MIRAc condemns FBI raid on immigrant rights leader Carlos Montes

MIRAc strongly condemns the raid on May 17 at 5:00 a.m. by the SWAT Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and members of the FBI on the home of immigrant rights leader Carlos Montes in Los Angeles. Carlos is a long-time Chicano activist, a leader in the Southern California Immigration Coalition and in Latinos Against War. Carlos is a nationally-known and widely respected leader of the immigrant rights movement.

The SWAT Team smashed Carlos’s front door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos slept. The team of Sheriffs and FBI proceeded to ransack his house, taking his computer, cell phones and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes and mementos of his current political activities in the pro-immigrant rights and Chicano civil rights movement. Also taken were hundreds of historical documents related to Carlos Montes’ involvement in the Chicano movement for the past 44 years.

This attack on Carlos Montes is part of the campaign of FBI harassment taking place against the 23 peace and justice activists which has until now been centered in the Midwest. Carlos Montes’ name was listed on the subpoena left in the office of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee last September 24, and FBI agents tried to question him about the case during the raid.

Carlos Montes has dedicated his life to struggling for immigrant rights, for education rights, and against war. He has done nothing wrong. This is an attack on him and an attack on the Chicano movement for equality and the immigrant rights movement as a whole.

Stop the Attacks on the Chicano and Immigrants Rights Movement!

• We demand all charges be dropped against Carlos Montes.
• We call for the immediate return of all his property.
• We encourage everyone to call US Attorney General Eric Holder (202) 353-1555 and demand Hands Off Carlos Montes and other immigrant rights & anti-war activists.