Social Justice Update July 27, 2018

Members of the sanctuary team continue to be involved in sanctuary work. This work includes attending meetings, attending rallies and vigils, calling politicians, and signing petitions on behalf of immigrant neighbors and for immigration justice.

We now have a new window in the green room which meet the fire code. UUCS now has a safe space to host someone in physical sanctuary. Thanks to John Prohodsky for contracting out this important work.

The team has been in contact with Causa to get a feel as to what it can do to help stop IP22 from becoming law. Causa asked that we wait until after July 6th to do anything further. OFIR has intentions of changing the name and wording of IP22 when on the ballot. Causa asked if UUCS could help with the verification of names from the Salem area that are part of the 88,000 required signatures. We will find out more as how UUCS may be able to assist One Oregon (Causa is a member) to prevent IP22 from becoming law.

Sarah Rohrs and Michael Pollard attended the ACLU statewide all day conference on Saturday, June 23. The focus of this conference was immigration rights and how we could work towards changing unjust laws. Michael had the chance to speak to a well known immigration activist, Maru Mora Villalpando, the keynote speaker. Moru is herself undocumented is now the target for deportation by ICE. Michael asked her if she has considered being in physical sanctuary and she said no and that she is confident her case will prevail. In her keynote address, she stated that she is now convinced that the only way we will be able to stop the government’s hateful campaign against immigrants is for massive civil disobedience to take place.

At the conference, we found out that the ACLU of Oregon had only 8,000 members prior to Trump’s election. It now has over 52,000 members. We also found out that it was filing a law suit in the Portland Federal Courts to force ICE at the Sheridan Prison to follow due process and allow the prisoners to meet with clergy and lawyers.

Here is the result of the the Monday hearing:

A federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow the 121 migrant detainees being held at the federal prison in Sheridan to meet with immigration attorneys.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/
government_ordered_to_allow_sh.html?utm_medium=organic-
socialflow&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=theoregonian