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Nueva Esperanza

In response to the needs of our immigrant neighbors, our accompaniment program seeks to address the major barriers responsible for detention and deportation. IM4HI works with congregations throughout the Bay Area in order to train dedicated individuals who can form accompaniment teams to support newly arrived or newly exposed members of our communities. Teams work under the lead of the accompanied families to determine goals such as healthcare, legal, and education, and help families realize their objectives. Support as simple as helping make an appointment or learning how to use public transportation grows independence and ultimately, the strength of our immigrant neighbors.

Networks of Protection and Rapid Response
County-wide movements are occurring all over California in order to form Rapid Response hotlines which provide immediate aid to those neighbors held in detention centers or are terrorized by ICE. In Northern California, IM4HI is a member organization of the Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership working as a dispatcher to fill out intake forms, verify ICE activity, and hold Know Your Rights Workshops.
Coordinator: Samantha Vazquez
Contact: svazquez@im4humanintegrity.org

Please meet our 2018 accompaniment teams:

Berkeley Friends Meeting House, Christ Church Berkeley (Teams A, B, and C!), Eden Church Hayward, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, First Presbyterian Church of Hayward, First Unitarian Church of Oakland, Ignatian Spiritual Life Center, Kehilla Community Synagogue, Mt Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, Los Altos United Methodist Church, Rise Up Together SF, San Francisco Friends Meeting House, Universalist Unitarian Church of Berkeley, and Ygnacio Valley Presbyterian Church.

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Video: This Young Girl Used her Quinceañera to Protest the Separation of Families

“Alexa Lopez protested her father’s detention by ICE by dancing in front of his prison – a dance she was supposed to share with him.” — The Lens.

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity practices Sanctuary by accompanying families who are advocating for the release of their loved one in detention. At our monthly interfaith vigils we gather to provide a space to nourish our activism, to connect with families, to educate, and to get involved.

In 2018 we supported the Lopez family by training an accompaniment team from First Congregational Church of Berkeley to assist them in their campaign to #FreeRaul. That year Raul’s daughter Alexa was turning 15 and would be celebrating her Quinceañera, but since her father has been detained, this was not an option. Nonetheless she insisted on making a statement of the impact her father’s detention is having in her life. This video was filmed at our interfaith immigration vigil where Alexa performed her “Vals” coming of age dance outside the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, CA, where her father was detained. Her statement gained national media attention, and public support for Raul’s bond hearing.

Update, June 2019: In September 2018, this family celebrated Raul Lopez’ return home to the Bay Area California. He and his lawyer continue to fight his deportation order, but at least he is now with his family, and not incarcerated.

Film by Deborah Svoboda for The Lens YouTube channel.

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Loved ones of immigrants detained at West County Detention Facility Call for Immediate Reunification of Families

Media advisory for: Saturday, July 14, 11 a.m.

Press Contact: Sarah Lee, slee@im4humanintegrity.org, 858-229-6641 or Lourdes Barraza, 408-508-9362‬

Loved ones of immigrants detained at West County Detention Facility Call for Immediate Reunification of Families

Family members and advocates call for a just and responsible closure of the immigrant detention facility; demand release of all immigrants detained and access to legal representation.

What: Family members of immigrants detained at West County Detention Facility will call for the immediate release of their loved ones and for alternatives to detention, so that they can reunite with their families and have the opportunity to fight their deportation cases with legal representation.

“My five-year-old niece hasn’t seen her mother in a year and cries for her everyday,” said Liliana, who is caring for her two nieces while her sister is detained at the West County Detention Facility. “The eight-month old baby has been separated from her mother since she was just three days old. These children are suffering the most and they need to be with their mother.”

“There are so many unknowns,” said Anna whose husband has been detained for 11 months. “But we hope that this could be an opportunity for him and others to be released on bond or another alternative to detention.”

Families belong together in their communities where they can be safe and thrive, not separated from each other.

For more information, including time and location click here.