Help wanted: La Luz seeks ‘crisis’coordinator

Position would manage efforts to counter deportation fears and actions|

It was just one of many ads posted this week on Craigslist, under > northbay > jobs > nonprofit. Along with Counselors, Program Associates and Volunteer Coordinator listings, there was this: “Immigration Efforts Coordinator (Sonoma).”

“For this position, we’re keeping an open mind. Hopefully they’re from the Valley, that’s preferred,” said Juan Hernandez, executive director of La Luz in Sonoma. And of course, being bilingual is almost mandatory. “But we’re open to anybody who is open to the cause – and has some coordination skills.”

The “cause” Hernandez is talking about is helping residents of Sonoma Valley who may feel at risk, threatened or just uneasy about the changing priorities coming from Washington, D.C., since Jan. 20. “After the election we really started to get a sense of fear from the community,” said Hernandez. “February and March was a really hard time for us, because a lot of people were coming in with immigration questions.”

In response, La Luz launched what they called the Crisis Fund, with a goal of $100,000 to support immigration efforts in the Valley. They’re reached about the three-quarter mark, sufficient to hire a part-time, temporary coordinator to oversee such programs as the rapid-response team, neighborhood information meetings, distribution of red “What to do if ICE comes to your door” cards (in Spanish and English, of course) and other services and programs.

The program is essentially creating a “network of support in case there’s a deportation,” said Hernandez. Legal observers are being trained to be witnesses to any threatened deportation or arrest by ICE, the Immigration Customs Enforcement, to observe the action in such a way that it is admissible in a court. Training is underway currently for these observers.

In addition, immigration services help provide a network of support for families who are affected by deportation, or the threat of deportation. Some will go to the family members’ house in coordination with FISH to make sure that family has food for the day, that the kids can get picked up from school, and the like.

And some will see that the family and the accused have lawyers, to make sure that person gets legal representation, wherever he’s at in the process.

Though there hasn’t been a “raid” per se in the Valley recently, there is a pervasive fear of what Hernandez called “random targeting.” He said the new administration has opened up the scope of who is deportable, which can include any one who is undocumented.

That is particularly threatening to local families who are of mixed status. As Hernandez explained it, “Somebody might be a legal resident, their kids might be born here, but dad might be undocumented. Or vice versa. Maybe the younger kids are born here and have legal residency, but both parents are undocumented. There’s a lot of mixed statuses that we see in our families.”

If the Trump Administration is hoping to encourage immigrants go back to their home country – “self-deport,” as 2012’s Republican candidate Mitt Romney put it – that’s not what’s happing. “What we’re seeing is fear, as people start pulling back,” said Hernandez. “People are just on pins and needles – it might not seem like it to people who don’t have this pressing situation, but there’s a lot of people who are thinking that at any moment, life could change for them.”

Even ordinary outings to the supermarket or into Santa Rosa might seem too risky to some. “They say, ‘No, let’s not do that, we’re afraid. Don’t expose yourself.’ And we don’t want that in the community.”

Hernandez hopes the new coordinator position can provide a useful service in organizing La Luz’s efforts to combat this atmosphere of fear, with practical organizational steps to prevent and correct disruptive and possibly illegal action. “The new person that’s getting hired is going to help coordinate, and call these meetings, and make sure everybody is pushing in the same direction,” said Hernandez.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.

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