A rally will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Danzas Indígenas monument, located at the Baldwin Park metro station, followed by attendance at the Baldwin Partk city council meeting.
The address for the station where the monumento is located is:
3825 Downing Ave, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
People know it as the corner of Ramona.
There is plenty of parking at the station, as well as the city lot behind city hall.
Baldwin Park City Hall just is located around the corner from there at:
14403 Pacific Ave, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
There is also a petition that will be posted on line later today that people can sign.
Here is the latest summary of what happened (English follows the Spanish):
El sábado, 28 de diciembre, en medio de las festividades decembrinas, la policía de Baldwin Park realizó un retén en el cual arrestaron a 42 personas, en su mayoría por supuestamente no portar identificación válida, a pesar de que llevaban identificación consular. Los encerraron en la cárcel de Baldwin Park, los ficharon, y les tomaron las huellas digitales. No se les permitió hacer llamadas a sus familiares, sus abogados, u oficiales consulares, lo cual es su derecho bajo la ley. Afortunadamente, nadie fue transferido a la custodia de inmigración, pero el simple hecho de que fueron arrestados los expuso a la posible deportación.
Desde el retén, la comunidad ha estado investigando el escándalo, y la historia oficial ha cambiado varias veces. Primero dijeron que el tribunal de West Covina ya no aceptaba la matrícula, pero reportes de la prensa revelaron ninguna nueva política de parte de la corte. Entre tanta confusión, los reclamos del pueblo son claros:
1. La formación de un comité para investigar y supervisar la resolución de las quejas de la comunidad.
2. Una moratoria en operativos de retenes y patrullas de saturación hasta la implementación de la ley de licencias para indocumentados/as, AB 60.
3. Reembolso de toda multa pagada por el decomiso de vehículos por las personas arrestadas el 28 de Diciembre.
4. Restauración de la política de aceptación de la matrícula consular y otras identificaciones consulares.
Which someone was kind enough to translate:
ONLINE PETITION TEXT/CONTENT
BALDWIN PARK: STOP MASS UNFAIR ARRESTS
BALDWIN PARK: BASTA A LOS ARRESTOS INJUSTOS
FACTS/DATOS:
– ⅓ of Baldwin Park residents are undocumented
-There has been a history of Checkpoints, Car Impounds and racial profiling in the recent years.
On Saturday, December 28th in the middle of the holiday season the City of Baldwin park in LA county held a massive DUI checkpoint which resulted in the arrest of 42 residents. The majority of were not able to provide “valid” identification due to their immigration status, their consular ID were not accepted by police. The community members were arrested and fingerprinted. They were not allowed to call their relatives, attorneys or their consulate which their right under current laws. Luckily no one was transferred to ICE but any of the arrests could have led to deportation.
Since the checkpoint happened the statements from officials has changed several times.
The community demands are:
1. The creation of a Ad hoc committee to to investigate and oversee the resolution of these demands, including the implementation of the California Trust Act (AB4) in Baldwin Park.
2. A moratorium on checkpoints, saturation patrols, and other Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Grant operations
3. Reimburse fees related to impounds and arrests of all persons or property involved in the December 28, 2013, checkpoints, which are violative of public policy.
4. The City Council shall issue a resolution declaring that the Matricula Consular will be recognized as acceptable identification by all departments of the City of Baldwin Park, including the Police Department.
for more information contact:
Benjamin Wood
Organizer, Pomona Economic Opportunity Center
909-397-4215 ofc
909-996-1624 cel
bnjmn.wood@yahoo.com<mailto:bnjmn.wood@yahoo.com>
or
Madeline Newman Rios
909-621-9600