Portrait of a Black man smiling with the text FREE SHAKOURE and logos of MPower Change, CAID NY, BAJI, Freedom to Thrive, African Communities Together, and New Sanctuary Coalition

Email Cuomo: #PardonShakoure

Update 2/18/2021

On the morning of Friday, February 12, 2021, Shakoure was released from Bergen County Jail where he spent 219 days under threat of deportation to a country in which he has never lived. Our collective effort to pressure ICE worked, and ICE released Shakoure under huge public pressure from community members, organizations, faith leaders, and the press.

All through December 2020, thousands of people joined 80+ organizations in demanding Gov. Cuomo pardon Shakoure Carpentier. Despite the horrific conditions in NY prisons and jails due to COVID-19 and more, Cuomo only issued 21 pardons and clemencies. Shakoure was not on that list.

Though Shakoure now has a better chance to be able to defend his case against baseless claims, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still withholding Shakoure's citizenship documents from the court and he is sitll under the threar of deportation. Gov. Cuomo has the power to end all of this with a pardon.

Join us by sending an email Cuomo and demanding clemency for Shakoure NOW.

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Read Shakoure's full story bellow:

On July 6th, 2020, ICE officers showed up at Pascal Shakoure Charpentier’s door and arrested him. Despite being a U.S. citizen born on a U.S. Army base, he's been imprisoned by ICE because of a former conviction.

Shakoure is a Black Muslim youth mentor, business owner, friend, son, and brother from Queens. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently willfully withholding vital documents about Shakoure's U.S. citizenship from the court that could set him free.

Shakoure was detained as a result of Trump's "Enhancing Public Safety" Executive Order, which expands the priority list of people subject to deportation to include anyone who has ever “committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.” [1]

Shakoure's case illustrates the compounding effects of anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, and xenophobia in our carceral system. The felony that triggered Shakoure’s arrest is more than 30 years old and he has already served 24.5 years of prison time for it. DHS's withholding of documents that could prove Shakoure's citizenship highlight yet again that ICE's motivations aren't rooted in much more than anti-Black Islamophobia.

No one should have to go through this fight. Especially not from a jail cell while COVID-19 continues ravaging jails and prisons across the country—including inside N.J. County jails, which had the first reported case of COVID-19 in the country. [2]

These conditions pose a catastrophic public health risk that continue to violate Shakoure's and all imprisoned people's human rights.

On November 5th, Judge Charles Conroy insisted that DHS produce vital immigration documents. As of November 19th, most of the documents have still not been turned over to Shakoure’s attorney. If Shakoure is judged to not have U. S. citizenship at his next court hearing in early December, he might be deported to a country where he has never lived and has no present family ties.

However, if Gov. Andrew Cuomo grants Shakoure clemency, all the court proceedings could end and Shakoure could be freed. Gov. Cuomo has previously issued clemency to stop this type of double punishment before. We ask that he do it again so we can #FreeShakoure.

Let’s show up for him as hard as he has shown up for his community and make our voices heard: Shakoure’s community wants him home.

Let's ensure Shakoure is home for the holidays. Join MPower Change, the New Sanctuary Coalition, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Freedom to Thrive, CAIR NY, and African Communities Together (ACT) to call Gov. Cuomo and the Executive Clemency Bureau to demand clemency for Shakoure NOW.

Sources:
1. Trump’s Immigration Executive Order Is A Blueprint For Mass Deportation, HuffPost, Jan 27, 2017
2. '"A Ticking Time Bomb': Advocates Warn COVID-19 Is Spreading Rapidly Behind Bars," NPR, 28 April, 2020

Art credit: @tommyevich

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Email & demand Gov. Cuomo pardon Shakoure

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Dear [recipient position will go here]  [recipient name will go here],

My name is [submission:values:first_name:nolabel] and emailing to ask you to grant clemency to Pascal Shakoure Charpentier, a Black Muslim youth mentor and business owner from Queens.
On February 12th, Mr. Charpentier was released from ICE detention, and is now under the so-called “Alternatives to Detention” program, meaning he remains under ICE supervision, and forced to wear an ankle monitor. ICE has the power to detain him again, and deport him. DHS still withholds vital documents that could prove Shakoure’s citizenship, and end all of this — highlighting yet again that ICE’s motivations are rooted in anti-Black Islamophobia.
We know you believe that people can transform and grow. Mr. Charpentier already served 24 and a half years in prison for a controversial conviction in which he was factually innocent of the main charge. He was released early due to his excellent record while in prison. 
We request you exercise your clemency power to pardon Mr. Charpentier. Please end this nightmare. Stop the deportation of Pascal Shakoure Charpentier, our son and brother, a man engaged to a heroic COVID-19 nurse, a mentor to at-risk youth, a business owner and startup founder who has lived in the U.S. his entire life. Help keep him with his family by granting him clemency today. Thank you.

Sincerely,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] [your location will go here]

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