Wednesday, July 12, 2017

News for Amigos de Casa San José: July 11, 2017

Dear Casa San José Amigos,
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.

Your help is much needed:
  • 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.
Casa San José has a new organizational structure. Sister Janice Vanderneck has opted to be the new Director of Civic Engagement, and Julián Alonso González Asenjo is now the new Executive Director after having been both a Casa board member and service coordinator.  Board chair Jackie Abel-Stavropoulos says, “Casa San José is blessed to have compassionate leaders and passionate advocates.” More details are in our press release and in Julián's personal statement.

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 Story” episode 12: “Pedro and Pierre” 
  • 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.
Suggested if you’d like to read or see more:
  • 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.
Clarification:In our Amigos message of June 13th we stated " Casa San Jose will be holding a Listening Session with our immigrant community to answer questions about their legal rights, welfare of children, and best practices."  We were in error to have used that description because we did NOT include answering questions about immigrant legal rights.  We will be sure to more correctly describe the content of our workshops going forward.

Thank you for joining us!




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