For Sandals & Silver - 3rd Annual Pilgrimage from Ellis Island to the EDC

Wed, 2012-02-22 10:00

Beginning with a prayer service & press conference

Freedom Way (in front of the footbridge to Ellis Island)
Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ

Ending with a Prayer Service & Distribution of Ashes at 6:00 PM
Elizabeth Detention Center
625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ

Join us as we walk 12 miles from the footbridge at Ellis Island (a powerful symbol of our nation's history of welcoming immigrants), to the barbed wire fences at the gates of the Elizabeth Detention Center. The history of immigration detention in New Jersey includes a myriad of cases of abuse, including a number of shocking deaths, a culture of secrecy and a lack of transparency in the county jails and the private detention facilities that now hold over 2000 individuals on any given day. The increase in the number and the size of the facilities is being driven, more than anything else by money. Whether it is the private companies like Corrections Corp of America or Community Education Centers which are profiting from the incarceration of people or county governments like Essex which hail the revenue generated by federal contracts as "heroic" and "innovative" ways to reduce property taxes one cannot avoid the fact that the financial benefit of some is being used to justify the suffering of many. Please join us as we walk between the sites that are at the root of the misery of our brothers and sisters and witness with other faith traditions along the way.

Sponsored By IRATE & First Friends & Pax Christi NJ

Co-Sponsored by: AFSC Immigrant Rights Program - Newark; Wind of the Spirit; Felician Sisters of North America; Casa Esperanza; St. Joseph Social Service Center; Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless; Reformed Church of Highland Park; Passaic County Coalition for Immigrant Rights; Hudson County Brotherhood/Sisterhood Association; Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry - NJ Synod; NJ Lutheran Immigration Task Force; St. Stephan's Grace Community- ELCA; Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth; Franciscan Sisters of Peace; Community Church of NY, Action for Justice Committee

For more information, to sign up to walk, or to co-sponsor contact Kathy O'Leary 908-273-0751 kolearypcnj@gmail.com

See Facebook Event Page