Street roots., October 12, 2018, Page 7, Image 7

Street Roots • Oct. 12-18, 2018
News
Page 7
A series highlighting the role o f religious leaders and groups in Portland’s resistance movement
A demonstrator participates in a rally Oct. 5 at the park adjacent to the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan. The event, coordinated by the Interfaith
Movement fo r Im m igrant Justice and Sural Organizing Project, was a call fo r immigrants’ release from detention centers such as FCI.
BY SARAH HANSELL
S T A F F W R IT E R
44 y
_____ ____________ _____
"F nshackle Oregon. Let our people go!”
I
It was one of the chants that could
be heard through the rain on the first
Friday of October at a rally in Hood River, the
sixth leg of a pilgrimage from Sheridan to The
Dalles.
The pilgrimage - organized by the Interfaith
Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ), the
Rural Organizing Project and other organizations
- had specific demands: an end to Immigration
and Customs Enforcement’s contracts with two
Oregon correctional facilities where immigrants
and asylum seekers are being detained.
About 40 people made the entire 150-mile trek,
with many others joining along the way. They
slept in churches and a farm, rallied and
canvassed against Measure 105, which would
reverse Oregon’s sanctuary-state status. They
stood outside the facilities where immigrants
were being detained, holding worship services
and calling for the immigrants’ release.
This pilgrimage is the culmination of a
coordinated effort by IMIrJ against Measure 105,
which would repeal Oregon’s sanctuary law, for
ICE to end their contracts with Federal
Correctional Institution at Sheridan and Northern
Oregon Regional Correctional Facility, known as
NORCOR; and for getting asylum-seekers released
from these institutions. In what the organization
dubbed “August of Action,” IMIrJ organized a
month of demonstrations and vigils focused on
the release of unmigrants in detention.
“September of Mobilization” was about voting no
on Measure 105. And the “October Pilgrimage”
was the final leg of the journey.
Since then, one of the goals of the campaign
has been reached. In the spring, 123 immigrant
men were transferred from the border to FCI
Sheridan. Now, only seven remain.
IMIrJ has been engaging faith communities in
Oregon since 2006, when it was a subcommittee
of the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, called
the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement. Back
then, the moment that galvanized local faith
communities into action was the 2007 raid of the
Del Monte Fresh Produce food processing center
in North Portland, when ICE detained 168
immigrants. At that time, IMIrJ was working with
25 to 30 congregations in the Portland metro
area.
The galvanizing moment for IMIrJ’s work today
was the 2016 election.
“We had so many congregations and people of
faith who called us and said, ‘Hey, we want to
become a sanctuary church. What do we do?’”
said Sarah Loose, IMIrJ senior lead organizer.
Many churches would call the organization,
eager to make the renovations necessary to
create a functional living space for those seeking
sanctuary, such as building showers. However,
that wasn’t what the immigrants in their
congregations and communities were asking for.
“Our message back to many of the
congregations and people of faith, in what felt,
and was in many ways, a crisis moment, was to
say the best thing that we can do right now is not
to just up and build showers, but rather to build
power,” Loose said.
Their work since then has been focused on
building that power. They now work with more
than 140 faith communities throughout Oregon,
from the Portland metro area to the Gorge to
Central and Southern Oregon. In addition, they
partner with immigrant-led organizations and
other groups fighting for immigrant justice.
“It’s not just the faith leaders; it’s organizing
with the local organizing group that is also
fighting for immigrant rights,” said Insil Kang,
director of communications and community
connections at Village Church and an IMIrJ board
member.
Kang is the daughter of Korean immigrants.
She grew up seeing her parents struggle with the
language barrier, with not understanding the
unspoken rules of culture, and with the
xenophobia and racism of strangers.
“I was always seeing that there was another
group coming through, having to start from
scratch and figuring out their American way of life
when it came to the immigrant life,” Kang said.
“So it’s always been very close to my heart to be
seen not just as an advocate but as someone who
was doing something about helping people be
citizens and have access to everything.”
Though IMIrJ has always been an interfaith
organization, it was most Weighted toward
Christian communitiesr in the beginning. It since
has increased its work and partnership with non-
Christian faith communities, including Jewish,
Buddhist, Sikh and Muslim.
See IM M IGRANTS, page 11