volunteered to work for Raices in Texas and Kind in Seattle
for those of you looking for a way to use your talents to help with reunification of migrant families, this email arrived today;
Dear ,
This week has been one of those moments where we know as an organization that nothing will ever be the same. While media has been swirling and the fundraising continued to increase, we at RAICES have found ourselves on a world stage. We cannot thank you enough for this unbelievable outpouring of support and incredible rejection of the vicious policies of the current administration.
But the days for most of RAICES have stayed the same.
Our attorneys are going into detention centers. Our legal assistants are teaching Know Your Rights to children in detention centers with M&Ms. We are going to court and filing paperwork.
We apologize to those of you who have reached out and haven't heard back from us. But the work and the client services don't stop. If we have a choice between doing an interview and serving a client, the client always comes first.
And we know that's what you want us to do.
On Friday, as many of us gathered around a conference table to plan, we were contacted by a father who has been deported to El Salvador without his child. We're now representing the dad and child.
This morning RAICES and many of the advocates doing this work in Texas have been on conference calls to discuss coordination now that we have a better idea of the shape of this crisis and the longer term planning needs. We are working together to make sure all families get the services they need. Tomorrow, we are launching our universal intake for families and children who are separated and will begin rapidly scaling to meet the needs of families who remained detained.
How you can get involved?
Monday and Tuesday June 25th and 26th we will be training volunteers in San Antonio to complete intakes for separated families. If you would like to volunteer to be a database volunteer matching parents and children, please sign up here. Please note, this is a San Antonio based opportunity.
Wednesday June 27th at 6:30PM RAICES is hosting a panel discussion and Facebook LIVE. Titled Families at Risk: Seeking Asylum in the Age of Trump, our panel includes experts on the current crisis who will discuss solutions. Register here and join our Facebook page to watch live.
If you would like to be a part of The Canopy: Post-Release Support Program, please sign up here.
If you are an attorney and would like to be a pro bono volunteer, please sign up here.
For general volunteer opportunities, please sign up here (
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign...er-opportunity).
We thank you for your continued support. This is a long fight to push to change an unjust system. We look forward to continuing the work and conversation with you.
Jonathan Ryan
Executive Director
RAICES Texas