La Comadre’s Commitment During Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

26Jan
by Alma V. Marquez

On Wednesday, President Trump issued executive orders on immigration indicating that he intends to keep his campaign promises to crackdown on the migrant population. One of the orders that he signed blocked visas for people trying to enter the country from Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. These countries are Muslim-majority nations, so effectively, this order is a Muslim ban but geographically targeted. The second order that President Trump signed involves beginning the process to build the border wall between Mexico and the U.S.

In addition to these two orders, it has been reported that President Trump may be planning to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA), limit legal immigration to the U.S., and limit social services for immigrants.  

In his first days in office, President Trump has come after the immigrant population, and it looks like this is only the beginning. At this point, the La Comadre community is committed to giving you as much information to inform your families about how to protect themselves during these uncertain times. La Comadre will be a participant in both the education and immigration debates, and now more than ever, we need to focus on educating our children so that they can become the most forceful and effective advocates. Our young scholars will be the teachers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, business leaders, and civic leaders of tomorrow. We have to adequately prepare them and strengthen their skills so that they can survive these next four years and be prepared to thrive in college and beyond.

If you are looking for resources for immigrants and guidance as Trump’s crackdown on the immigrant community unfolds, here are some important resources:

  1. InformedImmigrant.com is a complilation of resources for immigrants and allies that covers legal support, DACA, employment and more. This page will soon be translated into Spanish.
  2. The ACLU of Southern California’s Immigrants’ Rights page is a good resource for the cases and legislation regarding immigration.
  3. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) is an immigrant rights organization that has compiled information for immigrants to know their rights.

Community Lawyers, Inc. is an organization that provides low income people with legal services.When it comes to speaking with children about what is happening, it’s important to remind them that in our communities there are brave people who are committed to their safety and well-being. While it’s important to be honest about the dangers and realities of President Trump’s plans, we also need to reassure our children that in California, schools are safe zones for students and parents.

At La Comadre, we are also working on programming to help our community with workshops on political engagement, how to hold officials accountable, and informing our gente about concrete actions they can take to fight back. I’m bringing my 20+ years of experience in organizing communities around issues related to quality education and immigration and drawing upon the strength of my fellow comadres.

When I was the Vice President External and Government Affairs at Green Dot public schools, I was leading the effort to support the Dream Act in Washington, D.C. when no other education organizations were taking bold positions on basic human and civil rights for our immigrant communities. I see immigration issues as being very interconnected to education advocacy because children cannot learn if they are terrorized.

We’re in this fight together, and we’re fighting for our livelihoods and our children’s future.  ¡Adelante!

*If you haven’t already, please subscribe to La Comadre by adding your e-mail to our list on our homepage (scroll down). We will never share your information with others.

What do you think?

The following two tabs change content below.

Alma V. Marquez

My Twitter profile

Alma V. Marquez

Alma V. Marquez is the founder of LaComadre.org and is the founder and CEO of Del Sol Group, a communications and public affairs firm focusing on Strategy, Outreach and Leadership in Education, Voter and Civic Engagement. She specializes in parent education, politics and community organizing. She is a proud product of California public schools. She is a graduate of Huntington Park High School in Southeast LA. She also completed her all of credit recovery classes at Maxine Waters Occupational Center in Watts in order to graduate from high school. She attended East LA College and transferred to Occidental College where she earned a Bachelor's degree in English and Comparative Literary Students and Politics. She earned a Master of Arts Degree in Urban Planning at UCLA. Her daughter is a junior in a charter school, chartered by LAUSD. She decided to start the LA Comadre blog because she wanted to create a platform for Latinas and education.

More Comments