Currently, there is a great deal of mistrust between immigrants and the wider US society. In this period of xenophobia and attacks on immigrants, people in our communities are afraid and do not know who to trust. We want Proyecto Faro to be an organization immigrants can trust, and one that fosters trust between vulnerable immigrant communities and mainstream society. Weaving communities of support between immigrants and allies, we will continue to strengthen our network of faith communities, legal professionals, helping agencies, and vulnerable immigrant populations, and work together to respond to immediate needs.
We will expand the number of immigrants we support at our Community Legal Clinics by recruiting and training more volunteers and lawyers. We aim for our legal clinics to become a reliable and effective space for trust-building and empowerment. These clinics not only will respond to immediate needs (e.g. assistance by immigration lawyers) but also provide opportunities for political education, story sharing, and building morale.
We are further developing our solidarity network of immigrants and non-immigrants who share information, aid, and support. We want to foster a sense of security and empowerment for vulnerable immigrants to build more secure lives here among us until something changes for the better in US laws, or in their country of origin. We want to carve out places in which people living under strain and fear because of their immigration status can unburden themselves, and feel normal, useful, creative, and safe.
We are building an Accompaniment and Visitation Team to organize supportive non-immigrants to visit immigrants held in detention, to accompany immigrants to court dates and ICE check-ins, and to assist in transportation where needed. We will train accompaniers and visitors to identify and document abuses and unmet needs.
We are building the Romero Housing Circle, a sheltering network to assist with short-term housing. There is a need to shelter people released from detention, made housing insecure due to a detained or deported loved one, and those who wish to enter sanctuary instead of cooperating with an unjust and abusive system.
We will build a Media Solidarity Plan to build public sympathy for immigrant populations and shift public opinion around key issues, including the practices of unethical lawyers, abuse by ICE of 4th amendment rights, and myths about gang activity. Working with the Proyecto Faro Leadership Team, allies will seek to correct false news and spread accurate information through faith, work, and family networks, publishing op-eds, holding press conferences, and assisting immigrants in documenting abuses through our own media.