Emergency Funds for Families Affected by ICE Enforcement

On April 14, ICE agents ambushed CCT member Juan Francisco Méndez and his wife Marilú in their car en route to a medical appointment. The couple asked the agents to wait until their attorney arrived, but one of the operatives used a sledgehammer to smash the car window, and the couple was removed by force. ICE had no warrant, and although Méndez has no criminal record and is working with his attorney on an asylum claim, ICE sent him to a detention facility and began deportation proceedings.

We started this GoFundMe campaign in March, after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stormed a car wash in New Bedford on March 11 and arrested three Guatemalan workers.

Since then, there have been several additional ICE raids in our community, and well over a dozen community members are now in immigration detention, leaving behind over 40 dependents, including spouses and minor children.

We know that the government has its eye on communities like ours, with large numbers of vulnerable immigrants, and we fear that these are just the opening salvos, and ICE may return and detain more members of our community.

We are raising money to create a rapid response fund so we can support these detainees and their families by securing legal assistance, and providing material support when breadwinners are detained. Please give as generously as you can and help us out by sharing with your contacts.

Your donations will help these families: