M Artin l uther K ing J r .
January 16, 2019
Page 5
2019 special edition
Arrested in the Fight for Civil Rights
Like King,
immigration
advocates
use civil
disobedience
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
When 124 asylum seekers were
detained in a federal prison in
Sheridan last summer after being
caught up in President Donald
Trump’s zero tolerance immigra-
tion policy, civil rights groups,
lawyers, activists, and faith lead-
ers took steps to help get all of
them out of lockup and bring light
to the issue.
Interfaith Movement for Im-
migrant Justice, which convenes
faith leaders of varying religions
throughout Oregon, was one of
the many grassroots organizations
key to keeping the issue before the
the public through vigils, march-
es, and support in solidarity with
the asylum seekers, both at the Or-
egon prison, and the federal Immi-
grant and Customs Enforcement
headquarters in Portland.
All of the asylum seekers were
men and a number of them had
been separated from their children
at the border. Most were applying
for entry to the United States to es-
cape persecution or violence from
more than 16 countries. They were
denied access to attorneys and not
allowed to practice their religion
when they were first detained.
The American Civil Liberties
Union Oregon filed an emergen-
cy lawsuit soon after the immi-
grants were detained in Sheridan
to allow them access to lawyers,
which a federal judge sided with.
Another non-profit civil rights
group called Innovation Law Lab
represented 80 of the detainees
and helped them demonstrate that
they fled their home countries due
to a credible fear of prosecution
and all 124 of the asylum seekers
have since been released, as of late
November.
For the leaders of the local In-
terfaith Movement, their involve-
ment is akin to the arrests Rev.
Martin Luther King voluntarily
faced in actions of civil disobe-
dience in the fight for civil rights.
The local faith leaders were in-
spired to take on a similar course
after one of its members hosted
a living room meeting to discuss
taking action. It was last May
when news first broke that the im-
migrants were being detained in
Oregon.
“That began a process of both
discernment and strategizing
around what would be an effective
strategy to get the men released
photo by
D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Sarah Loose (left) and Ron Werner look back on their experience of facilitating willing arrests of faith leaders during peace-
ful protests on behalf of immigrant asylum seekers. They’re part of Oregon’s Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, an
organization advocating for the rights of immigrants faced with family separation, detention and deportation.
but also to begin to dismantle this
family separation apparatus that
exists here in Oregon,” interfaith
organizer and pastor Ron Wer-
ner of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church told the Portland Observ-
er.
Werner and the other justice ad-
vocates began by holding prayer
vigils, protests and marches out-
side of the Sheridan prison. They
were joined by at least two other
immigrant rights groups in Ore-
gon, Unidos Bridging Community
and the Rural Organizing Project.
By July there was finally some
progress. With the help of the In-
novation Law Lab, 80 of the asy-
lum seekers were determined to
be legally eligible for release, but
they continued being detained.
The organization sent letters
and made phone calls to Eliabeth
Godfrey, the acting ICE field of-
fice director, but got no responses.
That’s when the Interfaith Move-
ment decided to escalate their
approach by dispatching clergy
members willing to risk arrest by
engaging in civil disobedience.
Such a tool was strategized
early on, Rabbi Debra Kolodny of
Portland’s UnShul said.
Sarah Loose, also with the im-
migrant justice group said, “We
knew that they were eligible for
release and that it was Elizabeth
Godfrey who had the sole pow-
C ontinueD on p age 10