After 4-month journey, migrants to make press statements as they deliver meeting request at White House.
Washington, DC—On Tuesday morning, the AMIREDIS Caravan of migrants from Honduras will formally request a meeting with President Barack Obama, delivering a letter to the White House. The Caravan arrived to Washington, DC late last week and held meetings with members on the Hill and with advocacy NGOs.
Representing the Honduras-based AMIREDIS – the Association of Disabled and Returned Migrants – the delegation includes eight men who have all been mutilated by the northward train known as “la bestia” (the beast) and have traveled four months with the mission of meeting with President Obama and preventing more injuries and deaths of Central American migrants.
The letter reads in part:
“After 120 days en route – including 45 days in detention in the US where we were both chained and humiliated – and a journey across four countries, we have arrived to Washington, DC, to share with you, face to face, our testimony. …
“…Some things are impossible, for example, that my companeros’ arm or leg might grow back. That is impossible. But preventing more mutilations, more deaths, more disappearances, and more sexual violence, that is possible. We are not here to place blame, we are here to find solutions…”
WHAT: Press Conference by AMIREDIS delegation of migrants from Honduras
WHEN: Tuesday, June 23, 2015, 8:15AM
WHERE: West entrance to the White House (next to Eisenhower Building, on 17th Street St, NW and State Place, NW)
VISUALS: Eight-member delegation of persons maimed by northward-bound train («la bestia»), signs and banners
