JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

Funds Available from Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund

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Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund

COVID-19 financial relief —by and for immigrants.

As immigrants, we’ve made Washington our home. If you’re an immigrant experiencing hard times because of COVID-19, and you aren’t eligible for federal financial relief or unemployment insurance, this fund is for you.

The Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund provides a $1,000 one-time direct payment (up to $3,000 per household).  Eligibility includes:  WA resident; at least 18 years old; been significantly affected by the pandemic (such as losing work, being infected by the virus, or caring for a family member who was infected); ineligible to receive federal stimulus dollars or unemployment insurance money due to immigration status.  Application and documentation required.  For assistance, email relief@immigrantreliefwa.org or call 1-844-724-3737 (Mon-Fri, 9AM-9PM).

Weekly Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) COVID-19 Response Call

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We invite you to join us to for bi-weekly Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) General Meeting Picture of the COVID-19 cellCovid19 HUB #ImmigrantHealthResponse calls for exciting news and updates!

This is reminder that WAISN will be hosting its weekly COVID-19 Response HUB call September 24th and every Thursday from 3-5 PM over Zoom. Call information below:

#ImmigrantHealthResponse

https://zoom.us/j/775545035?pwd=dlFOWUJMazVwT2tMT29zb2lIOVh1Zz09

Conference Call: +1 669 900 6833

Meeting ID: 775 545 035

Password: 066699

🚨 EXCITING UPDATES 🚨

WHY COME TO A MEETING:

1) WA IMMIGRANT RELIEF FUND: The Washington Immigrant Relief Fund is a result of WAISN statewide organizing vision to build community power. Identifying the need as early as March through our WAISN Hotline, we rapidly began to convene policy conversations on April to address the crises with short and long term solutions. We led this effort while simultaneously supporting grassroots efforts to provide economic relief and assistance to food security working with our partners and members.  We have been centering those directly impacted to demand and win $40M from Governor Inslee to provide further economic relief for this fall.

Eligibility Criteria to Be Consider for the Fund:

  • Are a Washington resident;
  • Are at least 18 years of age;
  • Have experienced hardship due to the pandemic; and
  • Are ineligible to receive unemployment insurance compensation or federal stimulus dollars due to immigration status.

Form of Aid: One-time cash grants in the form of checks, pre-paid cards & electronic checks

Amount of Aid: $1,000 per qualifying adult – $3,000 limit/household

Application Will Open on October 16th – Sign Up Here to Stay Informed: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-for-wa-worker-relief-fund-updates

2) IMMIGRANT HEALTH RESPONSE: In partnership with the UW Latino Center for Health, ACLU of Washington, Northwest Health Law Advocates, El Centro De La Raza, & Latinos Promoting Good Health we have launch a statewide survey that will identify further how COVID is impacting and spreading in our communities which will help us identify the blue blueprints of a Healthcare Access Campaign for the 2021 Legislative Session and more.

Would your organization assist us in distributing information about this survey, to ensure that a wide range of immigrant communities in WA can participate?

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE WAISN IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE SURVEY

COVID-19 should not justify erosion of rights for most marginalised

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All leaders must frame their COVID-19 responses within existing obligations under international law. Whilst states may temporarily close their borders to limit transmission, any such measures should be non-discriminatory, necessary, proportionate and reasonable in all circumstances.

It is understandable and proper that a leader’s first priority is to take care of the people they govern. But in a global crisis, attention must also be paid to those groups of marginalised people whose situations transcend national borders: refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. Furthermore, public health measures put in place to protect citizens should not exclude those with irregular status, or be used to further isolate or punish them.

Read more here.

ICE DETAINEE WHO DIED OF COVID-19 SUFFERED HORRIFYING NEGLECT

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From the moment the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, advocates and experts warned that ICE’s network of detention centers posed a serious problem — medical experts at the Department of Homeland Security called the facilities a “tinderbox” for the spread of the disease — and said they expected detainees to die absent changes in ICE detention policies and priorities. As one of the most visible arms of the Trump administration’s ultra-hardline immigration agenda, ICE has resisted those changes.

Because people in ICE custody are held for civil rather than criminal violations, the agency could release them at any time. Though ICE has made limited releases in some areas, including the Otay Mesa Detention Center, it continues to hold more than 26,600 people, many in for-profit facilities with abysmal health and safety records. The agency has tested only a fraction of those in its custody — 2,394 people in total, as of Saturday. Among that population, more than half, 1,201 individuals, have tested positive for Covid-19. An additional 44 ICE employees at detention centers have also tested positive.

Read more here.

Movement to End Deportations and Detention

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It’s Time Our Elected Officials #ActOnIt and Move Their Talk into Action to #FreeThemAll

Go to https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2632349890425924 to watch and share La Resistencia’s latest video, featuring testimonies from family members with detained loved ones, Senator Rebecca Saldaña, essential workers, formerly detained community members, lawyers, Shutdown Coalition members and more. Everyone has a shared message: #FreeThemAll!

Detention Centers have been and always will be a public health crisis. Both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tacoma City Council, state legislators and Gov. Inslee have all expressed concern over the neglect and mistreatment of people detained at NWDC. It’s time they #ActOnIt to #FreeThemAll from NWDC and take steps to #ShutDownNWDC during this global pandemic.

This week, you can help us pressure our electeds to send a letter to the local ICE Field Office Director Nathalie Asher, urging her to free everyone from NWDC immediately. Emptying the cages is not just the right thing to do for public health, it’s a path to shutting the facility down!

3 Things You Can Do TODAY

Email and call elected officials. You can find scripts below in this email or a text-only version online at https://docs.google.com/document/d/13CHKUD7bI2WkiNsvLjW_1aLG3LXvUpogMBw7i68wMLo/edit

After you’ve sent those emails & calls, make it public! Tweet at your elected officials, tagging them. And share our video, FB post and IG post on your social media!

Share this CTA, take a picture of yourself with the text #ActOnIt #ShutDownNWDC #FreeThemAll and tag 5 friends to join you in action. Tag us @LaResistenciaNW

Today’s Action Contact Info & Templates

Governor Inslee

Governor Jay Inslee, 360-902-4111

David Postman, Chief of Staff, david.postman@gov.wa.gov, 360-902-4112

Alejandro Sanchez, Special Assistant, Alejandro.Sanchez@gov.wa.gov, 360-902-4124

Molly Voris, Senior Policy Advisor, Public Health and Health Care, molly.voris@gov.wa.gov, 360-902-0557

 

Tacoma City Council, Mayor Woodards

Mayor Victoria Woodards, (253) 594-7848, Victoria.woodards@cityoftacoma.org

CM John Hines, (253) 591-5470, john.hines@cityoftacoma.org

CM Robert Thoms, (253) 594-7848, robert.thoms@cityoftacoma.org

Deputy Mayor Keith Blocker, (253) 591-5470, keith.blocker@cityoftacoma.org

CM Catherine Ushka,(253) 594-7848, catherine.ushka@cityoftacoma.org

CM Lillian Hunter, (253) 594-7848, lillian.hunter@cityoftacoma.org

CM Conor McCarthy, (253) 594-7848, conor.mccarthy@cityoftacoma.org

CM Kristina Walker, (253) 591-5470, kristina.walker@cityoftacoma.org

CM Chris Beale, (253) 591-5470, chris.beale@cityoftacoma.org

Assistant to the City Manager Anita Gallagher, (253) 591-5133, anita.gallagher@cityoftacoma.org

State Legislators

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov

Legislative Assistant for Laurie Jinkins, Ann Dasch, Ann.Dasch@leg.wa.gov

Senator Jeannie Darneille, J.Darneille@leg.wa.gov

Legislative Assistant for Darneille, Lisa Fisch, lisa.fisch@leg.wa.gov

Representative Jake Fey, Jake.Fey@leg.wa.gov

Legislative Assistant for Jake Fey, Anna Nepomuceno, Anna.Nepomuceno@leg.wa.gov

Draft Email Template for Governor

Email addresses to send to:

david.postman@gov.wa.gov

Alejandro.Sanchez@gov.wa.gov

molly.voris@gov.wa.gov

Dear Governor Inslee,

I am a [WASHINGTON RESIDENT/HEALTHCARE WORKER/ETC] and I am [WRITING/CALLING] to ask that you write a follow up letter (view template letter here) to ICE Field Director Nathalie Asher, urging her to release everyone from NWDC and provide weekly updates on the number of people released.

In your own words, “We do not accept preventable death in Washington.” Conditions in detention were already deplorable, but under the threat of a global pandemic it is imperative to release everyone in detention before it is too late. We know there are over 900 positive cases of COVID-19 in detention sites across the country, minimal testing and transparency from ICE, and at least one “recovered positive” inside NWDC right now. We also received news from people detained that ICE officers at NWDC are staging photos in a pod under quarantine (where one person is awaiting a test) to make it look like social distancing is possible.

Please act on your written commitment to “protect the health of those detained at the Northwest Detention Center” and amplify the voices of your constituents in demanding mass release and transparency from ICE.

Sincerely,

 

[YOUR NAME]

[ANY ORGANIZATIONS YOU REPRESENT]

 

Draft Email / Phone Call for Mayor and City Council

kristina.walker@cityoftacoma.org

conor.mccarthy@cityoftacoma.org

lillian.hunter@cityoftacoma.org

catherine.ushka@cityoftacoma.org

keith.blocker@cityoftacoma.org

robert.thoms@cityoftacoma.org

john.hines@cityoftacoma.org

Victoria.woodards@cityoftacoma.org

chris.beale@cityoftacoma.org

anita.gallagher@cityoftacoma.org

Dear Tacoma City Council Members, Mayor Victoria Woodards, and Assistant to the City Manager Anita Gallagher,

I am [WRITING/CALLING] to urge you to follow up on your April 24th letter to ICE with the following actions to protect the health and safety of the people inside the Northwest Detention Center:

  1. Pass a non-binding resolution calling for the immediate release of all people from NWDC
  2. Write a follow up letter (view template letter here) to ICE Field Director Nathalie Asher, urging her to release everyone from NWDC and provide weekly updates on the number of people released

On April 24th, you wrote that you “remain concerned for all individuals detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center as they are residents of our community while under ICE’s care.” During a Town Hall on May 7th, Mayor Woodards vowed to “continue to fight for the shutdown of private prisons in our state” and stated, “If we have to go down there every day, send a letter every day until we get some action, we will do that.” Inquiring with ICE is not enough. We need you to act on your words, pass a resolution and urge ICE to free everyone from NWDC.

Conditions in detention were already deplorable long before this crisis, but under the threat of a global pandemic it is imperative to release everyone in detention. We know there are over 900 positive cases of COVID-19 in detention sites across the country — and at least one “recovered positive” inside NWDC. We also received news from people detained that ICE officers at NWDC are staging photos in a pod under quarantine (where one person is awaiting a test) to make it look like social distancing is possible. Please act now, before it is too late.

Sincerely,

 

[YOUR NAME]

[ANY ORGANIZATIONS YOU REPRESENT]

 

Draft Email / Phone Call for State Legislators

J.Darneille@leg.wa.gov

lisa.fisch@leg.wa.gov

Jake.Fey@leg.wa.gov

Anna.Nepomuceno@leg.wa.gov

Laurie.Jinkins@leg.wa.gov

Ann.Dasch@leg.wa.gov

Dear House Speaker Jinkins, Senator Darneille, and Representative Fey,

I am a [WASHINGTON RESIDENT/HEALTHCARE WORKER/ETC] and I would like to thank you for contacting ICE in DC on May 5th with your concerns about the well being of people detained at NWDC. I am [WRITING/CALLING] today to remind you that the privately-run Northwest Detention Center continues to pose an urgent public health threat, and to ask that you write a follow up letter (view template letter here) to ICE Field Director Nathalie Asher, urging her to release everyone from NWDC and provide weekly updates on the number of people released.

In the words of your colleague Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, “It is wrong and immoral to profit from the misfortune of others.” It’s time to act on those words.

Conditions in detention were already deplorable, but under the threat of a global pandemic it is imperative to release everyone in detention. We know there are over 900 positive cases of COVID-19 in detention sites across the country — and at least one “recovered positive” inside NWDC. We also received news from people detained that ICE officers at NWDC are staging photos in a pod under quarantine (where one person is awaiting a test) to make it look like social distancing is possible. Please act now, before it is too late.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

[ANY ORGANIZATIONS YOU REPRESENT]

Updates from Inside

Stay updated on conditions inside by listening to testimony from those detained at the NWDC here.

Since late March people detained have staged at least 3 hunger strikes and one work stoppage. All calling for immediate release of all people detained who are “sitting ducks” for a contagion of COVID19. Detention conditions have worsened in the middle of the global pandemic; we’ve received reports of scabies, mistreatment from guards, denied medical care and access to COVID19 tests, transfers to other facilities, and ongoing deportations. People detained staged a SOS action at the yard last April 15th, sending us a distress signal in hopes we would listen and act. There are over 900 positive cases in detention centers across the country. ICE rate of testing is low because they have tested a small number of people out of the 28,000 plus people they continue detaining.

This is why we support the call to #FreeThemAll and #ShutDownNWDC.

Download #FreeThemAll Coloring Book

(https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5917516cb8a79b8c6e2bf67e/t/5ebc440fb499bb7eea6709bb/1589396528347/FreeThemAll_Final_Optimized.pdf)

A group of 20 artists from across the US released a print-at-home coloring book to raise funds for undocumented communities impacted by COVID-19. In exchange for a free download, the artists are asking folks to make a donation to one of several funds listed on our website, which includes Resistencia!

You can download the entire book (more than 50 pages!) or just individual artworks that speak to you. Share your creations with the hashtags #freethemallcoloringbook #freethemall #liberenatodos #liberenatodx.