Raised by 13 people in 1 day

Story:

We did it! The Contra Costa County Sheriff has cancelled its contract with ICE, in large part thanks to the pressure created by constant protests.

But now we have to step up to help the 169 people who are being held in Richmond ICE! The sheriff has announced that in less than four months, these detainees will all be moved to other ICE facilities in other parts of the country. Many of the detainees have families and loved ones in the Bay Area, and to be moved like that that would tear them apart. But we can help!!

Freedom for Immigrants (aka Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement) is raising funds to pay the bail for every applicable person being held in Richmond ICE.

If we can raise these funds before the 4-month deadline, every eligible person being held in Richmond ICE will all be reunited with their families—as many as half of them are eligible to be freed this way.

For the detainees who have been denied bail, they will be refered to legal services that will work to help them become bail-elegible, and once that happens, Freedom for Immigrants will pay their bail, as long as FFI has the funds to do so.

Since bail money eventually is returned, Freedom for Immigrants will recycle all funds used for bail into paying more bail for future detained immigrants.

Additionally, some of the funds may be used to help familiy members with the cost of travel to visit loved ones who have been detained. If you are a parent you’ll know how much seeing your child, even for just a few minutes, means

Let’s keep these families together and get the word out about this amazing project to raise these funds! Please share the heck out of this fundraiser!

If we work hard, as many as half of the 169 will walk free before the deadline to move them!

All funds will go directly to the Freedom for Immigrants Richmond ICE Bail Fund. You can also donate to them on their website here: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/community-fund

ANOTHER HUGE WAY TO HELP: Visit a Richmond ICE detainee

Freedom for Immigrants, the organization that is collecting these bail funds for Richmond ICE detainees, also runs a volunteer program that lets community volunteers visit ICE detainees at Richmond ICE.

When a community volunteer starts having regular visits with an ICE detainee, it often helps the detainee get out faster, because you can help the detainee fill out paperwork that might be holding back their release, and also, when a community member is in the courtroom during the detainee’s hearings, it has been found that the judge tends to set the bail to a lower number.

Even if you can’t speak Spanish, that’s fine! Lots of the detainees can speak English from years of living here, and right now they just need all the volunteers they can get!

To become a volunteer, come to the next training workshop. They are on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 6-8pm at the Finnish Center (1970 Chestnut St) in North Berkeley. The next training dates are: Aug 14th, Sept 11th and Oct 9th.

Let’s keep families together & bail everyone we can out of Richmond ICE!!