On July 29, 2010, over 100 people gathered at Holliday Park to denounce the implementation of SB 1070 in Arizona. Hundreds of photos, similar to the ones shown below, will be sent to Gov. Brewer along with other elected officials to demonstrate our opposition to similar policies being enacted in Oregon.
June 2010
The Oregon New Sanctuary Movement received $5000 from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development for our Love Has No Borders Campaign. To read more about CCHD, read the article from the Catholic Sentinel.
On July 21st, over 100 folks gathered at the ICE building in downtown Portland to stand in solidarity against SB 1070, an Arizona law that grants local law enforcement the ability to racially profile. As a part of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition’s “Isaiah 58 Solidarity Fast and Vigil”, the ONSM along with EMO, CAUSA and other organizations gathered together to send a message that we don’t want similar legislation to pass in Oregon.
Click here to read an article from the Portland Tribune.
Click here to see photos from CAUSA.
Photos are courtesy of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.
Rev. Dennis Alger (Zion UCC) and Marco Mejia (ONSM Board Member)
Holding the ONSM banner: Kevin Witt (United Methodist Church Camping Ministries), Beth Poteet (Ainsworth UCC), Rev. Dennis Alger (Zion UCC), and Mira Conklin (Cornelius UMC)
Offering the closing prayer is Rev. Miriam Mendez (First Baptist Church)
We are now offering ONSM Love Has No Borders Bags. Bags are available for a $5 - $10 donation to the ONSM. The bags were donated by an ONSM volunteer and were made in Oaxaca, Mexico. They are available in blue, green or red. Get yours today!
To place an order, contact the ONSM at portlandsanctuary@gmail.com with your color preference and quantity.
Mother’s Day Vigil at ICE Detention Center
May 8th, 2010
ONSM volunteers stand vigil outside of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. Left to right: Gloria, Nancy, Alice, Joanne and Tamara.
Steve and Elisabeth lead the crowd in singing “This Land is Your Land.”
Roberta from University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA leads a litany calling on people of faith to raise their voices against the unjust immigration system in the U.S.
Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence (St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church) offers a prayer for all immigrants whose family members are impacted by immigration raids, detentions and deportations.
A mother who had been detained in the Northwest Detention Center spoke about the impact of the detention on her children, who helped raise bail money for their mother by collecting coins in buckets.
Two youth from Portland, Nicole (center) and Tamara (right) share their perspectives on how U.S. immigration policy should change to protect immigrant families.
Rev. Lynne Smouse Lopez (Ainsworth UCC) ties a ribbon on the Detention Center fence of an immigrant who died in immigration detention.
Right: Marta and Antonio (St. Patrick’s Church) place flowers in remembrance of immigrant mothers on the Detention Center’s fence.
Over 100 immigrants have died in detention centers in the U.S.
ONSM Presente! L-r: Marco, Elisabeth, Jaime, Beth, Steve, Jordan, Lynne, Nicole, Nancy, Tamara, and Callie
Over 5,000 people from all over Oregon took to the streets in Portland, OR on May 1st, 2010 to march for immigrant and workers’ rights.
Rev. Carlos Correa Bernier calls for all people to be treated with dignity and to oppose SB 1070 in Arizona, which allows law enforcement to detain anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant. Rev. Correa is a UCC pastor who runs a border immersion program in San Ysidro, CA.
Members of the Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support sell tamales at the rally.
ONSM Presente! L-r: Eliser, Bob, Sarah and Jordan.
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About 70 people from very diverse faith communities gathered in front of the Federal Building in Portland, OR with candle lights, guitars and cardboard boxes that built a US-Mexico border wall! Faith leaders from different traditions reflected and prayed for just and humane immigration reform. They highlighted the need to change the root causes of immigration and stop punishing innocent immigrants who have come to the US pushed by war, discrimination and the global economy and the effects of free trade agreements that put profits over human need.
We lived and replicated the “Posada” tradition that Mexican and Central American Christians do before Christmas, when Mary and Joseph were immigrants in a foreign land looking for a place where they could rest and give birth to their son Jesus. Knocking the door of the Federal “house” we were denied entrance, until they found a place that gave us a welcoming to their “house” at the First Christian Church. We walked in a procession with candles and singing through the cold Portland night.
We finally arrived and were received with a warm welcoming. We celebrated as one community, shared hot chocolate and bread. We had music and pinatas, and also painted little white flags with messages for Congress. It was a community celebration in our faith that a just and humane immigration reform is possible and necessary.
Vigil outside the Federal Building
Elisabeth Rogolsky from Congregation P’nai Or shares the light.
John Munson of the Oregon Farm Worker Ministry, shares with a friend from We the People in The Dalles, while Bob Brown from Congregation Havurah Shalom looks on.
Steven Urlich, from Congregation P’nai Or, leads a song about light.
Click here for photos from CAUSA.
From August 21-22, 2009, ONSM hosted Kristin Kumpf, Organizing Director with Interfaith Worker Justice and former National Coordinator of the New Sanctuary Movement. We shared our own stories of immigration and gained valuable skills for building the movement for immigrant justice in our communities. We had participants from Forest Grove, Salem, Portland, and the Yakima Valley!
Back row: Ruth Worley Rizk (Ascension Catholic Church), Layton Borkan (Havurah Shalom), Sue Poteet (Prosser First Presbyterian Church), Mireya (Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support). Front row: Elisabeth Rogolsky (P’nai Or), Kwah Wa’adabi, Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom), Rev. Jack Knox (Salem Mennonite Church)
Kristin Kumpf (IWJ) leads a discussion about our stories of immigration and immigration policy in the United States.
Ruth Ventura (Bridgeport UCC) discusses her experience in providing hospitality to immigrants.
Barbara Rogers (Ainsworth United Church of Christ) takes notes on common myths related to immigrants.In August and September 2009, members of the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement met with the offices of Reps. Wu, Blumenauer and Schrader, along with Sens. Merkley and Wyden to discuss our principles for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We delivered our “Love Has No Borders” postcards from our congregational partners to the Congressional Delegation asking for:
• Reunification of families
• A pathway to legalization and citizenship
• Protecting the employment rights of workers
• Moratorium on workplace raids and home detentions
• Demilitarization of the border
• Ending trade agreements that force migration
Click here to download the Love Has No Borders postcard
Meeting with Sen. Wyden’s Office
Left to right: Beth Poteet (Ainsworth United Church of Christ), Mira Conklin (Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church Office of Hispanic Ministries), Ron Whitlatch (Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church Office of Hispanic Ministries), Loretta Smith (Sen. Ron Wyden’s Staff), Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence (St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church), Zaida (Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support), Alice Perry (American Friends Service Committee), and Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom).
Meeting with Rep. Wu’s OfficeLeft to right: Alice Perry (American Friends Service Committee), Pedro Sosa (American Friends Service Committee), Brian Plinski (Rep. Wu’s Staff), Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom), Zaida (Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support), Beth Poteet (Ainsworth United Church of Christ)
Meeting with Sen. Merkley’s Office
Left to right: Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence (St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church), Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom), Alice Perry (American Friends Service Committee), Sarah Loose (Augustana Lutheran Church), DeEtte Waleed (Bridgeport United Church of Christ), Beth Poteet (Ainsworth United Church of Christ), Cyreena Boston (Staff with Sen. Merkley)
Photos from Second Anniversary of the Del Monte Raid
Interfaith Service & Dinner
Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence speaks about the need for humane immigration reform.
ONSM supporters gather at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.
Pastor Ken Comfort from Reedwood Friends Church offers a reflection on the connection between faith and providing hospitality to immigrants.
Former Del Monte worker Abdias Cortez shares about the ICE raid and formation of the Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support.
Marco Mejia and Yesica from the American Friends Service Committee read the names of the 167 workers who were detained in the Del Monte raid.
P’nai Or member Elisabeth Rogolsky remembers all immigrant families who have been affected by immigration raids throughout the U.S.
Zaida, Elsa and Abdias sing “Suenos Congelados”, a song written by El Llanero about the Del Monte raid.
Del Monte Raid Press Conference
Emiliana Aguilar opens the press conference on behalf of CSAM.
Elsa Martinez reads a statement about the trauma experienced by the Del Monte workers.
Bob Brown and Joanne McClarty from ONSM read a statement about the need for continued prophetic hospitality.
Download Del Monte Flyer in English and Flyer in Spanish.
“It was early one morning
Happily, off to work I went
Together with las compañeras we worked happily
When all of a sudden we heard MIGRA!
So we all ran, ran one way and then the next
Without knowing that we were being detained
And taken to Tacoma.”
(Poem by Zaida Villatoro, member of CSAM and detained in the Tacoma detention center, Washington)
Friends and community members:
The Committee for Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM), together with the Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement, cordially invite you to join us in our effort to NOT forget the tragedy that took place on June 12th, 2007, in which we were among the 160 people that were detained during an immigration raid at the Del Monte Produce Plant.
Next June 12th will be the second anniversary not only of the raid itself, but of the resistance effort that has emerged as a result of the raid. In a relatively short period of time, we, the remaining victims of the raid, have come together to face our feelings of fear and hope; we have educated ourselves and others about our rights; we have pooled our resources in order to support each other economically; and we have founded the Committee for Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM) which serves as a space for the people and families who were victims of the raid to express, receive, and give mutual support.
While the majority of CSAM’s members have already been deported back to their respective countries of origin, we carry on, bearing our unsure future with dignity. We would like for the world to know that our tragedy has not been forgotten. We will not remain invisible, written out of history.
And so we invite you to join us in the activities that will take place in Portland to observe the anniversary of the Del Monte raid and recognize the efforts of the victims. There will also be commemorative events in other parts of the country including Tucson, AZ, and the central valley of California where there will be educational activities and screenings of our documentary film entitled “Frozen Dreams”.
(For those of you who are interested, this documentary video will be available for sale as of June 13th. If you would like a copy, please send a message to one of the following email addresses: centroixim66@
We thank you in advance for your participation and collaboration,
Committee for Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM)
ACTIVITIES IN PORTLAND
Thursday, June 11th
Interfaith Service & Dinner
Service at 6:00pm Dinner at 7:00pm
St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church (1704 NE 43rd Ave., Portland, OR)
A suggested donation of $10.00 will support the members of the Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM). Interpretation available from English to Spanish.
Organized by the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement.
Friday, June 12
Press Conference
10 am, Multnomah Monthly Meeting of Friends, 4312 SE Stark
Organized by the Committee for Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM)
Saturday, June 13
Screening of the film, “Frozen Dreams”
Two screenings: 2:00pm and 4:00pm
Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus Terry Hall, Room 122
705 N. Killingsworth St., Portland, OR 97217
Proceeds from the suggested donation of $10.00 will go to the Committee for Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM). Organized by CSAM. For more information, call (503) 230-9427 csamcomite@yahoo.com
Download Frozen Dreams Flyer or download Suenos Congelados (flyer in Spanish)
Sunday, June 14
Picnic potluck, open to all 3:00pm
Columbia Park, Picnic site “C” in North Portland
Come with a dish of your choice to share.
Organized by the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) and the Cross Border Labor Organizing Council (CBLOC)
© Oregon New Sanctuary Movement
