Project Voice Director Pedro Sosa (left) leads a popular assembly in Salem, OR.
In 2025, AFSC created Defense de Barrio (Neighborhood Defense) actions to organize local rapid response teams to meet the needs of the community. We provided Know Your Rights (KYR) information to thousands of community members and worked with allies from faith, labor, and educator organizations.
Our KYR Train the Trainer workshop helped develop immigrant and ally leaders to share best practices and information using Popular Education methods. These allow participants to learn by empathetic "mirroring" of the harsh realities faced by immigrants.
Approximately 2,000 people participated in actions as a direct result of AFSC’s organizing efforts and collaboration with our partners. Indirectly, our trainings helped another 4,000 people get active.
Read on for more highlights.
Pedro Sosa of AFSC Oregon and Jennifer Piper of AFSC Colorado were honored by the Denver Justice and Peace Committee.
Oregon staffer honored for immigrant rights work
On November 7, the Denver Justice and Peace Committee honored AFSC for all its work across the country in support of immigrant communities. Pedro Sosa of AFSC Oregon writes: “This recognition is for my colleagues, with their unwavering commitment to the struggle for peace and a better world for all, even facing risks and fear.” On this video, catch Pedro’s remarks at the 1:13:44.
Pedro Sosa of AFSC, second from left, is a part of a collective of Indigenous language interpreters in Oregon. Pueblo Unido
Celebrating a win for indigenous interpretation in Oregon
In this interview, Pedro Sosa of AFSC explains the importance of a recent legislative win in Oregon for indigenous language justice. Pedro joined other advocates in talking with legislators. “And that’s why we got this funding,” he says. “We shared our experiences and challenges as interpreters – and also the challenges the communities face when they need interpretation, but no one can pay the interpreters. This money recognizes the time interpreters put in.”
Pedro Sosa of AFSC speaks outside an immigrant detention center.
Work with partners yields more wins for immigrant justice in Oregon
In addition to the win on indigenous interpretation, AFSC staff Alonso Oliveros and Pedro Sosa were very pleased to report on other 2025 legislative wins in Oregon:
1. $15 million for Universal Legal Representation to help detained community members without status to access lawyers to mitigate or stop deportation proceedings
2. $2 million for the Farmworker Disaster Relief Fund
3. Partial investment in the Home Fund to provide rental assistance for working families
Alonso’s report includes a list of all our partners in this work to “ensure that Oregon welcomes and values our immigrant neighbors, friends and family.”
Pedro Sosa, left, and Alonso Oliveros of AFSC
Training people to defend their rights, support each other
AFSC continues to reach hundreds of migrants across the Pacific Northwest, helping them learn their constitutional and civil rights. People are understanding how to advocate against private prisons that are profiting from human suffering. They’re learning about community-led rapid responses for defending against deportations. Together, we are building a more just and equal future for all. The trainings “help to improve communication, empathy, self-confidence, and develops social skills,” said one therapist who attended. “They help us reduce social isolation and stress.” Read more.
Pedro Sosa of AFSC leads a Know Your Rights workshop.
Helping everyone in Oregon “Know Your Rights”
In response to continued attacks on our friends, family, neighbors and community members without status, AFSC is offering Know Your Rights (KYR) information and resources to protect against ICE detentions, arrests and raids. Although Oregon’s “Sanctuary Law” prevents local and state police from taking part in federal immigration enforcement actions, it does not prevent ICE, Border Patrol and DHS agents from terrorizing and arresting community members without status. Read more.
Interview lifts up ways to counter anti-immigrant sentiment
Early in 2025, the Mano A Mano Family Center interviewed AFSC staffers Pedro Sosa (upper right) and Alonso Oliveros (bottom). The conversation (in Spanish) focused on “tools to protect ourselves against growing anti-immigrant hostility.”