 Good evening! How's everybody doing? Good. Welcome to the west side of San Antonio. Thank you to all the folks at the Guadalupe Center. Thank you to Gabriel and everybody who are hosting us this evening. My name is Joaquin Costa and I'm the congressman for District 20 here in San Antonio. This is my wife, Ana, my kids, Andrea and Roman. And I know there's somebody that looks like me in this town. It used to be the mayor. And he was very helpful in planning this and spreading the word. But my brother got caught up in New York today and so isn't that to join us. My sister in law, Erica, is here and my niece, Karina, my nephew, is here. I want to say to all of you, each and every one of you, thank you for being here this evening. Recently, this administration changed its policy with respect to immigrants at the border. It is now standard government policy to separate young mothers from their children who present themselves at the border. They're separating young children from their mothers. And the mothers and fathers sometimes for days, weeks and even longer don't know where their children are. And today is not about politics. I'm not speaking to you as a Democrat. And I hope you don't hear me as a Republican or a Democrat or an independent or libertarian. This is very much a call to conscience. This is about what our nation fundamentally stands for. And I'll have some more remarks in just a second. But before I go further, I want to start us off with a few prayers to open. The first one is by a wonderful Rabbi, Rabbi Mara Nathan. We are a nation of immigrants. Each ethnic group in our country has a story to tell. As a Jew, my family's journey to America from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s was spurred on by religious violence and persecution, poverty and discrimination. The members of my family of thousands of other Jewish families were separated for months and even years, sometimes forever. Wretched and dangerous complications across the Atlantic Ocean were endured. Horrible working and living conditions were tolerated. All of this to ensure safety and a better future for the members of the family who would come after. So whether your family has been here for seven generations or for seven months, your people also came here for a better, safer future. I am sure that your people's story is very much the same. But it is easy to forget where we came from. It is easy to disregard how each of us has at some time been seen as the other. We must not forget, we cannot turn away. We must not violate our American heritage as a nation of immigrants. As a person of faith, I looked at the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Bible for inspiration and guidance on how to live my life. The Bible tells us again and again that we are commanded to welcome the stranger. We are commanded again and again to protect the widow, the orphan, all the vulnerable in our midst. We are commanded to welcome the stranger for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. The separation of migrant children from their families at the border is abhorrent and cruel. The reported physical mistreatment of minors including pregnant teens and those who have recently given birth, as well as the separation of children as young as 18 months old from their parents is horrific. As Americans, as people of faith, as human beings, we cannot justify these actions. There must be a more compassionate way. At this moment we have come together to be informed, to protest, but also to pray. And so let us pray. Holy one on high, our hearts are broken to see our fellow human beings treated with cruelty. Our hearts are broken when we hear of small children being torn from their mother's arms. When we imagine their fears, when we imagine their tears, we shed tears as well. Protector of all, grant these parents and children strength to endure the journey of their lives. Let them feel our love and concern. Let them know that though they suffer, their plight is not unknown. Granger of compassion and view our leaders with compassionate hearts and sound minds, inspire them to make decisions that protect our borders, yes, but also decisions that protect the safety and dignity of those who cry out to be saved. Of all human beings who want nothing more than safety and security, a future for their families and for themselves. Holy one on high, give us strength of purpose to speak up for what we believe in, to see the good in others, to act justly and to demand justice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Amen. Thank you for that. Thank you very much. As you can see, there are folks here from many faiths, many different religions, and I'd like to invite up next a father that I've known for probably 20 years of the Catholic faith, my own faith, and that's Father Jimmy Drennan. We stand here as a testament to what our nation looks like from one coast to the next. We are a mosaic of peoples drawn from different cultures, different nations, different languages, different religious traditions, but we are united in every way in our understanding of families that families should never be separated and should never be victims of the policies of our nation. We are gathered together, united. We are drawn from the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition, the great traditions of Islam, the Hindu tradition. Zindalists have gathered with us today. We, gathered together, do not simply offer prayer but outcry. Outcry that will reach the ears of our sisters and brothers who seek justice in our nation, and we will not be silent until we change the policies that are destroying our families. It is in that spirit gathered together with the strength of these great religious traditions behind me, before me, and around us that I ask that we bow our heads, asking the blessing from the author of life. Lord our God, we gather this day to begin an outcry that we know in the deepest realms of our heart, will reach our brothers and sisters across this state, across this nation, and will inspire listeners around the world. We will continue to unite ourselves, not simply asking for or even demanding, but working towards and fighting for justice, justice for all. It is of the deepest tenets of all of our faiths that our families be united. Lord our God, we believe that the foundation of humanity is the united family, not only some in this country, but all of us together, all around the world, always sacrificing our lives for the cause of justice and peace in the world. We believe that in the family we receive the grace of your, our author of life. Bless this encounter and the others who will shout in this world against the rules destroying the family, in the border and in our country. Loving God and Father, it is with the deepest of faith that we gather together and we pray and we commit ourselves to work in every moment of our lives to bring an end to these policies and end to all regulations that bring such harm to families. And that we restore our nation as a nation that welcomes people, not divides families. That a country we have been in our past and will be in our future, one of love, of service, one of unity in our diversity. Bless the efforts of this night in everything we do to bring unity to our family, to restore the families that have been broken and to change the direction of our nation that we may live up to the great hopes of our people. These blessings we asked upon this night and upon all that we do in the days, weeks and years that lie ahead. In your name we cry out, in your name we pray to you, author of life, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen. Thank you Rabbi Dainton, Brother Brennan. In a moment we're going to bring up immigrants who will give testimonials about the effect on their lives of the immigration policies that we're seeing now in over the last few years. Before that I want to make just a few remarks and really tell you why I was spurred to action as you have been in being here tonight. Not too long ago I've heard about this change in policy, the fact that the Trump administration would start separating kids from their mothers and fathers at the border. And I thought right away that this is not who we are as Americans. This is not what we stand for. This country has been a beacon of freedom, of democracy and most of all of respect for human rights. And your presence here tonight is a signal back to Washington D.C. to the president and all those who would make a decision about this policy. That just because somebody crosses a border doesn't make them non-human. We can treat people with respect. We must treat people with respect and as human beings and we can still enforce our immigration laws but do it in a way that's consistent with American values that doesn't betray what this country stands for. And as I thought about this over the weekend and I was reaching out to people in San Antonio to try to help put this together and in cities in Dallas and Houston and Austin and the Valley and Corpus, I talked to folks from Northwest Arkansas who have a rally on June 5th and a friend from Salt Lake City and a friend in Des Moines, Iowa in Los Angeles and in Phoenix. And I kept thinking that if all of us can't come together and stand up now, not because we're Democrats or because we're liberal or because we're Republican or conservative or Christian or Muslim or anything else but because we're human beings and we're Americans who uphold the tradition of respect for people. And if we can't stand up now and stop this in America, then we can't stop this anywhere. You see in front of us, we asked folks to bring shoes that symbolize the young children who have been taken from their parents, from their mothers and fathers and there are brutal accounts by these parents who are not told for days or weeks or even longer what's been done with their kids. There's a story of one man who begged to go back to Central America if they would just give him his child and they wouldn't tell him where they took the child. That's not how you treat people in this country. It's immoral and it's wrong and that's why we're here tonight. In just a little bit, I'm going to ask you, we're going to talk about things that we need you to do. We thank you for your presence here tonight for being part of this but we also need to take action. Y'all know that there are a lot of things over the last few years, not just on this issue but on other issues that instill a lot of emotion in all of us, a lot of passion. Certainly raises people's blood pressure every now and then. In fact, I feel oftentimes that the nation's blood pressure has been raised quite a bit but anger is not enough. All of that passion and emotion and yes, anger must be turned into productive action into change. So in just a little bit, we're going to ask just a few things of y'all and how you can help. But right now I'd like to welcome up for a testimonial Jessica Azua. She's a DACA recipient and also organizer with the Texas Organizing Project, a group that helped a lot on this rally. Jessica. Good evening everyone. Buenos tardes a todos. It's an honor to be here with you this evening. Es un honor estar con ustedes en día de hoy. My name is Jessica Azua and I'm the State Immigration Coordinator of the Texas Organizing Project. I'm a proud San Antonio resident and I'm standing here today because I have DACA but not so long ago I wasn't documented to and I know what it's like to live in the shadows afraid of having your status known of being deported and separated from your families. Mi nombre es Jessica. Yo soy una resident de San Antonio. Muy orgullosa. Y estoy aquí porque yo ahorita tengo el DACA. Pero no hace mucho tiempo, yo estaba en documentada y yo sé que es lo que es sentir, estar ocultándose, tener miedo de que sepa nuestro status, de ser deportada y de estar separada de tus familias. That's why this issue is very personal to me. Es por eso que esto es muy personal para mí. Did you see these pants here? Venezos pantalones. Estos capris, DJs. That's what I was worried when I crossed the border at the age of 14. Estos unos pantalones, los pantalones que yo estuve los que yo usé cuando yo cruce la bondera en la edad de 14 años. Do you see how sure they are? Ven que tan cortos están. And I kept them with me for 13 years now because they remind me every day of all the struggles and sacrifices on their journey to get here for a better life. The thought that something like that, that something could have happened to me just like those children are being separated from their family is just horrible. Y nada más pensar de que eso es algo que hubiera podido pasarme a mí justo como le pasaba a mi, que no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, eso es algo que hubiera podido pasarme a mí justo como le pasó a esos niños. Es horrible, es horrible. These pants remind me that I cannot waste my time here. Estos pantalones a mí me recuerden cada día que yo no puedo perder mi tiempo aquí. That I need to speak up because I wanted to share my story with you porque yo quería compartir mi historia con todos ustedes. Want just like my opportunity and education. Todo lo que quieren a estas familias, justo como la mía, son mejores oportunidades, mejor vida o un edo. Soy de Guatemala, mi nombre es Yannira López Lucas. Yo estuve encerrada en una detención dos meses con mis tres hijos, español y ella en inglés, para que puedan entender todas. Como les decía, estuve dos meses encerrada en una detención con mis tres hijos. I was in a detention center for three months with my children. La idea que tiene el gobierno en este país es que uno viene a pasear a este lugar. The idea is that the government thinks that we come here to have a vacation. En realidad, no es así. Tiene huyendo de su país por todo lo que está sucediendo y lo único que uno quiere es proteger a su familia. All we want to do is protect our family. We are refugees trying to escape everything that is going on in our countries. Creanme que siento mucho dolor por estos padres que están siendo separados con sus niños. Believe me, I feel so much pain for all the families that are going through this being separated from their children. Cuando yo cruce México de mi país a México, mis hijos se partieron cinco horas. When I crossed the border, I lost my children for five hours. Creanme que yo gritaba de dolor a las personas de México, de la policía para que me ayudaran a encontrarlos. It's so much pain trying to ask the police, the law enforcement in Mexico to help me find them. Creanme que es un dolor muy grande. Es como que le quitaran un brazo o un pi a uno. It's a very intense pain. It's like somebody taking off an armor leg from you. Es tan difícil, de verdad, separarse uno de sus hijos. It is extremely difficult to have to separate yourself from your own children. Y pensar en la situación en la que estamos viviendo ahorita, tantos niños separados es injusto. And to think of the time that we're in right now where so many parents are being separated from the children, it is an injustice. Fuego a uno de los que están aquí son padres. ¿Cómo se sintiera? Some of you hear our parents and imagine if you were separated from your children, how would you feel? We come here escaping all the violence that we're experiencing in our country. And sometimes we do it with our children that are very sick. It is very difficult to live every day with the type of treatment that we're given in this country and all we want is just a chance to live in peace. Fría, fría, fría con nuestros hijos y después ser metidos en una detención por tanto tiempo. The experience is like this, you get put in a jail cell and then you put it in its freezing in there and then from there you get put in a detention cell. I feel very, very horrible for a father that is being separated from his child and the child has a cyst in his brain. He's not receiving any medical attention. Government has to think about what they're doing. They also have children and they also have to put themselves in their shoes and think about what they're doing. And all of us here, we're going to be the voices for those families so that those families can be reunited and do that work to help keep them together. Thank you very much. Next I want to invite up Shona, an undocumented Angola who lost TPS under President Trump's administration. Hello family, hola familia. I am a 6th grade English teacher. I am being labeled as an illegal, as an alien, as an animal, everything except human. And this is not something that is new. This is not something that is new with this administration. It is not something that is new to, you know, when these immigration laws began. I also identify as a Lenka Maya. And if you know your history, you know that the Lenkas in the Mayas have ancestry that is older than these borders and these governments that currently exist on these lands. And that's a person who identifies as a native and indigenous. I am not here to tell anybody to go home or that they are a foreigner or that they don't belong here because we are all indigenous to this earth. So I am angry, of course. And being here, I do feel like my pain is being profited from. I feel like being here and putting my face in front of your cameras is putting me and my family at risk. And I am being profited from, right, from people doing well, but also people doing very hateful things for me and my community. We are also being profited from from the private prison system, right? Because the more of us they got in their prisons, the more money they have in their pocket, feel like we are the entertainment. But you know what? It is important to also uplift what is going on in our hopes and how scared we are to even go out and come up to me and try to act pretentious at it because that's what's going on to our community. We are getting there themselves. Activists across the nation are getting picked up after they come up because we're human, too. So we don't really think about what's going on. And if you say you want to protect those that she's been paying our for for 20 years and she's about to lose because we lost TPS. And all those hours and times that she wasn't there because she was working to make a living for us. You know, you're American, too. Yes, I have this border here. Now I'm accepted. I've been accepted because I'm a Sikh and to keep us separated. I appreciate the people who are being murdered at the border and the natives of all the countries around the world because this migration crisis is not unique to this border. It is worldwide. We need to think about why are these migration patterns intensifying around the world? There's something greater going on. It is not just all they don't belong here. They're illegal or breaking the law. There is something greater going on and there is so much hate and brewing. So we need to stop and think about that, right? Because it's not just white against brown, black against brown saviors. We need people who are going to stick with us. And as a human race, we've always done it to each other. So I'm lying here to point fingers. We've done it to each other. I know. So we need to think about all of that in the context of immigration. It is not just all these children are lost. What are we teaching our next generations? What are we teaching as a human race to all these children that are missing? You know, I really do. I came here when I was five. I was brought here when I was five, my children, and there's, you know, other people saying that these parents are human traffickers. My parents are my heroes because they risk their lives. They almost died in a hundred different ways trying to cross that. We get murdered. So this is privilege to be in front of you, too, here, because even though I could get deported once I'm over there, if I decide I want to have a voice and raise my concerns, I could get murdered because that's the situation that we're in. So we are not just here begging, right? We are home. Don't, don't confuse it. We are not humans. We are human. Thank you. Music. Let's give her another round. There are many people who helped put this rally together tonight and it's one of the first in the country and we can be proud of that because the San Antonians have always done for what's right. And really, thank you to many of the elected officials who helped get the word out. I saw County Commissioner Tommy Calver here. Tommy, thank you. Thank you for all your work. Former State Representative Pete Gallego for San Menendez and many others. And I'd like to invite a few of our elected officials who represent this area where we are now. Come up and say a few words. And first, I'd like to introduce my great friend who's a hardworking State Representative. I've known him. I grew up here on the west side of town. My brother and I were baptized at the church just across the street. But in 1987, I met Diego Bernal at La Foya Middle School. He does such an incredible job for the people that he represents. Diego. Good evening. You know, I had something great to say tonight. I really did. But as what he spoke, I started to lose my composure. And as we heard the prayers, I started to lose my composure. And as we heard the testimonials, I started to lose my composure. And after the songs I have lost my composure. So I'll just say a little bit. I'm not here today as a State Representative. I'm here today as a neighborhood guy and a dad. And today that's going to have to be enough. Because, again, this is not about our party lines at all. At all. Look, if we're being honest, we are about to enter one of the darkest moments in our nation's history unless we get this right. But we don't act and correct this now. And we don't do this now. This moment of history will go down in books for years and years and years. And anyway, we are staying there. We will not be able to erase unless we do this now. Now, oh, by the way, just in case anyone didn't get it, take a quick minute. Take a picture of it. You know, it's not just liberal or conservative or Republican or Democrat. I challenge anyone to go through any of the great books, the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and find me the place that tells us that what's happening is okay. It is not. There was no strand of faith that makes what's going on okay. In fact, it is the direct opposite. So, if we are serious, if we are serious about it not being Republican or Democrat, if we are serious about it not being progressive or conservative, then I will say right now, there is a seat at the table to end this for every Koran, for every Cruz, for every Hague, for every Holstein. We will work with you to get this done. Let's see how serious you are about. We are waiting for you. And for you. For you. Raise your hand if you see people that you already know. And that is the problem. As we go and give you option items tonight, the one other thing that you can do is bring people into this. This is a universal humanitarian issue. You can bring people into this to help us fix it. But without that help, without that, those numbers, we won't get it done. But right now, I see hope. I see promise. I see courage. And this can be done. We won't get this done. But it's going to take all of us. We cannot get tired. We cannot get fatigued. We have to have a lot of stamina. And we have to be deliberate. Tweet your tweets. Post on your Facebooks. But remember, that's when it's all of us together to get it done. And it starts right now. Thank you guys so much for being here. We got some members of the city council and we are here to bring them out. Good Councilwoman Gonzalez, who represents this area. So shall we be. Thank you all for coming out tonight to really relinquish the politics of a moment, but to focus on what's important, which is that we are a city of compassion. We are a nation of compassion. We are a nation that will always be about immigrants and about welcoming others. And there is no cause greater than the children of the world here in San Antonio. So thank you for demonstrating that to us. Thank you for demonstrating that to each other and continue to carry that message of compassion each and every day that you go through this. We are with you. We are here to serve you, but we will not rest until things are made right. One, I'm Shirley Gonzalez. I'm the city councilwoman for district five. And I want to share a story a couple of years ago was around Thanksgiving. I was coming back from Houston visiting some family and I got a call. They said there are a hundred refugees at the Mennonite church. We really need help. Can you come? And I got there as fast as I could. And the image that I saw could be the most impactful one that I've ever experienced in my life. I walked into the church and there on the side of one of the sanctuary's, there were about a hundred women and children. They had been moved from Dilly from the detention center there and they were here in San Antonio. And I was so furious. I said who did this? Who could do this to these children and to these mothers? And when we learned what had happened and they had been transported from parts of the different parts of the state and they had been in what they called the the freezer and they had had the children there and you can see in the eyes how many of the children were sick and that they really needed attention. But one of the things that I'm so very proud of and as I look out into the crowd today I see many of the faces that I saw there that day. People bringing things. There was an organization like I had never witnessed before. La Isis was there. The Mennonite church from John Garland was there with his congregation. People helping. People were driving up from miles around with truckloads of food and clothes and toys to give to all the children and to take care of the families. And some of the very first people on the scene are standing with me today. Councilman Trevino was there. Councilman Saldana was there and Ron at the time Councilman was there. And everybody pitched in and was helping. And of course very next day and everybody organized and danced so we could continue to discuss this issue. And I'm so sad to see that the issue continues to come. It's been a couple of years since that happened and I'm so sad that we haven't resolved this issue. But one thing I can very much say with very strongly is that this community stays together. We are in a passionate city. We're a city of people who will drop everything in the middle of the night. It was the middle of the night. Two o'clock in the morning and people were still coming and bringing things and saying how can I help? How can I be of service? And people standing behind me were not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And I'm so proud of that effort of what we do here in San Antonio to help our families. But we do need to stay together. We cannot do it alone. It takes all of you all vote talking and telling your neighbors and telling what you saw. Many of y'all were killed that day and you saw what I saw. So please get the stories out. We cannot let this continue. We have the power within us, each and every one of us, to make that change and to make the difference. So thank you for being here today. Thank you so much for caring. Thank you so much for your unending support. Unfortunately, so sad but it continues. And we can do, we can make that change. We can do it ourselves, within our hearts, within this community to make the difference. Thank you all for organizing us. I see all these people here today. I'm so proud. I'm so proud of us as a city for doing everything we can to keep families together. Thank you all so much. I want to say thank you to the mayor and the council members who are doing a wonderful job representing the people of San Antonio and the character they see. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to bring up a room that's been fighting not only in Texas but across the nation on this issue and many others for quite a long time. That's the ACLU of Texas. Good evening everyone. Today we gathered here to give a voice to those who can come here and again and speak to all those mothers and children that are in Christmas. All those mothers, those parents and kids that have been separated at the border. There is no law that requires parents and children to be separated. The Trump administration bears full responsibility for this anti-humane policy. The ACLU is fighting for the immediate reunion of hundreds of children and parents through class action lawsuit. Hundreds of kids, hundreds of kids as young as 18 months, are in danger of suffering lifelong trauma. We can't let that, we can't let the Trump administration shed the blame or use families as bargaining chips for a border wall or other crackdown. Medical experts know the trauma of family separation. We must hold ICE and CBP accountable for the cruel and unnecessary suffering inflicted in these families. Security and the Department of Justice should immediately end this inhumane and cruel practice. Much as they like to, President Trump and Attorney General Sessions can't personally enforce the prosecution orders they're parking out. In Texas it's up to both the U.S. attorneys. Ryan Patrick, as you may know, who's the son of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the Western District John Bash and they are the ones that are carrying out disorders. Now they're both in Texas, one of them is here in San Antonio. John Bash is here, so I invite you to also call him up just like we're calling Jeff Sessions. He's here and we should call his office and ask him to end this inhumane policy. 210 384 7100 210 384 7100 And one last call to action. We also, we have Congressman Gustaf here and we want to make sure that everybody also contacts their member of Congress and ask them to support the protect family values at the border act. We must pass humane policies. This is our call to action itself. We are responsible for that. We should call them. This is our moment for our communities to fight for those people that are arriving at our borders and are being separated. This, this inhumane law that President Trump, the Department of Justice and the National Security Department have passed, has to end. It's not a law, separating my parents and children is not a law. It's a humane policy and it's good. The administration of Trump is completely responsible for this tragedy that is happening on the border. Of all those parents that are in a prison today without their children, without knowing where they are and not being able to communicate with them. The ECU is fighting for immediate reunification of these families. 1,100 children, as small as 18 months, of two years, are in danger of suffering from the trauma of being separated from their parents. We cannot let the administration of Trump use these families as exchange coins for a wall or for more protection on the border. The internal security department and the Department of Justice have to end with this practice. And the responsables are the prosecutors who are here in the State of Texas, John Bash, who is here in San Antonio. They can also speak to him in his office, just like in Trev Sessions. His phone number is 410-384-7107. Or you can send it to him too, because the social media is very powerful today. We can also ask them to demand, better said, that they end this inhumane practice. The administration of Trump is doing a lot of damage to our migrant communities. Today, we have to fight to defend our rights, to protect them. And just like we are here today, together with them, who know that despite being denied, we are fighting for them. And we are going to continue fighting day by day so that there is justice and families will be reunited. Thank you. We are an organization that plays an action across the country also, so I want to say thank you for that. We're almost done, but there's one more group that I'd like to invite up. And these are folks that day in and day out represent immigrants who are dealing with the immigration policies of today. And that's NAISIS. And NAISIS is a model recommendation about a group of people who have been hardworking and compassionate and dedicated to the people that they serve and have always been there to lend a hand to folks who need it, vulnerable folks who need it. So, the folks from NAISIS, please come on up. Thank you. My name is Justin Tunis. I'm with NAISIS. And I think a lot of what I want to share has already been shared. I'm really thankful to everyone that's here. You know I've talked about the experience of the horror that families go through in the country. And we should talk about separation for our own children. That's what we're seeing day in and out with our clients all around Texas. Some of them have been separated for a year or more from their children while they go through a complex process of seeking protection here in the United States. The races we were based here in San Antonio starting 30 years ago working with refugees. And what we've seen all throughout Texas at all our offices is families going through this square-thick experience. When Representative Bernal was talking a little bit about looking anywhere on faith traditions for something that justifies separating families. I have a similar challenge for the children's family. I would like to look anywhere in our laws for anything that justifies or requires a separating family. And I think that really, really, that day we're not fighting. And when you hear the administration talking from the rhetoric, a lot of times with the deep humanizing, criminalizing rhetoric, there's a sense that maybe a family would have to be separated for some reason, prosecuted criminally, but nothing could be farther from the truth. I think something that I'd like to share that really points to what this looks like is a family we worked with recently in Austin and Corpus Christi, two different families, both of them suffered separation. In one case, a six-year-old was separated from her mother and the six-year-old woke up crying because her mother was gone and had been taken away and was being detained in an immigration camp 200 miles away. And so if you can imagine that six-year-old going through the process of family protection in our public school system, her mom tried to find her not knowing and eventually uniting only after months. Another family living now in Austin that we work with, in that case a mom and her daughter who was eight years old presented themselves at the border and asked for asylum as a refugee. They asked for protection from the death threats they were receiving. Well, a year later they were still separated. The mom was sent to an ice detention camp surrounded by barbed wire with guard towers in the valley in the newly deserts. And the daughter was put into this federal system of shelters. It's not equipped to protect children in the way that's needed. So I think one thing that our clients have told us and really it should be the folks that we represent speaking here and I'm glad to say that in the days that are coming we have more and more folks who are stepping up who want to share that story and called out what the government is doing. So we're going to be needing more and more from them here in San Antonio or around Texas. But I think that one thing that they're asking is, we're hearing a lot about where the last children, right? Where are these children? For years parents have been asking us, where are my last children? Where are the children that were lost to me at the border? They weren't lost after release into communities where they're living with family with sponsors going through their process. They were lost at the border at the moment of seeking protection as refugees. And that's the loss that we have to prevent. That's what we have to call the administration to not do. And so it's it's all important that three things happen here. We have to stop criminalizing families and prosecuting parents as criminals who are doing what any responsible parent would do. Here in Garth County we would call any parent. And I brought this big sheet for a reason. Any one of those parents, we need to not criminalize them and prosecute them at the border. Separate them from their children and make their children unaccompanied to where that they are lost to their parents. And then they have to go through a process without their representation. We need to call on our government to stop those practices. We need to call on our government to support legal services for children who are unaccompanied that are living in our Texas communities. At the age of eight, nine, ten, 12 years old, and having to seek protection on the complex assignment system that most lawyers can't even understand. Where they have no right to a lawyer and they've been separated from their parents. We need to call on our government not to take away their funds as they've done and announced this month but to put those funds back and we need to support it. We ask for your help to support us as we represent children that have been released into Texas communities. The reason we come up with a key clue in the pro-wrestling is in addition to asking for y'all's help to support our LEAF project, our legal education and access fund where we're going to represent every child in Texas is our goal that's unaccompanied in going through that process in Texas. We ask you to support that but we also ask you guys to find somebody with one of these pink signing sheets over here and my co-workers are back there in that tent and we ask you guys to sign up to to get into action to really come together with all of us in San Antonio with our great organizations on top and SA stands that are uniting around these folks. We ask you guys to sign up and be trained with us. So this coming Saturday we're going to have a training for how to come down to our bus station right here the Grand Bus Station where many folks when they finally are released after that nightmare of months and years of detention they're dropped out by ICE at the bus station and we have a project where we can train y'all to come out and support those families offer them support welcome them help them get on their journey. We also ask you guys to sign up on one of these pink sheets for our company program. So not just RISES but so many other organizations here we're working together to train folks to accompany those families going through that process. So that means any of us can go together with a mom that's presenting herself at an ICE office for a terrifying check-in or she might be detained in a court or accompanying a child or a family to immigration court right down here in Del Rosas Street. So we invite everybody to sign up and come out with us to those trainings and we ask everyone to also visit our Facebook. We ask for your support for our bond fund and our beef fund. The bond fund is all important because here in San Antonio we count on every one of you guys. When we are now committed to representing parents which we are we've been separated from the children here in the Pearsall Detention Center and out near Dallas we want to keep representing those folks for free and we will and we want to expand that but we can't do without you because we have so many parents who are facing that agony of separation and they have been fixed with an immigration bond by a judge that's $1,500 minimum with no upper limit. So there's parents with $10,000, $20,000 bonds and we ask you guys to visit our Facebook, Rhysus, Texas and donate to our bond fund because every dollar counts to get those parents out reunite with their children so that they can fight their pace and be together and get in the community any more they belong. Thank you. All right thank you Rhysus for all the great work that you all do tireless work too. We're almost done we're going to finish off in a minute with an ending prayer by Pastor John Figgins of La Tireida United Methodist Church which is over 100 years old here just across the bridge into downtown. But before I do that I want to say acknowledge a few more folks that are here elected officials who helped us get the word out. Patty Radle from SSD School Board on the right side of the counter. Anasambuwal District Center Council when I went to school with many years ago at Jefferson High School I saw Joel Morente who's on the Alamo Colleges Board used to be a former councilman also. Thank you all of you. There's some people that you know it was basically four days that we put this together in and when I announced it on Twitter and I said we're going to do this rally reporters asked me well how many people are going to show up and I said listen I'll stand there with two people or two hundred people. But let it be said that when we asked the senator to show up that hundreds of you showed up and stood up because we have our own zero tolerance policy. Zero tolerance of bigotry zero tolerance of the trail of American values. Zero tolerance of treating people like they're not human. So thank you. And now to close this out let me have our master famous to join us. One of our other faith leaders who's here today is Saqlatham St. and I've asked if she could share her thoughts and words as well. Hello everybody. This is the month of Ramadan. I don't know if you're familiar with it or not Muslims fast from some some rise to sunset and I'm fasting as well. This is the month for us to celebrate the lives the bounties the blessings the god has given us as human beings to his children and this is not the time for us to see what other parents are going through with their children. Everybody's children are my children as well. I cannot I cannot understand the pain those parents must be going through and our leaders cannot feel it. What is Sashik doing today? Does he know that the country is rising up against all these stupid laws that they are making? It tells us that God has made us into different nations and tribes so that we learn from each other. We protect each other. We love each other. We teach each other. He has not asked us to draw the borders and divide ourselves like this into different colors of nations and what have you. Anybody who cannot feel the pain of other parents I don't think they're human beings. They do not. They're not civil. They should not be allowed to live among us. These federal agencies have placed these children almost 1500 of them with sponsors that the parents do not even know that the children themselves do not know they're strangers. Can you imagine if it is your child or my child? Leave them somewhere like this. We check out even if we leave them with the babysitters. Would Trump leave his children like this his grandchildren? Let's ask him. It is unspeakably wrong. I want to know where are those kids? We should demand that. America has to come out on the streets to demand this from Trump and his administration. Our silence from here if we go home we forget what we have done today that is not enough folks. We have to rise up bigger than this. All silent tolu people have to come out on the streets. Silent tolu is a compassionate city but of course I'll give a small prayer that we pray for the peace for the parents and the children who have disappeared like this and we ask God to please grant your peace to the parents and children in these difficult times. We know God is out there. We know he's testing us. He's also going to ask us what did you do? What did you do when these parents these folks and these children are going through something like this? Somebody before me said that this is not just happening here. It is happening around the world. And if we do not stop putting a stop to it here I don't know where it will stop. We pray for the support of the parents. We want the parents to know that we are out on the streets in the nation to support them. To do whatever it takes to bring those kids back to them. But have we ever realized this experience of the kids that they are going through is going to stay with them for the rest of their lives? Do they need counseling for the rest of their lives? Does anybody care about it? We pray for the guidance for the parents that God give them the wisdom and patience and guide them at a time like this when they do not know who to turn to. Where to go? Who to ask? They were leaving their country to get a better life. To give a better life to the children here in the United States of America. And we did the worst today for the love of the parents and the children. And we want the parents to know we all are here for them. I hope they're watching somewhere. I hope they're seeing around the nation. People are out on the streets and they are standing up with them. We should not rest until those kids are brought back to the parents. Four years ago, we, through raíces, and the guide also received a large group of detainees that were released in the mass release on a cold and rainy night. We prepared some caldo, caldo de collo and calavacita. And they said it was the first hunk-cooked meal that they had had months. That they'd been fed the lonely sandwiches. We saw a child who was almost swallowed up red from having 12 different vaccinations given on the day of release. Adult doses, horrible treatment. But while raíces was doing intake with the parents, we were, my wife and I were in the room with some other workers who were also here the night, working with the kids who were playing in our playroom church. And this is my son who's here on the stage with me. He was playing with those kids. Now how many of you have heard of Ancestry.com? Ancestry.com. I used to be on Ancestry.com and I mentioned it because part of the problem with this immigration concern is nativism and people just getting really into their own nativism and I went and researched my background and found out that I'm a ninth generation descendant of Virginia College. DNA 100% more than European. My son here is going to be 10th generation and but he's also a first generation Bolivian American. My wife's room first generation from Bolivia. Coach Bacow, Bolivian. And while Louis Vincent was playing with the kids that were in detention in our playroom, one of the moms turned to Pastor Raquel not knowing that she was Pastor Raquel and said, how did your son learn English so quickly in the detention center? And I heard that and it cut me to the heart. I thought if somebody that's been inside that place can't visually distinguish between a fifth generation descendant of Virginia Colony and their son who came across with them just weeks earlier, how is a police officer supposed to do that under Senate Bill and Philip or anybody else? They can't because there isn't a difference. As we've heard here today we're children of this earth. We're all indigenous to this planet and that's what you're not just. Would you join me in prayer? I'm going to say a Christian prayer that is an interfaith prayer as well. There's a part of this prayer where I'll say Lord in your mercy and I invite you if you desire to say so to join in responding. I'm saying here I'll pray when you pray Lord in your mercy you respond. Here I'll pray. Let us pray. Creator God of love and justice. Christians believe your solidarity with the human race was revealed and the incarnation of your word is a child. A child born as an indigenous Palestinian child that was an immigrant a refugee. A child whose birth was anticipated by prophets heralded by angels celebrated by shepherds worshiped by migrant sages. Magi. Yet from his birth until his death he was pursued and persecuted by authoritarian rulers and hypocrites. Through this child and Jesus we are taught that you shall favor upon the meek the merciful the forgiving the generous the hospital and the kind and so as you sent your spirit on Jesus we prayed that you would send your spirit upon us to proclaim good news to the poor to proclaim liberty to the captives recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor we pray for you to soften our hearts in the hearts of those who harbor ill will towards immigrants awaken our consciousness kindle and as a passion for justice and love that our prayers this night would be worthy of your attention even as they conform to the holiness of your love and so for many faiths we unite our hearts and pray for children we pray for children whose lives are threatened by scarcity disaster pollution violence corruption displacement defamation and bullying Lord in your mercy we pray for children whose parents have encountered such desperation that they sent them away to climb onto freight trains and cross deserts and borders on a company Lord in your mercy we pray for children who even now under this new policy are being ripped away from the safety and security and embrace of their loving parents essentially kidnapped by a government in order to coerce the parents and the family to leave Lord in your mercy we pray for the children whose shiver under mylaw blankets in the crowded cold cells of our for-profit detention centers Lord in your mercy we pray for the children whose arms swell up after being injected with adult doses of multiple vaccines Lord in your mercy we pray for children whose years of innocence and discovery are being stolen inside anti-immigration concentration camps Lord in your mercy we pray for children dumped in the middle of the night in cold wet streets of our cities their mothers humiliated into wearing the ankle shackle gps monitor Lord in your mercy we pray for dreamers brought here as children raised and educated as loyal patriotic successful devout americans yet with no pathway to citizenship Lord in your mercy we pray for the lost children those who have slipped through the cracks children who became undocumented by no fault of their own but by the negligence of our government and the lost who will never return whose shoes clothes backpacks toys and yes even bones they bleached in our desert unidentified uncounted unseen by anyone but you Lord in your mercy we pray for the children privilege children of privilege exposed in our culture day after day to the propaganda of racism nativism xenophobia resentment bigotry and hate protect their hearts and minds from these lies Lord in your mercy save them Lord deliver them and deliver their families before we read the holy word and your wrath burns against those who would harm even when child and your plumb line of justice will test our response to the least of these or as we do to them so also we do and walk down unto you calm our fears give us eyes to see ears to hear hearts to love hands to serve transform us in our nation from the inside out that we might return to the way of love and peace by your spirit give us courage to rise up to resist to act until we find the justice that we hunger and thirst to fight and let the genuineness of our many faiths be proven in our sacrifice even as the greatness of our diverse and beautiful nation is proven through our exceptional hospitality and all the people say amen finally thank you to mount the Mexican-american legislative caucus to Jack Uresti to Juarez to Matthew Jones to uh what it would be and everybody that worked so hard in putting this together and thank you all and it's time now to act thank you for being here