Immigration

The Immigration Action Team focuses on facilitating actions that relieve suffering and address real immigration justice concerns. We sponsors projects throughout the year that individuals and congregations are invited to join. The IAT has created a plan of 11 actions that Arizona UU congregations could use to organize locally (click Actions for Congregations to see the whole document). Members of the IAT are available to talk with members of your congregation about these ideas.

To join the Immigration Action Team or to have a member visit your congregation, please contact Lisa McDaniel-Hutchings at [email protected]

Actions for Congregations

UUJAZ Day at the Legislature Food Drive

Attending Day at the Legislature? Please consider bringing a donation of travel-sized foods for Somos America, a 509a2 not-for-profit organization providing aid to asylum seekers traveling through the Phoenix Bus Depot. Below is a list of their current immediate needs, so please focus your shopping on these items:

Boxed tuna or chicken salad with crackers
Peanuts in small bags
Individual packs ritz crackers
Granola bars - hard or soft
Applesauce cups or fruit cups

No time to shop? Traveling from too far away? You can also make a much appreciated financial donation which will be used directly to buy these items. See the flyer (right) or contact Sharon at [email protected] for details.

The 2017/18 Program Year in Review

Here’s how we’ve built more Immigration Justice in 2017-18:

As supporters of the Phoenix Restoration Project we began partnering with Somos America Coalition (a 502c3 organization) to gather more supplies for released detainees passing through the Phoenix bus station.
Gathered vanloads of supplies for the Phoenix Restoration Project as Issues & Action Day and UU Day at the Legislature
Provided an On-the-Fly workshop for participants at UU Day at the Legislature
Raised the awareness among AZ congregations about the ongoing needs of migrants
Continued support of Las Tres Amigas, three transgendered asylum-seeking women from Central America
Wrote letters and Christmas cards through congregations (MVUU, UUCT, Amado, UUCP) to migrants in detention
Helped form a free legal aid clinic in Flagstaff called “Keep Flagstaff Together”
With other pro-immigrant groups in Flagstaff, started raising bail bond funds. “Keep Flagstaff Together” was successful in preparing a bond package and consequently one individual was released on bond.
Developed a chart of non-profit organizations working with migrants in Southern AZ used to help volunteers connect
Joined a campaign to open a Non-Citizen Defense Office seeking approval from the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
Sponsored a 4-session course for the two Tucson congregations on “Literature of the Borderlands” that provided a better understanding of Hispanic culture and history as a frame for issues we are confronting today.