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dear all,
my dearest friend, juan esteban ruiz, was arrested at a peaceful protest
at the no borders demonstration this weekend.
(more information below in the message from another friend,
and at sandiego.indymedia.org ).
juan has done a lot of volunteer work with emergency communities and common ground
in new orleans, buras, and arabi, louisiana, and waveland, mississippi,
and has worked with food not bombs, the student labor action coalition,
and other social justice and peace groups here in madison, wisconsin
(where he lives, with me).
he has also gone to several rainbow gatherings.
juan is the most kind, caring, beautiful person i know.
there are two legal funds, one here in madison and the no borders camp one,
and the information for both is below.
thank you all so much.
love
wendy
i don't come on to tribe.net that often,
but you can email me at ekelana (at) gmail.com
---forwarded message---
Dear Friends,
In case you haven't heard, my "foster" child, Juan Ruiz has been
arrested while taking part in a demonstration at the
California-Mexican border. The demonstration was organized by the
group, No Borders Camp, and had been going on peacefully for 6 days
before Nov. 11th, when the federal agents reacted. You can see a very
scary video taken by a bystander/participant on their website:
noborderscamp.org
Click on the picture of the snarling authorities.
The kid who is drumming is Juan.
Juan is currently in the Imperial County jail, awaiting arraignment in
federal court on charges of assaulting or impeding a federal officer -
unclear at this point. Because he is not a US citizen, he is also
under review by the Dept of Homeland Security and may face deportation
proceedings after the federal case is dealt with. He also has a
serious medical problem for which he needs daily meds and most of the
first 36 hours of his incarceration were spent by his supporters
trying to get the jail to give him his meds. That at least seems to
have been accomplished as of last night.
Juan is a permanent legal resident of the US. He came to Wisconsin
from Colombia with his mother and older sister at age 4 and grew up in
the Madison area, graduating from Shabbaz City High School in 2005.
His mother, sister and grandmother are legal permanent residents and
his grandfather is a citizen I believe. He has been involved in
activism about poverty and community support, and anti-war work. He
is a musician, drummer and poet and has a passion for rhythmic music.
Those of you who know him know that he is a very warm hearted generous
guy who is open to the world and engaged with people on a deep level.
Because of some teenage legal issues - none of which involved drugs or
violence, thank G-d - his immigration status may be in jeopardy
regardless of the outcome of this event.
We have been helping find legal counsel for Juan both for the criminal
charge and the immigration issue and are in close touch with NO
Borders Camp, which is set up in El Centro, California, the county
seat of Imperial County. He has supporters in the area right now and
hopefully until there is a resolution. Here in Madison, the Infoshop
has dedicated a fund to help with Juan's legal defense - the Madison
Area General Defense Committee (MAGDC) Legal Defense Fund. This fund
has been used to help dozens of local activists since it was founded
in the aftermath of the massive anti-sweatshop arrest on campus a
decade ago.
Folks can make out checks to:
GDC Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 2442
Madison, WI 53701
or drop off donations or checks for the "GDC Legal Defense Fund",
care of the Madison Infoshop, 1019 Williamson St. #B, Madison, WI
53703 or call John at 608-262-9036 with questions. You can ask that
your donation goes to help Juan. Whatever funds the GDC raises that
are not exhausted in defense of Juan will be part of the revolving
fund for the next person who gets targetted for their political
activities.
OR - donations can be sent to No Borders Camp at: noborderscamp.org
There is a paypal account to give donations.
Also, any suggestions you can offer to help him avoid deportation will
be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call or write me.
Feel free to pass this on to any who might be interested.
Love,
Laurel
my dearest friend, juan esteban ruiz, was arrested at a peaceful protest
at the no borders demonstration this weekend.
(more information below in the message from another friend,
and at sandiego.indymedia.org ).
juan has done a lot of volunteer work with emergency communities and common ground
in new orleans, buras, and arabi, louisiana, and waveland, mississippi,
and has worked with food not bombs, the student labor action coalition,
and other social justice and peace groups here in madison, wisconsin
(where he lives, with me).
he has also gone to several rainbow gatherings.
juan is the most kind, caring, beautiful person i know.
there are two legal funds, one here in madison and the no borders camp one,
and the information for both is below.
thank you all so much.
love
wendy
i don't come on to tribe.net that often,
but you can email me at ekelana (at) gmail.com
---forwarded message---
Dear Friends,
In case you haven't heard, my "foster" child, Juan Ruiz has been
arrested while taking part in a demonstration at the
California-Mexican border. The demonstration was organized by the
group, No Borders Camp, and had been going on peacefully for 6 days
before Nov. 11th, when the federal agents reacted. You can see a very
scary video taken by a bystander/participant on their website:
noborderscamp.org
Click on the picture of the snarling authorities.
The kid who is drumming is Juan.
Juan is currently in the Imperial County jail, awaiting arraignment in
federal court on charges of assaulting or impeding a federal officer -
unclear at this point. Because he is not a US citizen, he is also
under review by the Dept of Homeland Security and may face deportation
proceedings after the federal case is dealt with. He also has a
serious medical problem for which he needs daily meds and most of the
first 36 hours of his incarceration were spent by his supporters
trying to get the jail to give him his meds. That at least seems to
have been accomplished as of last night.
Juan is a permanent legal resident of the US. He came to Wisconsin
from Colombia with his mother and older sister at age 4 and grew up in
the Madison area, graduating from Shabbaz City High School in 2005.
His mother, sister and grandmother are legal permanent residents and
his grandfather is a citizen I believe. He has been involved in
activism about poverty and community support, and anti-war work. He
is a musician, drummer and poet and has a passion for rhythmic music.
Those of you who know him know that he is a very warm hearted generous
guy who is open to the world and engaged with people on a deep level.
Because of some teenage legal issues - none of which involved drugs or
violence, thank G-d - his immigration status may be in jeopardy
regardless of the outcome of this event.
We have been helping find legal counsel for Juan both for the criminal
charge and the immigration issue and are in close touch with NO
Borders Camp, which is set up in El Centro, California, the county
seat of Imperial County. He has supporters in the area right now and
hopefully until there is a resolution. Here in Madison, the Infoshop
has dedicated a fund to help with Juan's legal defense - the Madison
Area General Defense Committee (MAGDC) Legal Defense Fund. This fund
has been used to help dozens of local activists since it was founded
in the aftermath of the massive anti-sweatshop arrest on campus a
decade ago.
Folks can make out checks to:
GDC Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 2442
Madison, WI 53701
or drop off donations or checks for the "GDC Legal Defense Fund",
care of the Madison Infoshop, 1019 Williamson St. #B, Madison, WI
53703 or call John at 608-262-9036 with questions. You can ask that
your donation goes to help Juan. Whatever funds the GDC raises that
are not exhausted in defense of Juan will be part of the revolving
fund for the next person who gets targetted for their political
activities.
OR - donations can be sent to No Borders Camp at: noborderscamp.org
There is a paypal account to give donations.
Also, any suggestions you can offer to help him avoid deportation will
be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call or write me.
Feel free to pass this on to any who might be interested.
Love,
Laurel
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