WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
There is a lot to do wherever you live in the United States.
As U.S. citizens, each of us can let an immigrant neighbor know that we are ready to protect them if ICE shows up at their door. If each of us takes a Know Your Rights workshop — in order to understand our basic rights and those of undocumented persons — and gets to know our neighbors, we can know where, when and how we’re needed. One way to make ourselves available is to volunteer to teach or tutor English through a local nonprofit agency, school or community college.
The policy changes that the Trump administration has initiated — including, most recently, family separation as well as proposed changes to the Asylum process — are devastating, not just to immigrant families, but also to our standing as a democracy that welcomes immigrants and respects their human rights.
As a Tucson friend said, "Pat, everyone who comes through the shelters here is going someplace else in the United States.” This is a call to get involved in your local community. After all, most of our family stories are immigrant stories.
This is the time for every American citizen to take action, get involved and be prepared to have your life transformed. Mine has. The journey of accompaniment — beginning in Guatemala in 1993 — changed my life. I invite you to get involved!
As U.S. citizens, each of us can let an immigrant neighbor know that we are ready to protect them if ICE shows up at their door. If each of us takes a Know Your Rights workshop — in order to understand our basic rights and those of undocumented persons — and gets to know our neighbors, we can know where, when and how we’re needed. One way to make ourselves available is to volunteer to teach or tutor English through a local nonprofit agency, school or community college.
The policy changes that the Trump administration has initiated — including, most recently, family separation as well as proposed changes to the Asylum process — are devastating, not just to immigrant families, but also to our standing as a democracy that welcomes immigrants and respects their human rights.
As a Tucson friend said, "Pat, everyone who comes through the shelters here is going someplace else in the United States.” This is a call to get involved in your local community. After all, most of our family stories are immigrant stories.
This is the time for every American citizen to take action, get involved and be prepared to have your life transformed. Mine has. The journey of accompaniment — beginning in Guatemala in 1993 — changed my life. I invite you to get involved!
Lights for Liberty. Pat at vigil holding sign - Summer of 2019
Photo of Pedro Sosa, AFSC Project Voice Oregon leading a Know Your Rights training
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Here Are Organizations That I support:Migration and Human Rights in Guatemala
I serve on the AFSC International Programs executive committee and the Latin America/Caribbean subcommittee. Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, Portland, Oregon (IMIrJ), formerly the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement (ONSM), is an interfaith coalition of individuals, faith leaders and congregations, called by our faith and conscience to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters residing in the United States. Pedro Sosa's Facebook page and AFSC Oregon's Facebook page, Salem and Portland, Oregon Check out Project Voice, a project of the American Friends Service Committee in Oregon and Washington. Pedro Sosa provides Know Your Rights training as well as Rapid Response training, both of which are critical for the undocumented community. |
Resources on Immigration
Immigrants in Oregon
This document is a valuable resource as it details important information about immigrants in Oregon.
This document is a valuable resource as it details important information about immigrants in Oregon.
Immigrant Justice Organizations in Oregon
CAUSA, www.causaoregon.org
Causa works to improve the lives of Latino immigrants and their families in Oregon through advocacy, coalition building, leadership development, and civic engagement. Latino immigrants and their families are the heart of Causa and inspire, implement, and champion our work.
UNITE at www.uniteoregon.org
Unite Oregon is led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty, we work across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice. They work in Multnomah and Washington counties and in the Rogue Valley region in southern Oregon. They work on issues of Living Wages, Racial Justice, Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Affordable Housing.
Causa works to improve the lives of Latino immigrants and their families in Oregon through advocacy, coalition building, leadership development, and civic engagement. Latino immigrants and their families are the heart of Causa and inspire, implement, and champion our work.
UNITE at www.uniteoregon.org
Unite Oregon is led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty, we work across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice. They work in Multnomah and Washington counties and in the Rogue Valley region in southern Oregon. They work on issues of Living Wages, Racial Justice, Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Affordable Housing.
National Immigration Resources
American Friends Service Committee
A New Path: Toward a humane immigration policy, a position paper suggesting fair and humane immigration policy.
American Immigration Council
Works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. They provide weekly email updates on immigration news and statistics.
Free Them All
A multi-faith immigrant led organization that provides support to families and communities resisting detention and deportation. It is based in New York City but works nationally to organize the campaign to free families from detention.
Immigrant Rights Coalitions
The American Friends Service Committee supports many immigrant rights programs in the United States. Links to Sanctuary Movement.
Innovation Law Lab
Innovation Law Lab was founded to harness the power of technology, law, and activism all in a single organization to end the mass incarceration of children and mothers in secret jails and inhumane conditions. Innovation Law Lab leverages the work of coders, lawyers, and activists in order to end isolation and exploitation of immigrants and refugees, build permanent pathways to immigrant inclusion, and advance justice works nationally.
Latin America Working Group
A policy-based group in Washington D.C. advocating fair and respectful relations between the USA and Latin America.
Migration Policy Institute
This organization provides fact-based analysis and sound policy ideas for U.S. lawmakers.
Important statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
RAICES, Refugee and Immigrant Center for education and legal services
RAICES is a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.
Washington Office on Latin America
Washington DC based policy human rights advocacy organization.
A New Path: Toward a humane immigration policy, a position paper suggesting fair and humane immigration policy.
American Immigration Council
Works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. They provide weekly email updates on immigration news and statistics.
Free Them All
A multi-faith immigrant led organization that provides support to families and communities resisting detention and deportation. It is based in New York City but works nationally to organize the campaign to free families from detention.
Immigrant Rights Coalitions
The American Friends Service Committee supports many immigrant rights programs in the United States. Links to Sanctuary Movement.
Innovation Law Lab
Innovation Law Lab was founded to harness the power of technology, law, and activism all in a single organization to end the mass incarceration of children and mothers in secret jails and inhumane conditions. Innovation Law Lab leverages the work of coders, lawyers, and activists in order to end isolation and exploitation of immigrants and refugees, build permanent pathways to immigrant inclusion, and advance justice works nationally.
Latin America Working Group
A policy-based group in Washington D.C. advocating fair and respectful relations between the USA and Latin America.
Migration Policy Institute
This organization provides fact-based analysis and sound policy ideas for U.S. lawmakers.
Important statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
RAICES, Refugee and Immigrant Center for education and legal services
RAICES is a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.
Washington Office on Latin America
Washington DC based policy human rights advocacy organization.