The gift of simplicity

Even before I was born, the gods of consumerism were setting traps to ensnare me in their grips.  Once my parents announced that they were expecting me, their firstborn, the culturally scripted expectation was that the young couple would be showered with more gifts than expected.  As their newborn baby, I would “need” clothing for [...]

Who’s important to CCA?

“You are important…..to CCA”. As we approach the entrance to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, the first signs we see are brightly lettered installations declaring how important we are to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). There is a chilling irony in this cheery welcome. In a for-profit prison that holds 2,000 immigrant [...]

Eight arrested at Stewart Detention Center

By Emily Guzman, U.S. citizen & wife of Pedro Guzman who was detained at SDC from November 2009 until May 2011. This is a reflection on the November 2010 vigil where eight individuals, including Emily’s mother and three members of Alterna were charged with criminal trespass for an act of civil disobedience. FOR MORE INFO [...]

For such a time as this

In March 2011, House Bill 87, Georgia’s cruel anti-immigrant law was passed by the House and Senate. As the third annual Holy Week Pilgrimage for Immigrants began, the media’s attention was on Georgia and many immigrants, allies, and persons of faith were praying Governor Deal would veto this scapegoating piece of legislation. As is tradition, [...]

VICTORY!!! Pedro Guzman is free!

Glenn Fogle, the Guzmans’ immigration attorney, explains it this way: After almost 19 months after being arrested by an ICE “Fugitive Operations Unit” at his home in North Carolina in front of his wife and then 2 year old son, on a removal order he did not even know about, Pedro Guzman has been granted [...]