Free Immigrant Rights Leader Jean Montrevil!

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-07 08:21:00 -0800
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Twenty years ago, Jean Montrevil did time for a drug conviction. Today, the Haitian-born immigration rights activist has a green card, is married to a U.S. citizen, and four children who are citizens. And he waits in detention to be deported, as a result of that ancient conviction.

I've already voiced my disgust at the arbitrary (and thus human rights violating) deportation of legal residents for criminal charges. What I didn't point out there, however, is that immigrants don't always get deported immediately after their sentence. Many, like Montrevil, are released to live normal lives -- then BOOM. An ICE agent swoops down and ships them off (in Montrevil's case, at a routine immigration check-in he presented himself at). Arbitrary.

Montrevil served his "debt to society" and has been a law-abiding, contributing member ever since. At the time of his conviction, the law under which non-citizens can be deported for committing felonies didn't even exist -- but he's now caught in the grasp of its retroactive reach. His wife, Jani, asks, "How can they judge him on something he's already been punished for?"

Montrevil has embarked on a hunger strike to protest immigration policy that "destroys families," and several of his supporters have been arrested at protests.

A petition supporting Montrevil's release has already gained well over 1,000 signatures. Please sign the petition to send a letter to your representatives urging them to free Jean Montrevil and return him to his family.

Photo: tsmall

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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