Pangea staff and volunteers regularly organize and collaborate with partners to participate in know-your-rights workshops and immigration clinics providing educational programs and consultations to immigrant communities.
Pangea also strives to build a community-based deportation defense model that does more than provide high-quality representation. We try to empower our clients to become agents of change in their community by connecting them with local grassroots groups and giving them opportunities to share their stories with the public, media, and elected officials.
Take, for example, the case of Ernesto. Ernesto was in immigration detention for about 6 months. Pangea connected Ernesto’s family with community leaders; we circulated a petition and gathered 750 signatures calling for Ernesto’s release; Ernesto’s family met with a local senator to share how family separation had placed them on the brink of homelessness; and the community participated in a public rally in front of ICE to demand Ernesto’s liberation from detention.
In part due to these efforts, Ernesto was released from detention and reunited with his wife, children, and newborn granddaughter just in time for Christmas. And in the process, Ernesto and his family were transformed into community leaders. Ernesto is now a regular at community events and has become a source of strength for other families experiencing separation and detention.
Pangea attorneys and volunteers providing know your rights education with Univision 14 (2015)
Ernesto on the left with attorney Luis Angel speaking at media action to educate community members about ICE raids (Jan. 2016).