Welcome back to our weekly message! Here’s what’s new:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sunday edition has begun a 5-part front page feature on Pittsburgh's Latino community, "Unsettled in America" by journalist Peter Smith and photographer Nate Guidry. Casa San José and its staff and work are highlighted throughout. It's illuminating and moving - and you can read it here.
- Carwash for a Cause: Help our Latino youth attend the next Harrisburg convening and training workshop of the PA Immigration and Citizenship Coalition AND get your car clean and shiny again AND treat yourself to some great tacos! This Thursday, July 13, noon to 8 p.m., at Las Palmas IGA, 1616 Broadway Ave, Beechview neighborhood. Also the following Thursday, July 20, noon to 6 p.m., 2957 Banksville Rd.
And check out our new website - casasanjose.org - thanks to the generous and expert work of volunteers Daniel Sun and Ignacio Arana Araya.
An excellent profile just came out out in NextPittsburgh on Sister Janice's and Casa's work "on the front line of helping Pittsburgh’s Latino families."
Political action:
- Our partner PICC (Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition) just updated their "StopTheHate Toolkit" - it's a short efficient read on key points to make to anyone who will listen. They also updated their "Priority Legislators" list - if your PA rep is on there, please contact any time - here's how to find them.
- On July 3, Pedro (not his real name,) a client of Casa, brought his new friend Pierre (also not his real name) into our office to get some help correcting a document. They had met and become friends in the York County Prison. Here’s the back story:
- Pedro: Having come from Mexico, he has been in Pittsburgh for about 10 years, and lives with his wife and 3 children, ages 14, 8, and 5. He has no criminal record whatsoever – not even a parking violation - and works for an American employer as a landscaper. About a month ago, ICE personnel, dressed as police officers, came to the house where he was working with 3 other immigrants and arrested them all. His phone was confiscated, he wasn’t allowed to call his wife, and he was taken first to a federal prison, where he spent weeks in limbo, with no contact with his family, and sharing a cell with someone accused of murder. He was then transferred to the York County Prison, an ICE facility in PA, where some months later, with the assistance of his concerned employer who signed a guarantee for him, and after having somehow raised $5000 for bail and another $800 for a lawyer, he was released on bond pending a court date. He is back with his family here but there is little hope that he can stay. His wife can’t even accompany him to court for fear of being arrested herself.
- Pierre: He fled Haiti and came to the US after promised jobs in Brazil evaporated; he speaks fluent French and Haitian Creole as well as some English, Spanish and Portuguese. He was picked up by ICE as well and taken to the York County Prison, where he befriended Pedro. But he was the lucky one – after some time there, he was granted asylum, meaning that he can now live in the US legally, and was released a few weeks after Pedro, on June 23. He was basically just put out on the street in York: he had no place to go, and no way to figure out how to live. His only contact was with Pedro – and somehow he got in touch. Pedro immediately invited him to stay with him here in Pittsburgh, and came to Casa right away to get help buying him a Greyhound ticket – which is enormously complicated without a phone, an account, a credit card, and not much English. Pierre is now staying with Pedro’s family, and is getting help from Casa and from Jewish Family & Children’s Service in finding a job and getting integrated into life in Pittsburgh.
- Postscript, an act of creative generosity: One of our Amigos asked his grown children, in place of a Father’s Day gift, to make a donation to support 5 families who have missed their own Dad through arrest or deportation. They provided 5 cards with $50 each to Casa to distribute to those families. One is going to Pedro’s family.
- ProPublica, an independent nonprofit investigative news organization has an excellent special series on immigration, and their latest article, “ICE officers told to take action against all undocumented immigrants” even for those with absolutely no criminal history, is chilling. (It also reminds us that, despite frequently heard claims to the contrary, “Under the law, merely being here illegally is not a crime. Rather, it’s a civil violation.”)
- Don’t be put off by this title: Only mass deportation can save America – in this piece New York Times columnist Bret Stephens strikingly and entertainingly proves that immigrants are our most valuable and needed inhabitants. The statistical comparison to “complacent, entitled” long-time citizens is compelling – and will give you good arguments for Republican legislators.
- Would you like to help teach your kids about immigrant and refugee experiences? The Carnegie Library offers a list of children’s books that helps children explore their own identities and develop empathy for others.
Thank you for joining us!
