What's at stake?
Amid a relentless federal immigration crackdown, Fresno residents help the deaf and hard of hearing prepare to protect themselves.
For Maria Rubio, the thought of encountering an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is a concern she shares as a community member, but as a mother, her fear lies in what would happen if her deaf son encountered an ICE agent.
On Friday, Rubio attended a workshop specifically tailored for deaf and hard of hearing community members along with her son, Josue Fernandez. There, they were given advice on what to do when encountering ICE and to learn about the resources available for immigrants and citizens detained by ICE.
While the immigration workshop provided Rubio with answers to her questions about encountering an agent, her primary motivation for attending was to provide those answers to her son as well.
“It’s very, very difficult sometimes to have educational presentations that also educate deaf people,” Rubio said. “It makes me feel good knowing he knows his rights as a human being as it relates to everything going on and in case we are ever detained.”
The event was organized by Poder Latinx, The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center along with support from state Sen. Anna M. Caballero.
The immigration workshop went over how to discern unmarked ICE vehicles, what to do or say if detained by an agent, how to find legal services, and the rights people have — such as asking for a qualified interpreter.
However, to Norberto González, the state program director for Poder Latinx, the workshop was an eye-opener into the additional challenges that people with disabilities can face when approached by an ICE agent.
At one point, an audience member asked how they should communicate to an agent that they have a disability in the first place. González realized then the need for cards communicating a person’s disability, similar to red cards listing personal rights.
“I can say ‘I’m going to assert my rights,’ but some may not be able to, so what do you do?” González said in an interview, adding “this style of training was so important because we don’t know what we don’t know.”
González also explained that there is a need to educate other underrepresented communities about their rights. He also stressed that though times are uncertain, the community is here to help.
“I can feel the community’s anxiousness [and] the fear; we feel it too, but I want to remind [the community] that they have friends, they have family, they have organizations like us, CHIRLA, SIREN, CVIIC, and CIPC that are here to try to support and build something.”
For Fernandez, his primary concern is being able to distinguish between law enforcement and ICE agents.
“I don’t want people to be taken, I just want to remain safe and I just want to be able to take care of my family;” Fernandez said in an interview, adding “this is not an easy situation.”
Fernandez also expressed concern over ICE agents refusing to identify themselves, but said that the workshop helped him understand that he, too, can remain silent.
