Arriving to Mississippi and Getting Swept into the Movement

On August 7, 2019 approximately 680 people were detained in an ICE raid in Mississippi. As an immigration attorney in Atlanta, GA, I spend a lot of time in detention centers and in immigration court fighting for people's freedom. As a result, I'm uniquely equipped to help the victims of these raids and thanks to your support, I'm now on the ground putting my legal skills to work.

I left Sandy Springs, GA early Saturday (8/11) morning and arrived in Canton, MS about 7 hours later at1:15PM. I had been instructed to arrive at our designated meeting spot for an attorney training at 1PM. It was pouring rain when I pulled up, so I ran into the church and was immediately swept into the hustle and bustle of a packed building with people everywhere. I was waiting to receive instructions from one of the volunteer coordinators when someone else came up behind me and asked me to help unload an SUV full of supplies. I hurriedly followed this person to a door off the side of a large gymnasium and before I knew it, I was in the line of volunteers carrying supplies and officially, part of the movement.

Soon thereafter I was instructed to head to Carthage, MS. I drove the 40 minutes to a tiny town in the middle of the state and walked into yet another church full to the brim of victims of the ICE raids. There were individuals who had been detained and released, and individuals with family members still in detention. I plowed through intakes determining people's eligibility for bond and relief before an immigration judge. I was the only immigration attorney in the center today, and we did intakes for at least 50 families. It was grueling, I was hungry, and the line of people needing help never ended. We got to a point where we just had to stop. We cleaned up the center and headed back to Canton to meet up and debrief with our teams from Morton, Pines, and Canton.

Lots of amazing organizations are focusing their energy into this movement:

• Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition: https://www.tnimmigrant.org/
• Fair Immigration Reform Movement: https://fairimmigration.org/
• Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/
• Adelante: http://adelantealabama.org/
• Southeast Immigrant Rights Network: https://actionnetwork.org/groups/southeast-immigrant-rights-network
• Advancement Project: https://advancementproject.org/home/

And many more organizations are committing their money and volunteers.

We went around the room and shared ideas and vocalized needs. We wrote lists on large post-it sheets and learned about immigrant women who are going door to door delivering food to families whose breadwinners are without work. We talked about standardizing the legal work. We heard the story of a man whose wife is pregnant, but neither him or his wife have left their mobile home because they are terrified to leave the protection of their home. We learned that there are still cars parked at the plants where the ICE raids took place because the car owners are unable to go pick up their cars due to the fact that they are in immigration detention. Some of these cars have been broken into. We learned that there is still so much work to do, but most importantly we learned that we are not backing down. Tomorrow, our day starts at 6AM. I feel like there are so many things left unsaid, and I wish I could share everything with you, but I have to pass out. Thank you again for supporting my cause. I commit to making the most of my time here. #insolidarity

Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alexis-ice-raid-defense-fund?fbclid=IwAR2Fq_LFugfzRkObAusBr5jbuA_aCnC0voq2F9xdVslZ5bapMcfpbBoc1nA