Chicago, IL – April 29, 2010 – Over one hundred and fifty religious leaders from across the US will gather at Kenosha County jail on April 29 to call for comprehensive immigration reform and an end to unjust enforcement and detention measures. These clergy and faith leaders, who form national Clergy Caucus of the Gamaliel Foundation, will surround the building, pray for the detainees inside and deliver a gift for the detainees by way of the center’s chaplain.  Gamaliel leaders will also call on Obama administration to end unfair detention and deportation, and then march to Rep. Paul Ryan’s office to deliver a letter to Rep. Ryan and Sens. Kohl and Feingold asking for congressional leadership for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) use the Kenosha County Detention Center to hold approximately 150 undocumented immigrants as they await deportation. Gamaliel’s faith leaders are particularly concerned about the controversial 287(g) program.  A 2010 Department of Homeland Security report on the program showed that 76% of the immigrants it targeted and detained were non-criminal.

Click here [http://www.gamaliel.org/Printshop/GamalielCRIGNCCadmincall.pdf] for a link to the GNCC’s Call for Administrative Action and Call for Comprehensive Immigration reform, which Gamaliel leaders will deliver to the White House after having it signed by clergy from across the country. Representatives from Rep. Ryan’s, Sens. Kohl and Feingold will join the vigil and respond on behalf of the members of Congress to the GNCC’s demand for congressional action.

Who: Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus

What: Faith leaders’ Vigil and March

When: Thursday, April 29, 11:30am CT Where: 5410 Sheridan Road, Kenosha WI

The Gamaliel Foundation is a network of more than sixty congregation based organizations working for justice in nearly every major metropolitan area in the Midwest. The network has a growing presence on the east and west coasts. Since 1998, the Gamaliel Foundation has fostered congregation based organizing in three provinces in South Africa and in Kenya, as well as Great Britain.

WISDOM is a state-wide coalition of faith-based organizations in Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, the Fox Valley, Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Beloit and Waukesha County and is a member of the Gamaliel Foundation.

Gamaliel of Metro Chicago (GMC) is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation in the six county Chicago metro area.  The Gamaliel Foundation is a nationally recognized  network of grassroots community organizations, principally in black and Latino areas that provides training and strategic advice to help empower local leaders.

On April 15, 2010 – The South Suburban Action Conference, PNCC’s sister organization, will host “Faith and Democracy Public Meeting.”   The public meeting seeks to end to racial profiling in Blue Island, IL. In the past, the local police department has acted unjustly against minority groups. Local police officials have contributed to the separation of families by turning immigrants into Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents–ending in deportation. The public meeting will take place Monday April 19, 2010 at St. Benedict Catholic Church, 2339 York St. Blue Island, IL 60406 at 6:00 p.m.

Mayor Donald Peloquin Alderman Domingo Vargas and Alderwoman Leticia Vieyra among others will be present to discuss an end to the separation of families and racial profiling in Blue Island.

SSAC and its church members want an end to racial profiling, move the country’s priorities from rampant individualism toward community, from isolation toward the common good, and from a politics of fear toward public policies founded in hope. The “Faith and Democracy” public meeting is a way to hold local officials accountable and to put an end to local police enforcing federal law by assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).