Episcopal Migration Ministries and The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations hosted Immigrant Detention during COVID-10: Prophetic Action and Compassionate Response on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. This seventy-five-minute webinar included clergy and lay leaders from the Dioceses of Georgia, Ohio, and Western Louisiana with professional and ministry background in different models of detention visitation ministry.
The online presentation provides viewers with an understanding of our country’s immigration detention system, including reports of inhumane conditions and privately-owned prison facilities; an understanding of the reasons immigrants may be detained and how they may be released; and, a discussion of the current situation in detention facilities during COVID-19.
The webinar recording is available below:
ORGANIZATIONS TO KNOW
- Freedom for Immigrants
- Detention Watch Network
- National Immigrant Justice Center
- CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network)
IMPORTANT READING
- Newsweek: I’m an immigration attorney ill with COVID-19. But it’s my detained clients’ lives I fear for the most
- Border Report: Vigil honors man who died of COVID-19 while in ICE custody in California
- Office of the Inspector General Report: “Concerns about ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Four Detention Facilities”
- New York Times: “For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business”
- Freedom for Immigrants Launches Bi-Weekly Report on COVID-19 in ICE Custody
EPISCOPAL CHURCH RESOLUTIONS ON DETENTION
- 2018-A178: Denounce Inhumane Immigration Policies and Advocate on Behalf of Migrants
- 2018-C009: Urge Action to Support Immigrants
- 2015-D033: Support Human Rights and Refugee Relief in Central America
- 2009-B006: Advocate for Immigration Reform
EPISCOPAL CHURCH RESOLUTIONS ON SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING
-
- 2018-B007: Develop a Shareholder Plan to Affect Gun Manufacturers and Retailers
- 2018-B016: Develop Investment Criteria for Israel and Palestine Based on a Human Rights Screening
- 2018-C021: Call for Shareholder Advocacy for Environmental Impact
- 2018-D068: Develop Social Responsible Investment Criteria for Guidance
- 2015-C045: Call for Investing in Clean and Renewable Energy
- 2015-D067: Divest from Private Corporations in the Prison Business
The below lists of organizations and resources are part of the list contained in EMM’s Supporting Asylum Seekers: A Toolkit for Congregations (pages 99-100). Request your free copy here.
If you have resources or other items that should be included in this list, please let us know! Contact us here: https://episcopalmigrationministries.org/contact-us/.
RESOURCES FROM SERVICE, ADVOCACY, AND LEGAL ORGANIZATIONS
- Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project
- LexRAP (MA): Frequently asked questions
- Freedom for Immigrants: Guide to Visiting People in Immigration Detention
- Southern Poverty Law Center: COVID-19 Parole Information Guide for Detained Individuals
- RAICES Webinar: Accompaniment After Detention
- Immigrant Legal Resource Center
- CLINIC: A Guide to Obtaining Release From Immigration Detention
- National Immigrant Justice Center: Timeline of Trump administration’s efforts to end asylum
- Sanctuary Movement: resources for and information about sanctuary coalitions and congregations
- CLINIC: Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.: educational resources on many topics
- Black Alliance for Just Immigration: educates and engages African American and black immigrant communities to organize and advocate for racial, social and economic justice
- United We Dream: immigrant youth-led community organizing
- American Immigration Council: educational resources and state immigration fact sheets
- Migration Policy Institute: nonpartisan research and educational resources
FREE OR LOW-COST IMMIGRATION LEGAL SERVICES
- AILA: American Immigration Lawyers Association
- CLINIC: Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
- EOIR Free Legal Services Provider List
- Human Rights First
- Immigrant Defense Project
- Immigration Law Help
- KIND: Kids in Need of Defense
- National Immigration Law Center
- National Immigration Project
- National Lawyers Guild
- RAICES: Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (Texas)
BOND & BAIL FUNDS (National organizations funding bail across the U.S.)
- The American Bar Association
- Freedom for Immigrants National Bond Fund
- Haitian Immigrant Bond Assistance Project
- LGBTQ Freedom Fund
- National Bail Fund Network
- National Bail Out
- Queer Detainee Empowerment Project
- RAICES Bond Fun
- Community Justice Exchange maintains a national directory of criminal bail and immigration bond funds.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
- ACLU: many resources for different scenarios in several languages
- American Friends Service Committee
- CLINIC
- iAmerica: multiple languages available
- Immigrants Rising
- Informed Immigrant
- Mayan League: videos and information in Maya Mam and Maya Ixil
- NAKASEC: red card and app
- National Immigration Law Center
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR IMMIGRANTS AND VOLUNTEERS
EPISCOPAL & OTHER MINISTRIES SERVING ASYLUM SEEKERS
- Episcopal Refugee & Immigrant Center Alliance
- Refugee & Immigration Ministry
- Refugee Net
- DASH Network (Dallas Ft. Worth)
- CASP Vermont
- Room for Refugees: U.K.-based organization, looking to expand in the U.S.
ACCOMPANIMENT NETWORKS
Freedom for Immigrants is a national organization that offers resources, a bond fund, a hotline, a detention visitation network, and more.
- Sanctuary DMV – Washington D.C. metro area
- New Sanctuary Movement Atlanta
- NorCal Resist
- Court Accompaniment with Colorado Rapid Response Network
- First Friends of NY/NJ
- NY New Sanctuary Coalition
- Amor Rhode Island
- South Georgia Immigrant Support Network
- El Refugio
- Casa de Paz (Colorado)
Additional timely resources so you may continue to stand alongside
refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants during this time of COVID-19.
- Thirty Ways to Care for Yourself, Others, and Immigrants During COVID-19: Our colleagues at Church World Service (CWS) have produced another useful resource, Thirty Ways to Care for Yourself, Others, and Immigrants During COVID-19, that you can find here.
- News Media about COVID-19, refugees, asylum seekers, and migration: Click here for news media; list updated regularly.
- Interfaith Immigration Coalition: Working under the Interfaith Immigration Coalition umbrella, there is a gathering of local immigrant accompaniment networks who come together to share resources, best practices, and build local skills and capacity. They have released Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Skill-Share – Covid-19/Coronavirus Resources and encourage you to share it widely.
- The Justice for Immigrants Campaign (USCCB) has a new resource page on the website with different resources related to COVID-19.
- Asylum Seeker Assistance Project (ASAP) is now recruiting volunteers to call 3 clients at least once a week for the next 4 weeks to offer reassurance as a “friendly neighbor.” Call just to check-in, share recipes, offer homeschooling resources or host a virtual dinner party. Volunteers do not need to be bilingual although we can match according to language skills. Sign Up Here.
- Become a Virtual Job Coach: Every day brings new challenges with the COVID-19 virus and all the uncertainty it is causing in the global economy and our own personal lives. Upwardly Global is seeking volunteers to help with resume/cover letter building and interview/networking skills to advance the professional ambitions of their job seekers and help build a more inclusive economy. Sign up here.
- Hope Can’t Be Quarantined: LIRS is launching this campaign in which they’re asking people to write letters to asylum seekers in detention amidst the COVID-19 crisis. This is an opportunity to reach out to those in detention with a word of hope, breaking through their isolation to let them know they are not forgotten. Click here for more info.