Wage Theft, Workers Rights and Deportations Delegation

Saturday, November 10th

8:30am-5:30pm

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Join us for one of our annual immigration immersion delegations as we look more in-depth at the impacts of wage theft, worker exploitation and deportations of immigrants in our community.

Hear personal stories from those who have been affected by wage theft, exploitation, and deportations.

Visit VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project,  a worker-led organization that empowers immigrants and day laborers to gain control  over their working conditions.

Visit the Northwest Justice Project and learn about the legal advocacy being done for immigrants there.

Be a part of a conversation with those in attendance on how we can work together for most just immigration policy in our community, state, and nation.

Cost for delegations:Sliding scale of $20-$40

Over 100 people from the Oregon and Washington New Sanctuary Movements stood vigil on May 12th, 2012 in front of the Northwest Immigration Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.

Thanks to Doug Yarrow for the great photos!  Click on the link below to view the slideshow.

ONSM Ms’ Day 5-12-12

September 17th, 2011: The Northwest Immigrant Youth Alliance (NWIYA) Comes out of the Shadows at the Northwest Immigration Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.  NWIYA and allies protest immigration policies that cause innocent people to be incarcerated at the privatized detention center as a step in deportation. “E-verify” and “Secure Communities” programs are protested. Undocumented youth come out of the shadows, loudly proclaiming themselves, “Undocumented, unafraid and unashamed!” Allies include New Sanctuary Movement groups from Oregon and Washington and Portland Jobs with Justice.

Watch the video, courtesy of Peter Parks.

On Saturday, August 20th, members of local faith communities and community organizations traveled to Washington County to meet with immigrants and learn about their lives in the U.S.  The group met with farmers from Adelante Mujeres at Esperanza Farm, an organic, sustainable agriculture farm in Forest Grove.  The farmers volunteer their time to the project because they have hope that it will bring them a better life in the future.  Delegates also visited a farm worker housing project in North Plains through the Western Farm Workers Association, learning about wages and working conditions in the fields.  Many of farm workers we spoke with were moving back to their homes in eastern Washington or California after the berry harvest.

To see more photos, click here.  Photos taken by Doug Yarrow.

Watch the video

July 2, 2011, Portland Oregon, City Hall, press conference. Faith, labor, and immigration activists speak out against unjust immigration laws in Georgia and advocate for reform in Oregon.

The State of Georgia recently passed HB 87, an unjust immigration enforcement measure that promotes fear, mistrust, and discrimination. Local activists and concerned community members demonstrate solidarity with allies in Georgia and discuss why HB 87 and similar efforts around the country make everyone less safe. Speakers address how the controversial Secure Communities immigration enforcement program hurts public safety locally in Oregon. Secure Communities is a federal initiative that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to anyone who comes into contact with law enforcement, regardless of the charges against them or how the charges are resolved. Despite recent changes to the program, S-Comm remains too broken to be fixed.

On July 2, 2011, nearly a dozen local immigrant youth came out as being “undocumented, unafraid and unashamed”  at Portland’s City Hall.  The ONSM supports these young people who are leaders in the immigrant rights movement locally and nationally and who demonstrate the human face behind our nation’s broken immigration system.

Check out the video and listen to their stories!

Immigrants and immigrant allies from the Oregon and Washington New Sanctuary Movements gathered for the third annual “Mother’s Day Vigil” outside of the Northwest Immigration Detention Center in Tacoma, WA on May 14, 2011.  Calling to light the devastating consequences of immigration enforcement policies upon parents who are separated from their children in remembrance of Mother’s Day, these immigration advocates called for an end to separation of immigrant families by programs like Secure Communities.  For more information on the Northwest Detention Center, click here.

Reflection on the Vigil by Pat Rumer

On Saturday May 14 I joined 14 other New Sanctuary Movement members from Oregon to travel up to Tacoma, Washington to visit the people held in detention – especially, the women and children who have been separated from their families by ICE raids of businesses and trailer parks in the Northwest. The Vigil was cosponsored by the Washington New Sanctuary Movement.

Arriving in Tacoma, we drove over the train tracks to the industrial area. The ICE Detention Center looks like a warehouse and it houses people like commodities. This detention center is operated by GEO Corporation – of eight ICE detention centers, seven are run by seven private, for-profit companies.  Private companies also manage many local jails which hold immigration detainees. ICE outsources these facilities instead of operating them as a federal or state agency.   Click here to read more.

Immigration Detention Fact Sheet

Photos are courtesy of Doug Yarrow and Mira Conklin.

ONSM…Presente!  L to R: Jessica Lankford (Ainsworth UCC), Sr. Janet Ryan (St. Ignatius Catholic Church). and Sr. Lucinda Peightol (St. Ignatius Catholic Church)

Mother’s Day Cards made by Vecinos en Alerta from the Cully Neighborhood.

Members of St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church stand in solidarity with immigrant families.

Kalika Stanton ties the name of an immigrant who died in detention on the NW Detention Center’s fence.

Over 4000 people marched through the streets of downtown Portland, OR calling for justice for immigrants and workers.  Thanks to Mira Conklin and Marco Mejia for the photos!

ONSM volunteers Victor Mena and Lili Luna help lead the May Day Rally.

Victor Mena addresses the crowd about the needs of immigrant students.

ONSM Board “El Llanero Inmigrante” shares his poetry about the need for immigration reform.

ONSM Board Member Abdias Cortez and other members of the Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support (CSAM) sell food to vigilers.   Several members of CSAM who were detained in the 2007 Del Monte raid are still awaiting their court hearings.

ONSM Presente!  (l-r): Eric Conklin, Pat Rumer, Alexis Ball, Beth Poteet, and Eliser.

ONSM Volunteers (l-r): Manny Hotchkiss, Mary Ryan-Hotchkiss, Alexis Ball, Beth Poteet, and Eliser.

Thank you to all of the individuals, faith communities, organizations and businesses that made our second annual celebration dinner possible!  A special thanks to Doug Yarrow for the photos.

Rev. Kate Lore (First Unitarian Church) served as the emcee for the evening.

Ascension Catholic Church and Br. Jose Luis Nerio (seated left) host the dinner.

Members of the ONSM Board and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Day Laborers from the VOZ Worker’s Rights Education Project.

Rev. Hector Lopez (Ainsworth UCC) introduces our guest speaker.

Rev. Dan Romero, former conference minister in the United Church of Christ and immigration attorney addresses dinner attendees about his work on the border.

Representative from VOZ Day Labor Leadership Team accepts the ONSM “Community Leader for Immigrant Rights” Award.

ONSM recognizes Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom) with the ONSM “Volunteer Leader” award.

To read the article in The Oregonian about the ONSM and Posada, click here.

On December 16th, 2010, nearly 80 people gathered together on a cold Portland night to call attention to our nation’s broken immigration system and to remember our faith traditions’ calls to welcome the stranger.  Rabbi Joey Wolf (Havurah Shalom), AC Caldwell (Journey Koinonia Catholic Community), Rev. Cecil Prescod (Ainsworth United Church of Christ), Victor Mena (Washington County Youth Movement), and Wendy Hein (Ascension Catholic Church) led the vigil through reflection, poetry, prayer, song and call and response.  Participants then processed to First Congregational United Church of Christ, singing traditional Posada songs led by staff and day laborers from VOZ Worker’s Rights Project.  ONSM Board Members provided tamales and ponche and Vecinos en Alerta donated pinatas for the children.

The Interfaith Vigil & Posada were part of a week long series of events through the Safe Communities Project to call attention to the collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement officials.  For more information, click here.

Thanks to all of our co-sponsors!  National New Sanctuary Movement, American Friends Service Committee, CAUSA, First Congregational UCC, Latino Network, Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, Portland Jobs with Justice, VOZ Workers Rights Education Project, and Witness for Peace Northwest.

To view photos from the event, click here.