Dear
Casa San Jose Amigos,
Welcome
back to our weekly message! Here’s
what’s new:
You help is much
needed:
Casa
San Jose is forming a Fundraising Committee – please join! CSJ would like to: start a legal
defense fund, assist in providing bail to release detainees from ICE detention
when that is possible, help families after their breadwinner is detained or
deported, and hire staff to continue to support the increasingly desperate needs
of our immigrant families. If you can be part of this group (especially if you
would like to lead it,) please contact Sister Valerie, srvalerie@casasanjose.org.
On
Easter Sunday morning, April 16, from 8 am to noon, we will be selling freshly
baked Pan Dulce, (traditional Sweet Bread,) made by Genaro and Jose, to
support St. Catherine’s Church (in Beechview) and its Latino ministry. We need volunteers to come in for a few hours
each to help prepare, sell, and clean up (4 volunteers per hour.) There is parking in the church parking lot. If
you can, please use this
online poll
and fill in your name and check the times you can come. No need to email us –
the poll will do that. But if you have
questions, email roye.werner@gmail.com.
The
Casa San Jose Women’s Group meets Saturday am from 10 am– noon at Brookline
Teen Outreach, 520 Brookline Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15226. They would like someone to speak to them
about beauty, stress, or cooking – no need to speak Spanish. If you can help, please contact Brenda Portillo
at bporti12@gmail.com.
Political
Action this coming week:
Trump’s
budget and future crackdown on immigrants, according to the New York Times and other sources, include many billions to be spent on (in addition to
the proposed border wall) new detention facilities that can house 45,000 people
daily, and tens of thousands of new Border Patrol agents, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, border enforcement prosecutors, US
Marshals, and new courts and judges to speed removal procedures.
PLEASE SPEAK UP!
Here are guidelines from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition –
Call Your Senators and
Representatives: (866) 961-4293
Please call this line 3 times to be connected with your 1 Representative and 2 Senators
Please call this line 3 times to be connected with your 1 Representative and 2 Senators
Sample Script: “I’m your constituent
from [City, State, Zip Code], and I urge you to NOT fund President Trump’s
wall, deportation force and detention centers, and instead do everything in
your power to rescind his immigration and refugee executive orders. Our tax
dollars should be spent alleviating poverty and investing in our future — not
rounding up our community members. My community welcomes refugees and
immigrants.”
Good
news! Our community organizer, Monica
Ruiz, was able to talk to PA
Congressman Dom Costa, who showed he
was willing to listen why SB10 – the anti-
sanctuary bill – threatens both our
city and many of its residents, and he agreed to vote
no.
Also, CSJ staff had a great meeting
with Mayor Peduto, and as his recent press release shows, he stands
firm on immigrant rights: “Immigrants and refugees are welcome here and
we will do everything within our power to protect them and all our residents.” Pittsburgh will join other cities who are
fighting Jeff Sessions’ attack on sanctuary cities. Our Pittsburgh police have been and
will continue to be supportive and helpful to our Latino community.
“Our Story” episode 3, “Martín – an update”
Background: Having fled persecution by a drug cartel in
Mexico, Martin and his family arrived in Pittsburgh in 2012, where he supported
them as a housepainter and construction worker and was a vital community member
in his Uptown neighborhood. After being
stopped for a minor traffic violation in Mt. Lebanon, he was imprisoned by ICE,
and deported a few months later, despite many appeals by myriad friends,
supporters, and community leaders including Congressman Mike Doyle, and Bishop
David Zubik. (More details in this City
Paper report.)
Update: (For security
reasons, we can’t give out exact details.) Martin was transported from prison and
directly deposited on the other side of the Mexican border. Friends in Pittsburgh luckily arranged for a
pastor to meet him there, so he wouldn’t be completely lost. Since then he has been volunteering through
that church to feed and support Cuban immigrants who are now trapped in Mexico
because US laws permitting their entry have changed. He misses his family terribly and tries to
arrange a video call with them whenever he can.
There is no way he can return.
Friends are also trying to arrange a way for his son (the only one with
a US passport) to visit him, but he is so young he needs someone to go with him,
making it difficult and costly. Martin also lives in a communal space, and so
has no place for his son to stay. His
wife Alma says she is “more afraid for him now that he’s in Mexico than when he
was in jail in the US.”
Thank you for your
interest in our cause!
