Immigrants at Risk — What You Can Do forum addressed local immigration concerns
By GIA LOOMIS — city@theaggie.org
On Feb. 24, Congregation Bet Haverim (CBH) hosted the Immigrants at Risk — What You Can Do forum to educate attendees on current immigration enforcement and how it may affect the Davis community. Taking place from 7 to 8:30 p.m., the forum was free and open to the public at the church. For these forums, attendees are asked to register in advance and, while free to the public, donations are encouraged.
Organized by the CBH Social Justice Committee in collaboration with the Yolo Interfaith Immigration Network (YIIN), the event strived to share information about current immigration enforcement given the rise and anxiety surrounding mass deportation efforts. In addition, the forum sought to inform individuals on how these enforcements are impacting local immigrants and what the community can do to help.
This forum was planned following the Social Justice Committee’s decision to make immigration their sole issue focus of 2025. Member of the committee and Co-Chair of YIIN John Katonah explained the inspiration behind this decision and the following forum.
“Our goal was to generate interest within the congregation (youth and adults) and invite them to become engaged in this [immigration] issue within Yolo County,” Katonah said. “I was asked to form a program that would bring in panelists who were very involved in working with immigrants to help the congregation begin to find ways to be of support to them during this very frightening time for the undocumented people in our midst.”
To highlight local immigrants’ experiences, the forum included a multi-speaker panel including local immigrants and the director of a local refugee center. The discussion housed by this forum aims to push the community to better understand the situation created by recent changes in immigration policies and show attendees how to help respond to this developing situation.
Speakers on this panel included Ignacio Alarcon, a previous employee of UC Davis AB540 and Undocumented Student Resource Center, Ximena Diez-Jackson, the Davis Joint Unified School District’s coordinator of language justice and family partnership, Dr. Natalia Deeb-Sossa, a UC Davis professor of Chicana/o/x Studies, and Usama Khalil, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Refugee Enrichment and Development Association.
The speakers addressed various issues with immigration enforcement, focusing especially on the legal landscape that undocumented immigrants are currently faced with. Additionally, the panel presented several immigrant women who spoke on their fears surrounding immigration enforcement and what others can do to help.
By presenting a variety of speakers, CBH aimed to show the public the first-hand experience and fear that immigrants are experiencing today. Katonah emphasized this by explaining the program’s hopes and intended impact.
“This program’s goal was to bring a deeper awareness of the conditions undocumented folks face now,” Katonah said. “Leading to ideas for action by the dominant white community who are privileged and therefore have power to make a difference.”
While CBH has hosted social justice-based events in the past, this immigration forum varied from similar events. This is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that CBH has partnered with and included other groups outside of the congregation, like the YIIN.
Comparatively, CBH’s recent events concerning social justice were more focused on engagement within the church. On Feb. 21, the church held Repro Shabbat with CBH Partner Lauren Salmo. At this event, they discussed reproductive health, rights and justice, stating their belief that reproductive freedom is a Jewish value. This event takes place annually on Shabbat as they read Parshat Mishpatim, which has verses often referred to when discussing the value of reproductive rights, according to the CBH website.
Katonah expressed the significance of this event, with over 150 people attending, as it enforced the severity of these growing immigration issues and helped raise donations for important immigration-focused organizations, to name a few.
“Just being together in unison for wishing to address the immigration issue as experienced in everyday lives brought a sign of hope,” Katonah said. “It was impressed on attendees that the issues mentioned are serious, causing families to fear becoming separated by deportations, losing jobs and income of family members who are forced to leave this country.”
While another immigration forum is not currently planned, check out Congregation Bet Haverim’s website and calendar for more information and updates on future events.
Written By: Gia Loomis — city@theaggie.org
