Fwd: Immigration during a Pandemic

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Parish Resource Center <info@parishresourcecenter.org>
Date: Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Immigration during a Pandemic
To: <philandkelly@gmail.com>

The immigration and detention system have undergone big changes during the pandemic. 

View this e-mail in your web browser Our last few weeks have been filled with all the details that go into caring for immigrants and asylees - posting bond, finding rides to bus stations, coordinating travel, dealing with mail delays, adapting after a motel fire, and more!    This work is more complicated and slower during the pandemic, but has become even more pressing to the individuals and families involved as overcrowded detention centers see rising numbers of COVID cases. Read a few individual stories from the last few weeks below. A local man was being held in detention in Arizona for 7 months. His son was just born here in Lancaster and his family was desperate to get him home. The bond was high, at $10,000. The Lancaster Neighbor Fund provided $2,000 to match the $2,000 the extended family had managed to scrape together at great sacrifice. Out of desperation, the family planned to take a short-term, high-interest loan for $6,000, which would likely trap them in a spiraling cycle of debt. When PRC entered the picture, we scrambled to raise the money to complete his bond, and succeeded in large part because of Lititz Church of the Brethren's quick organizing and generous donations! PRC partnered with the International Rescue Committee in Arizona, who met him when he was released and provided immediate hospitality at their welcome house. They ensured he was safely on a bus, on his way across the country back to Lancaster. This was hectic work that required many, many phone calls and emails, but it has a happy ending. Exactly one week ago he arrived home - and got to meet his newborn son for the first time! One man was granted asylum and released from York Detention Center. But with active cases of COVID in the detention center, he was concerned that he would be putting others at risk if he boarded a bus to travel to his family and friends. His friend reached out to PRC to help with quarantining him.  Despite a fire shutting down the motel in York where we normally have folks quarantine, we were able to find a new situation. Thanks to wonderful partners, he is now quarantining in a motel in Lancaster for 14 days. Lancaster Bible College faculty and students have volunteered to deliver his meals and to check in with him by phone every day. The students are in the Criminal Justice program and are getting a first-hand, personal view of the Detention system.  The York ICE office has closed during COVID, forcing PRC and everyone else to travel to the Philadelphia office to post bond and file paperwork.  One man is still sitting in detention because of this. PRC raised the bond, put together all the paperwork, and lined up a volunteer in Philly who was willing to spend all morning at the ICE office posting this bond. But the envelope with the check and all the paperwork was lost in the mail and never reached the volunteer. It took a lot of time and many persistent phone calls to cancel the cashier's check and reissue a new one, redo all of the paperwork, buy a new bus ticket, and reschedule all of the volunteers helping with different pieces. But thankfully everything is back on track for posting the bond this week. We're continually amazed - by the asylees and their stories, by the outpouring of support by donors and friends, and by the care our volunteers and partners show. There are so many people to thank for what has happened! And so much more work to do. DONATE NOW TO MAKE THIS WORK POSSIBLE   Parish Resource Center  2160 Lincoln Highway East #18, Lancaster, PA 17602 717-299-1113 info@parishresourcecenter.org www.parishresourcecenter.org Facebook Website Instagram

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