Who We Are
The Immigration Action Coalition (IAC) was formed in 2014 in response to the 150th Anniversary Service, “Welcoming the Stranger.”
We meet via Zoom on the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 -11:30am. Email IACFacilitators@uuaa.org for more information or to request the zoom link for our next meeting.
Purpose
We the members of the Immigration Action Coalition covenant to work together to educate ourselves and others about immigration issues; to advocate for immigration policy reform; and to act in support of justice for our immigrant community. We pledge our energies and our resources to creating a world where the inherent worth and dignity of every person, regardless of immigration status, is respected and all are welcomed. We will follow the lead of the immigrant community in prioritizing actions and will collaborate with other community organizations working for immigration rights.
Covenant
In carrying out the work of the Immigration Action Coalition we agree to respect each other and to listen when others speak. We acknowledge that although mistakes will be made, our joint intentions are good. We agree to hold sensitive information, both personal and case-related, in
confidence among us. We agree to express our discomforts and disagreements promptly and thoughtfully, and we will support, inform, and guide each other with kindness and love.
Since 2014, the Immigration Action Coalition has been advocating, locally and nationally, for immigration reform. We also support our local immigrant community with direct actions including financial assistance, demonstration participation and volunteering/participating in various organizations including Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights, Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary, Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice, Cosecha, and the Washtenaw ID Project.
The Immigration Action Coalition partners with organizations already working in our community such as the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR), Casa Latina, and the Washtenaw ID Project. If you are interested in joining us, please send your name and contact information to iacfacilitators@uuaa.org.
Washtenaw County Sanctuary
Nov 4, 2018 University of Michigan Employee Enters Sanctuary at Ann Arbor Friends Center
Mohamed Soumah, a custodian at the University of Michigan, took sanctuary at the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House in November, 2018. He is afraid that if he is deported back to West Africa he will die of the kidney disease that forces him to get regular dialysis treatments. The dialysis treatments in Guinea are expensive and unreliable. Soumah came to the U.S. in 2003, married a U.S. citizen and has two sons, ages 11 and 10. Since divorcing, he’s had to get a yearly work visa, and for seven years, it had been approved until now. He was to be deported back to Guinea-Conakry in West Africa on Oct. 19, but he ended up in the hospital. His social worker called the Washtenaw County Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the Quakers offered him sanctuary. Soumah’s recent appeal for a stay of removal was denied by ICE. He’s asking for another but hasn’t heard anything. Until he does, the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House will be his home.
For more information on how you could be of help follow this link to the web site for the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice.
Or you can read the coverage by Michigan Radio with this link.
February 14, 2018 Press Conference
The Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary campaign held a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 14, to announce the most recent commitments from congregations supporting the sanctuary movement. The conference was held at UUAA and included statements from area ministers about their commitment to sanctuary. Links to press coverage are included below.
Read the coverage on MLive.com
Coverage by WDIV – ClickonDetroit (Story is at about minute 26:00)
Our Path to Becoming a Sanctuary Congregation
On Sunday, October 22, 2017, our congregation voted to become a level 1 hosting sanctuary congregation, volunteering to shelter immigrants who receive deportation orders but need more time to get their status re-evaluated. The IAC worked with many other groups to plan for this program that puts our values in action.
The resolution reads:
We, the members of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, believing in the worth and dignity of every person and the importance of compassion in human interactions, do hereby resolve to become a Sanctuary Congregation.
We are ready and willing to physically host an individual or family in imminent danger of unjust detainment and deportation until their legal options are carried out.
We will not do this work alone. We will join congregations across the country that have declared themselves Sanctuary Congregations, and will work with local congregations through Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary to support, advocate for, and contribute to the safety and well-being of individuals or families in Washtenaw County who are invited into sanctuary.
(The resolution passed by 98% of the members who attended the October 22, 2017 Special Congregational Meeting.)