ICE vigil marks one year
Monday, May 4, marks the one-year anniversary of a weekly clergy- and neighbor-led vigil at the Dallas ICE field office. CLEAR DFW (Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response) is an interfaith coalition of faith leaders united around social justice advocacy from a faith perspective. All people of good will are welcome to join this Monday — or any Monday.
Souper Bowl of Caring impact
Wilshire’s Souper Bowl of Caring in February raised $10,600 in support of local grassroots advocates providing mutual aid to immigrant families with detained loved ones. Here’s how those funds and efforts made an impact:
Whistle Kits: Supplies were provided to Vecinos Unidos to assemble 500 kits. Wilshire’s Let’s Organize! immigration group also assembled 500 kits, and our student ministry assembled an additional 100 during Watershed. Each Whistle Kit includes a whistle, basic “know your rights” information, hotline numbers and guidance on how to safely support someone being targeted by ICE. Whistle Kits are available for you to pick up in the North Atrium and outside the Main Office. Keep them on hand, share with neighbors or drop some off at your workplace or volunteer site.
Court Support: Wilshire serves as a pickup location for supplies that court observers can bring to young children waiting at court with their parents.
Donations: Children’s books, crayons and supplies were donated to La Colectiva.
Direct Grants: Unidos Vecinos and La Colectiva each received $4,000.
Volunteering as a courtroom observer: a firsthand account
By Gladys Kolenovsky
As Federal Immigration Court observers, we arrive before the first docket cases begin in order to help the court respondents find their way to their assigned courtroom. If they are late, they will be considered absent and immediately removable. The relief when they arrive at the correct courtroom is momentary. The gravity of the situation returns. Once in the waiting rooms, we share coloring books, fidget toys and stuffies with the children who will be there for hours. The smiles from the children and their parents do not require a translation app. They have been seen as neighbors, not criminals.
Volunteers receive training from the American Bar Association and through Vecinos Unidos DFW (Neighbors United) to document courtroom proceedings and report unusual or questionable procedures.
As cases are called, we follow the respondents into the courtroom and identify ourselves as community observers. Observations and concerns are shared in reports, a court observer group chat and in twice-monthly calls with ABA representatives.
As Wilshire volunteer courtroom observers, we do not impact the outcome of immigration hearings, but we bring a calm, caring presence to a highly stressful setting. Our neighbors know someone was there who cared.