{"id":6592,"date":"2015-09-16T17:31:43","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T21:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=6592"},"modified":"2022-03-23T13:35:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T17:35:17","slug":"kalamazoo-college-2015-global-prize-finalist-puente-human-rights-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/kalamazoo-college-2015-global-prize-finalist-puente-human-rights-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalamazoo College 2015 Global Prize Finalist: Puente Human Rights Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalamazoo College has announced the ten finalists for its 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership, a juried competition hosted by the College\u2019s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Finalists will present during a Prize Weekend, Oct. 9-11, and one project will receive a $25,000 prize. Below is one in a series of profiles on the ten finalists.<\/em><\/p>\n

We invite individuals who are familiar with this project to use our <\/em>Community Input form<\/em><\/a> to comment on its \u201cgrassrootedness\u201d and transformative leadership practices. Input will be submitted to our jurors.\u00a0Please see videos submitted by each finalist, as well as our rubric and other information about the <\/em>Global Prize here<\/em><\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Puente Human Rights Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n

The struggle of many Latino migrants to the United States routinely goes unnoticed, due mostly to the undocumented status of many of these new arrivals, who do their best to not draw attention to themselves. But underneath the hardworking veneer, are stories of heartbreak, of families broken apart as immigration officials enact deportation procedures. Migrants come to the United States to fulfill dreams of a better life. Many wind-up living in crippling fear.
\n\"in<\/a>
\nAttention on the plight of immigrants, especially Latinos, is becoming more focused as immigration becomes more of a front-and-center issue in the upcoming presidential election. One group has been a helping hand long before the campaign rhetoric. The\u00a0Puente Human Rights Movement\u00a0is a grassroots, migrant justice organization based in Phoenix, Ariz., which develops, educates, and empowers migrant communities to protect and defend themselves and their families to enhance the quality of life of community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cArizona has been known as ground zero for the right wing anti-immigrant attack since racial profiling bill SB1070 became law in 2010,” said Carlos Garcia, director of Puente. “But the war of attrition waged against our community started long before then. What started in Arizona spread across the country, leading to the Obama administration\u2019s record two-million deportations. In response, we knew we had to make Arizona an epicenter of migrant-led resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

True change comes only when impacted communities organize, act and speak for themselves, the organization says. Puente\u2019s accomplishments are both local and national in scope \u2013 they measure their impact through the development of their base, the concrete alleviation of the migrant community\u2019s suffering and the political reach of their demands.<\/p>\n

By halting deportations through its “Uno por Uno” (One by One) program, Puente \u2013 which translates to “bridge” in Spanish \u2013 attempts to transform the immigration debate, build new leaders and challenge the criminalization and mass incarceration of migrant communities.<\/p>\n

Stopping deportations, and working to reunite families torn apart by the deportation, is one of Puente\u2019s biggest efforts. Since 2013, Puente has used legal advocacy, storytelling, and community organizing to stop over 150 deportations. Through securing the release of people from immigrant detention and stopping deportations, new leaders emerge with personal experience of how to fight back against criminalization, detention, and deportation and commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in that struggle.<\/p>\n

Noemi Romero, who was arrested by notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a workplace raid in 2012 and who know helps stop other people\u2019s deportations with the Uno por Uno project, says, \u201cIt was the worst day of my life when the sheriffs showed up at my work. But then my mom found Puente and we learned our rights and how to fight back. Since the day I got out of detention, I have committed to fight for our entire community. I won\u2019t stop until we have justice for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos says, \u201cWithout the leadership of people who know firsthand the pain of being targeted, incarcerated, and separated from their families, we never would have seen the expansion of deferred action last year, the most important victory for the immigrant rights movement in 25 years. However, many of those who fought the hardest for this relief have been criminalized, like Noemi, and are therefore excluded. Our work is part of the movement against mass incarceration, and we continue to center the leadership of formerly incarcerated people as key to a migrant rights movement that is achieving justice and dignity for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a fist in the air, Puente is working to fight the anti-immigrant stain seen in Arizona in the aftermath of the now-infamous Senate Bill 1070, which was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer. With an open hand, Puente organizes and maintains cultural, political, and educational programs to promote and sustain justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kalamazoo College has announced the ten finalists for its 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership, a juried competition hosted by the College\u2019s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Finalists will present during a Prize Weekend, Oct. 9-11, and one project will receive a $25,000 prize. Below is one in a series of profiles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":6621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[20],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-6592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institutional-announcements","tag-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\r\nKalamazoo College 2015 Global Prize Finalist: Puente Human Rights Movement - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kalamazoo College has announced the ten finalists for its 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership, a juried competition hosted by\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/kalamazoo-college-2015-global-prize-finalist-puente-human-rights-movement\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kalamazoo College 2015 Global Prize Finalist: Puente Human Rights Movement - 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Finalists will present during a Prize Weekend, Oct. 9-11, and one project will receive a $25,000 prize. Below is one in a series of profiles on the ten finalists.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We invite individuals who are familiar with this project to use our <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.kzoo.edu\/csjl\/prize\/comments\/\"><em>Community Input form<\/em><\/a><em> to comment on its \u201cgrassrootedness\u201d and transformative leadership practices. Input will be submitted to our jurors.\u00a0Please see videos submitted by each finalist, as well as our rubric and other information about the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.kzoo.edu\/csjl\/prize\/\"><em>Global Prize here<\/em><\/a><em>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/09\/uente-Human-Rights-Movement-22.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-6618 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/09\/uente-Human-Rights-Movement-22-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"The Puente Human Rights Movement started in 2007\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a>Puente Human Rights Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The struggle of many Latino migrants to the United States routinely goes unnoticed, due mostly to the undocumented status of many of these new arrivals, who do their best to not draw attention to themselves. But underneath the hardworking veneer, are stories of heartbreak, of families broken apart as immigration officials enact deportation procedures. Migrants come to the United States to fulfill dreams of a better life. Many wind-up living in crippling fear.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/09\/uente-Human-Rights-Movement-24.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-6621 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/09\/uente-Human-Rights-Movement-24-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"in response to attacks against day laborers in our community\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAttention on the plight of immigrants, especially Latinos, is becoming more focused as immigration becomes more of a front-and-center issue in the upcoming presidential election. One group has been a helping hand long before the campaign rhetoric. The\u00a0Puente Human Rights Movement\u00a0is a grassroots, migrant justice organization based in Phoenix, Ariz., which develops, educates, and empowers migrant communities to protect and defend themselves and their families to enhance the quality of life of community members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArizona has been known as ground zero for the right wing anti-immigrant attack since racial profiling bill SB1070 became law in 2010,” said Carlos Garcia, director of Puente. “But the war of attrition waged against our community started long before then. What started in Arizona spread across the country, leading to the Obama administration\u2019s record two-million deportations. In response, we knew we had to make Arizona an epicenter of migrant-led resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>True change comes only when impacted communities organize, act and speak for themselves, the organization says. Puente\u2019s accomplishments are both local and national in scope \u2013 they measure their impact through the development of their base, the concrete alleviation of the migrant community\u2019s suffering and the political reach of their demands.<\/p>\n<p>By halting deportations through its “Uno por Uno” (One by One) program, Puente \u2013 which translates to “bridge” in Spanish \u2013 attempts to transform the immigration debate, build new leaders and challenge the criminalization and mass incarceration of migrant communities.<\/p>\n<p>Stopping deportations, and working to reunite families torn apart by the deportation, is one of Puente\u2019s biggest efforts. Since 2013, Puente has used legal advocacy, storytelling, and community organizing to stop over 150 deportations. Through securing the release of people from immigrant detention and stopping deportations, new leaders emerge with personal experience of how to fight back against criminalization, detention, and deportation and commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in that struggle.<\/p>\n<p>Noemi Romero, who was arrested by notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a workplace raid in 2012 and who know helps stop other people\u2019s deportations with the Uno por Uno project, says, \u201cIt was the worst day of my life when the sheriffs showed up at my work. But then my mom found Puente and we learned our rights and how to fight back. Since the day I got out of detention, I have committed to fight for our entire community. I won\u2019t stop until we have justice for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carlos says, \u201cWithout the leadership of people who know firsthand the pain of being targeted, incarcerated, and separated from their families, we never would have seen the expansion of deferred action last year, the most important victory for the immigrant rights movement in 25 years. However, many of those who fought the hardest for this relief have been criminalized, like Noemi, and are therefore excluded. Our work is part of the movement against mass incarceration, and we continue to center the leadership of formerly incarcerated people as key to a migrant rights movement that is achieving justice and dignity for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a fist in the air, Puente is working to fight the anti-immigrant stain seen in Arizona in the aftermath of the now-infamous Senate Bill 1070, which was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer. With an open hand, Puente organizes and maintains cultural, political, and educational programs to promote and sustain justice.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6592"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14895,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions\/14895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6592"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=6592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}