Thursday May 25 in Denver Join us to build a longer table, not a higher wall!
4:00 to 5:00pm Sign making at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, 2525 W. Alameda Ave. Denver, CO 80219
5:00pm to 7:00pm we'll be out at the corner of Broadway and Alameda. We'll be joined by many newcomers so please come show your solidarity! Bring a sign and a friend, spread the word on Facebook and Instagram
All across the state through June people will come together to say “Migration is a human right”. From Fort Collins to Fort Morgan, Aurora to Denver and beyond, we’ll be making and flying our signs together to demonstrate radical
hospitality. While our government’s actions to block access to asylum are illegal and immoral, we know that together, as a community, we keep each other safe. To host an action in June where you live, sign up here to receive our toolkit.
Member Highlights
Coloradans For Immigrant Rights (CFIR) member leader Gina McAfee interviewed with Denver 7. Gina, dissatisfied with what ICE calls “alternatives to detention”, sprang into action when BI, a subsidiary of the GEO corporation, announced that they would use Colorado area immigrants to test their new inhumane gadget, a “smart” watch. Her interview was widely viewed and even made it to CNN!
Through her involvement in AFSC's CFIR project Gina has had the opportunity to attend conferences and become a content expert. In the interview Gina criticized the corporation (based in Gunbarrel, Colorado) for creating “a solution in search of a problem,” making clear the fact that 90% of immigrants show up for their appointments and don’t need an extension of detention and surveillance into their lives. Freedom is the true alternative to detention (not surveillance). Find out more in our joint press release (with citations) and by reading our perspective on surveillance programs.
Not One More members table Cinco de Mayo
We distributed hundreds of flyers to build momentum for passing a pathway to citizenship through the Registry Bill, to educate the public about how to remove barriers with the New Way Forward Act and to get ready for picnics, work stoppages and community-based action August 8 and 9th.
SAVE THE DATE - August 8 and 9th National Days of Action! That action is one of many over the next 18 months as we grow visible support for Citizenship for All!
Thanks to Congresswoman DeGette for being a prime sponsor, and to Congresspeople Neguse, Crow and Petterson for joining her. In contrast, Congresspeople Yadira Caraveo [D], Ken Buck [R] and Lauren Boebert have thus far declined to cosponsor. The three have voted together recently on HR 2494 that further criminalized immigrants.
Take our poll on the best time for CFIR meetings! Meetings happen virtually every other Tuesday at 4:00pm. We'd like to hear from you if another time works better!
Dig Deep And Skill Up -
Workshops and Volunteering
Tuesday June 27 5:00pm Spotlight On No PRIDE in Detention* Register here
Join us virtually for a deeper dive on LGBTQ Immigrant Detention. We'll examine the reasons people migrate, the dangers that LGBTQ people experience in ICE detention, with a specific call to action for Paul White and his fight for freedom from the GEO Aurora Detention Center. Paul will join us for part of the Spotlight On by phone.
*No Pride in Detention is a national campaign working to #EndTransDetention put forward by Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement and Black LGBTQ Migrant Project among others invested in liberation!
Our partners at Casa de Paz need us! Happily ICE has been releasing hundreds of people a week from GEO. Most are folks detained at the Border and transferred here, then released to pursue asylum or other casa. Last week Casa de Paz welcomed 153 guests. That makes it 328 guests in two weeks! They are looking for volunteers!
- Step one Watch the Online training opportunities include meeting folks outside GEO as they are released, placing them on the van, supporting them at Casa or providing rides to transportation hubs.
- If you've attended an in-person training or once you complete the online training and would like to sign up for a shift, please email info@casadepazco.org
Colorado Rapid Response Network - two volunteer opportunities
- We’re looking for a new dispatcher - To be a dispatcher you need to be bilingual in English and Spanish. The shifts are just twice a month.
- Recruiting new Legal Observers and Confirmers - Document interactions with ICE. This role doesn't require you to be bilingual and is great training for legal observing in any situation.
Sign up for more info and to begin training to be a Dispatcher, Confirmer or Legal Observer! Learn how to respond safely to immigration enforcement and raids, help people protect their rights and keep their loved ones safer. Training will be provided.
Mutual Aide and volunteering in support of Metro Area newcomers
City staff have been working around the clock to welcome people and we are so grateful for their efforts. Even so, the Mayor's office continues to need some encouragement to continue the to allow resources to provide sheltering. Recently the City of Denver moved forward with a policy to stop sheltering people who don’t have an “A number” (a number the government gives you as you go through an immigration process). The City is intermittently sheltering people who are stopping over in Denver on their way to somewhere else. Because there’s not enough buses out, that means some folks wait 1 to 3 days without access to much support. You can be that welcome and support in a variety of ways.
- Gather together a group of friends to put together sacks of snacks. You can see the supply list and sign up for a date here. You must take about three minutes to set up a volunteer account to access the calendar.
- Check back to this site for volunteer and in kind donation needs supporting organizations involved.
- Volunteer with Temple Emanuel, JEWISHcolorado, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors (Please be sure to say AFSC referred you). For the next six weeks, they will be packing Nutrition/ Hydration Kits and Hygiene Kits that can be easily distributed to asylum seekers arriving in Denver. The group requests volunteers to receive and process donations as well as packing and organizing the Nutrition/Hydration and Hygiene kits. They welcome elementary school students and up (children under 12 must be supervised by an adult) and the more folks we have, the more help we can give. Sign up HERE and bring your friends! Order Online: For those who want to virtually order and send their donations, this will supplement their donations and ensure we have plenty of items to distribute.
- Volunteer and donation needs coordinated through the city These are opportunities and donation needs that Denver is hosting
- Donate to the Rose Foundation Newcomer Fund here you support all the groups providing resettlement direct services and orientation to newcomers (Including AFSC's Know Your Rights presentations)
What We Are Reading, Listening To Or Watching
What does the Registry Bill do? Under current immigration laws, people who arrived before 1972 can register with the government and start down a path to permanent residency. This bill would move the date forward to 2016, and roll the date forward automatically every year. Learn more here
Where can I learn more about the New Way Forward Act? This bill would fix the criminalizing, exclusionary laws that passed in 1996. These laws are fuel for our deportation machine and make it impossible for those deported to rejoin family. Check out more here
Eyewitness accounts, organizing from the San Diego/Tijuana Border
From the New York Time "Visiting the migrant camp at the San Diego-Tijuana border"
Two weeks ago, as the end of Title 42 approached, a migrant camp sprung up between two border walls near San Diego, California. There were hundreds of migrants from more than a dozen countries, hoping to be allowed into the United States. Aid workers, including staff from AFSC, were distributing food, water, and other essentials through the wall.
“People are cold, hungry, desperate, destitute, nervous,” said AFSC’s Adriana Jasso. “It’s a dire situation, to say the least.”
In our own words AFSC staff from the US-Mexico program report out
"AFSC staff contacted the Department of Homeland Security to request a restroom service and a source for accessible drinking water. Migrants complained that the Border Patrol only gave them a 5-gallon container of water a day and it was not enough for all (400) of them."
"Without a doubt, the love, compassion, and humanity of the San Diego community broke down the wall that separated us. The Border Patrol and government officials across the board once again illustrated their inhumanity, their harshness in closing their eyes and ears to the dire emergency before us. But we and people with dignity responded with humanity, with dedication and without asking for anything in return."