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CONTACT: occupyphl@protonmail.com
We the activists of the #OccupyICEPHL encampment are pleased that Mayor Kenney has met our first demand: to end Philadelphia’s resource-sharing agreement with ICE, known as the PARS (Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System) Agreement. With this municipal collusion with ICE, fueled by stop-and-frisk, Philadelphia has the highest arrest rate of immigrants with no criminal convictions in the country. We see the decision not to renew the PARS Agreement as a major victory for our occupation and for reducing the state-sanctioned violence against Philadelphia’s immigrant communities.
In response to this victory and Mayor Kenney’s demand that we leave by 2pm today, we are taking immediate steps to de-camp our City Hall occupation. Our decision to leave City Hall was reached to ensure our most vulnerable comrades are not placed at risk of police violence. We are not going home, we are not finished with our efforts; we are packing up this encampment and securing our resources before another raid, like the raid at the ICE office, takes and trashes the majority of our resources the community has been so helpful to provide.
We are taking today to safely organize our comrades and resources around our remaining demands: to end stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia, to shut down the Berks County Residential Center, and to abolish ICE in all its forms. Yesterday we celebrated a victory. Today we remember what steps are left to complete for our goal of a sanctuary city and eventually a sanctuary country. We stand in solidarity with Juntos, Cosecha, New Sanctuary Movement, our community and everyone affected by the unjust practices of our government.
