Continuing the Fight for Undocumented Immigrants: Legal Observation Training
Nikki Pyle, member of the Community Action Coalition of Sonoma County showed her insight on becoming part of the movement of keeping undocumented migrants safe from ICE through a legal observation training. As someone who is a very big advocate for the security of undocumented migrants, I was excited to become more informed on this topic and gain knowledge on how I can potentially help those within Sonoma County. Throughout the training, Nikki asked us these three basic questions: What, How, and Why?
What do legal observers do? How do they execute their job? Why do we need legal observers? First, legal observers are volunteers who make sure that ICE is allowing illegal migrants to exercise their rights. They execute their job with a series of steps that will help these migrants indirectly but profoundly. During this part of the training, she strongly suggested a debriefing period after the raid for these situations tend to be intense and may cause stress and mixed emotions for legal observers. She also emphasized that while their organization has made this job as clear as possible, many things are subject to change for every situation is different, so it is very important to use critical thinking skills when executing this job. Last, we need legal observers because many illegal migrants are not given the opportunity to use their rights and do not have any clear warning of when a raid may happen. To maintain the advocacy of keeping migrants safe, legal observers are crucial.
I found this training to be helpful and moving for two reasons. The first reason is that in a matter of two hours, I gained so much insight on what goes on during ICE raids and what to do about them. Nikki took us through each step carefully and with detail so that we understood exactly what can and probably will happen. The second reason is seeing those who showed up and why. Professors, students, and citizens of the community came to this meeting either because they know of many undocumented migrants or just because they wanted to support this group of people. It was touching to see the community of Sonoma County wants to take action to end these acts of injustice. I hope to see many more legal observation trainings in the future.
For more information on how you can be part of the change, contact the North Bay Rapid Response Organization on Facebook: @northbayrapidresponse