“I am a former undocumented immigrant. I know what it’s like living with the fear that your parents will be detained, and that’s what kids are living with right now,” said Adonis Flores, Michigan United’s Training Director, at a press conference on January 29 with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other officials and activists in Detroit. “That’s why Michigan United is doing Know Your Rights trainings all across the state – we want to train volunteers who want to help with this, and help people plan before an emergency happens.”
Among the many People’s Action member groups hosting Know Your Rights sessions in their communities are One Northside in Chicago, Neighbor to Neighbor in Massachusetts, OneAmerica and Firelands Workers United in Washington State, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), and Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA).
“We had members not eating because ICE was watching the local food pantry,” said Lezlie Braxton Campbell, deputy director for Neighbor to Neighbor in Massachusetts. “So we jumped into immigration defense work, because there was this vacuum in our state and we want to do it right.”
Campbell also attended People’s Action’s “Take Back Our Money” tour in Washington, DC, where he met and participated in a press conference with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Capitol Hill.