Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Ypsi organizations work to support young immigrants under the new Trump administration
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC)
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. While the Ypsilanti Community School District has clarified that school staff will not ask families about their immigration status or voluntarily coordinate with immigration control and enforcement officers in the wake of recent immigration policy changes, immigrant students feel safer in their school halls, but are still anxious that, when they get home, their parents may not be there. YCS is just one of many orgs in the greater Ypsi area that has had to face new challenges and develop new strategies in the face of the changed atmosphere for young immigrants in our community. Today, I'm here with Rebecca Olszewski, managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center's Ypsilanti office to learn more about how organizations like the MIRC are keeping up with the needs of Ypsi's immigrant community. Hi, Rebecca! Thanks so much for being here today!
Rebecca Olszewski: Thank you very, very much for the invite! Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, or MIRC as we're known, is a statewide organization. We have offices kind of throughout the state--in Lansing and Grand Rapids and Detroit and Kalamazoo. But we do have a local office here in Ypsilanti. We do a lot of different types of work. We help detained individuals. We help victims of crime. We help people for naturalization. We try to assist in other general immigration legal services categories, but one of our big things that we do is we assist with unaccompanied minors. We have a federal grant that helps unaccompanied minors who come to the United States, and we provide legal services and representation to them because they're in such a vulnerable position.
Rylee Barnsdale: And because of that vulnerable position, Rebecca, I'm curious about, from MIRC's side of things, what are some of the most common fears and concerns that folks in Ypsi are sharing with you as a result of these recent policy changes?
Rebecca Olszewski: We've worked with a lot of the different community advocates and organizations in the area, and we're just seeing there is a lot of fear among the community, due to some of the enforcement actions that are taking place around Ypsilanti and the Washtenaw and Ann Arbor area. And one of our focuses particularly is we try to provide community education and resources to the community, so they understand their rights and understand, going forward, what they can do in the face of some of these enforcement actions. It is definitely a charged atmosphere, and I know that working with the organizations and collaborating with them is kind of just one way we can address the very large community need.
Rylee Barnsdale: Just based on the anxiety and things that folks are feeling right now in this charged environment, as you've described it too, I'm sure there's been a rise in mental health challenges or other stress-related issues for these students, for these young people and for their families. I'm curious if that has been an issue that you've seen over at MIRC. What are the steps that you're taking to maybe, hopefully, alleviate some of those stresses?
Rebecca Olszewski: Well, one of the things...well, the most important thing that we can do, we do represent children and we do represent their parents or their guardians. And one of the things that we try to do is, number one, provide as much information as we can. Like, we work within the laws, we work within what we're able to do, and we do all that we possibly can to provide and seek legal remedies in our representation. However, one thing we have to try to do is provide them with information because really like that in the only thing in many ways to quell from the fear. And so, we work very closely with our clients, and we have some excellent lawyers and paralegals. I love the team that we have. They're very dedicated. So, in working in representing our children and representing our clients, we really do our best to make sure that they are informed about the process, know what's going on, and have a clear understanding of what might happen, because really that's the only thing we can give them.
Rylee Barnsdale: In addition to these particular services and the providing of information, I'm curious if there are any new collaborations or partnerships that MIRC has established to better support the folks that come to the office seeking help. What do those relationships look like in the wake of what we've been seeing from the current administration?
Rebecca Olszewski: Well, I would think that...I think I would argue that, in some of these relationships, we have worked with a lot of the local organizations for for quite some time, but when emergency calls, people band together. And I said that there's been an increase in activity and collaboration and meeting and talking and trying to figure out like how sharing information and how all we can bet work together. So, we have worked with WICIR, which is the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrants and Refugees--is that right?--and the Michigan Immigrants' Rights Advocacy, or MIRA. So, we try to work in collaboration and providing our education and our information to those organizations, as well as to the community at large.
Rylee Barnsdale: And could you speak a little bit more about what does MIRC's approach look like when working with these young folks, especially the unaccompanied minors, as you mentioned, going into these spaces-- into these court spaces. What are those steps that you take in the moment to ensure that not only do these young folks have all the information that they need, but also the actual process and working through that process? Because I'm sure that legal proceedings themselves can cause a lot of anxiety just on their own on top of what you're discussing with the with the judges and with the courts.
Rebecca Olszewski: Well, a large bulk of our work is dedicated for serving unaccompanied minors. We have special funds for that, which, sadly, we are time limited for those funds. And it appears they might expire at the end of this month if they're not renewed, so this is a great concern for us, because we're dedicated to our clients. And to that end, we're hoping that our continuing contract will be signed, but it's kind of up in the air right now. But with this work for our unaccompanied minors, we go to state court and help in guardianship or custody proceedings. And we seek legal remedies there. Sometimes, some immigration remedies depend on the state court proceedings. So, we enter state court proceedings occasionally---or many times. We also go to court and accompany the children with for master calendar hearings or for immigration court particularly. And we'll represent the children in those proceedings, because, in reality, they're still children and they're still young and if we were representing them they would be in front of the judge sitting there by themselves unable to even access and understand the basic practices around them. So, this is why the program was created to ensure due process and fairness for these children who were kind of subjected to this process, and they don't even quite understand it. So, it's our privilege always to participate in and represent these children and give them and teach them and show them and make sure they understand all of their legal remedies, so they can make good choices about how they'd like to proceed.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Ypsilanti MIRC managing attorney Rebecca Olszewski. So, Rebecca, going back to this discussion on what's going on in Ypsi schools specifically, how does MIRC suggest the district and the schools themselves better support immigrant students and their families who maybe feel unsafe or anxious during this time?
Rebecca Olszewski: Well, I know that MIRC has been in some discussions with the schools, and I think that schools have a lot of ability to reach out to parents and a lot of ability to provide information and provide. So, to provide information, I know that there has been fears about maybe ICE, which is Immigration and Customs Enforcement, near the school particularly. I know there had been fear. It's been worn out in certain locations. I don't think it's been worn out. It's been burned out. There have been certain instances that have been reported. And so, this fear that we would want to make sure that students and parents kind of understand their rights and make sure that schools and parents have good contact information. And schools are a really great way to kind of work with parents--like, work with a lot of our immigrant families--and support them in a way that might be difficult otherwise in the community.
Rylee Barnsdale: What actions can community members or local organizations take to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for immigrants and Ypsi?
Rebecca Olszewski: MIRC is a nonprofit organization, and we would always seek out donation and assistance, so we can continue our work. In this day and age, our funding is very much at question, so we always welcome any sort of assistance that people can offer. In addition, there are some very good organizations in Ypsi that work with immigrants and might benefit from assistance or volunteering. And then, finally, stay engaged, call your Congress, get involved with what's going on and just understand how other people are being affected.
Rylee Barnsdale: Rebecca, thank you so much for joining us here today and sharing your insights on this really important work that MIRC has been doing in Ypsi and across the state! And we really appreciate your time and dedication to supporting our community here in Ypsi!
Rebecca Olszewski: Thank you very much for this opportunity!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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