FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leila Miller | press@indivisible.org
Washington, D.C. — Today, Indivisible’s Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder Leah Greenberg released the following statement in response to ICE’s abduction of Pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal in the Eastern Shore of Maryland:
“ICE’s violent abduction and detention of Pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal is yet another cruel and unjust attack on an individual who has done nothing but serve his community with compassion.
“To tear this man from his family, throw him into a freezing cell without even a bed, and treat him as disposable is a blatant moral failure. And worst of all, this is not a one-off incident. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve witnessed ICE agents enforce and expand Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
“Under Trump’s leadership, the current administration hasn’t been making America ‘safe’ or ‘great’ again. On the contrary, ICE has become even more aggressive, more secretive, and more unaccountable. What happened to Pastor Espinal, and will continue to happen to others if the administration’s actions continue to go unchecked, is a part of a broader campaign to criminalize and disappear immigrants, to tear apart families, and embed fear in our communities.
“We demand the immediate release of Pastor Espinal. And we call on elected officials at every level to resist Trump's dangerous and reckless anti-immigration agenda to prevent this from happening again.”
For Background:
Pastor Espinal has no criminal record and has been trying for years to adjust his legal status. He is known across his town of Easton for living his faith – providing shelter to those who need a place to sleep, opening his home, and providing food and clothing to those who are at the most vulnerable point in their lives.
He is now being held in an ICE detention center in Baltimore, where, according to his daughter, "he is very cold and there are no beds. Just a concrete floor and a bench."
This evening, Indivisible Baltimore County is hosting an emergency solidarity rally for Pastor Espinal with local grassroots leaders and elected officials. An activist with Indivisible Baltimore County will read this statement on Leah’s behalf at the rally.
How Indivisible is Engaging in the Fight Against Trump at the State Level:
Indivisible’s Blue State Defiance Program is working to combat these sorts of illegal and unconstitutional attacks by ICE and the Trump Administration in states with Democratic Leadership. Indivisible’s Blue State Defiance Program includes resources on:
- Fighting Trump’s Secret Policing Tactics by banning the use of masks and anonymized uniforms for all state, local, and federal law enforcement and requiring visible identification and agency affiliation during any public interaction or arrest.
- Defending Communities from Trump’s unconstitutional mass deportations by urging governors to take decisive action against the Trump administration’s unconstitutional mass deportation efforts.
- Educational resources on what’s happening with Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, and more actions people can take.
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ABOUT THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT
The Indivisible Project is a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Our mission is to cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. Across the nation, thousands of local groups are using the Indivisible Guide to hold their members of Congress accountable.