[Occupymendocino] FW: Some Freedom Cities news for you

Fri Jun 30 15:04:08 PDT 2017

Meeting reminder: tomorrow, 12-2, sr ctr

We’re thrilled to share some People Power updates and get you in the loop about what’s new and exciting.

 People Power | ACLU <https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.peoplepower.org/images/peoplepoweremailheaderlarge.png> 

John:

It’s time again for our host newsletter! We’re thrilled to share some People Power updates and get you in the loop about what’s new and exciting.

Here’s what we’ll cover this week:

*	Shouts-out to some People Power groups that have made progress recently
*	Special Volunteer Teams update 
*	FAQs

Recent progress:

We’re excited and inspired by the talented organizing we’re seeing all across the country, and want to take a minute to highlight some great developments we’ve heard about recently:

Activists in Colorado had an incredibly successful meeting with the Chief of Police for Grand Junction PD. He was “completely on board with all of the policies and he was very informative.”

- Grand Junction, CO

Township Commissioners in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania have agreed to attend an educational community forum regarding immigration rights, and local activists are planning a large community event - a conversation with local officials, immigration experts, and community members.

- Elkins Park, PA

In Los Angeles County, activists have recently had productive meetings with their local law enforcement officials. Attendance at the Know Your Rights workshops they’ve been organizing has been great, and they’ve been providing weekly citizenship classes to folks in the local community. They’re currently working on resolutions to present to the Palmdale and Lancaster city councils.

- Palmdale, CA

In Washington, organizers have been reaching out to people in the area and building up their momentum. They’ve had great experiences with their law enforcement officials -- the Chief of Longview WA Police and an Acting Chief of Police in Kalama WA have discussed and given out copies of the ACLU model policies to other police departments in the area. Tracking policy changes is the big next step.

- Cowlitz County, WA

Great job to all the groups who were highlighted this week! We love hearing about the work that People Power organizers are doing locally.

We really want to hear your campaign update too! Let us know what’s going on by filling <https://go.peoplepower.org/survey/freedom-cities-report-back-survey/?source=em20170630&t=1&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC>  out this survey.

 <https://go.peoplepower.org/survey/freedom-cities-report-back-survey/?source=em20170630&t=2&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC> Report back on your campaign »

Special Volunteer Teams Update -

In addition to the organizing that you all do on the ground, you can also join one of our  Special Volunteer teams, which help support the work of activists nationwide a. Some of you receiving this newsletter may even be on one of our Special Volunteer teams! Here are a few quick updates about what a couple of our teams have been up to, and what’s on the horizon:

Texting Team -

We're very excited to announce that our texting team will be ramping up our texting initiative in the coming days. We regularly send texts to recruit for and amplify actions like rallies, vigils, and protests. With the expansion of our program, we'll now have the capacity to text for rapid response events and for even more of the local events that your teams are organizing on the ground.

If you do not want us to consider your event text recruitment, you can click “I do not want additional help recruiting for my event” on the event creation page. You can also always edit those settings by going to go.peoplepower.org/me. We can’t wait to help build momentum in your community and connect you with other like-minded activists.

Call Team -

The team has been ramping up more every week, with 116 new volunteers joining us in just the past 30 days. In addition to helping Freedom Cities organizers get their local events ready to go  <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/166?t=3&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC> up on the map, Call Team volunteers have been plugging people into rapid response events across the country to resist the unconstitutional agenda of the Trump administration. From healthcare rallies in West Virginia, to vigils in Alaska, to voting rights action trainings in Florida, the team has been working hard to help likeminded activists fight back.

In other exciting Call Team news, we are about to launch our Ground Support Call Team. This team will take on a more in-depth support role to Freedom Cities activists who are organizing locally. We’d love for you to join us! We’re looking for people who’ve been organizing in their communities to be a resource to other local activists and vice-versa.

 <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/167?t=4&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC> Sign up here to join our new Ground Support Team. We’re excited for the program to get even bigger as we continue with Freedom Cities and beyond!

Translation Team -

Our Translation Team has been working around the clock to translate some of our most important People Power resources from English to Spanish. We recognize that many of you are also creating calling scripts, agenda, flyers, letters, and many other unique materials and resources needed to advocate for Freedom Cities policies in your community. Our team may have some capacity in the next two weeks to help translate any such materials and resources that your local group has created from English to Spanish -- just send an email to translation at peoplepower.org with the link or attachment to your resource(s) and indicate in the body of the email that you would like our team to translate this for you.

 <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/168?t=5&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC> Check out this folder to view examples of some of our completed translations.

Want some Freedom Cities inspiration?

  _____  

Here’s <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/165?t=6&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC>  a great article about how different established sanctuary cities (and one sanctuary state!) are effectively blocking ICE and helping to keep immigrant communities safe.

Q&A

QUESTION:  My law enforcement officials have told me that they don’t need to establish pro-immigrant policies in writing because in all the years they’ve worked with the department, ICE has never asked them to carry out federal immigration work such as prolonging a detention or carrying out an arrest, detention, or transportation on the basis of an immigration detainer. How would you suggest we talk to them about coming up with a written policy?

ANSWER: It sounds like your local law enforcement leaders may be supportive of immigrant-friendly and Constitution-friendly policies, but perceive that pushing for their formal adoption in writing is an unnecessary step given their infrequent interactions with ICE.

Although they may have had infrequent interactions with ICE in the past, the current White House is making unprecedented efforts to compel local jurisdictions into directly supporting new federal immigration directives that tear apart families and endanger Muslims, immigrants, refugees, and other members of our communities who might be perceived to be in one of those categories. Having these policies in writing will communicate to the federal government that while local law enforcement has no intention of violating federal law, they will not do the federal government’s work and help advance Trump’s mass deportation agenda.  Indeed, having the policies clearly established in advance, can help to avoid an uncomfortable conversation when ICE does come to pressure your local law enforcement.  They can simply say that their hands are tied.  

Ultimately, it is not the role of local law enforcement to facilitate deportations, and it blurs the line between local law enforcement and federal immigration work. If members of the community are unsure of whether local police are effectively working as agents of ICE, it will hobble relationships in the community and may lead to decreased public safety as undocumented residents may not report crimes or serve as witnesses for fear of arrest, detention, and deportation. Establishing these rules and policies in writing will signal to the local immigrant community that local law enforcement will not comply with the Trump administration's efforts to effectively convert local law enforcement into de facto ICE agents, and help reduce the fear that is pervading many communities across the nation. There have been countless reports of kids avoiding school and domestic violence survivors dropping their cases due to fear of being swooped up in ICE’s dragnet.

Thank you for all of your work and continuing to fight this fight through its challenges. We love seeing all the great organizing you do, and continue to be inspired by your commitment and energy in this movement.

In solidarity,

Samson Ghazey & The People Power Team

Note: You’re getting this email because you have posted an event to our People Power map. If you’re not familiar with the Freedom Cities campaign you can read <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/163?t=7&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC>  more about it here and join one of our Overview <https://go.peoplepower.org/go/164?t=8&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC>  calls.

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This email was sent to john at cypresshouse.com. Email is the most important way we stay in touch with you, but if you need to remove yourself from our People Power email list, click here to unsubscribe <https://go.peoplepower.org/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=9&akid=10192.31391.j5TEcC> .

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