Our Immigrant Rights campaign work is a vital part of our organization’s work. Our focus is on grassroots organizing and leadership development of Latino immigrants to fight for and advance our rights. We do this through our immigrant rights campaign committee — the body that decides on and advances the local policy fights we take on, through our alliance building and coalition work, as well as through leadership development of committee leaders. This grows our work, their leadership and power. Our policy fights at the city, county, state and national level have advanced the rights of immigrants as well as fought back against the ongoing criminalization of immigrants and entanglement of the criminal justice and immigration systems.
Rights Based Services
Another key area of our work is our Rights Based Services in which we focus on education and outreach to communities throughout Alameda and San Francisco counties. We work with schools, community centers and in multi-unit buildings to inform people of their rights and support them in being able to exercise them. Some of the workshops we offer include:
- Know Your Rights When:
- Encountering law enforcement
- Applying for an AB60 california driver’s license
- Applying for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)
- Exercising your rights as a tenant
POLICY VICTORIES:
Over the years our work alongside our allies has made possible groundbreaking victories. We have been successful in advancing our struggle for immigrant justice significantly at the national, state and local levels.
- In 2014, we were successful in permanently ending S-comm in Alameda and San Francisco county jails.
- In 2008, we ended the fast track deportation of undocumented youth by making sure San Francisco ended its juvenile justice collaborating and turning over youth to ICE post adjudication.
- In 2013, after a three-year campaign, we successfully passed the Trust Act in California, setting the baseline for how counties could disentangle their jails and law enforcement from S-comm.
- In 2008, we secured the end to the practice of car impoundment of people driving without a license by the San Francisco police department, and ensuring they would allow for someone to assist in picking the car up and not imposing a mandatory 30-day hold as they used to do.
- In 2007, we were successful in securing the first city ID in San Francisco, making it possible for all people to have an ID stating their residence of that city and county irrespective of immigration status
OUR WORK IN 2015
Informed. Prepared. Engaged.
President Obama’s executive action on administrative relief left an approximately 7 million people out while also starting a new Priorities Enforcement Program that we are calling PEP-Comm. This year, our Immigrant Rights Campaign will focus on our rights based services, leadership development work and continuing the fight to end the deportations by disentangling local law enforcement from ICE. This focus we hope will ensure that with the new changes in California law regarding drivers licenses as well as with the expansion of DAPA and DACA, our communities are both informed, prepared and engaged in the fight to advance the rights that are still needed and to end PEP-Comm in our communities.
