By Julia Wilson, OneJustice CEO
This peculiar blend of rage and sorrow has become familiar.
OneJustice is celebrating national Welcoming Week, Sept. 15 to 24
And yet even the past 8 months didn’t prepare me for the emotional reality of the Trump Administration’s decision, just 11 days ago, to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program.
OneJustice has been fiercely committed to working side-by-side with the young adults eligible for the DACA program since its inception, just over 5 years ago. OneJustice volunteers have traveled all over the state, doing “pop-up” mobile legal DACA clinics in rural and isolated communities. Our organization has had a great honor of hosting four outstanding young leaders through the DreamSF Fellowship program of the City and County of San Francisco.
The administration’s decision to end the DACA program doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make economic sense, because we know that these young Americans add to the economy. It doesn’t make business sense, because we know that these young adults add talent and skill to our country’s human capital. That’s why hundreds of business leaders support the DACA program. It doesn’t make legal sense, as some of our country’s top legal scholars assert that the program is well within the bounds of executive function. And it doesn’t make moral sense. So I can only draw – for myself – the personal conclusion that there must be a deeply foul – and in my personal opinion profoundly unAmerican – underpinning to this decision. You can hear that underpinning in the Attorney General’s announcement ending the DACA program – when he insinuates that these young Americans are some ho
w stealing jobs, when he references the need to keep communities safe, and when he implicitly ties DACA to “violent gangs.”
Rage. And sorrow.
And so what can we do?
We can welcome. We can be a loud, fierce, won’t-back-down community of welcomers. We can bring into reality our vision of a beloved, welcoming community.
What does that mean?
OneJustice is a proud participant in national Welcoming Week, which starts today and runs through September 24th. Welcoming Week is an annual celebration that brings together thousands of people and hundreds of local events that celebrate the contributions of immigrants and refugees and the role communities play to foster greater welcome for everyone. There has never been a more important time for communities to show that they are welcoming to everyone, including immigrants and refugees.
Welcoming Week Activities in the OneJustice Network
During Welcoming Week, groups of dedicated OneJustice volunteers will show up at mobile legal clinics around the state – providing free legal help to immigrants, including DACA participants who are eligible to renew before the October 5th deadline. Starting at today’s IMPACT LA clinic in South Los Angeles in collaboration with the Jenesse Center and then in San Diego, Monterey and San Joaquin counties, volunteer attorneys and law students will show up to work side-by-side with immigrants in need of legal advice.
And everywhere they go, these volunteers will spread a radical counter-message of welcome. “I am a welcomer.” “Eres bienvenido.” “OneJustice welcomes you.” Because now, more than ever and even despite this now all-too-familiar mix of sorrow and rage, we can choose. We can choose to be in community. We can choose to show up. We can choose to welcome, with open hearts and open minds, all of our neighbors and fellow Californians, regardless of immigration status – in this moment, more than ever.
One way to welcome – volunteer to help with DACA renewals
If you are attorney looking for volunteer opportunities to help with DACA renewals, check out the listing of clinics in need of volunteers on OneJustice website at: www.OneJustice.org/DACA. And it’s easy to get trained to help out with on-demand access to online trainings specifically designed for pro bono volunteers at the California Pro Bono Training Institute here: pbtraining.org/all-courses/deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals/ Watch the first 3 trainings to prepare to volunteer.
Thank you.