Reflections on my first year

August marked the one-year anniversary of my assuming the Executive Director role at ICS. I am the first ethnic minority, and, coming from a generational immigrant Mexican family and generational poverty, the first person with lived experience to lead this 40-year nonprofit. This seems particularly noteworthy to me given the political moment we find ourselves in, grappling with the triple crises of systemic racism and racial violence; the pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted immigrants and communities of color; and devastating wildfires as a result of climate change, which have dislocated thousands of migrant workers.Assuming the executive role at an underfunded nonprofit immigration law firm at a time when immigrant rights are under daily attack has been a sizable challenge. But the real heavy lift has been ensuring continuous operations during the pandemic and constant pivots as new data emerged about the disproportionate health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis on immigrant communities. I’m proud of what my team, with the support of our talented board and our dedicated community of supporters, has been able to accomplish. Together, we:

• Continued our commitment to securing justice for rural immigrants by maintaining our fully staffed office in Hood River and our twice monthly mobile legal clinic in Redmond.
• We launched a second mobile legal clinic in Albany in January.
• When the COVID-19 health crisis kept people inside, we moved our services to virtual platforms and created FAQs to help our clients navigate resources for testing and health care, as well as understanding their eligibility for CARES Act relief.
• In advance of the SCOTUS decision on the status of DACA, we offered our first-ever free DACA clinic to help 100 local DACAistas renew their status.
• We launched the Immigrant Legal Relief Fund to help clients pay for rising filing fees as a result of policy changes. To date, we have provided $18,000 to help our clients with immigration filing fees. We’re still raising funds, so please consider making a gift today.
• We teamed up with other nonprofit providers of immigration legal services to advocate for resources in the state’s revised biennium budget to be directed to undocumented immigrants and immigrants from mixed status families who aren’t eligible for relief under the CARES Act.
• We are set to publish the Rural Immigrant Justice Needs Assessment, the first report of its kind, which will inform policy makers, advocates, community members, and funders about the status of immigrants throughout our state.
• We helped organize other Latino leaders across the state to form the Oregon Latinx Leadership Network (OLLN) to amplify the voices of Latinos around policy-making tables and held our first Town Hall on August 19th on Immigrant Rights & Legal Support, with representatives from ICS, SOAR, Catholic Charities, Latino Community Association (Bend), PCC DREAMers Resource Center, and Lexterra Strategies. You can learn more about OLLN members and our Call to Action here.

Over the past 12 months I’ve come to recognize that a “scarcity culture” exists within the public interest immigration law space and the immigrant communities we serve. This culture is derived from a scarcity of resources, attention, and leadership to adequately address the needs of a community that is continuously under attack and forced to live in fear, in the shadows of our society. I believe that now is our moment. Now is the time to address this scarcity and build stronger, more inclusive communities that lift everyone up and recognize the unique contributions of our immigrant neighbors. I am fired up and ready to help lead that charge. I hope you will join me.Mil gracias,Frank GarciaExecutive Director