Grassroots Leadership Blog

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. --Exodus 22:21 

On Monday, April 7, I was privileged to testify in front of the Texas state Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee regarding border security, sanctuary cities and other immigration issues. Cristina Parker and Eleana Diaz, both of Grassroots Leadership, and Alejandro Caceres of the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition also offered testimony. Eleana speaks candidly about her family's experience here. 

I spoke to the committee as a Presbyterian missionary serving in the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program. From my work, I've learned that the immigration system in our nation, as well as the for-profit prison industry, is programmed to prey on people who have done nothing but cross a line. Crossing that line is not a crime, but is a civil matter. Immigrants are not guaranteed legal counsel, and if "apprehended," can languish for months and years in immigration detenton centers owned by the Corrections Corporation of America, the GEO Group, Community Education Centers (CEC), and other for-profit prison corporations. That doesn't sound like sanctuary to me!

Monday morning, as I walked to the Capitol to join Grassroots Leadership’s Cristina Parker, Lauren Voyles, and several other immigrant rights advocates from the community in a senate hearing on sanctuary cities, I received the following text message: “Have you testified in one of these before? If not, it could be a good opportunity. They are talking about border issues, so it may be a good thing for you to speak about”

Cue panic attack. I had never testified before and the last senate hearing I had attended was opened with testimony from an eloquent and well-prepared professor, the opposite of what I felt that morning. 

Outside of the room holding the hearing Cristina quickly explained the process and I hastily filled out a form so that I could be put on the docket to testify. She handed me a piece of paper to scribble out a quick script for myself and after staring at it for a few seconds I realized I actually did have a lot to say and I wanted it to be heard.

"A Tale of Two Visits"

Elaine Cohen, our guest blogger, is a dedicated volunteer with Texans United for Families and the Hutto Visitation Program.  Read more about From the Hutto Visitation Program: A Tale of Two Visits

Last week our board members Nicole Porter and Christopher Petrella addressed a packed house at Huston-Tillotson University for A Community Conversation on Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Private Prison Industry.  In addition to spotlighting our board members’ work, our intention was to use this event to bring more visibility to the criminal justice side of our programs here in Austin.

We opened the event by taking a visual straw poll of who was in the room.  Kymberlie asked participants to raise their hands in response to questions like, “Who in this room has been directly affected by the criminal justice system,” and “How many of you believe that criminal justice policies affect us all?”  People responded most enthusiastically to the question, “Who believes we have the power to change criminal justice policies and practices?” with cheers and claps!