Freedom for Fernando: One Immigrant at a Time
Donation protected
We live in a nation awash in a rising tide of injustice and xenophobic hatred. Few of us can do much about it, but each of us can do a little. Through a non-profit called Immigrant Families Together, Juan Carlos and I have volunteered to sponsor an 18-year-old Honduran asylum seeker named Fernando.*
Fernando has been granted $5000 bond, meaning that for that amount, he can be released while awaiting his immigration hearings. This GoFundMe aims to raise that amount and get one young man out of an unjust prison (and into our guest room).
Double your karmic gold stars: when Fernando's case is resolved and the bond is returned, the $5000 will be recycled for another refugee.
Fernando is locked up, but he is not a criminal. Abandoned by his mother, he went to live with his father, who regularly used him as drunk target practice. His home was burned down twice by locals determined to usurp his family’s subsistence coffee farm. Fernando has nothing to return to but more abuse and more attempts on his life. All he wants is to work, to support himself, to contribute lawfully to our nation, made great by immigrants.
Since Fernando arrived at the US Border and LEGALLY applied for asylum last fall, he has been incarcerated in one of the worst ICE facilities in the nation. It would be eerily familiar to anyone who ever visited Manzanar or other “Relocation Centers” where the US imprisoned Japanese Americans during WWII. I drove out there last month; the guiding principle seems to be “gratuitous cruelty.”
I could quote religious texts about treating strangers with kindness, but frankly it doesn't take divine guidance to know that this is the decent, humane thing to do. Be a mensch and donate whatever you can.
Then please share Fernando’s story with your social networks, and any friends or organizations who would be interested.
Many thanks from Mila and Juan Carlos!
*We’re using a pseudonym at the request of his attorney.
Fernando has been granted $5000 bond, meaning that for that amount, he can be released while awaiting his immigration hearings. This GoFundMe aims to raise that amount and get one young man out of an unjust prison (and into our guest room).
Double your karmic gold stars: when Fernando's case is resolved and the bond is returned, the $5000 will be recycled for another refugee.
Fernando is locked up, but he is not a criminal. Abandoned by his mother, he went to live with his father, who regularly used him as drunk target practice. His home was burned down twice by locals determined to usurp his family’s subsistence coffee farm. Fernando has nothing to return to but more abuse and more attempts on his life. All he wants is to work, to support himself, to contribute lawfully to our nation, made great by immigrants.
Since Fernando arrived at the US Border and LEGALLY applied for asylum last fall, he has been incarcerated in one of the worst ICE facilities in the nation. It would be eerily familiar to anyone who ever visited Manzanar or other “Relocation Centers” where the US imprisoned Japanese Americans during WWII. I drove out there last month; the guiding principle seems to be “gratuitous cruelty.”
I could quote religious texts about treating strangers with kindness, but frankly it doesn't take divine guidance to know that this is the decent, humane thing to do. Be a mensch and donate whatever you can.
Then please share Fernando’s story with your social networks, and any friends or organizations who would be interested.
Many thanks from Mila and Juan Carlos!
*We’re using a pseudonym at the request of his attorney.
Organizer
Mila Schwartz Marvizon
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
