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HomeMy WebLinkAbout091123 JCIRA September 2023ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. View this email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/0aa32332b45e/jcira-june-2022-newsletter-15378720?e=e4038c52b4> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/dbcd2b4c-e11f-fe5d-5c77-62ccaa1d23cb.jpg> We support the rights of immigrants and their families, giving priority to those who live or work on the Olympic Peninsula and immigrant detainees within Washington State, through access to legal services, standing witness, family support, community education and advocacy. In this Newsletter: * Note from Natalia: Women's Justice Circle * Save the Date: JCIRA General Meeting - September 28 * Pictures: Grand Opening of the JCIRA Multicultural Center * The Real Crisis at the Border * Poem by Warsan Shire: Home * Get Educated! Classes at the Center: * ESL Classes: Meet our New Teacher * Beginning and Intermediate Spanish * JCIRA at the Community Picnic * Help Wanted: Volunteer Opportunities * Festivals and Concerts this Month! * Play the Green Card Game * Resources for Immigrants Note from Outreach Coordinator Natalia Durán: Women's Justice Circle <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/5cd734a5-2482-81a9-6e5c-28c80a39a25e.jpeg> The voices of women who are low-income, immigrant, or on the margins, are usually not included in organizing for change in ways that meet their needs. There are approximately 220 Women’s Justice Circles happening all over Washington State. This program is part of the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center. As a women who belongs to the immigrant community, I have found myself in different situations that were easier to navigate because I have a support system. However, not every person that migrates has family or speaks the language. When the resources are available, not everyone has access to them. Here is where community involvement can play an important role. JCIRA knows the importance of the stories told by the people who have lived through them. Women ‘s Justice Circles are a way to create community and empower women to take the lead in decision making. Beginning the second week of September and occurring weekly for 8 weeks, women from the immigrant community will gather at JCIRA Multicultural Center. These women will get to know each other, share their challenges and dreams, and work on a specific project to make a positive and important impact in their family’s lives. SAVE THE DATE! JCIRA General Meeting September 28 5:00 pm Quimper Unitarian 2333 San Juan Ave Come join your JCIRA friends for a Talk About Resilience Resilience: A Journey into Immigration Enforcement and the lives of Latinx Students in Eastern Washington Ricardo Gomez, PhD. Professor, UW Information School Explore with me the natural beauty of Eastern Washington as a backdrop to two stories woven together in a tapestry of immigrant experiences: I will share aspects of the analysis of records obtained through public access requests which document the illegal collaboration of local law enforcement with federal immigration enforcement in the region, and contrast this with the life experiences of UW students who grew up in that same region. I share students’ stories of resilience and perseverance that contrast with the evidence of racist and illegal persecution of immigrants, all in the beautiful setting of an imaginary journey along the Columbia River basin in Eastern Washington. Dr. Gomez will also be presenting in Spanish at the Multicultural Center November 30th Grand Opening of the Multicultural Center: In Pictures <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/cf8b302b-50d2-cb11-5a60-0d73028ed3e2.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/782e4b8a-6952-9e60-8ad1-efe878235bf4.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/656e2a2a-e9c0-9b4d-fe9a-2e3cd18256b2.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/ff56b4db-31ca-cdb3-4650-74107d89c1b4.jpeg> Everyone associated with JCIRA was awestruck by the outpouring of support for our Grand Opening ceremonies and party, THANK YOU! Clockwise from top left (or top to bottom): Natalia, Outreach Coordinator. Camelia Jade provided music. JCIRA Board Chair Larry Jensen listens to Port Townsend Mayor David Faber. Larry with Miriam McMahon and volunteer Roberta Lindeman. For more details, check our website here <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=8b35327862&e=e4038c52b4> . The Real Crisis on Our Southern Border Some politicians claim that there is a crisis at our southern border due to the “invasion” of migrants seeking entry to the US, particularly those who enter illegally. Over the last two years there have been about 200,000 migrant encounters per month at the Mexico/U.S. border, including persons requesting asylum and those who cross without authorization and are detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). It does not include entries of persons holding Visas. It is impossible to accurately count the number of persons crossing the border without being caught (“getaways” in CBP jargon), but it is estimated that there are about 50,000 per month. Countries of origin are no longer primarily Mexico and the northern triangle countries (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala). Origins are much more varied and many are of much greater distance from the US: CBP Encounters at the Mexico/US Border in 2022 by Country of Origin Mexico 808,339 Brazil 53,457 Guatemala 231,565 Peru 50,662 Cuba 220,908 Ukraine 25,364 Honduras 213,023 Ecuador 24,060 Venezuela 187,716 Russia 21,763 Nicaragua 163,876 India 18,308 Columbia 125,127 Turkey 15,445 Other 110,699 Romania 5,992 El Salvador 97,030 China 2,176 Haiti 53,910 The breakdown based on family units is 64% single adults, 27% families, and 9% unaccompanied minors. Since the pandemic and continuing to the present, almost all encounters result in immediate expulsion – contrary to US law that states anyone physically present in the US, irrespective of status, has the right to request asylum and have their request adjudicated. The basis for such expulsion was Title 42, and now the Biden administration policy requires those who pass through another country to seek and be denied asylum there, with the Orwellian official name Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP). Claims that many or most of these “illegals” are terrorists are never backed up by evidence, and in fact are false. The conservative CATO Institute just issued a report titled Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis, 1975-2022 available on their web site cato.org. The report concludes that almost all terrorism-related injuries and deaths attributed to immigrants (primarily 9/11) were conducted by persons with legal immigration status. Another claim that immigrants are responsible for feeding the fentanyl epidemic is again, not true. The DEA reports that China is the main source of fentanyl trafficking; almost all of the fentanyl from Mexican cartels enters through legal ports of entry transported by couriers known as “mules,” and 82% of those arrested for trafficking fentanyl are United States citizens. The real border crisis is a humanitarian one, caused by the US Border Patrol expelling or refusing entry to persons with a legal right to enter the country and request asylum. Thousands of persons, including families with children, are living at or near the border without adequate food or shelter subject to theft, murder, kidnapping, and extortion by gangs and cartels. There is a significant risk of death in making the attempt to cross. CBP reported recovering 856 bodies in 2022; the actual death toll is, by some estimates double the reported figure. Most deaths are due to dehydration or exposure in the desert, but there are also a number of drownings in the Rio Grande particularly since Texas installed their floating barrier. Persons turned back or expelled after an attempted crossing often remain in Mexican locations adjacent to the border. There they face inadequate nutrition and shelter as well as the risk of extortion, kidnaping, and violence. Many deaths occur before migrants reach the border. There are the well known dangers of the journey across Mexico – an up to 3000 mile journey involving riding on top of the train known as The Beast, gangs, cartels, kidnapping, rape and trafficking, as well as arrest, extortion and violence by Mexican authorities. Those coming from or through South America may need to cross the notorious Darien Gap on foot. This 60 mile journey requires dealing with treacherous terrain, no roads, no police, and gangs of bandits. Panama estimates that some 250,000 persons attempted the crossing in 2022 and projects that the number will grow to 400,000 in 2023. Given the costs, difficulties, and risks of the journey and the limited chance of success, why do they come? Can the nebulous promise of a better life justify the effort? Perhaps the answer is in the poem “Home” by Warsan Shire. Submitted by Larry Jensen Home by Warsan Shire no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. no one leaves home unless home chases you fire under feet hot blood in your belly it’s not something you ever thought of doing until the blade burnt threats into your neck and even then you carried the anthem under your breath only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet sobbing as each mouthful of paper made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back. you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land no one burns their palms under trains beneath carriages no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled means something more than journey. no one crawls under fences no one wants to be beaten pitied no one chooses refugee camps or strip searches where your body is left aching or prison, because prison is safer than a city of fire and one prison guard in the night is better than a truckload of men who look like your father no one could take it no one could stomach it no one skin would be tough enough the go home blacks refugees dirty immigrants asylum seekers sucking our country dry niggers with their hands out they smell strange savage messed up their country and now they want to mess ours up how do the words the dirty looks roll off your backs maybe because the blow is softer than a limb torn off or the words are more tender than fourteen men between your legs or the insults are easier to swallow than rubble than bone than your child body in pieces. i want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark home is the barrel of the gun and no one would leave home unless home chased you to the shore unless home told you to quicken your legs leave your clothes behind crawl through the desert wade through the oceans drown save be hunger beg forget pride your survival is more important no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear saying- leave, run away from me now i dont know what i’ve become but i know that anywhere is safer than here CLASSES AT THE MULTICULTURAL CENTER English as a Second Language: Fall Class - New Teacher The evening ESL class will start up again on September 13th. The class meets from 6:30-8:30 pm on Wednesdays and has a new instructor this year. Sue Lemay has many years of experience teaching ESL, basic skills, college prep, and high school equivalency and credit programs. She recently retired from Peninsula College, but her passion for teaching ESL has brought her to JCIRA. The class is open to all levels of English learners, from absolute beginners to advanced students. With volunteers available to help with instruction, students will be divided into small groups to encourage conversation and to provide students with appropriate levels of instruction. The class will include reading, writing, listening, speaking, and grammar. Specific content will evolve to meet the needs and goals of the students who regularly attend class. For more information or to sign up, please contact the JCIRA office at 360-232-6070 or email the instructor at eslteachersuelemay@gmail.com <mailto:eslteachersuelemay@gmail.com> . We look forward to seeing you in class this year! <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/17cf62e0-1662-32b6-5dd4-113db676f224.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/f5e226ef-6fa8-0cea-ea02-cc5c997a1e2c.jpg> Learn Spanish! This fall, JCIRA is hosting both beginning and intermediate Spanish. Beginning Spanish will be taught by Francisco Ramirez, and intermediate Spanish by Katie Franco. See flyers for more information and how to sign up. <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/a443dab0-25b6-be87-d55a-9c1344bc1ae6.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/22a77662-b38c-b446-72c0-cd202440fb1b.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/ebc46d02-6057-cc81-a401-b2b4b47107e1.jpg> JCIRA At the Community Picnic JCIRA participated in the Jefferson County Community Picnic at the HJ Carroll Park on August 20. We enjoyed having this opportunity to reach out to the community and identify future volunteers! Pictured: Linda (Board member, standing), with volunteers Alexandra, Isabel, and Emily. HELP WANTED INTERESTED IN PROVIDING LEGAL SERVICES TO IMMIGRANTS? Consider joining the Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center (KIAC), a partner to JCIRA, in becoming an Accredited Representative. See flyer below. HOW'S YOUR ALGEBRA? Chimacum High School/ Middle School needs tutors in Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15- 3:15. Starting September 19th. Math help needed in Algebra I, II and III, Geometry, Trig. Email daedelstein2@gmail.com <mailto:daedelstein2@gmail.com> or call 206-769-9563. IMMIGRANT WANTS TO LEARN COMPUTER USE A local immigrant with very little experience in using computers would like regular learning sessions, especially during the fall and winter. For more information, contact Libby Palmer, libbypalmer2@gmail.com <mailto:libbypalmer2@gmail.com> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/8b31016e-4665-05d4-9ec2-9dd089987013.jpg> Festivals! Concerts! Celebrate Mexican Independence and Hispanic Heritage this Month Saturday, September 16: Hispanic Heritage Celebration Experience Hispanic culture, music, dance and food at the Willapa Harbor Community Center in South Bend, see flyer below. Sunday, September 17: Concierto El Grito “El Grito” is a spirited commemoration of Mexico’s independence and serves as a symbol of Mexican heritage and unity. It takes its name from the famous “Grito de Dolores” (Cry of Dolores), a call to arms that marked the beginning of Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain in 1810. La Orquesta Northwest, the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle, and Town Hall Seattle are excited to share with you the “El Grito” Ceremony. “El Grito” es una emotiva conmemoración de la independencia de México y sirve como símbolo de la herencia mexicana y la unidad. Toma su nombre del famoso “Grito de Dolores”, un llamado a las armas que marcó el inicio de la lucha de México por su independencia de España en 1810. La Orquesta Northwest, el Consulado de México en Seattle, y Town Hall Seattle se complacen en compartir con ustedes la Ceremonia de “El Grito”. For more information, see flyer below or check out El Grito – Town Hall Seattle <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=0a097dc400&e=e4038c52b4> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/6ed20560-2220-5bb4-29d8-0eb52188d17f.jpg> <https://mcusercontent.com/e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83/images/d02ee9b2-6854-4cd2-ca59-5e097c207461.jpg> Play The Green Card Game! This online app from the CATO Institute gives a realistic picture of just how hard it is to legally immigrate to the United States. Give it a try here <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click ?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=de8fd21ed0&e=e4038c52b4> . COMMUNITY RESOURCES Medical and Health JC Mash (free clinic) 136 Water Street, Suite 109 PT, WA 98368 360-385-4268 JFC Express Clinic 834 Sheridan St., Suite B PT, WA 98368 360-385-2204 North Olympic Healthcare Network Two locations in Port Angeles 360-452-7891 www.nohn-pa.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=d57519ffb3&e=e4038c52b4> Jefferson Dental Clinic 915 Sheridan PT, WA 98368 360-344-1005 Ecumenical Christian Helping Hands Organization 1110 Jefferson St., PT, WA 98368 360-379-3246 www.echhojc.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=937c244700&e=e4038c52b4> WIC Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children under 5 Jefferson County Public Health 615 Sheridan St., PT, WA 98368 360-385-9432 Food All Food Banks: Jeffersoncountyfoodbanks.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=0fc5113526&e=e4038c52b4> Quilcene Food Bank 294952 US 101 Quilcene, WA 98376 Tri-Area Food Bank 760 Chimacum Road Chimacum, WA 98325 360-385-9462 Port Townsend Food Bank 1925 Blaine Street PT, WA 98368 Other Services Dove House Advocacy Services Advocacy, basic needs, housing assistance, and other resources for recent and past victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and general crime. www.dovehousejc.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=dd212aa5c6&e=e4038c52b4> 1045 10th Street, PT WA 98368 Office and 24/7 Crisis Line: 360-385-5291 St. Vincent de Paul Help with needs like food, gas, prescriptions, mobile phones/minutes, propane, utilities, medical/dental expenses, repairs, clothing and laundry. https://svdpejc.org/ <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=494b2fdc1f&e=e4038c52b4> 360-379-1325 Olympic Community Action (OlyCAP) Provides assistance for all basic needs (rent, utilities, energy, prescriptions, gas, public transportation, etc.) for low-income households. www.olycap.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=c0956560ee&e=e4038c52b4> 823 Commerce Loop Quilcene, WA 98376 360-385-2571 Housing Bayside Housing and Services www.baysidehousing.org <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=00567cd4a6&e=e4038c52b4> 310 Hadlock Bay Road Port Hadlock, WA 98339 360-385-4637 Jefferson County Emergency Shelter Located in the basement of the American Legion 209 Monroe St, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Regular hours 4:00 PM-8:00 AM 7 days a week. DONATE <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=452c529979&e=e4038c52b4> TO JCIRA! Support our mission by donating to JCIRA. Click on the word Donate or click Here <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=c4d2eb5504&e=e4038c52b4> to go to the donation page on our website. Thank you for considering! <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=e62d1ba1b8&e=e4038c52b4> <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=c92518ebba&e=e4038c52b4> Copyright © 2021 JCIRA, All rights reserved. Thank you for joining the JCIRA Newsletter mailing list. Our mailing address is: JCIRA PO Box 647 Port Townsend, WA 98368-0647 Add us to your address book <https://jcira.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e6a5ce9c533fce19d6336ca83&id=4bd3e07306&e=e4038c52b4> Want to change how you receive these emails? 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