El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes solidarity with Carlos Montes

*The following letter was sent by El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes to Attorney General Eric Holder on July 1, 2011.*

—

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

July 1, 2011

Dear Attorney General Holder:

We are El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes, an organization in Chicago concerned about the rights of immigrants and Latinos in the United States.

We would like to ask that your department drop the charges against Carlos Montes, a Los Angeles area activist in the Mexican American community.

Mr. Montes was arrested in the early morning hours of May 17 at his home. Members of the L.A. County Sheriff’s police tore down the door, arrested Montes and confiscated his computer, cell phones and his personal archives of about 40 years as an activist.

At the same time we are also urging you to consider the harassment and intimidation of 23 anti-war activists in the country who are being ordered to appear before a grand jury.

Dissent and the free expression of ideas are a hallmark of our democracy. We urge you no to repeat the mistakes of the past such as the infamous Palmer Raids of 1919 which were conducted by the FBI as this only damages the constitutional framework of our nation.

We pray that you and President Obama, being African Americans, will understand how our law enforcement agencies in the past have been used to persecute those who express different opinions and points of view such as Martin Luther King Jr.

Sincerely,

Carlos Arango
President
Frente Unido de Inmigrantes