Community Conversations on Immigration

At the June meeting of the Immigration Committee, Lynn Miyamoto spoke to us about her practice as an immigration attorney and the backlog in the immigration courts. She discussed many of the immigrant and non-immigrant visas and provided us with multipage handouts describing the visas. She explained the imbalances in the immigration law that have led to processing delays that can be decades long. She showed how the immigration courts are understaffed and overworked and should be reformed, perhaps as courts outside the Department of Justice. She discussed the humanitarian crisis at the border and distributed copies of a report entitled “Protect Children by Ending Family Detention and Separation.”

Then at the July meeting, Jean Grant and Jonathan Fung of the Immigration Resource Center of the San Gabriel Valley described their organization and their work. Located in Monrovia, it was founded in 2012, when DACA was implemented, to reach out to neighbors and help migrants apply for DACA status. No client is turned away, regardless of ability to pay. This is a necessary policy, because many migrants have been cheated out of their money by persons known as Notarios, who keep requesting additional money but do not complete the services promised.

Members of the Immigration Committee continue to attend the meetings of the Civilian Oversight Commission of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, which operates the large county jail from which ICE agents wish to transfer individuals for deportation. The Commission has adopted an immigration report calling for only the minimum legally required cooperation with ICE.

The Immigration Committee can provide information to League members who wish to visit persons held in immigration detention at the federal facility in Adelanto. This is an all-day excursion that provides the opportunity to “Welcome the Stranger” and help build awareness of detention practices.

—Bob Pendleton, Co-chair, Immigration Committee