Standing on the Side of Love With Jean Montrevil
Standing on the Side of Love has been following the case of Jean Montrevil, a Haitian immigrant rights advocate and community leader in New York who has been detained since December while awaiting deportation.
On January 14th, Adam Gerhardstein, Campaign Manager, came to NYC and was hosted by the Community Church of NYC, a New Sanctuary Church. They attended a rally at the Varik St. Detention center and were joined by over 100 other people standing on the side of love. The rally was covered by the New York Times, and Standing on the Side of Love is following this story closely. Keep checking this post for updates on Jean’s story.
Sign a petition for Jean’s release here.
Update:Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has issued the following statement: “As part of the Department’s ongoing efforts to assist Haiti following Tuesday’s devastating earthquake, I am announcing the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals who were in the United States as of January 12, 2010.” We have not yet received word on what this announcement means for Jean’s case, but we will update this page with details as they become clear.
Update: We are happy to report that Jean was released from the Detention Center on January 23rd. Jean can now continue his work to keep families together. Thank you for taking action to Stand on the Side of Love. We are hopeful that Jean is safe from deportation, but we do know there is still some danger. We will continue to be vigilant to keep all immigrant families together.
Footage from rally for Jean’s release outside the Detention Center:
