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Family Separation and Immigration Webinar and Resources

Many of you are concerned with the current debate around the federal immigration policy on family separation.  Although an executive order has been released to address the components of the policy, there are still reports of separations, lack of clarity about the courts’ response to the EO, and the challenges of reuniting families.

Children, Youth and Family Funders Roundtable is hosting an “Immigration Funder Strategy Discussion” on Friday, July 13 2:30-3:30pm for funders interested in learning more about how your organization can use its expertise to enter the immigration space.  The webinar will have ideas for ways to communicate differently with peers and colleagues about the effects of immigration policy, and to better align strategies across issue areas.  This strategy discussion will be focused on supporting immigrant children and families!s, and four funders will share their strategies, including how they developed them and how they are linked with other issue areas.

Speakers:
· Denise Dell Isola, Irving Harris Foundation
· Sandra Martinez, The California Wellness Foundation
· Laura Speer, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
· Kavitha Sreeharsha, Emerson Collective
This webinar is part of the Children, Youth & Family Funders Roundtable conversation on the impact of immigration action on children and families. The Roundtable’s immigration work is done in partnership with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce, and Early Childhood Funders Collaborative to ensure we are exploring our understanding of the cross section of issues faced by immigrant children and families.  Register

Our partner in United Philanthropy Forum, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) has released a sign on statement on family separation and immigration enforcement policies, signed by 160 philanthropic organizations.   GCIR has also released a document with ideas for philanthropic responses to the family separation crisis.

Our Forum partners, Hispanics in Philanthropy and Associated Grant Makers, have gathered resources for funders who want to learn more and/or get involved.

Statements Issued:

Dave Biemsderfer, CEO of United Philanthropy Forum, released a blog piece on the family separation policy
United Way of Mass Bay, The Boston Foundation, Jewish Philanthropies and Catholic Charities released a combined joint statement
Philanthropy California released a combined statement from Northern California, Southern California and San Diego Grantmakers

Hispanics In Philanthropy Resources

Hispanics in Philanthropy have launched an Emergency Response Fund, and issued the following statement on ways funders can respond.

5 Ways You Can Stand Up for Immigrant Children & Families TODAY

Ana Marie Argilagos, president and CEO of Hispanics in Philanthropy

It was 136 years ago when the funds to build the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty ran short. New Yorkers took action. They formed fundraising committees and collected donations from people across the city, including a kindergarten class that donated $1.35. Poet Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet, “The New Colossus,” to help raise money. Her words — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — have inspired America’s approach to immigration ever since.

Today, these words etched into the Statue of Liberty are at risk. This month is Immigrant Heritage Month, intended to recognize and celebrate the vast contributions of immigrants in this country which was founded by immigrants. Instead, we are witnessing the worst human rights violations in generations.

Despite President Trump’s executive order ending his administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents, the government will continue to treat all immigrants as criminals and to lock families in cages along the U.S.-Mexico border. Make no mistake: this executive order does not fix the damage inflicted on children or their families. Nor does it prevent future trauma. The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy is intended to inflict pain, fear, and suffering on children and their parents.

We are better than these xenophobic government policies. We cannot stay silent. We cannot sit by and allow thousands of children and families to suffer traumas that will last a lifetime.

We must remember the lessons learned by our predecessors. We must look back at how Americans mobilized to bring our nation’s beacon of freedom, Lady Liberty, to our shores. Her existence is a constant reminder that we were once a country unified by the immigrant experience. We were and still are proud to be a country of immigrants.

Today, we must once again mobilize to show the world that new immigrants are cared for and welcomed with open arms. You do not have to be wealthy or a government official to take action. Just like the children who donated money to help raise the Statue of Lady Liberty two centuries ago, you too can do your part to ensure we remember our shared values.

HERE ARE A FEW WAYS YOU CAN HELP TODAY:

  1. Donate to HIP’s fund to support lasting services and support for immigrant families detained at the border.
  2. Contact your elected officials and hold them accountable. Tell them you expect them to do better, and to do it NOW.
  3. Contact the U.S. Department of Justice and submit your comments about the damage the current policies are inflicting on children and families.
  4. Contact the White House to demand they put an end to this cruelty and treat our immigrants humanely and with the dignity they deserve.
  5. Elevate your voice! HIP along with many other organizations will be gathering this June 30th at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. to protest this administration’s inhumane policy of ripping children away from their parents at the border. Join us in DC or at an event near you. Find out more at the Families Belong Together website.

Thank you, and may we all remember: We are in this together.

Associated Grant Makers Resources

http://www.agmconnect.org/grantmakers-philanthropic-advisors/resources/disaster-and-emergency-relief-resources

  • Greater Boston Immigrant Defense Fund is building Greater Boston’s capacity to protect and defend immigrant and refugee communities by increasing access to legal representation for individuals facing deportation proceedings and community education and preparedness programming
  • Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrantshas been established to help immigrants in Cambridge, Massachusetts get the legal services they need to stay, legally, in our country.
  • The ACLUis litigating this policy in California.
  • Al Otro Ladois a binational organization that works to offer legal services to deportees and migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, including deportee parents whose children remain in the U.S.
  • American Immigrant Representation Project(AIRP), which works to secure legal representation for immigrants.
  • CARA—a consortium of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association—provides legal services at family detention centers.
  • CASAin Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They litigate, advocate, and help with representation of minors needing legal services.
  • CLINIC’s Defending Vulnerable Populationsproject offers case assistance to hundreds of smaller organizations all over the country that do direct services for migrant families and children.
  • The Florence Projectis an Arizona project offering free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody.
  • Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborativehas a guide to organizations throughout Texas that provide direct legal services to separated children. Also listed within the guide are resources for local advocates, lawyers, and volunteers.
  • Human Rights Firstis a national organization with roots in Houston that needs help from lawyers too.
  • Kids in Need of Defenseworks to ensure that kids do not appear in immigration court without representation, and to lobby for policies that advocate for children’s legal interests.
  • The Kino Border Initiativeprovides humanitarian aid to refugees and migrants on both sides of the border. They have a wish-list of supplies they can use to help migrants and families staying in the communities they serve.
  • The Legal Aid Justice Centeris a Virginia-based center providing unaccompanied minors legal services and representation.
  • The National Immigrant Justice Centerrepresents and advocates for detained adults and children facing removal, supports efforts at the border, and represents parents in the interior who have been separated from their families as a result of aggressive enforcement.
  • The Northwest Immigrant Rights Projectis doing work defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education.
  • Pueblo Sin Fronterasis an organization that provides humanitarian aid and shelter to migrants on their way to the U.S.
  • RAICESis the largest immigration nonprofit in Texas offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children and families.
  • Together Risingis another Virginia-based organization that’s helping provide legal assistance for 60 migrant children who were separated from their parents and are currently detained in Arizona.
  • The Urban Justice Center’s Asylum Seeker Advocacy Projectis working to keep families together.
  • Women’s Refugee Commissionadvocates for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth fleeing violence and persecution.
  • Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rightsworks for the rights of children in immigration proceedings.