The Sound Strike launches the “The Sound Strike Fund”, a fund that will bring economic support to organizations confronting the civil and human rights crisis in Arizona. Part of the proceeds from The Strike Fund has directly supported two organizations, PUENTE Arizona and The Florence Project.

Enter Your own Donation amount!

PUENTE

PUENTE is a human rights movement born of the TONATIERRA struggle that works to resurrect our humanity by learning and teaching to eradicate intolerance when it presents itself at individual, economic, political, and social settings affecting our daily existence.

Over the last three years PUENTE has focused on ending the criminalization of our communities and taken on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the 287(g) agreements and all racist policies directly affecting the community. Puente organized four large-scale marches, the largest reaching 100,000 people. PUENTE also coordinated hundreds of solidarity actions across the country and has been able to raise the awareness of the Human Rights crisis in Arizona at the local, national and international level.

The newest embodiment of racism and criminalization of our communities is SB1070. In response to SB1070 we have taken on five strategies to defeat this horrible law. The five strategies consist of; Legal, Civic Engagement, Community Education, Boycott and Non-Compliance. The five strategies also serve as tools to continue the development of Barrio Defense Committees and the organization of the most affected.

We demand that the Obama Administration end community criminalization polices such as 287 (g) agreements and secure communities and demand that they take decisive action not to enforce local profiling laws such as Arizona’s SB1070. SB1070 can only terrorize our communities if the federal government cooperates with it.

We demand that all ICE ACCESS programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the CAP programs be suspended.www.puenteaz.org (602) 314-5870

The Florence Project

The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (www.firrp.org) is a nonprofit organization based in the rural prison town of Florence, Arizona, the epicenter of immigration detention. The Florence Project provides and coordinates free legal services and related social services to indigent men, women, and unaccompanied children detained for immigration removal proceedings. The Project strives to ensure detainees have access to counsel, understand their rights under immigration law, and are treated fairly and humanely by our judicial system.

There is no other free legal services organization for detained immigrants in Arizona.  Immigration removal proceedings are civil – not criminal – meaning there is no right to counsel at government expense.  Without the Florence Project, each year thousands of immigrant detainees would be locked up and deported without any access to legal information or advocacy on their behalf.

The Florence Project’s staff educates all detainees about the detention and deportation system through daily “know your rights” presentations before their first court appearance, provides individual consultations to screen for potential legal defenses to deportation, and assists everyone who wants to fight their cases.

“In the recreation yard, I have had occasion to speak with many detainees about their situations.  We talk about where we would be if it had not been for the intervention of the Florence Project. I believe I personally would be dead, and for many others, The Florence Project means hope and freedom.” -Jorge Rodas, former client

Our Clients

Our client base consists of people from 90 different countries, with the majority from Mexico and Central America.  Our clients are undocumented residents of the United States, migrants who have recently crossed the border, long term lawful permanent residents (green card holders), refugees and asylum seekers, parents and sole care givers of U.S. Citizen children, unaccompanied minors, people suffering from medical and mental health issues, LGBTQ individuals, farm workers, survivors of torture, and even U.S. Citizens.

Our Staff & Work

The Florence Project’s staff consists of 11 attorneys, 4 legal assistants, 1 social services coordinator, and 1 office manager, with the median age of 29 years old.  Our staff attorneys hail from around the country and often carry heavy law school loans and get paid very little to work at the Project.  The passion, creativity, and hard work of our staff are the lifeblood of the organization.

From January to May 2011, we provided free legal assistance to 3,592 detained immigrants and have helped 102 people win relief from deportation.  We estimate helping about 8,000 people by the close of 2011.

In addition to our direct services work, we advocate for more humane treatment for immigrant detainees, including ending the federal government’s reliance on a punitive prison system when community based alternatives are available.  We educate the community about detention and engage hundreds of volunteers in our work through letter writing, visitation, hospitality post release, legal representation, medical evaluations, and interpretation.

http://www.firrp.org (520) 868-0191

Derechos Humanos AZ

Coalición de Derechos Humanos (“The Human Rights Coalition”) is a grassroots organization which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike.

Save Ethnic Studies