Longfellow Middle School hosted an immigration rights forum on Tuesday, November 22, to help protect undocumented immigrant families from deportation. The forum, put together by the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) Office of Family Engagement and Equity, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, and the East Bay Community Law Center, informed the 75 attendants of the rights of immigrants and the ways that those rights can be used to avoid deportation. The forum was entirely in Spanish, though translation services were available. A variety of speakers attended, including Jesse Arreguín, the newly elected mayor of Berkeley, and Mark Silverman, a senior staff attorney with the Immigration Legal Resource Center (ILRC). Behind the speakers was a rainbow sign made by Longfellow Middle School students that read, “Be an ally.” The forum began with speakers who told the audience about their experiences with immigration and how it affected their lives.
Following their speeches, Arreguín came up to the stage and spoke to the importance of maintaining Berkeley’s status as a sanctuary city.
He said, “It is important that Berkeley re-affirm its commitment to remaining a sanctuary city and join other cities that rise up against these threats [to immigrants].”
Arreguín then recommended that California should become a sanctuary state and told the crowd that he would push to make BUSD places of sanctuary as well. ILRC attorney Mark Silverman spoke after. Silverman, who has conducted over four hundred presentations and trained immigration attorneys and immigrant communities throughout California, began to explain the rights of immigrants. The most important thing that an immigrant can do, he said, is to “be calm, be informed, and be prepared.” Silverman gave examples to show how important it is for families to be informed of their rights. The cards focused on the fourth and fifth amendments.
All people, including undocumented immigrants, have the right to refuse to speak, answer questions, sign or hand over documents, and to refuse entry or search of a premises or item without a warrant, he said. Attendants then had the opportunity to meet with attorneys for fifteen-minute free consultations about their personal immigration options. Carol Perez, a member of the Office of Family Engagement and Equity, was one of the main coordinators of the event. The initial idea for the forum began after the election when Perez proposed the forum to her staff and co-workers at BUSD.
For the BUSD coordinators, the goal of the forum was to diminish fear and provide resources for any BUSD families who felt targeted by the results of the recent election.