KELSEYVILLE >> An immigration support meeting here at the Events Center drew a couple of dozen as well as some late walk-ins on how best to engage with Immigration, Customs Enforcement if detained at school, church or work, to brainstorm on January 18.
Luisa Acosta, a program presenter at KPFZ’s Sunday lineup organized the event. Lake County’s immigration community has been under stress lately and some fear, especially farm workers and care givers, stemming in part of last fall’s campaign rhetoric by the incoming President Donald Trump administration. “I’ve been hearing United Farm Workers are moving big time addressing the situation in providing information to workers,” Acosta said.
“From my end, I want to listen and share what other immigrants have been doing in our community. Just last week, I had calls from people, if I knew if ICE was in the area of Clear Lake? I had no idea.”
Acosta said he would do some investigation but even the Sheriff’s Office often does not know, she informed her audience. Some people post things on Facebook and that gets people excited she noted. “You need to be careful, for the sake of the farm workers I’d like to hear from folks who employ them, what would be the protocol if you had one?” Acosta said.
Maile Field, a former journalist, worked on her grandfather’s farm in this area and she recalled him telling her, ‘If La Migra comes, tell everybody stay on your ladders, do not come down from your ladders, do not run or they’ll take you’ that’s the kind of instruction we need to give to people,” she said. Field added people need to know their rights. “You do not open the front door, she cautioned. “Law enforcement is not allowed in your house unless they have a search warrant. All that information we can publish on social media. Most important in Lake County, if we could create a communication system among ourselves so, that if anybody shows up (after detention), everybody knows when they’re back at Dave’s Orchard or Vineyard, they’re returning to work.”
For now, the focus is on distributing information Acosta said. “We’re working with the ACLU, Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights (CHIRLA) and Catholic Charities.,” she said. “We’ve had two meetings and we’ll have another on January 30. I want your e-mail. I’ll send you the link so you can join.
“You can call this number, and within in hours connect you with a lawyer. We would like to know every worker is secure in the community. The ACLU or CHIRLA can come to a meeting and inform of how to prepare in case of an emergency. I’ve had people tell me they’re concerned if they get picked up, about their property, their children, their car payment and the mortgage if they are detained.”
Acosta implored all meeting participants to write this number down; 707-800-4544. It connects with the Rapid Response Team, at 24-hour Hot-Line, It can forward information to family, neighbors or consulate, to keep others apprised of a detained immigrant’s whereabouts. Roseanne DiMenco is new to Lake County, after working in the Central coast for several years. “I was a part of a SEIU local for several years,” she said. “We’d go to churches of Mexican stores with critical information about how to respond to ICE. We put into place a mass grocery shopping caravan and prepared food boxes.”
DiMenco also arranged for farm workers at risk to get a designated driver with a valid driver’s license to transport them to a job site. “I’m an advocate at heart,” she said. “I think this group is a good place to start to go forward. I left my phone number. And I want to help the ones who need any help.”
Acosta noted certain California counties are proposing to have sanctuary counties for the undocumented. “And that is something I’d love to report on to the Board of Supervisors,” she said. And what would that mean in terms of legal guidance? “It would mean they are willing to fund it,” she said. “We could implement language that could be on an ordinance to regulate what a sanctuary city would be allowed to do, whether or not local law enforcement can decide if they want to assist ICE with detaining the undocumented for a lack of papers.
Roberto Lozano is a Naturalized American, born in Mexico. He works as a bilingual educator and as a certified interpreter. He noted there is already a legal basis that allows California law enforcement practice noncooperation with ICE. Lozano noted that California is not going to help ICE, yet that is not going to stop ICE either. A legislative bill, Senate Bill 54, was signed by Former Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 5, 2017. It brought a measure of comfort to the undocumented living in California,” he said. “It limits ways how the state and local law enforcement can cooperate and communicate with federal immigration officers. It also prevents local and state law enforcement from detaining someone over an immigration hold request.”
