NEWSBYGABRIELA GARCIA

UPDATE 2/10/12: Victory! University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has agreed to help Jesus Navarro develop a plan for long-term care needed to receive a life-saving kidney transplant, following a national outpouring of support that included more than 130,000 signatures on Jesus' viral petition -- as well as coverage on CNN, ABC, NBC, and more.
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Late last week, Donald Kagan, who received a kidney transplant that saved his life, started a petition on Change.org. It was for another man fighting a battle to live and see his daughter grow up—Jesus Navarro. Navarro is an Oakland father who has waited six years for a transplant, has insurance to cover the cost of the surgery, and has a wife who hopes to donate her kidney. But UCSF Medical Center won’t perform the life-saving transplant for one reason: Jesus is undocumented.

UCSF argues that, as an undocumented immigrant, Navarro will not be able to afford future treatments, but his supporters argue otherwise and have lined up willing donors to aid him in his long-term care. Since Donald started his petition, tens of thousands have signed. His campaign for Jesus has been covered by ABC 7- San Francisco, CBS 5- SF, NBC Latino, and the Huffington Post. Everyone from doctors and nurses to the children of parents who faced kidney failure have expressed outrage that UCSF would let a man die on their watch simply because of his immigration status. Below is a sample of comments from Donald's viral petition:

I am a graduate of UCSF School of Medicine, Class of 1973. I am also a believer in the worth and dignity of every individual, without regard to race, religion, gender, national origin -- or status of documentation! Let's just move the case mentally for a moment to the Jim Crow south and see how the morality of it all plays out. Sometimes institutions need to step forward and do the right thing. UCSF may have just met that moment.

-Charles Torrey, Vashon, WA

Seven months ago, Rose Escobar’s worst nightmare came true. Her husband, loving father to then 1-year-old baby Walter and the main financial provider for the family, was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and placed in detention. A faulty lawyer had advised him not to attend a hearing to renew the Temporary Protected Status that was granted to him as an immigrant fleeing violence and natural disasters in El Salvador, and this had triggered a deportation order.

What followed were the most difficult months of Rose’s life as she struggled to make ends meet and provide for her son who stood in front of the window everyday calling for his dad. But an amazing thing happened—after Rose started a campaign on Change.org to free her husband, thousands began to sign. FIEL Houston, a local student-led organization, saw her petition and offered to help, staging a vigil in front of the detention center attended by more than 50 local supporters. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee got involved and contacted ICE on Rose’s behalf. And after more than 4,000 signed Rose’s petition and the story was covered by the Houston Chronicle and multiple local TV stations, Jose was finally freed and is now home with his family.

Update [Wed. 1/11/12]: The press  hits have been rolling in! Below is a round up of the coverage Charley's story has received.

Veronica spoke with Soledad O'Brien on CNN national news (this morning): you can watch the video here. The Editorial Board of the New Jersey Star Ledger wrote an op-ed this morning calling for Chehoud's deportation to be cancelled. The South Orange Patch reported on Chehoud's story. And Marie Diamond from ThinkProgress analyzed Chehoud's story and the implications of policies that deport immigrants who work with police, therefore jeopardizing public safety.

Community safety advocates often warn that increased ties between federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police will lead to an erosion of trust in communities, making it less likely that immigrants will report violent crimes to law enforcement for fear of deportation.

Charbel Chehoud, an immigrant who has lived in New Jersey since 1989, certainly could have faced such fear. But he came forward to help police solve a high-profile murder that had gone unsolved, despite the risks, after a former co-worker confessed having witnessed the crime. Chehoud didn’t hesitate to do what he knew was right: go forward with the information that would help a victim’s family find some peace even though he was out of status and in the midst of applying for asylum.

At the time, Chehoud’s decision helped the police close a brutal case that had gone cold. But his involvement in helping law enforcement eventually led to a missed court date that triggered deportation. And now, even though the police and a former prosecutor have asked that he be allowed to stay, Chehoud is in detention and could face a sixth attempt at removal on Wednesday.

Join over 7,000 people who have signed Veronica Garcia’s petition asking ICE to listen to police and prosecutors and keep her fiancée home.

On November 4th, Meghan Wolfe wrote a blog post as she prepared to leave Kenya, where her husband works in a hospital, to head to their hometown in Indiana with their son Andy. National doctor strikes had begun in Kenya, and Meghan was getting ready to give birth in a couple of months. It was a heart-wrenching decision. Meghan would have to leave behind Eden, a baby who had been abandoned in the hospital, and whom the couple were in the process of adopting for more than 2 years.

“You can’t imagine how horrible it feels to separate Eden and Andy. I am so afraid of what that will do to them and their relationship,” Meghan wrote.  “I worry that she will feel abandoned… She might not be there when Grace is born, and she is so excited about helping me with the baby. Ben and I are tired of fighting the US, and we are so sad right now. That leaves us with prayer. “

Although the US government had approved a travel visa for Eden in the past, and the Kenyan government recognized the couple as legal guardians and had approved travel for Eden, US Customs and Immigration Services had not approved a visa for Eden to spend the holidays with her family in Indiana.

But yesterday, after over 35,000 people signed the family's petition on Change.org, Meghan received great news: Baby Eden would be coming home.

This is the Christmas Rose Escobar had imagined she’d be staying up late with her high school sweetheart and husband Jose, hiding toys for two-year-old Walter under the tree and anxiously awaiting the morning. Instead, the feeling in the house is tense. Money is tight this year as Rose has become the sole provider and much of it goes to lawyer fees. And Walter spends his days pressed up against the window, used to seeing his dad come home and not understanding why he’s not around.

Last week, more than 50 community members gathered in front of Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, Texas, in a vigil to support Rose and her son. Rose told her story, and attendees chanted and rallied for Jose’s release. The 25-year-old Houston father, who arrived as a teenager from El Salvador and acquired Temporary Protected Status, has been in detention since June, after following faulty legal advice that led him to miss a hearing to renew his status. Jose has never been in trouble with the law and is married to a US citizen with a US citizen child. Under Department of Homeland Security guidelines, he should not be a priority for deportation and his case should be reviewed for dismissal.

After Rose started a petition calling for Jose’s release that has garnered more than 4,000 signatures, Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL), a Houston immigrant youth-led organization, took up the campaign. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee also stepped in and asked ICE to release Jose. The Houston Chronicle, Univision, and Telemundo all covered the family’s plight. Yet Jose Escobar has remained behind bars for more than 6 months -- and the family faces the dismal prospects of a Christmas apart.

Ernest “Marty” Atencio is a US veteran who fought in the Gulf War and was “the most patriotic guy on the planet” according to his brother in an interview with Phoenix New Times. Described as having “special needs,” Atencio was arrested after he kicked a door and confronted a stranger shortly before he became “distracted by a passing vehicle and began chasing it,” according to a police report. In a booking photo, he is shown smiling, his eyes wide, and leaning into the camera—he appears to be unstable, likely because his medication was “not balanced,” his brother told the paper.

It is probable, had the case made its way through the system, that Mr. Atencio would have been found incompetent to stand trial or been given access to medical professionals to be put on the correct medications. We’ll never know. Because Mr. Atencio was placed in one of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous Maricopa County jails. And several hours later, he was rushed to the hospital, brain dead from excessive force. He’d been tasered and thrown back in his cell for 15 minutes before officers noticed he didn’t have a pulse.

Join former investigative journalist John Dougherty’s campaign to demand the resignation of Joe Arpaio.

In 1991, the U.S. issued a visa to a well-known scholar in geographic information systems, Atanas Entchev. The brilliant specialist was courted by Rutgers University as the recipient of a prestigious fellowship to study urban planning issues in the United States and obtain a second masters degree. Entchev accepted the invitation, and did everything right: He obtained visas for his wife Mayia, then 2-year-old son Enislav, and daughter Christina.

He succeeded brilliantly at Rutgers, published articles in influential architecture magazines, and opened his own consulting firm Entchev GIS Architects. He applied for asylum from Bulgaria, and when that was denied, applied and was approved for a visa as an Outstanding Researcher or Professor. Nevertheless, on October 5, 2011, Atenas and Enislav were placed in detention and all family members except Christina were informed they would be deported.

Mayia knew what was at stake: A son who knew no other country but the U.S., siblings separated simply because one applied for a different visa than the other, and a lifetime contributing important research and building a prominent consulting firm in New Jersey abandoned. She started a petition on Change.org and 1,300 supporters later, the family was released from detention and given a one-year stay of deportation to continue fighting their case.

A few minutes: That is all it took to nearly separate a family. In 1993, Anibal Mazariegos, then 17 years old, had arrived to an immigration hearing where he was pleading for asylum from war-torn Guatemala. He got there just a few minutes late. The judge issued a deportation order “in absentia” even though Anibal was there.

And when Anibal was placed in detention this year, it looked like the devastating end to a frustrating story about a court mixup. Anibal faced deportation in two days, and his five U.S. citizen children faced an uncertain future without the sole breadwinner in the family. But thanks to more than 600 people who joined a campaign to stop Anibal’s deportation, he is now home with his family.

It wouldn’t have been possible without Manuel Guerra Casas. When the 26-year-old immigrant rights activist heard Anibal’s story, it struck a nerve. Casas also lives in Florida, and friends successfully fought his own deportation with a campaign on Change.org. Even though there was so little time to keep the Mazariegos family together, Casas decided to start a petition.

On Monday, more than 4,000 petition signatures calling for independent oversight of Border Patrol operations were delivered to the White House by volunteers from the organization No More Deaths. The faith-based group operates on a mission to end suffering and death on the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and volunteers regularly leave water for migrants who cross the treacherous Sonoran desert.

Following a recent report released by No More Deaths that documented 30,000 stories of abuse faced by migrants who were apprehended by Border Patrol agents, Standing on the Side of Love, a project of the Unitarian Universalist church, started a petition on Change.org calling for a meeting with Border Patrol to address concerns and create new possibilities for oversight.

Update, Nov. 12, 11:00 pm ET: JB not deported Saturday. JB's supporters, who accompanied him to the airport in a show of solidarity this evening, are reporting that the Dreamer has been spared deportation tonight. Voltaire thanks those who've signed and urge others to continue signing the petition, as JB remains at risk for deportation.

Everything seemed to be going right for JB Librojo. The hardworking student graduated from San Francisco State University with a pre-med degree and now dreams of becoming a dentist. He had been approved for a visa that would allow him to stay in the country he has called home for 16 years, works two dental jobs to pay for his family's home, and has a loving network of friends and family in California. Originally from the Philippines, his family had settled in the US on a granted asylum visa. And then came the deportation notice.

More than 7,900 people have now signed a petition expressing outrage that a young person who has done nothing wrong is caught up in a web of red tape that threatens to separate him from the only country he knows as home. Still, according to JB's friends, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have expressed no plans to cancel his scheduled deportation tomorrow. "See you Saturday," were the chilling last words JB heard from ICE this week.

JB just uploaded a video to YouTube, inviting his supporters to join him at the San Francisco airport tomorrow: