#Volunteers flock to #ImmigrationCourts to support #migrants arrested in the hallways
By MARTHA BELLISLE, CEDAR ATTANASIO and COLLEEN SLEVIN
Updated 8:38 AM EDT, July 20, 2025
SEATTLE (AP) — "After a Seattle immigration judge dismissed the deportation case against a Colombian man — exposing him to expedited removal — three people sat with him in the back of the courtroom, taking his car keys for #SafeKeeping, helping him memorize phone numbers and gathering the names of family members who needed to be notified.
"When Judge Brett Parchert asked why they were doing that in court, the volunteers said Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers were outside the door, waiting to take the man into custody, so this was their only chance to help him get his things in order. '#ICE is in the waiting room?' the judge asked.
"As the #MassDeportation campaign of President Donald #Trump focuses on cities and states led by Democrats and unleashes fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants, their legal defenders sued this week, seeking class-action protections against the arrests outside immigration court hearings. Meanwhile, these volunteers are taking action.
"A diverse group — #FaithLeaders, #CollegeStudents, #grandmothers, #retired #lawyers and #professors — has been showing up at immigration courts across the nation to escort immigrants at risk of being detained for deportation by masked ICE officials. They’re giving families moral and logistical support, and bearing witness as the people are taken away.
"The #NorthwestImmigrantRightsProject was inundated by so many community members wanting to help that they made a volunteer training video, created '#KnowYourRights' sheets in several languages and started a Google sheet where people sign up for shifts, said Stephanie Gai, a staff attorney with the Seattle-based legal services non-profit.
" 'We could not do it without them,' Gai said. 'Some volunteers request time off work so they can come in and help.'
"Robby Rohr, a retired non-profit director said she volunteers regularly.
" 'Being here makes people feel they are remembered and recognized,' she said 'It’s such a bureaucratic and confusing process. We try to help them through it.' "
Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-court-arrests-ice-bd145fae56c0d493ba52418cc66ef3b7
FMI about #NWIPR:
https://www.nwirp.org/
#ResistICE #USPol #BuildingCommunity #NoHumanIsIllegal #WeKeepOurselvesSafe #WeKeepEachOtherSafe
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