Speaker: Selene
Introductions (Note not everyone was introduced possibly because Beryl didn’t see them):
Meg Holmberg from Oakland LWV stepped into the meeting to get information on the Concord, CA Immigration Program which Beryl will email to her.
Jim McKeever and Nina are from upstate NY and work with dairy farmers, largely. ICE has made several arrests at farms and on the street and there have been protests. It’s been hard to find where ICE has taken them because they are not updating their app. A lot of workers stay on the farms. They do KYR presentations at places like food banks and clothing exchanges where immigrants gather. They have a Rapid Response team and support those in detention.
Jim Masters and Leona Judson are from Sonoma County, CA LWV. This League selected immigration as an area of emphasis. They have been bonding with Hispanics by attending their meetings, but Jim has not noticed any ICE activity yet. According to their census, there are 30,000 people with unclear status. Leona has heard of 2-3 ICE arrests and is training for Rapid Response with the Secure Families Collaborative. She noted that people on farms live in their cars and temporary housing.
Ruth emphasized the importance of the July 1 District One Supervisors race as immigration is one of the key issues. She is working with Haitians now.
Beryl works with a family of 8 from Afghanistan and goes there about once a week.
Rebecca is an interpreter and bilingual. She would like to volunteer.
Cheryl is with Indivisible
Selene
She received a call from the White House many years ago and one of their questions was what did she remember about her first impressions when she arrived as a 5-year old. Later, when she thought about it, she remembered hiding from a van that came to the house because she thought it was Border Patrol. A lawyer changed their immigration status. One day in 2009, her Dad called to say her Mom and sister were picked up by ICE. They were asleep as it was early in the morning and ICE broke into the house. Selene decided she had to stay in the U.S. with her father partly because her parents ran a business so she could help with that. At that time, people didn’t know the process to find them, but eventually an aunt called and said they had been deported to Mexico that same day. Selene was so fearful, lonely, and missing love and culture including holidays. They got a lawyer who took a lot of their money. She was so upset that she had to drop out of college one semester before finishing. Her Dad had to sell the business. Meanwhile, in Tijuana, there was a spike of violence, so they were very concerned about their family’s safety. In 2012, DACA was initiated and Selene became a DACA recipient. Selene had an encounter with ICE and was arrested and detained. Here she heard other women’s stories of separated families which was very stressful. ICE discharged her when they realized she was a DACA recipient. Every year she has to report for parole and every two years, she has to reapply for DACA. It takes several months to do that. Selene went to Friendship Park on weekends and was able to talk and pinkie kiss with her Mom and sister but she was still fearful of Border Patrol overseeing the Park. Her younger sister never did learn English and now that she’s over 18, she has not been readmitted into the U.S. but her Mom came back after four years. Her sister is now married to a Czech and living there with him. Her Dad is now a U.S. citizen. Selene is still very afraid she will be picked up. Her faith and friends support her. Currently, she is finishing college and plans to start working. She volunteers at her church, Friendship Park and with Feeding America. “Friendship Park means so much to people like me.”
Discussion
Selene does not belong to a DACA group in person or online.
She does not want to leave the U.S. because this is all she knows and she doesn’t want to start over.
Jim suggested that Selene should share her story to a broader group. She said she has not done so other than speaking at the March meeting of the LWVSD. Beryl said she can send that part of the meeting notes to elected officials and suggested Selene come to the No Kings Rally at Casa de Mañana retirement home.
Robert Vivar’s Report
Robert emailed that they have a mother and two children living at the Community of Light Shelter but figure they’ll get more deportees. Rocky who staffs the office of Deported Veterans had to have surgery. They raised enough money to cover his surgery costs through gofundme.
Friendship Park Anniversary, August 16
Selene said that the U.S. side of the park is closed and looks like a prison, so activities will be somewhere else yet to be determined, but there is plenty going on on the Mexican side of the wall. The Friends of Friendship Park are forming a coalition to open it as a place of friendship. There will be music, Border church and food as they do every Sunday.
Further Discussion on News and Protests
The day after the arrests at the restaurant in South Park, a group walked through the neighborhood. There are a lot of protests daily at the ICE building. Volunteers are going to court and observing ICE arresting people as they come out. Volunteers stand outside the building, in the halls and accompany people into court; they get some on-the-spot training. Volunteers are being documented. Advocates are not saying what organization they are with. There’s a lot going on downtown. The Signal group’s website tells where ICE is. The No Kings Rally may get peppery. One committee member saw a bit of violence, but Marshalls and peacekeepers are trained to keep the crowds from breaking into violence.
There are six No Kings rallies around San Diego on Saturday. Another group is advocating at the Civic Center. Maris said the organizers of the two downtown rallies don’t seem to want to connect but they will end up in the same place. There will be a booth with two videographers where people can speak for 30 seconds and tell their story or observations.
The La Mesa United Methodist Church volunteers have a border missionary and an attorney who are working on immigration with them. They are about to go to the courthouse twice a week after doing the training with the Bystander app.
Meeting Notes Approval from May
No corrections.
Next Meeting
The LWVSD takes July off, so there is no tech support and we will not have a July meeting. The next meeting is August 14th at 9:00 a.m. on zoom. The speaker is Viveka Ray-Mazumder from PANA/The Partnership and Advancement for New Americans.
Selected Chat
Indivisible/Change Begins With Me Calendar: https://changebeginswithmesite.wordpress.com/events/