A national interfaith delegation of faith leaders, activists, and community organizers in the weeklong “Freedom Ride in Defense of Democratic Rights” will hold a press conference at LaSalle Detention Center on Friday June 13th 9:30AM as Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist unjustly detained by ICE, is set to be released under a federal judges orders.
The Freedom Ride, comprising 20+ faith leaders and activists, kicked off on June 8th at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey, and has made stops in Washington DC, Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Birmingham. The Freedom Ride shines a light on the increasingly repressive attacks against immigrants, democratic institutions, and freedom of speech.
The Freedom Ride’s final stop on June 13th will be in Jena, Louisiana, outside LaSalle Detention Center, one of the most notorious ICE facilities in the country. On June 13th, faith leaders, immigrant rights organizers, students, and artists will speak on the stripping away of due process and the escalating detention and deportation of immigrants under the Trump administration. June 13th coincides with Mahmoud Khalil’s possible release from LaSalle Detention Center.
On Wednesday afternoon, federal judge Michael E. Bartz barred the Trump administration from continuing to detain Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University activist of Palestinian descent who was detained without being accused of a crime in February and has been separated from his wife and child for over three months. The judge’s order to release Mahmoud Khalil would go into effect on Friday, June 13 at 9:30AM if the government does not successfully appeal the decision.
In addition to Mahmoud Khalil, LaSalle Detention Center is also holding many other immigrants who have been detained without due process. The site reflects both the past and present struggles for justice in Louisiana and across the country.
On June 13, the Freedom Ride will stand in solidarity with Mahmoud, demand the release of all detainees, and continue the call for justice, dignity, and democratic rights.
The Freedom Ride and the June 13th press conference is co-convened by:
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IFCO/Pastors for Peace
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The Interfaith Center of New York
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The People’s Forum
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The Riverside Church in the City of New York
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Additional national and local partners committed to social justice and liberation theology.
Featured speakers at the press conference include:
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Rev. Chloe Beyer, Interfaith Center of New York
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Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz, Lutheran Church of The Good Shepherd, and National New Sanctuary Movement
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Imam Saffet Catovic, Muslims for American Progress
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Amadou Ly, actor, writer, producer
“This Freedom Ride is about moral courage and public witness,” said Claudia De La Cruz, Executive Director of IFCO Pastors for Peace. “We are refusing to be silent while democratic rights are stripped away from migrants, from voters, from protestors, from all of us.”
Throughout the week, the Freedom Ride has been welcomed into faith spaces and joined by labor leaders at the Service Employees International Union, the Union of Southern Service Workers, and the United Auto Workers. On its route, the Freedom Ride also joined a Raleigh protest in defense of immigrants, and in solidarity with the mass mobilizations for immigrant rights facing brutal repression in Los Angeles.
“As faith leaders and freedom riders, we will not remain silent while our siblings are detained, silenced, or excluded from justice. This Freedom Ride is both a protest and a pastoral act,” said Reverend Mira Sawlani Joyner of Riverside Church.
The Freedom Ride press conference invites the media to join as faith leaders and movement organizers speak against the continued unjust detention of those who are held at LaSalle and detention centers across this country.
Join us at LaSalle Detention Center on June 13 to stand for dignity, justice, and the future of democratic rights.
Contact: Carolyn Yao
Email: cyao@ifconews.org
Phone: 917-224-0301
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
