“I am 15 years old and am facing the possibility of losing him permanently. … In 2005, when he was a young man, he had a drug conviction. He was one of the millions affected by the War on Drugs, which disproportionately incarcerated Black and Latinx people. …” Read the full article here.
Hulissa Aguilar, 15, of San Leandro, is a ninth-grade student at Arroyo High School. She is also a youth leader with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a statewide organization working to end the criminalization of people of color in our immigration and incarceration systems.
Author: Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
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Our Vision for Immigration Reform in 2021
- Citizenship for Eleven Million. That includes all eleven million, and is without exclusions of those who may have been deported and reentered, or those with past convictions or other bases of exclusion; but expresses values of family unity, belonging, and redemption.
- Community, not Cages.
- Close immigration detention centers, both private and public, starting with the #First10, including Adelanto and Mesa Verde in CA, family detention, and several southern detention facilities.
- Recognize rights of asylum seekers, families and children. Create a robust reentry program (not housed under ICE and DHS) of support and care, not detention. We have the resources to recreate a new approach.
- Promote alternative strategies to large immigrant children’s shelters and facilities.
- Drastically reduce spending on militarization of the border, deportations and enforcement. Redirect to community needs.
- Root Causes. A critical look at root causes, such as the failed neoliberal economic model, failure to respect indigenous rights, and significant role of US weapons and militarization. (See the eight-page 2019 Honduras Root Causes report, with policy recommendations, created by IM4HI, SHARE, Sisters of Mercy, LCWR. PDF here. )
Like so many immigrants in the community, Gregorio found himself without work when COVID-19 hit. His NEAT team from Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto (UUCPA) asked their congregation to offer him work opportunities until his regular work resumed. They also recorded Gregorio telling his story and shared parts of the video to introduce him to the congregation during the minister’s sermon on the root causes of climate change on immigration. He shared the effect on his family of drought and severe storms in Central America caused by climate disruption, and the forced need to migrate to survive.
Since Gregorio and his daughter live in an RV, the team also supported Gregorio by joining with community groups to pressure the City to open a designated Safe Parking area. The City finally opened such a place, and Gregorio was among the first to be able to move there. This way, he no longer has to move his vehicle every 72-hours to avoid $100 fines. He also acquired solar panels, so they now have electricity to operate the microwave and the refrigerator in the RV.
Gregorio has taken on a leadership role with the Reach Potential Movement, distributing food donations to fellow RV residents in the Safe Parking area. He was even featured in a San Jose Mercury News article.
This is what accompaniment is all about: working with recently arrived immigrants to lift up their stories and connect them to resources, so that they, in turn, can accompany those around them.
