Joel Greenberg publicly shared Islamophobic content to his social media page that is harmful and divisive to the Muslim community, misperceived Muslim Community, people of color, moreover for our entire Central Florida community. Rasha Mubarak, President of Young Democrats of Orange County and civil rights advocate, stated "we refuse to let Seminole County Tax Collector, Joel Greenberg use the Muslim Community as a tool for his political banter. His provocative posts are not new and his responses have been increasingly condescending, inappropriate, and dismissive. Greenberg has previously tried to use his position as an elected official to grant him privilege in getting out of a ticket and yet again, he is abusing his position in office to demean Muslims. His Islamophobic views not only impacts the Muslim community, it disturbs the peace in Central Florida, moreover compromises the safety and inclusivity across the state, and our country as a whole. We reject the xenophobia against all of our underrepresented communities. There is no room for any kind of discrimination in office. We will continue to stand up against hate, no matter who spews it."

While we applaud the many ways in which Southwest Key Programs have worked long and hard to establish its reputation for serving youth and families in the Latino communities of Texas and beyond, we are writing this letter because we are extremely concerned about your radical shift in mission. Your collaboration with and acceptance of the federal government’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has included separating children from their parents is not in line with your wholesome and ethical work in education. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/reporter-migrant-children-incarcerated-in-texas-facility.html Some of the children horribly separated from their parents are now in your custody, without any clear path for reunification, and your former CEO’s affirmation that he sleeps well at night is completely inappropriate given the dire circumstances these children and families, and immigrants and Latinos in this country now face. As you know, many Americans, and Latinos find the separation and imprisonment of children and other actions on the border extraordinarily objectionable. A Washington Post headline titled “What separation from parents does to children: The effect is catastrophic” stresses the long term trauma that the separated children will suffer while imprisoned in yours and similar facilities. As of now, hundreds of children have not yet been reunited with their families, and there is no trust as to the end of inhumane family incarcerations that will now be moved to military bases where the families will be rendered invisible. Each day brings more news of bureaucratic mismanagement of people’s lives. Each day, the children are further and further traumatized. Each day, immigrant families are at risk of being further tormented and abused. We urge you to take action and separate yourselves from this administration and shut down all portions of your organization that have any part of the incarceration and imprisonment of immigrants.

The images and audio we’ve all seen and heard in the past few days have been beyond heartbreaking. We are watching our communities, our families, being torn apart in ways many of us never thought we’d see. Thousands of children are being taken from their parents, often unable to find each other, speak to each other, without any guarantee of being reunited. Here in Florida, an emergency shelter in Homestead is now filled beyond capacity with over 12 hundred children. People across the country are demanding a stop to this brutality.

I believe that what is happening to my brother Juan is unjust and unfair. There is nothing wrong with fighting for your dreams and it is not a crime people should be imprisoned for. Juan always seeks a way to surprise us. I remember that he used to always tell me that for him I was his mother, since our mother passed away in February 2004. It is very important for him to be with our family because we make sure that we are taking care of his special needs. In our home country of Guatemala, there's nobody who can take care of him. I know that without his family it will be very difficult for him to be safe and cared for. We are always there for each other. Juan does not have to go through this. I’m sure that he needs me at this moment. I cannot imagine how scared he is right now, and he has no idea of what is happening to him right now. He deserves the right to be with his family and to feel safe again. Please help us keep our family together!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did more than fight for an end to racial segregation. In his own words, Dr. King fought against the triple evils of "racism, materialism and militarism." He lamented to pursuit of material wealth and argued a shift of values "from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'person-oriented' society." While Dr. King's estate has steadfastly defended his words, images and artifacts against usage in historical productions, documentaries, movies and even the Museum of African American History and Culture without the payment of what many consider 'exorbitant' fees, they continue to commercialize his images and words for profit. Dr. King has appeared in advertising for products by Apple, Rolex, Alcatel, Mercedes and, now, Chrysler. At the same time, news agencies have been sued for printing or airing Dr. King speeches and street vendors have been threatened with suits for selling t-shirts with King's image. The Estate- run by his children and their lawyers- is tarnishing Dr. King's image by preventing historians and social justice advocates from using his words, while selling those same words to corporations with histories of racial discrimination for the same type of commercial use that Dr. King himself opposed.

The Florida state prison system is run like a 21st century slave plantation. Prisoners endure brutal conditions at the hands of guards and that state. That is why Florida has the highest inmate death rate in the US. While this sounds horrific, big corporations are cashing in. Florida sells prison labor to corporations for a fraction of what they would pay employees covered by labor laws. And because Florida does not pay the prison workers, Florida's government directly profits from free slave labor. This arrangement creates a perverse incentive to under-educate, under-employ and over-incarcerate large numbers of low-income Black bodies for the benefit of corporate profit. The state of Florida should not promote, manage and benefit from this arrangement. Florida prisoners are on strike in what they are calling #OperationPUSH to fight for an end to prison slavery and humane conditions for prisoners.

On January 19th, Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus traveling from Miami to Orlando, demanding proof of citizenship from shocked passengers who argued that they had no reason to carry such documents on a local bus route that wasn’t crossing any borders. An elderly, Black, Jamaican lady was profiled, targeted, removed from the bus, detained, and is now imprisoned in a GEO for-profit immigrant prison, leaving her family wondering where she could be and what had happened to her. Then, less than a week later, it happened again, when a Black man from Trinidad was targeted and dragged away from the bus in handcuffs. This has been a repeated practice on Greyhound buses, while Customs and Border Patrol claims jurisdiction anywhere within 100 miles from a border, covering virtually the entire state of Florida and two-thirds of the U.S. population. The rogue agency can arbitrarily board buses without a judicial warrant, with free reign to target immigrants anywhere in Florida. This discriminatory and invasive practice has been denounced by nearly 20 members of Congress. Unlike twelve other states, Florida restricts access to drivers licenses for immigrants, leaving families few to no options for mobility. Corporations like Greyhound value immigrant dollars, but not immigrant lives. Until Greyhound does more to protect their rights, immigrant passengers are not safe from harassment by law enforcement and civil rights violations. Americans deserve to ride the bus in peace without having to carry a birth certificate or passport to travel. In 2018, it is outrageous that there is an apartheid-like passbook requirement to travel within your own state.

Four months after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans are still suffering from the impacts of the storm. 40% of the island is still without electricity and supplies are still being brought in while Puerto Ricans rebuild their homes and lives, many from scratch. There’s no question that Puerto Rico should use all of its resources to recover and rebuild right now, but hedge fund CEO Seth Klarman thinks otherwise. Seth Klarman leads Baupost Group, a hedge fund that holds $911 MILLION of Puerto Rico’s debt, and has said that canceling the debt would be “impractical.” What’s really impractical and unconscionable is holding Puerto Ricans hostage with an unjust debt while the island recovers from the worst disaster in recent memory. This is colonization in the 21st century and we will not stand for Seth Klarman’s profit-driven tactics. Harvard University, having the largest endowment and most money invested in Baupost Group, must take action to stand with Puerto Ricans and divest its $2 billion from Seth Klarman’s hedge fund. Harvard has a moral obligation to divest any and all funds from Baupost Group -- we call on Harvard University and its endowment to divest from Baupost now!

On September 20, Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds, struck Puerto Rico full force only days after the Irma storm. One week later, Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents are suffering intensely in what has quickly become a major humanitarian and environmental justice disaster. The delivery of aid to Puerto Rico has been delayed, in part because of the Jones Act, a 1920 law that prohibits freight delivery to Puerto Rico on non-U.S. ships. The Act was recently repealed for 10 days. However, that is not enough time to be effective. The potential for great loss of life increases daily. Water, food, and medicine have become extremely scarce and material aid is bottlenecked by bureaucracy at the ports. 70,000 people were evacuated from an area near a failing dam that had not been inspected since 2013. Puerto Rico is home to 23 Superfund sites--industrially polluted areas that have been identified as too dangerously contaminated for humans and livestock to inhabit or use. These, and many other toxic sites were flooded, adding to the multiple sources of danger Puerto Ricans currently face. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ceased operations, removing its workers because it has deemed the island “too hazardous.” Science states that climate catastrophes are going to intensify. We have deep concerns about the breach of the democratic process needed to respond to the Puerto Rican people in this state of emergency and--in the long term--to rebuild Puerto Rico in a way that future storms will not decimate it again. "Standard responses to disasters leave behind more pollution, more debt, less democracy, and a weaker infrastructure. In contrast, a Just Recovery would reduce pollution, reduce debt, challenge systemic racism, deepen democracy, and leave behind a sturdier, more resilient public sphere." - Naomi Klein This is not business as usual or an opportunity for Wall Street to make money off of vulnerable communities. This moment requires a proactive vision, strong coordination, and a regenerative economic and environmental approach to the crisis, informed by the people of Puerto Rico. This is not the moment to abandon Puerto Rico.

In a 6 month period last year, 4 community members died in Clarke's jail, including a newborn baby and Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after guards shut off his water for 8 days. Clarke later threatened the medical examiner in an attempt to obstruct the investigation into Thomas' death. Clarke is being sued by dozens of women who were shackled by his deputies while giving birth. Clarke has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in litigation while enriching himself as a mouthpiece for white supremacists. He has referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as "black slime" and "garbage," and compared the movement to ISIS. He has slandered Muslims. He has called for beating up protesters and said he wants to round up 1 million dissenters for Guantanamo. He has threatened violence against elected officials and community members opposed to his policies. Clarke wants to turn Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputies into Immigration agents through the discriminatory 287g program, which Joe Arpaio used in Arizona to racially profile and terrorize immigrant communities. Clarke would use his new position to continue his vicious rhetoric against immigrants, Muslims, and Black people, and to bully sheriffs and chiefs of police into adopting 287g, which is opposed by the vast majority of local law enforcement and elected officials. Secretary Kelly, do not appoint Sheriff Clarke to any position in the federal government!

My father, Martin Martinez, has been living in this country for more than 30 years with my mother, Julia Ochoa. They have been contributing to the community here in New York for over 30 years, they have two children who are U.S. citizens (my brother and I), and a new 3-month-old granddaughter. My parents are not a danger to the public. Julia has no criminal record. Martin has two DWI charges from nearly two decades ago but has learned from his mistakes and has not been pulled over since. My parents applied for asylum in 2004, but were denied, despite the fact that my brother and I were still children (10 and 15 years old) who would have been left without their parents. They never received the letter telling them when they needed to leave, so they stayed, raising my brother and I, working hard, and paying taxes. My parents were detained in 2013, but ICE decided against deporting them after hearing from my family, community members, and leaders. ICE can use its discretion again and decide not to separate our family. Please join my family in calling on ICE to allow my father to stay with his family in the country he has called home for 30 years.

The President submitted a proposed 2017 budget supplemental 2018 budget that includes a big increase in immigration enforcement and the military. This will come at the expense of many social, scientific and other programs that benefit working people. Among many other things, these proposed cuts would: - Reduce help for low- and moderate-income students to afford college; - Make it harder for cities and rural communities to invest in economic development - Eliminate housing and energy supports for families and seniors - Drastically reduce the capacity of agencies that monitor pollution and toxic contamination--threatening our water, air and other natural resources. Did you know that a billion dollars spent on domestic priorities such as mass transit, home weatherization, education and health care, would each produce more jobs than the same amount spent on the military?