Hundreds of Families to Reunite in the Middle of the Rio Grande for #HugsNotWalls 5
5th #HugsNotWalls Event Continues to Showcase the Crisis of Family Separation due to Border and Immigration Policy
El Paso, TX/Southern New Mexico. – On Saturday, May 12th hundreds of families will have an opportunity to embrace each other, after their families were separated by deportation. #HugsNotWalls is an act of love and protest, an event where sons and fathers, wives and husbands, mothers and daughters, hug and embrace each other for the first time in years. #HNW showcases the deep inhumanity of U.S. immigration policies that separates immigrant families and scars communities across this country. Moreover, #HugsNotWalls offers a demonstration of an America that strives to live up to its values of welcoming, opportunity, and uplifting families.
Participant families will gather at Chihuahuita Park (400 Charles Road) in El Paso at 8:00 a.m., while their family members in Ciudad Juarez gather at the intersection of Boulevard Norzagaray and Calle Oro. From these gathering points families will proceed to the event site in the Rio Grande. The event will begin with a press conference in the middle of the Rio Grande.
This is the fifth #HugsNotWalls event that Border Network for Human Rights has held since August 2016. The massive scale of deportation and family separation affects many, and for them this event is the only opportunity to see and to hug their family members for at least a few minutes. Our country must cease the immoral policies that have created this humanitarian crisis. In the meantime, we will continue to bring families together and denounce their separation until there is a solution with a pathway to citizenship for these families.
*Press registration is necessary, and it will be available at Chihuahuita Park at 8 am, security badges will be provided. Press must also wear security T-shirt (blue in El Paso, white in Juarez)
#HugsNotWalls 5 on May 12th, 2018
El Paso families gather at 8:00 am at Chihuahuita Park (400 Charles Rd)
Families in Ciudad Juarez gather at 8:00 am at the Intersection of Boulevard Norzagaray and Calle Oro.
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The Border Network for Human Rights, founded in 1998, is one of the leading human rights advocacy and immigration reform organizations located at the U.S./Mexico Border. BNHR has over 7,000 members in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
