Dear Casa San José Amigos,
Welcome back to our email newsletter! It now has a new
location on our website, which we
hope you will visit often.
ACTION:
This Tuesday, Jan. 30, much is happening! First, please
join us and Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh for a protest at noon at the ICE office
on the South Side (3000 Sidney St).
And then, that evening at 8 pm at Casa’s Beechview office (2116
Broadway Ave.), we will have a State of the Union Watch/Twitter Party
where we will use all of our social media might to speak out together for
Dreamers and immigrant rights.
HELP:
Please like us: Jeimy has been working hard on getting our
social media presence up to date, and now we can send news and be contacted not
only via our website and Facebook, but also Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Liking and Following us will greatly
help us build our community!
NEWS:
Casa San José just won
the Coro Pittsburgh's
2018 MLK, Jr. award for organizational leadership!
For our many transportation needs –
from taking children to Kennywood, to bringing supporters to marches, to
escorting people to a court date, to moving furniture, donations and food
supplies, etc., etc. – we thank the
Miller Foundation who generously gave us a grant to get a new Chrysler Pacifica
2017 Van. It is just fabulous - we are so grateful.
In the event that the recent judge’s injunction against Trump’s DACAcancellation is resolved in the Dreamers favor, Casa held a DACA clinic on Saturday January 20 to offer free
renewals and assistance, childcare and refreshments. Young people came
from as far as Cleveland, and it was covered in the Post-Gazette and on KDKA.
On Jan 29, we are starting an after-school program on Mondays for K-8
Hispanic kids at Dormont Elementary School, adding to our programs at
Beechwood Elementary and Brashear High School.
Another new program is being
offered: Puerta Abierta. Every Wednesday afternoon, a Spanish-speaking
counselor from Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh will be onsite to
help and advise anyone who is subject to domestic violence.
Sister Janice spoke to students at Carlow University
on Jan. 25 about the struggles and issues surrounding immigration and what can
be done about them.
ANOTHER STORY:
Last Wednesday, Casa got a call that a teenage
immigrant boy, who had just made the perilous journey alone from Guatemala to
Texas to Pittsburgh, had been picked up by ICE and being held in custody at
their South Side office. He spoke no
English, and was very frightened. As an
unaccompanied child, he would not be subject to immediate deportation, but here
was the problem: it was his 18th
birthday. He needed an advocate. Sister
Janice and Veronica answered the call, convinced ICE that he had an asylum case
and could await trial with a relative, found shelter for him overnight at Family Links, and contacted his brother who lives in Massachusetts
to come and get him. He asked these
things: was he safe now, could he let
his Mom know he was OK, and could someone find his lost notebook that he kept
to learn English. Veronica answered yes to at least the first two, and saw him
off with his brother at 6 a.m. the next day. She said “I was
fortunate enough to witness the reunification of the brothers. It was very
emotional to witness the joy of seeing that he was no longer in danger.”
