Voces de la Frontera prayer, vigil and rally outside Paul Ryan’s church

St. John Vianney Catholic Church

1245 Clark St

Janesville, WI 53545

What: Prayer vigil and rally outside Paul Ryan’s church

Who: Voces de la Frontera, Youth Empowered in the Struggle, religious leaders, immigrant families, supporters
When: Sunday, August 20th, 11am

Where: St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 1245 Clark St, Janesville, WI 53545

What: Rally outside of Paul Ryan’s CNN made-for-tv closed town hall

Who: Voces de la Frontera, Youth Empowered in the Struggle, many community organizations, immigrant families, religious leaders, supporters

Where: Racine Theatre Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave, Racine, WI 53404

RACINE & JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN – As House Speaker Paul Ryan returns to his district for the August recess, his constituents will greet him with vigorous protest demanding he reject Trump’s white supremacist agenda. Community members will rally on Sunday and Monday demanding Ryan condemn Trump by name for his continued embrace of white supremacy and neo-Confederate ideology, and that he publicly speak in favor of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which currently allows almost 800,000 immigrant youth to work legally and remain with their families without fear of deportation. In July, 10 anti-immigrant state attorneys general threatened to sue to eliminate DACA if Trump doesn’t end the program by September 5th.

“The white supremacist murder in Charlottesville and Trump and Ryan’s disgraceful responses remind the broader public how hateful and dangerous Trump’s white nationalist, anti-immigrant agenda is,” said Valeria Ruiz, a Racine organizer with Voces de la Frontera’s student arm Youth Empowered in the Struggle. “Ending DACA is part of that agenda. If DACA is eliminated, I would lose my ability to work and support my community and family, and my family and I would immediately be at risk of being separated from one another. As Speaker Ryan’s constituents, we urge him to condemn Trump by name and publicly declare support for our families and DACA. Ryan needs to publicly urge Trump to not eliminate these protections that have improved the economy and the lives of so many young people and families. DACA-mented youth and supporters will be at Paul Ryan’s church on Sunday to make public witness outside and pray for Ryan to act on Catholic teaching and stand up for immigrants and the most marginalized in society.”

“Voces de la Frontera, YES, and our allies have been calling on Speaker Ryan to have town hall meetings for the last two years,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. “This made-for-tv stunt is pure theater. If Paul Ryan had a real town hall with open access to the public, he would have thousands of his constituents calling on him to stand up against corporate interests and the politics of white nationalism.”

Contact: Elliott Magers, 317-997-3558, [email protected]