Finn (from the Smoke Signal): What organization or program are you from? Or do you just volunteer or [be] an upstanding citizen?
Evonne: Well, I guess I’m sort of a volunteer with Indivisible Fremont.
F: What does your organization do to help immigrants or spread awareness, what resources do you provide, and what does this organization specialize in?
E: One thing that we have sort of been doing most recently is getting training through NDLON, which is the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. They’ve started sort of a campaign called “Adopt a Corner,” and so we’ve got a team together to start doing that. We’ll be going to Home Depot and sort of familiarizing ourselves with the people who regularly go there to look for work on a day-to-day basis. The idea is that we get to know who they are, when they’re there, keep an eye out for anything that could happen in the parking lot, and so that they can hopefully just build some trust and knowledge within the community. [We] offer support, offer them sort of information about knowing their rights and making sure that if anything happens, that they we know who they are, so that we can find them faster and get them help. The other thing we did was to organize a training with ACILEP. We did that in Fremont for this area, because ACILEP had already done many, many trainings focused a little bit further north, closer to Oakland. So we’ve only done one training sort of in this area, and that training was focused on getting as many people assigned to their rapid response. And what that is, is that you end up on a list, and they can contact you if there’s any report of ICE activity, and if you’re available, you respond back and say ‘I’m heading over to the location.’ And there are roles assigned for if you show up and something is really happening: a person filming, a person filming the first person filming, so two filmers. They train you on what aspects to write down in terms of how many people are there, what are the license plates, [and] everything that’s happening, so that you can report back to them and they can help the best they can. We also got training in terms of what does an actual warrant signed by a judge look like versus the fake one. [They also train on] what to look for in terms of the normal types of vehicles that are used by ICE. We did all that, and we’re all sort of on the rapid response, or everyone who wanted to then signed up for the rapid response there.
F: How have you seen your community impacted by immigration enforcement, and [in] what ways have you seen that impact? For your organization, were resources added or modified to address those changes or impacts?
E: So the main thing is, we have had people in the community taken. We haven’t had any, thankfully, really terrifying, dangerous [incidents], people with injuries, or [people] killed. But we have had people taken. We know about it. And you know the people who haven’t been taken, for example, especially because Fremont is home to a very, very large Afghan immigrant community. Especially after the shooter in DC was identified as an [Afghan] immigrant, everyone here was terrified. There’s going to be a backlash, that person killed a National Guard [member]. And so, everyone was really, really on edge — we’re still on edge. The main thing we did was just to make sure we had as many people trained with ACILEP. We’re hoping to do another one of those [trainings], and to do some practices, almost like drills, so that we can be ready when this escalates.
F: Are the recent immigration enforcement changes impacting how this organization can help people? I know California– there’s a lot of bills that have been passed to try to protect immigrants, like requiring police [to not wear masks]. And Fremont is a sanctuary city, so police resources can’t be used for immigration enforcement. And FUSD is also a safe haven. So, in terms of changes on how you can help people, have you guys had to face any restrictions or bans?
E: Not that I am aware of. We;re just mostly being guided by the immigrant population in terms of what they tell us would be the most helpful and the most supportive. I haven’t seen any major changes in, like, what we’re planning.
F: If you can, and if you feel comfortable, do you mind sharing specifically what demographics have had to– have needed the most help from your services?
E: I’m not completely sure. The most — because the most organized and vocal demographic would be the Latino community — but I feel like there’s communities in the area that are just maybe less aware that we’re around. We do have a team that goes around to local businesses , actually, to inform businesses about how to keep their workers and customers safe, and the rights of the businesses in terms of protecting people. We have been focusing lately on Afghan businesses, and so they’re becoming a lot more aware that we’re around and that we have “Know your rights” resources and information available to them.
F: Do you think that these recent immigration enforcement changes have the ability to set a precedent for how immigration enforcement will operate in the future, or whether it’ll drastically change how the US responds to immigration? Already, there’s been a lot of changes, especially to the H-1B worker visas, which first capped it at a limit, and then they put $100,000 for employers per each visa, and now they’re trying to get rid of it.
E: They sre are, yeah, because that impacts really wealthy businesses.
F: Yeah, and almost, I think, 40 countries have had their visas, at least some visas or all visas revoked, including Afghanistan. What do you think the precedent will be? How do you think it’ll change?
E: Yeah, that’s a hard one.
F: You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.
E: I don’t feel like I can really speak to it, because I just like, I don’t have the legal knowledge. I can say what I hope, but I don’t feel like I have any real knowledge about how it will actually affect the future.
F: Last question, what can be done by regular citizens to help immigrants impacted, such as volunteering, heading out to protests, educating themselves, or anything else?
E: I think one really huge thing is that if any regular person has connections within a specific immigrant community, reaching out to that community and connecting them to say, ACILEP, or us, for example, just to make sure that they [know we’re here] because I feel sometimes we have trouble reaching specific communities. We’re doing what we can in terms of getting out to businesses and things like that. But having messengers that have real connections to those communities, I think that there’s more trust there. I can understand someone not trusting whatever random group just popped up and ‘Okay, I’m supposed to believe that you have, my best– what’s best for me in your heart?’ I would love to have more connections into the various– and we have a lot of different groups, which is what makes this place great. If you have a connection in a community, you’re part of one, making sure that they get connected to groups that are fighting. And that they know they can talk to us, they can tell us how we can best help them. We want to hear from them. We want to know. We do not want to make a mistake by assuming what they need. That information best comes from the community itself. So that’s what I would say. That’s what I would love, actually.