The meeting started with introductions in the chat and the sharing of something that brought us joy. We then were given an overview of the goals and structure of the immigration committee which include policy and legislation, advocacy, and mutual aid.

The group then heard from Michelle Messer about her experiences at Delaney Hall and the members of the committee were outraged by what was happening, not just inside the facility but also from the police in Newark. The majority of the meeting was a “Know Your Rights” presentation by José Fernández Brito from Imm Schools. Some of the main information that was presented to us can be found on this document provided on line by that organization

Following the presentation we had a few members share things with the committee. Deb Landry talked about the Quilts for Immigrants program that she is organizing. More information about this will be shared on the webpage of the immigration committee soon. Then Alyse Robayo talked about about the Spanish Language Class that is being run for members of the immigration committee. Diane Herbert talked about organizing a letter writing meetup. Information about this should also be posted to the webpage when things have been finalized. Finally, Frank McCulley showed how all of the information for our committee can be found on the webpage given here.

The breakout room sessions that were planned for this meeting were postponed until our next meeting because the other parts of the meeting went longer than expected. We were reminded about the Good Trouble Celebration that is scheduled for July 17th. More information about this and all the events that are coming up can be found here.