Sangha,?

I'm reaching out to share what I learned at an organizing meeting of the Denver Immigrant Protection Team on Saturday morning. ?Part of my practice is working to live out the three tenets of the Zen Peacemakers International - which are not knowing, bearing, witness, and taking action. ?I am communicating this information to our community to give everyone an opportunity to know what is happening around this issue - and to plug into this if it resonates for you. ?This is coming from me as an individual and not organized formally by the Sangha.

The Denver IPT is organized by the American Friends Service Committee - which is a Quaker organization that has been doing this type of work for many years. ?AFSC is the convening organization - but are working with other groups including the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) and the Interfaith Immigration Network (IIN). ?

Dana Miller is the Denver IPT lead - you can reach her at pompomdana@.... ?Patty Lawless and Gina McAfee are the statewide leaders - you can reach them at patty.denver.ipt@... or gina.mcafee6@.... ?You can also join the Facebook group at Immigrant Protection Teams Colorado - IPT. ? I attended an organizational meeting of the Denver IPT on Saturday morning in North Denver. ?I was quite impressed and felt that this was well organized and that these organizations have been doing this work for many years and are well prepared for this work and this moment - so I left energized and committed to taking action. ?If you reach out to Dana to get involved - let her know that you learned about this from me - the organizers would like to get a handle on the ripple effect coming from the 60 people that attended on Saturday.?

There are 7 areas to get involved with the Denver IPT:?

Leadership activities?may include representing IPT to other organizations, raising funds to cover expenses, communication with the 6 committee leads and IPT members.

Know Your Rights (KYR) includes educating immigrants and allies on their constitutional rights in the event of an ICE raid. ? This includes attending KYR & bystander trainings, distributing KYR materials to our immigrant neighbors at libraries, places of worship, rec centers, low-income housing, etc. ?This includes a close relationship with the Interfaith Immigration Network ?and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition ?

Narrative Work is focused on lifting up the value of our immigrant neighbors in the Denver community. ?This includes myth busting around the misinformation about immigrants through research you can find at ? ?It may involve writing letters to the editor, posting on social media, contacting public figures, contacting the press, etc

Legislation and Policy?focuses on proposing/tracking advocating for/against legislation/policies/positions that affect our immigrant neighbors. ?This may include working at the City Council, School Board, County Commissioners, State Legislators, and Congress. ?Specific to Colorado - this means working again HR 32 and HR 35 which are currently being considered in the state legislature.

Law Enforcement involves advocating for clear policy statements regarding non-cooperation with ICE with City Police Departments, County Sheriff, and District Attorney.

Public Action?involves promoting, supporting, organizing, and attending public actions in support of our immigrant neighbors. ?This may include demonstrations, press conferences, vigils, boycotts, etc. ?It may also include creative activities such as music, peace quilts, etc.

ICE Raids - Rapid Response?provides support to the Colorado Rapid Response Network (CORRN) to document and inform the community about ICE presence and raids. ?This may include publicizing the CORRN phone number 1-844-864-8341 as well as being trained as a confirmer, legal observer, or dispatcher for an ICE raid. ?This is the most "front line" of all of the activities and includes the risk of arrest. ?The reality is that ICE cannot take anyone without a warrant and probable cause - they don't tend to have these warrants - so these raids are designed to instill fear and terror in immigrant communities.?

There is a core group of 8-10 people for each of these 6 committees from the organizing meeting - so you would be joining a team that is already fired up. ?I am serving on the KYR committee and am going to serve as the liaison with the Interfaith Immigration Network.

There is a gathering at Shorter Community AME Church on Monday at 6:30 pm every week that was mentioned as a powerful group to plug into. ?The IIN has a weekly zoom meeting from 9:30-11 am on Thursdays which I am planning to attend this week. ?There is also a confirmer training that is coming up the weekend of 3/8-9 - details to be determined.

Please pass this along to like-minded friends, family, and neighbors. ?In addition to the Denver IPT - there are 19 others around the state doing similar work. ?I am happy to meet with folks one on one, in small groups, on Zoom, etc to spread the word.

In the dharma,?

David?