Stop the Deportation of Victor Toro

KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER
DON'T DEPORT VICTOR TORO

Victor Toro, a Chilean was arrested by U.S. border patrol on July 5, 2007 on an Amtrak train in Rochester, NY. He is a victim of the anti-immigrant backlash sweeping this country.

The Victor Toro Defense Committee states that Toro was racially profiled, asked for papers and detained. Victor and his spouse Nieves Ayress are both long time fighters for social justice in the U.S. and in their homeland years ago.

In Chile, Victor was instrumental in struggles for basic survival for his community including the fight for water and housing. Nieves is a long time activist for women and indigenous rights as well. In March of this year, the judge presiding over the case of Victor Toro denied Toro’s request for political asylum. Toro faces possible deportation anytime. The Defense Committee is asking that Victor be allowed to remain in the U.S. since deportation back to Chile would uproot him from his family and community in the Bronx and pose a danger to his health and life.

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Send a message to President President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Congressman Jose Serrano, Congressional leaders, The U.N. General Assembly President, U.N. Secretary General Ban, and major media representatives including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, Reuters. Let them know that VICTOR TORO MUST NOT BE DEPORTED!

Sign the petition below! (Scroll down to sign and to see petition text. You will be able to edit the text in step 2 after pressing the "submit" button below.)

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Sample Text (you will be able to edit it in step 2 after pressing the "submit" button above): To: President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Congressman Jose Serrano CC: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Senate Foreign Reltions Committee, Congressional Leaders, media representatives Please allow Victor Toro to stay in the U.S., his home of 30 years. Do not separate him from his family, especially his new grand-daughter. He presents no public safety or security threats and has contributed greatly to his community in the South Bronx. Victor has suffered enough, enduring unspeakable acts of torture and witnessing the deaths of many of those with whom he had struggled for freedom while imprisoned during the 1973 Pinochet coup that the U.S. supported. Do not return him to Chile where many of those who tortured and murdered people like Victor still walk free in Democratic Chile. Help this nation move beyond the wrong-doings of the past, and re-commit to a future with justice and peace, and allow Victor Toro, 69 years old, to peacefully live out his life with his family here in the U.S. Sincerely, (Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form above) Para: El Presidente Barack Obama, El Procurador general de Justicia Eric Holder, La Secretaria de Seguridad Interior Janet Napolitano, Senador de Nueva York Kirsten Gillibrand, Representante de Nueva York Jose Serrano CC: Ban Ki-moon, Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas; Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado; Líderes del Congreso; Representantes de los Medios Victor Toro debe permanecer en los Estados Unidos, su hogar por mas de 30 años. No lo deporten ni lo separen de sus seres queridos, su esposa, su hija y su pequeña nieta y a toda las personas humildes y necesitadas a las que el a servido y confortado con lealtad y abnegacion en el sur del Bronx. Victor a sufrido ya bastante durante los tres años de torturas y violencias innominables, siendo tambien testigo del esaparecimiento y muerte de muchos de los que luchaban como el por la libertad. Victor Toro no representa amenaza alguna a la seguridad de este país y no se le debe obligar a retornar al país que lo ha martirizado después del golpe de estado propugnado por los Estados Unidos y que llevo al sanguinario dictador Augusto Pinochet al poder en Chile. Regresarlo a Chile, donde muchos de los torturadores de entonces gozan de la libertad y de la democracía del Chile de hoy constituye por si una forma de cruel e injusto castigo. Ayuden a esta Nacion a ir mas allá de los errores del pasado y a comprometerse con un futuro de justicia y paz para que así permitan a Victor Toro, hoy 69 años de edad, a vivir junto a su familia y su comunidad aquí en los Estados Unidos. Sinceramente,