Grassroots Leadership In The News

"Before the hearing, social justice advocacy groups Grassroots Leadership and the Austin Justice Coalition held a press conference siding with the city. Leaders there say the police associations are using 'access' as a bargaining tool in the restarted contract negotiations. 

The Austin Justice Coalition and Grassroots Leadership are siding with city lawyers. Sukyi McMahon with the coalition says there are too many officer shootings and use of force complaints for police to police themselves. She wants someone who's not an officer watching over." Read more about Judge to decide if city can access APD personnel files without contract

"El lunes 26 de marzo, en las oficinas de Garssroots Leadership, en Austin, Texas, Monterrosa dijo estar felíz, después de haber logrado salir del centro donde denunció haber sufrido abusos sexuales y psicológicos por 10 meses.

Claudia Muñoz, Directora de Programas de Inmigración de Grassroots Leadership, la organización que apoyó a Monterrosa dijo a MundoHispánico que Laura tuvo el valor de hablar y reportar todos los abusos que se viven en el centro de detención.

'Finalmente después de 10 meses de estar detenida, como cinco meses de una lucha bien fuerte, por su caso, por su vida por su dignidad,  Laura salió finalmente del centro de detención', agregó Muñoz." Read more about Laura Monterrosa la salvadoreña que fue liberada por ICE en Austin TX, habla sobre su encierro

'"If it wasn't for Grassroots Leadership, all their support, all the organizations that were supporting me in the community that would have been impossible,' Monterrosa said. 'I'm living a different life. I'm receiving a dignified treatment. I'm receiving all the support that I need.'

Now that she's been released from the detention center, Monterrosa believes there's still a lot of work to be done.

'My goal is to fight for all women and not only women, but also for men that are in the detention centers,' Monterrosa said. 'My goal is for all the detention centers to be closed because it's not a dignified place to be."' Read more about Salvadoran asylum-seeker released from T. Don Hutto after sexual assault allegations

"Monterrosa pleaded for a united front on behalf of the women at T. Don Hutto.  According to Grassroots Leadership, less than 1 percentof sexual allegations made within immigrant detention centers are investigated.

'I know that by all of us working together we can achieve triumph,' Monterrosa said. 'I know the women there are watching me. I want to tell them to keep on fighting and moving forward and not allow anybody to violate their human rights. Everyone, regardless of where they came from, deserves to have their rights respected.”' Read more about Salvadoran Woman Who Risked Deportation After Revealing Sexual Abuse In Detention Center Is Free

'“It makes no sense to make an appointment as serious as this in the immediate aftermath of something so complex and fast-moving,' said Chris Harris with the criminal justice reform group Grassroots Leadership.

He said the quick appointment of Manley to permanent chief would rob Austinites of the chance to participate in the process by which they normally make important city hires.

'If we don’t take the opportunity to get whomever will be the next chief to be on record as supporting policies that reflect the values of the community,' Harris said, 'then we’ve lost an extremely valuable opportunity to ensure we improve our police force.'" Read more about Some See Danger In Rush To Appoint Manley Permanent Austin Police Chief

"'This case under Obama would’ve taken like a month,' said Claudia Muñoz, immigration projects director with Grassroots Leadership, an Austin nonprofit that fights private prisons and led the activism around Monterrosa’s case. Under Obama, she said, it was 'common practice' for ICE to release detained immigrants with health problems or in response to scandal — a practice that’s much less common now.

Muñoz, an undocumented activist who once made national headlines for infiltrating a Michigan immigrant detention center, said that ever since Trump’s election, it’s been an open question whether Trump’s ICE can be successfully pressured. 'A lot of people have stopped organizing because they don’t think it’s possible now,' she said. 'But you have to be willing to try; it might not work, but people are being deported either way.'

On Friday, ICE granted Monterrosa what’s called 'deferred action,' essentially a year-long promise not to deport her while she tries to sort out her immigration case. Such temporary reprieves, which are renewable but can be revoked by ICE at any time, are a common goal for activists and attorneys, but they’ve been much harder to come by under Trump. In a statement, San Antonio ICE spokesperson Nina Pruneda said Monterrosa is required to check in weekly with the agency." Read more about Asylum-Seeker’s Release Shows Activists Can Win Under Trump’s ICE

"If we need fresh examples of ICE human rights violations, we need only to look back to last month. That’s when Laura Monterrosa, a woman who accused a guard of sexually abusing her last fall in Hutto Detention Center in Texas, was locked in solitary confinement for 60 hours and told she wouldn’t be released until she recanted her sexual assault complaint." Read more about Congressional accountability measures for ICE are long overdue

"Grassroots Leadership la organización pro inmigrante que luchó por su liberación, informó a través de un comunicado que la mujer de 23 años salió de detención como resultado de una campaña de meses y de todo el apoyo que recibió." Read more about Liberan a Laura Monterrosa, la salvadoreña que reportó abuso sexual en centro de detención en Texas

"In Texas, a 23-year-old Salvadoran asylum seeker named Laura Monterrosa has been freed from the T. Don Hutto detention facility, after a national campaign to win her freedom. Monterrosa says she was sexually assaulted by a guard while in detention and was then placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for speaking up. She fled El Salvador to escape sexual persecution as a lesbian and was detained for nine months."

  Read more about Salvadoran Asylum Seeker Who Says She Was Sexually Assaulted in Detention Is Freed