{"id":23515,"date":"2016-01-12T16:41:04","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T22:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=23515"},"modified":"2016-01-12T16:41:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T22:41:04","slug":"grassroots-organization-hosts-legal-workshops-to-prevent-expected-deportations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/grassroots-organization-hosts-legal-workshops-to-prevent-expected-deportations\/","title":{"rendered":"Grassroots organization hosts legal workshops to prevent expected deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Rank<\/strong><\/p>\n

As families filed into the chilly main auditorium of Pilsen\u2019s Lincoln United Methodist Church last Saturday afternoon, signs reading \u201cHoly Ground,\u201d and \u201cICE Free Zone\u201d lined the walls next to the pews.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re frightened,\u201d Reverend Emma Lozano, founder of Centro Sin Fronteras, said. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t want to come today because they\u2019re frightened to come out because we\u2019re all there and maybe immigration [Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE] will show up.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Related Stories<\/h2>\n

City lawmakers join local activists to prevent immigration raids<\/a><\/div>\n

But around 90 people did come on Saturday for a workshop held by Centro titled \u00a1Defienden Su Derechos!\/Know Your Rights!<\/p>\n

Lozano hoped that holding the legal workshop, one of two held that weekend, would help inform undocumented community members of their legal protections. This workshop comes less than a week after Department of Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson\u2019s announcement<\/a> to increase raids targeting Central American immigrants who have come to the US since May 2014, been arrested after crossing the border, have been issued deportation orders, but have still managed to move elsewhere in the U.S. <\/p>\n

Attorney Chris Bergin of Shiller Preyar law offices, who works closely with Centro Sin Fronteras, noted in an email that ICE is using this directive to enforce prior orders, and has seen an increase in ICE action since the start of the new year. <\/p>\n

\u201cICE has shown up at people’s houses to enforce prior removal orders,\u201d Bergin said.\u00a0\u201cICE Officers are using the president’s new policy directive as an excuse to become more aggressive in their enforcement operations on cases unrelated to the Central American cases his policy was meant to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to prepare our community to what\u2019s happening with the ongoing raids going on in 2016,\u201d John Antia, another attorney from Shiller Preyar, said in a video message on the event\u2019s Facebook Page. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be ramping it up, we know that they are, they\u2019ve said that they are, so let\u2019s get prepared.\u201d <\/p>\n

Before the workshops, Lincoln United Methodist Church Pastor Walter Coleman addressed the audience, emphasizing the need for caution. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf ICE comes and knocks on your door, we want you to be prepared,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a way to defend yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the ways Centro hoped to arm the participants is through the use of personalized identification cards, and had set up a booth to take photos for the ID in the main entrance of the church. <\/p>\n

Centro is encouraging people to present the card to ICE in an attempt to dissuade the officers and to plead for them to use their individual discretion. The cards will have a photo of the individual as well as information about any minor children they may have, and a condensed version of ICE\u2019s prosecutorial discretion<\/a> on the back. <\/p>\n

Lozano explained the IDs were important because they are more personalized than a form letter, and appeared a more official document to present to officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt this was something that they could take out and refer to and it would be taken more seriously especially with the policy of Barack Obama on the back,\u201d Lozano said. \u201cMany do not have any ID’s whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other organizations have produced similar cards, called \u201cRights Cards\u201d to present to ICE officials. These rights cards do not have individual information about the person confronted by ICE, but explain in English the confronted person\u2019s desire to remain silent. <\/p>\n

Bergin explained the main thing he emphasizes to his clients is that they are never obliged to speak to an ICE official.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tell them not to let ICE into their home.\u00a0 Even if ICE has a warrant, which is vey unlikely, do not open your door,\u201d Bergin said.\u00a0 \u201cMake them break your door down and we will fight it out in court.\u00a0 Never tell ICE anything.\u00a0 Ask to speak to your lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centro Sin Fronteras began in 1987 by Lozano in an attempt to bridge the gap between Latinos born in the US and those immigrating from Latin American countries. <\/p>\n

On the policy side, one of the first major initiatives of Centro was their help in drafting the Immigrant Fairness Act (H.R. 1015) in concert with U.S. Rep. Luiz Gutierrez of Illinois. <\/p>\n

Gutierrez, who also addressed the crowd before the workshop, spoke passionately and emphasized that the people he\u2019s talked with facing deportation aren\u2019t necessarily illegal immigrants, but rather refugees looking for a better life. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a question of immigrants, it\u2019s a question of refugees,\u201d Gutierrez said in Spanish. \u201cThey [migrants] came here fleeing for security and the lives of their sons and daughters and themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sara Walker, a volunteer at the workshop, reiterated Gutierrez\u2019 point about the refugee status of the majority of Latin American immigrants she encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cLatin America is overrun with gang violence and corruption and that\u2019s why they\u2019re here to begin with,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to send them back after all these years of being here just seems cruel.\u201d <\/p>\n

Photo at top: Rev. Emma Lozano, founder of Centro Sin Fronteras, speaks to a crowd of undocumented immigrants at the Lincoln United Methodist Church at a legal workshop. (Hannah Rank MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Rank As families filed into the chilly main auditorium of Pilsen\u2019s Lincoln United Methodist Church last Saturday afternoon, signs reading \u201cHoly Ground,\u201d and \u201cICE Free Zone\u201d lined the walls next to the pews. \u201cThey\u2019re frightened,\u201d Reverend Emma Lozano, founder of Centro Sin Fronteras, said. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t want to come today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":23516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,585],"tags":[605,617,618,601,602],"class_list":["post-23515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2016","tag-centro-sin-fronteras","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-emma-lozano","tag-immigration","tag-raids"],"yoast_head":"\nGrassroots organization hosts legal workshops to prevent expected deportations - 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