Aug 04 Pittsburgh nonprofits rally around immigrants amid ICE crackdowns
NEXTpittsburgh – After the November election, Dana Gold knew she needed to take action.
“It was very clear we were in for a very challenging time in terms of immigrants being welcomed in the U.S.,” says Gold, chief operating officer for Jewish Family and Community Services, which provides counseling, legal help, food, housing assistance and more to immigrants and refugees in the Pittsburgh region.
Gold reached out to other organizations that provide such resources and asked them to “support one another” as they prepared for a dramatic spike in immigrant arrests and deportations under the administration of President Donald J. Trump.
Then Gold approached local philanthropies to inform them that 18 nonprofits were launching the Collaborative for Immigrant Impact and were seeking money “to protect, support and encourage the continuing diversity of our region.”
Since November, the collaborative has raised $3.7 million of its $5 million fundraising goal including gifts from the Heinz Endowments, Jefferson Regional Foundation, Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Opportunity Fund, Pittsburgh Foundation, Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh, Staunton Farm Foundation, state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-38th District, and anonymous donors.
It has already distributed its first round of emergency grants totaling $375,000 to members as they scramble to assist immigrants and their families with basic needs and other help.
As Gold anticipated, the government launched a massive crackdown on immigrants across the U.S. after Trump took office in January.
In Pennsylvania, Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 332 noncriminal arrests in June across the state, up from 70 in January, according to data from the University of California Berkeley School of Law’s Deportation Data Project.
Locally, 14 undocumented immigrants were picked up in June during an ICE raid at Tepache Mexican Kitchen and Bar in Marshall Township.
Elsewhere in the region, immigrants — many of whom have no criminal records — “are being detained going to work, going to church, while driving their kids to school or while out for a walk,” says Monica Ruiz, executive director of Casa San Jose, a support organization for Latino immigrants.
From March to June, Casa, which belongs to the Collaborative for Immigrant Impact, deployed 50 volunteers to escort immigrants pursuing citizenship to routine court hearings because of an increase in courthouse arrests, says Jaime Martinez, Casa’s community defense organizer.
During the same period, Casa’s 24/7 ICE Watch Hotline handled 676 calls, dispatched 62 volunteers and reported 91 detentions, says Martinez…