Greetings and good day!
We need you! When you befriend one person, that person’s life will be changed. And so will yours.
We are Conversations with Friends (CWF). We’ve been pen pals and visitors with people jailed by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Minnesota since March 2011. Our mission is to offer friendship, fraternity and solidarity as we support, encourage, listen to, affirm and advocate for those jailed by ICE. Through our peaceful, compassionate presence, they know that people in the community truly care, that they are not alone and that we agree that the U.S. immigration system of detention and deportation is unjust and inhumane, often resulting in family separation.
We warmly and enthusiastically invite you to attend our upcoming training session, our first in three years:
– Saturday, June 10th, 9 am – 1 pm, in English, via Zoom, with multiple presenters (info about immigration law; profiles/stories/audios of people with whom we have written and visited); “active-listening” sessions; multiple breaks; Q&A; and more.
This training will be in English and at this time we are seeking bilingual (Spanish/English, Arabic/English, 22 years old and older) volunteers.
Note that on May 15th there were 146 people jailed by ICE in Minnesota (Freeborn, Kandiyohi and Sherburne counties) versus 115 on March 15th. The great majority are Spanish speakers from Mexico or Central America. Others are from South America, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Laos, Liberia, India, Somalia, and other countries.
After attending, you’ll be ready to begin writing to people who are facing likely deportation and family separation. Trained volunteers may also consider joining our CWF group visit teams that visit in-person at the Freeborn County Adult Detention Center in Albert Lea.
To register for our training, please email us at CWFconversationswithfriends@gmail.com and provide:
a) Your full name, address and cell phone number
b) Your ethnicity (e.g. Hispanic/Latino, Black, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, White/Caucasian)
c) Languages spoken
Thank you for considering joining us!
Sincerely,
Steve
Steve Kraemer, Exec. Director
CWF 