Staff members of AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program in Newark joined advocates from across the nation in a protest against the family detention policies of the US government on May 1 in Dilley, Texas.  The Corrections Corporation of America, a for-profit company, runs the largest immigrant family detention center in the United States in Dilley that will detain up to 2400 mothers and children.

Mich P. Gonzalez joined the Immigrant Rights Program in Newark in February 2015 to provide legal services to immigrants in detention facing deportation. Ms. Gonzalez is working with AFSC’s new public defender model project for indigent immigrants, Friends' Representation Initiative of New Jersey (FRINJ).  FRINJ is the first program of its kind in New Jersey and only the second in the country. Since March 2015, the initiative has helped over 370 immigrants in their deportation defense.

Saul Aleman is the American Friends Immigrant Services intern at the AFSC Miami Office. Saul works collaboratively to engage the broader community in education forums, expand access to immigration clinics for young people in South Florida, and create platforms for storytelling to lift up the voices of the migrant community. Saul co-founded Homestead Equal Rights for All (ERA) and organizes in his own community of Homestead, FL.

Note: Lucy Duncan came back from visiting Quaker meetings in South Florida with Saul Aleman really excited about his energy for the migrant rights movement, for using nonviolence as a tool for change, and for telling stories and bringing forward migrant voices to change the narrative around immigrants in this country.