Free Pancho Now
Demand that Barbara Lee order ICE to lift the immigration ban on Pancho!
Francisco “Pancho” Ramos-Stierle was arrested while meditating at the Oscar Grant Plaza during the second early morning raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment on November 14th. He is currently being held by the Oakland Police Department on $10,000 bail and they plan to turn him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immediate deportation. He could be sent to Arizona as soon as tommorrow morning. That means we need to act now!
Pancho is an Oakland resident and a powerful community organizer. He was recently pursuing his PH.D in astrophysics at UC Berkeley but resigned from the program when he learned that his work would be used to promote “safer nuclear weapons.” Pancho has continued his service to the Oakland community through promoting community gardens and organizing against divisive programs such as the ICE-coordinated “Secure Communities”.
As a mediator and activist, Pancho has become an icon of peaceful protest against the unnecessary force the city of Oakland is using against the 99%. Join us in demanding that Senator Barbara Lee intervene forcing ICE to drop the immigration hold on Pancho immediately and that they stop the unjust surveillance of immigrants in Oakland.
The photo of Pancho meditating–as riot police arrest him–has gone viral on Twitter, and Facebook and has been a source of incredible inspiration to many around world. In a note from jail Pancho wrote to us saying, “Just tell them I love them all. Great space to meditate!” Now it is time to demand the freedom of our brother as we speak out against police crackdowns, unjust U.S. immigration policies and support this growing movement against Wall Street greed.
Sign the petition now: http://www.change.org/petitions/free-pancho-now.
For more information and actions you can take click here (PDF).
Video: “Occupy Oakland Activist facing possible deportation after Monday’s arrest” by Josh Wolf
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