Be prepared, know your rights

Counselor educates campus about immigration laws

ANNA CLARK Features Editor @AnnaClarkReport

The Los Angeles Community College District has partnered with the Dolores Huerta Institute to bring a series of events to three campuses, which cover how undocumented students can prepare in cases of deportation.

The Family Preparedness and Know Your Rights Clinic was held on Monday at 2 p.m. in Pierce College’s Great Hall. The event’s key speaker was Liz Gonzalez a Staff Attorney at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, Calif. Gonzalez spoke primarily on legal guardianship in the case of a parent being taken away.

College in Woodland Hills, Calif.

“Legal guardianship is not just for children whose parents have been deported,” Gonzalez said. “It’s for everyone.”

To prepare for a situation in which a parent is separated from their child, Gonzalez said that families should create a ‘Family Preparedness Packet’ for each child which includes birth certificates, passports, social security cards, insurance, and other legal documents.

“You can’t be too busy for this stuff anymore,” Gonzalez said.

According to Gonzalez, the difficult part of preparing for immigration raids is becoming emotionally and mentally ready.

"Children pick up on the anxiety of their parents, so the more prepared you are the less anxious you will be of the unknown," Gonzalez said. “Staying calm, trying to live your life as normally as you possibly can is important and it also maintains stability in the home with the children. We want the child to not grow with that anxiety and that fear of leaving the home, or their parents going to work. It is important for everyone to live a most normal life as possible."

Gonzalez said that people at risk of being deported should have an open communication with not only a lawyer, but close family and friends.

"If you are picked up by ICE, you are going to want to have one to call,” Gonzalez said. “Now is the time to search for that individual that can help you. Besides that, getting the community involved. The more people who know that you are at risk of being deported, the less likely it is that you are going to feel alone in the situation.”

According to Director Jennifer Galvez of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute, if people understand their rights, they can fight for them and are not afraid of them.

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