A Call For A Full Stop on Immigration Enforcement

Although the new administration has centered immigration as their top priority, they have failed to listen to the ongoing demands from grassroots organizers and advocates who have been calling for the liberation of all immigrants, the shutting down of immigrantion detention centers and bold legislation that undoes the harm of criminalization. 

While the Biden Administration has outlined a need to address the “root cause” of immigration from Central America, they have failed to reckon with the US’s role in creating the conditions that forced people to migrate to this country in the first place.

Not only that, this new administration has to address its anti-Black and anti-immigrant policies that has led Black immigrants from Haiti, Cameroon and other African countries to languish in family detention centers across the United States. In a recent report, RAICES, a community organization in Texas highlighted the impact of the immigration system on Black immigrants. They pointed out that in 2020 alone, “the U.S. detained more Haitian families than any other ethnic group.” Furthermore, they point out that Black immigrants on average pay higher bonds to gain their freedom and are at greater risk of deportation. Black-led organizations have been doing the work of uplifting and pushing back against the constant erasure of Black immigrants. 

The question is, what is the plan of the Biden-Harris administration? How will they protect and respond to the needs of the Black community when it continues to be under attack? Guerline Jozef, Executive Director at the Haitian Bridge Alliance highlights that on the night prior to the inauguration, Black immigrants from Haiti, Jamaica and Mauritania were being deported and two Haitian brothers were separated by CBP at the San Francisco airport, leading to the deportation of one and the placement of the other in ORR custody. There is nothing to fix about an immigration system that is rooted in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. One begs to question whether the system is broken or if it was created this way.

President Biden has a moral obligation to put state and local governments on check because they too have been complicit in detentions and deportations. Biden can take action by directing the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to stop all detentions and deportations. Far too often we have seen these agencies go unchecked and have often violated the constitutional rights of individuals to effectuate arrests and deportations. White supremacists have not only stormed the Capitol in DC in recent days, for the past four years and beyond they have also hidden behind police uniforms to facilitate the deportation of community members without question or accountability. Here locally in Orange County, Sheriff Don Barnes in 2019 worked to deport close to 500 Orange County residents, the most from any law enforcement agency in the state of California. 

ICE, their deportation machine, criminalization, over-policing and police-ICE collusion runs deep. We need bold leadership from Biden and Harris to stop these violations and deportations.

Response Needed to Address COVID in Orange County

Taking a closer look at Orange County, elected officials have neglected and actively pushed conspiracy theories about the reality and devastation of COVID-19. Their lack of leadership on the issue has exacerbated COVID cases in the County. The Voice of OC has reported that yesterday on Biden’s inauguration “1,975 people were hospitalized, including 527 in intensive care units. But deaths are steadily increasing. The virus has now killed 2,508 people out of 216,509 confirmed cases, including 31 new deaths [today].” Additionally, there was a major outbreak earlier this month inside the Orange County Jail that toppled over 1,000 cases. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department failed to adequately respond to the onset of this outbreak in the jail when it originally started with 74 cases. 

As a whole, COVID-19 continues to spread throughout central Orange County impacting cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana where there are heavy concentrations of communities of color, there are lower household incomes, and are higher density areas. While it may be easy to blame our communities for the spread of the virus, systemic barriers, housing discrimination, gentrification, policing, lack of access to affordable healthcare have all contributed to these cities being hotspots. In short, COVID is wreaking havoc on communities of color in Orange County.

And while national data shows that communities of color, including Black, Indigenous and People of Color are the hardest hit by COVID, white people have made up the majority (43%) of those who have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Orange County thus far leaving behind the Latinx and Black community. The rollout of the vaccine has missed the mark. While we know the first round and rollout of the vaccine has gone to frontline healthcare workers, we can not ignore race in the subsequent rounds of the rollout, especially in cities hardest hit by COVID like Anaheim and Santa Ana. The new administration has to prioritize Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color in their vaccine distribution to meet local and national trends of COVID spread.

COVID in Prisons and Immigration Detention Centers

Beyond Orange County at the Adelanto Immigration Detention in San Bernardino where OC residents are detained for ICE, ICE has failed to adequately respond to several outbreaks which eventually led a federal judge to intervene to immediately reduce the detained population. President Joe Biden cannot talk about responding to the coronavirus without explicitly mentioning and addressing the outbreaks in federal and state prisons, immigration detention centers, city and county jails.

Our Fight is Not Over

To the Biden-Harris Administration: Do better, listen and take leadership from grassroots organizing efforts who have been on the ground working with directly impacted community members and youth.

To the Community: Our fight is not over. We still share the responsibility of holding this new administration and our local electeds accountable. It has been and continues to be the leadership and advocacy of our communities that has led the way in swinging the pendulum a little more towards justice. There is still much work left to do. People power and advocacy won us local victories including the Santa Ana Sanctuary City Ordinance, Universal Representation for families facing deportation, and created the conditions for youth to reclaim city Funds. Base-building and organizing will be what will guide us through in the coming years.

The post With Trump Out of Office, Communities Demand The Biden Administration Provide Concrete Plans To Reverse Course and Provide Relief After Years of Terror and Neglect appeared first on Resilience OC.

For Immediate Release: 

Contact: Ana Ramirez-Zarate

Orange County, CA – On June 18th, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Trump Administration wrongfully ended DACA, allowing the program to remain in place. This decision impacts nearly 700,000 beneficiaries. This is a legal battle that has dragged on since 2017 when the Trump administration first announced their intent to end DACA. What came next was a series of lawsuits against the Trump administration. As a result of these legal fights USCIS stopped accepting new applications and only allowed renewals from those who previously had DACA. On November 12, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments and finally made a decision today.

Although this is a positive outcome for DACA recipients, this is a critical point for us to continue fighting for what is right – and that is the right for our people to live a dignified life. We cannot forget that many people in our community continue to be left out, criminalized by an administration and society that has chosen to uphold narratives that dilute the lived experiences of our communities. We must use this time to demand more, demand human rights for all of the members of the community. 

As a community there are next steps that we must engage in to ensure that what happened today is seen as the continuation of a larger fight to hold those in elected positions accountable, to have critical conversations within our communities about why it is important to push the envelope when it comes to immigrant rights in this country. It is time to listen to youth, parents, and everyone else that has been excluded. We must do better because our communities deserve better. 

This is a call in to the community to show up, lift our voices and demand more of those around us. 

The post SCOTUS Rules Against Trump on DACA appeared first on Resilience OC.

The LGBT Center OC released a press release outlining their plan to address the protest from impacted community and allied community organizations. The press release included the following: 

The Center’s Executive Director has reached out to the Executive Directors of Resilience OC and VietRise to reinforce our organization’s commitment to serving the LGBTQ immigrant community as well as our commitment to the partnerships we share with these organizations.  Collaborations such as those shared by our three organizations are making positive change in Orange County. That change wouldn’t be possible without organizations like Resilience OC and VietRise leading the way. We remain inspired by their work and proud of our partnerships.

It was our intent to open a line of communication with the LGBT Center OC to listen to their approach in addressing the valid concerns brought up by youth of color from YETA (Youth Empowered To Act) and VROC (Viet Rainbow of Orange County) around the Center’s unilateral and uninformed decision to have uniformed and armed police officers march with the Center in the OC Pride parade. 

While we have valued our relationship with Center OC staff in the past, we do not agree with being used as a token to validate the Center’s trust with the community. We initiated our communication with the LGBT Center OC’s Executive Director by stating that we are meeting in good faith to hear out their position, but we are here to support the LGBTQ youth of color who have brought up concerns and we remain committed to taking direction and leadership from them. While we encourage the Center to take steps to address community concerns, we believe that it is imperative that they do so by engaging in solutions with LGBTQ youth of color.  The Center needs to recognize that all attempts made by LGBTQ youth of color to share their concerns were met with deafening silence by the Center and their leadership.

Youth from YETA have addressed a multitude of concerns to the Center OC, here is an excerpt of an open letter they wrote:

It is for all these reasons we view the Center OC’s response to criticism, raised in opposition to the inclusion of armed police officers in the Center OC’s Pride Parade contingent, as an attack. A week before the Pride parade, we were informed that the Center had decided to invite armed police officers to march alongside LGBT Center staff, community members, and volunteers. Community members immediately began to raise concerns when the decision was announced. The community reached out to the Center via social media, only to have their comments deleted and their social media accounts blocked. The Center OC’s active censorship of criticism demonstrates what little value the Center OC’s leadership places in the community they claim to serve. Many individuals in YETA felt betrayed, and the decision created a disconnect between YETA and the the Center OC. YETA prides itself on being a coalition of LGBTQ and allied youth leaders working to create a safe, supportive, and intersectional space in order to engage in advocacy and social justice. This group fostered community change, but given the Center’s actions, it is difficult to believe that our work is supported by the Center OC. 

As Resilience Orange County, we will continue to support youth and will stand by them in taking action to build spaces that are transformational and that have community voice at the center of decisions.

The post Resilience Orange County Response to LGBT Center OC Leadership appeared first on Resilience OC.

California Rapid Response Steering Committee
Orange County Rapid Response Network
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ)
Los Angeles Raids Rapid Response Network
Valley Watch Network (Central Valley) 
Faith In The Valley
Monterey County Rapid Response 
Rapid Response Network of Monterey County
Sacramento FUEL Network
North Bay Rapid Response Network Napa, Solano and Sonoma Counties
Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County
Stand Together Contra Costa

Your Allied Rapid Response (YARR) Santa Cruz
Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership
Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network
San Diego Rapid Response Network 
Long Beach Community Defense Network 
Sacramento Rapid Response Network
Pajaro Valley Rapid Response
Stand Together Contra Costa

The post California Rapid Response Networks Stand in Solidarity Against Trump’s Hateful Rhetoric appeared first on Resilience OC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2018

Community Responds to ICE and GEO’s Plan to Expand Private Immigrant Prisons in California

Immigrant rights advocates denounce GEO and ICE’s back deal negotiations to massively expand private immigrant prisons in the state of California.

Immigration advocates, led by directly impacted and previously incarcerated community members of California, condemn and oppose any expansion of new and private immigration for-profit detention facilities in the state. Local and state groups call on California legislators to act now and protect California values.

Over the last few months the extent of collusion and conspiring between ICE and private prison corporations has grown more apparent, and has been confirmed by ICE’s attempt to search for immigrant detention space. Because of victories like the Dignity not Detention Act, ICE is no longer able to establish these contracts in secret as they’ve done in the past, and instead must start these illicit contracts via a public contracting process. Even so, ICE is an untrustworthy actor who will take every opportunity to broker its deals in the shadows.

The collusion that has taken place between those in the business of locking up immigrants and profiting off of their detention and misery must be exposed and confronted. California will not be home to the dehumanizing detention apparatus built by ICE, and our cities and local governments are not pawns to be used by the Florida based GEO Inc, in their plot to profit from incarceration in our state.

We will not be silent as GEO dispatches its CEO George Zoley to essentially bribe local city officials in a plot to expand the Adelanto and Mesa Verde detention facilities. This corporation, which reported revenues of 2.3 billion dollars in 2018, has been sued for participating in human trafficking and using what amounts to slave labor in their for-profit facilities. In addition, countless individuals have died under the custody of GEO and ICE. We will not turn a blind eye to this injustice nor will we shy away from confronting the cruel, degrading and sometimes deadly treatment of our community members.

Immigrant rights groups, as well as formerly and currently incarcerated community members are ready to fight back against policies of violence and private businesses who seek to target our community and undo and circumvent the legislative victories our community and advocates have accomplished. The plans laid out by ICE, and the deceptive tactics used by GEO to pursue detention expansion threaten the core of our state’s values.

Organizers across the state will rally to defend immigrant communities from threats of mass incarceration and deportation. We will defend the spirit and values that we hold dear as a state, including defending the Dignity Not Detention Act that ICE and GEO have attempted to undermine. Cities and Counties can move on this front too by limiting and zoning out any possibility for private prison expansion.

Signatories

Resilience Orange County

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance

Pangea Legal Services

California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice

SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network)

Freedom for Immigrants

Filipino Advocates for Justice

Ground Game LA

East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy

California Sanctuary Campaign

Alianza Sacramento

United Now For Immigrants Rights

Mesa Verde Liberation Front

Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc (CAB)

CAIR San Francisco Bay Area

We Rise SF / Labor Center for Immigrant Justice

Immigration Task Force of Monterey County

Rapid Response Network of Monterey County

Contra Costa Immigrant Rights Alliance

Legal Services for Children

UNITE HERE! Local 483

STEP UP! Sacramento

Centro Legal de la Raza

Brave New Films

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Monterey Bay Central Labor Council

The post Community Responds to ICE and GEO’s Plan to Expand Private Immigrant Prisons in California appeared first on Resilience OC.

April 22, 2019

Contact:

Ana Ramirez, ana@resilienceoc.org

Immigration Advocates call on OC Supervisors to hold OCSD accountable & have transparent Truth Act Forum

The OC Board of Supervisors have failed to hold the Orange County Sheriff’s Department accountable, leaving the immigrant community and immigration advocates to fend for themselves.

What: Press Conference and Public Forum on Orange County’s Relationship with ICE

When: Tuesday, April 23 at 8:30AM

Where: 333 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana, CA 92701

SANTA ANA, CA — The OC Board of Supervisors are scheduled to have a public forum on the county’s collusion and cooperation with ICE this Tuesday, April 23 at 9:30AM. The Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds, or TRUTH Act (AB 2792), requires “local governing body of any county, city, or city and county in which a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to an individual during the last year shall hold at least one community forum during the following year, that is open to the public, in an accessible location, and with at least 30 days’ notice to provide information to the public about ICE’s access to individuals and to receive and consider public comment.”

The Truth Act Forum should be a platform for the OC Board of Supervisors to demand accountability, transparency and honesty from the OC Sheriff’s Department. This was not the route the OC Board of Supervisors took last year in December 2018 when they hosted a sham Truth Act Forum by merely receiving public comment and subsequently receiving and filing the item, ignoring calls of accountability from immigrant rights advocates. Other counties across the State of CA set a standard for how an engaging Truth Act Forum should be conducted. In Marin County last year the Immigrant Legal Resource Center was allowed to present on the Truth Act (AB 2792) and the California Values Act (SB 54).

The scheduling of the Truth Act Forum by the OC Board of Supervisors comes on the heels of numerous reports including: the 2017 Office of Inspector General report which detailed the unsafe conditions at the Theo Lacy facility and the serious health risks of serving spoiled meat; and the 2017 ACLU Report which shed light on the outrageous abuse and conditions of confinement detainees are subjected to; and most recently, the 2019 report by CA Attorney General Xavier Becerra highlighting the same systemic violations outlined in the 2017 reports. The OC Board of Supervisors need to examine and question Sheriff Don Barnes on the latest AG report.

The OC Board of Supervisors also need to hold Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes accountable for his reckless announcement to end immigration detention in Orange County, a decision that will lead to the closure of the only two publicly operated detention centers in OC, the James A. Musick in Irvine and Theo Lacy in Orange. Although immigrant rights advocates applaud the termination of the ICE contract, the manner in which the OCSD proceeded to end the contract has created a crisis for those detained, their families, the legal service providers in the area and the community that supports those detained.

Additionally, just last week the US Ninth District Court upheld the constitutionality of SB 54, marking again that limiting, if not ending, cooperation with ICE is a reality and within reach. The OC Board of Supervisors should move to end the loopholes of SB 54 and put a limit on honoring zero requests for transfers, holds, and interviews of immigrants who are within OCSD custody.

The OC Board of Supervisors lastly need to hold Sheriff Don Barnes accountable for falsely mischaracterizing and criminalizing the Orange County immigrant community. The Sheriff continues to create distrust between the immigrant community and governmental agencies given that Barnes continues to push forward anti-immigrant rhetoric as expressed on their published press statement in which Sheriff Don Barnes reassures his commitment to continue the collusion with ICE despite the ending of the contract. OCSD has an obligation to respond to the community.

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Sheriff Don Barnes decision comes after years of pressure from human and immigrant rights organizations over conditions of detention and the continuing change in political landscape in the county.

Orange County, CA – On Wednesday March 27th, 2019, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes announced through a press statement his decision to withdraw from the county’s ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) contract. Don Barnes sent a letter to ICE to initiate the termination of the contract at the James A. Musick facility. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department currently detains nearly 1,000 community members jointly at the Theo Lacy and James A. Musick facilities. If ICE accepts the letter, they will have 120 days to force relocate the immigrant community out of Orange County. The guise that the Sheriff’s Department is using to make its decision is to provide additional jail based services for people with mental health needs. The county’s immigrant jails have been scathed in recent years with reports of inhumane conditions and treatment of the people under the custody of the OC Sheriff’s Department.

The OCSD has a track record of being against the immigrant community. While the Sheriff is signaling they are no longer interested in operating detention centers in Orange County, Sheriff Don Barnes has signaled they intend to work with ICE to the greatest extent of state law. Resilience OC fundamentally disagrees with Don Barnes continuing to conspire with ICE to detain and transfer anyone who comes in contact with local law enforcement. Resilience OC, in collaboration with the Orange County Rapid Response Network, will continue to work to address the needs of the community members being potentially relocated.

Resilience OC fundamentally disagrees with the OCSD’s decision to be in the business of administering and managing mental health service services for a vulnerable population. The OCSD has a record of violence and neglect towards those under their supervision as reported by the CA Attorney General & the US Department of Health and Human Services Office Inspector General. Mental health funding from the state and county should not be going towards agencies that already criminalize and incarcerate vulnerable populations. Alternatively, we call for community-based organizations and community-based health services providers to be prioritized to receive state and county funding for OC residents who need mental health services.

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The post Orange County Sheriff’s Department Ends Its Immigrant Detention Contract with ICE. appeared first on Resilience OC.

February 27th, 2019      

Southern CA Rapid Response Networks call on Cities, Counties, and State Government to respond to CA Attorney General’s Report on Detention Conditions

The SoCal Rapid Response Network collectively asks City, County, and State Governments to respond to the crisis inside CA detention centers.

Southern CA – A report released yesterday by Attorney General Xavier Becerra on inspections of immigration detention facilities in CA, mandated under AB 103 Dignity Not Detention, only confirms what Southern California Rapid Response Networks have long spoken out about— that ICE detention is rampant with abuse and neglect, systemic barriers to adequate legal representation, and isolation of immigrants from their families and support systems.

The Southern California Rapid Response Network is particularly concerned the report indicates that ICE blocked the Attorney General’s office from making full inspections of or having access to interview detainees and staff at any of the privately-operated detention centers in the State, of which 3 out of 4 are located in the Southern CA region (Adelanto, Imperial and Otay Mesa Detention Facilities). It is no surprise that these same detention centers are also home to some of the worst abuse allegations, particularly the Adelanto Detention Center, where unaddressed medical neglect has led to multiple deaths.

The report estimates there are 5,142 people detained throughout the state. The breakdown of numbers from the AG report also show that the majority of immigrants detained in California are housed in the Southern CA region, a total of 4,498 people. The detained population throughout the Southern California region are as follows:

• 1,940 in Inland Empire (Adelanto Detention Center)
• 958 in Orange County (Theo Lacy and James Musick facilities)
• 896 in San Diego County (Otay Mesa Detention Center)
• 704 in Imperial County (Imperial Detention Center)

Call to Action – It is for the aforementioned reasons that the undersigned ask of Cities, Counties, and the State government the following:

To the Attorney General Xavier Becerra – We call on you to exercise greater oversight of detention centers in CA, especially those that privately owned and operated. Work alongside community groups, non-profits, legal service providers, and directly impacted community members to be a part of this oversight process. Additionally, there remains an urgent need for more transparency and accountability when it comes to local law enforcement agencies violating state laws, like SB 54 (the Values Act) and AB 2792 (the Truth Act).

To the State Legislature and the CA Governor – It is imperative that the state not create the ground floor, but rather the ceiling for what is possible when helping those who are detained. Universal Representation at the state level should continue to be a priority and Due Process should be a right granted to everyone, including those who undocumented, detained, and with past convictions. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to enter the criminal justice system in CA should not have to be doubly punished and transferred over to ICE for deportation. As a state and community, we have to stand up and empower those who have been criminalized and as a state support the rehabilitation of people exiting the criminal justice system.

To City and County Governments – We call on you to defend Due Process at the City and County levels. Several jurisdictions across the state and country have created Legal Defense Funds for their Cities and Counties. Invest public dollars to protect those who are in immigration detention. Cities, Counties, and our State government can also invest in a regional Bond Fund. Not only that, City and County governments have the power to exercise greater oversight over detention facilities at the each of the regions. Work alongside community groups, non-profits, legal service providers, and directly impacted community members to be a part of this oversight process.

Lastly, we call on City, County and State and governments to end formal and informal cooperation with ICE and CBP. Ultimately, the undersigned below advocate and work towards limiting, if not ending, detentions and deportations in our State and across the Country. By ending collaboration on any scale will lead us towards that greater progress.

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OC Immigrant Communities Unite Against Hate, Bigotry and Anti-Immigrant Attacks on Constitutional Cities and States, Sanctuary Laws

Groups denounce Supervisors following the lead of white nationalist hate group “FAIR”

• Resilience OC
• Korean Resource Center
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network
• Council on American-Islamic Relations

The post OC Immigrant Communities Unite Against Hate, Bigotry and Anti-Immigrant Attacks on Constitutional Cities and States, Sanctuary Laws appeared first on Resilience OC.

January 22nd, 2018

Contact: Carlos Perea, Carlos@resilienceoc.org

Senate Democrats Fail Immigrant Communities By Ending Trump Shutdown Without Clean Dream Act Deal.

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