Immigrant Detention Organization Meeting

Nell Hahn will host this meeting for those interested in supporting or advocating for immigrants in detention in Louisiana. We will meet at the church on Thursday, December 12th at 6 pm.

We will discuss forming local organization to do concrete things such as visiting detainees, organizing stakeholder tours, driving detainees and just getting the word out through education.

Here is the email I received from Nell regarding this:

"Hi, folks. This is Nell Hahn. I've set up a meeting for people in the Lafayette area who've expressed interest in getting involved in supporting and/or advocating for immigrants in detention in Louisiana. 

The meeting will be at the Unitarian Universalist meeting space:

1119 Johnston, Suite 12, Thursday, Dec. 12 at 6 pm. 

This is behind Domino's, and across from First Presbyterian on Johnston and University. Don't park in the Domino's lot. 

I'm afraid that mass incarceration of immigrants will be going on in Louisiana for a long time. We need to get organized for the long haul. That means forming a viable local organization that can do concrete things to support immigrants while we also address the big picture.

There are a number of ways to help. One is by volunteering to visit immigrants in detention, using a model developed by Freedom for Immigrants (https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/). The purpose of visiting is not only to give immigrants in detention emotional support and a connection to outside world, but also to keep an eye on what is going on in the detention centers, bringing abuses to light, and advocating to change conditions. We have a Louisiana group based on this model, and have been organizing visits to detention centers around the state. It makes sense for us to organize locally. The centers closest to us are South Louisiana Correctional Center in Basile, which houses women, and Pine Prairie ICE processing center, between Lafayette and Alexandria. Both are within about one hour's drive from Lafayette. 

We can also arrange "stakeholder tours" of facilities to see the conditions there and talk with staff, and also interview people in detention about their experiences.

Another way to help is to be available on short notice to transport people who have been released from detention and need help to get back to their homes or to sponsor in the US. Because of our proximity to Basile and Pine Prairie, people from this area are often needed to drive one leg of a journey to New Orleans, Mississippi, or elsewhere.

Another way to help is to prepare and give talks to community groups and churches about what is happening, recruit and train volunteers, collect and organize resources for volunteers to use in supporting immigrants, and to write op eds and letters to the editor. 

This is just a start. I'm hoping we can start defining tasks and dividing up labor. I plan to have further meetings in the future, so if you can't make this one, there will be another for you.

I would appreciate it if you could respond to this email to let me know if you are still interested in helping. 

(Nell's email address is nellhahn2@gmail.com if you have any questions).

"

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Scott Ferguson, Social Concerns Chair