health and well-being of the baby, and we fear what these situations signify for the rest of us as immigrant right’s activists. I write to you on behalf of this organization of youth leaders to plea that you respond to the struggle of this family and that you contact Michael Rosos of ICE to keep them out of the ISAP program.
I appreciate the time you have taken to read this and will hope that you take my words to heart.
Juan Rodriguez
Core Leader of Students Working for Equal Rights
Contact Lincoln Diaz Balart:
http://diaz-balart.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact
and your local congressman as well:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc&state=fl
Office of Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25th)
THE REST OF GABY'S FAMILY STILL NEEDS HELP! We have to continue pressuring the legislators from our district to contact Michael Rosos and take the rest of the family off of ISAP.
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