You haven’t heard from me in quite a while, probably since our Race for Border Justice in October. It’s been over a year since we packed our last GoBag and sent our last delivery to Border Servant Corps in Las Cruces. For now my updates will be about “local” actions and activities that you can partake in. Soooo…if you are one of my online readers from elsewhere, please feel free to unsubscribe! Or even if you are local and feel like you are overwhelmed with action emails, don’t feel guilty about unsubscribing. I do it all the time when my brain is full. I trust you are part of the solidarity movement around the country. See you on the other side 💞

Locals! Put this on your calendar! On Sunday, February 22nd, at 3:00, UUFSC will be co-hosting with the Gila Friends Meeting, a screening of Las Abogadas. “The film follows four immigration attorneys over a multi-year odyssey as the U.S. government under President Trump upends every law meant to protect those fleeing from persecution, violence and war. From setting up a legal clinic in a Volkswagen bus in the middle of five thousand desperate migrants, to persuading border guards to follow the law and accept a blind woman into U.S. custody, to crossing the border to counsel African migrants stuck in Tijuana to giving legal advice in the brutally hot Mexican sun.” Join us at 3845 N Swan Street in Silver City. Donations will benefit the NM Immigrant Law Center that aids immigrants in our state. Any funds that our Border Justice Project collects through February will go to this cause.

As you probably know, our local Silver City Indivisible meets on the second Monday of every month at the Hearth, 1915 N Silver. The meeting starts at 5:00 for half an hour of socializing which this Monday, February 9th, will include a singalong with the Raging Grannies of Bruce Springsteen’s new hit, “Streets of Minneapolis!” The business meeting which ends between 6:30 and 7:00, will include updates and lots of action items since our legislature is still in session.

And now onto New Mexico…I’m so proud of our state for enacting HB 9, The Immigrant Safety Act. On Thursday the Governor signed HB 9 prohibiting public entities across the state from signing onto ICE detention contracts and block law enforcement agencies from signing agreements to serve immigration warrants at local jails. Torrance County, notably, renewed their ICE contract after the law passed the legislature but before the governor signed it. The next bill to watch is HB 124 which has its next committee hearing tomorrow February 9th. The purpose of HB 124 is to establish by law the Office of New Americans, a current division of the Department of Workforce Solutions to support new Americans (immigrants) residing in New Mexico in achieving their maximum economic potential in New Mexico’s workforce and as entrepreneurs. The intersection of immigration and employment. We are hoping to have a speaker in Silver City in March to educate us about all the facets of this office. They have already provided emergency support to a family in our community.

And lastly, of course, join us every Friday 3-5, on the corner of Swan and 180 for our local rally. It feels more like Happy Hour every week 😍 with all the horn honking supporters driving by. Here are a few more photos from this past Friday. And yes, that’s me. I’m from Minnesota and proud of it! If only I could include an audio track…

You may contribute online or you can mail checks made out to UUFSC (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City) with ‘Border’ in the memo line to UUFSC, PO Box 4034, Silver City, NM 88062

Thank you for being a part of the resistance and, more importantly, the change we need to sustain our community and ourselves 💞 🙏 ~Barbara