Community members, elected officials, and clergy gathered at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Feb. 19 for a conversation with Minerva Perez, executive director of Organizacion Latino-America (OLA) of Eastern Long Island, on how to approach changing federal immigration policy.
“We have concern for the impact of policy changes on all of our brothers and sisters who live in the community,” the Rev. Dr. Cecily Broderick Guerra of Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor said. Members of the Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton Clergy Association organized the meeting, which grew to include clergy in East Hampton as well.
“The meeting began with a reminder of how beautiful, special, and safe our community is, and how all the people who packed Hoie Hall — village and town leadership, law enforcement, schools, clergy, new and long-term residents and others — are committed to work together to make sure it stays that way for all,” the Rev. Ben Shambaugh of St. Luke’s wrote after the meeting in his weekly email to his congregation.
In the crowd were elected officials including East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers, East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, East Hampton Village Trustee Sandra Melendez, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo, and Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker.
Ms. Perez described having “robust” dialogues with many of them and encouraged more of these discussions to clarify the positions and missions of institutions across the East End.
“There’s no statement that the village is ever going to put out, or the town is ever going to put out that is ever going to address the deep concerns of the everyday folks that are living here,” Ms. Perez said. At the same time, local officials have been supportive of the concerns immigrants in the community are grappling with and have underscored the message that all of them should feel safe calling the police or an ambulance in times of need. School officials have tried to calm parents and students worried about the specter of deportation.
“But what we want to make sure of,” Ms. Perez said, “is on the other side of those statements, there are policies.”
Ms. Perez took questions as well, most of which were submitted anonymously on pieces of paper. Many of them had to do with local schools. One thing she said she is focused on is eliminating public directories that might include parents’ names, addresses, and, in some cases, countries of origin. That information could still be held by the school, but limiting access to it outside of school would add an extra layer of safety, she said, for families who feel vulnerable.
“Don’t make it that easy,” she said, “and if ICE wants that information, they’re going to have to have a judicial warrant for a specific person.” Ms. Perez talked about families developing emergency plans in case children are left with no one to care for them.
“Imagine doing this while walking on eggshells, knowing that — regardless of status – the smallest of infractions could be used as proof of ‘criminality’ and thereby begin a deportation process,” Mr. Shambaugh wrote in his emailed recap of the meeting. “Imagine having to think twice about going to work, to English classes, to church, or other public activities that might put you at risk, even if you have been here legally for decades.” Half of the students in Suffolk’s public schools are Latino, he said, and in East Hampton, that number is even higher. “The idea that every single one of those students is part of a family which is thinking about their emergency plan brings this crisis home in a real way.”
At the meeting, Ms. Perez stressed the need for people in the community to rely on one another and not succumb to pressure or fears. Instead of self-separating into different communities, now is one of those times to rely on each other, she said.
“There’s one community,” Ms. Perez said, “and it’s made up of many different people. We have Latino community members, we’ve got elder members, we’ve got African-Americans, Shinnecock, White, seasonal, long-term, year-round. We’ve got a million different ways of looking at our community but it is one community.”
“So what can we do?” Mr. Shambaugh asked in his weekly email. “We can continue what we did this week, gathering together, building relationships, and supporting one another. We can check in with our Latino neighbors, listen to their stories, and respond to their needs. We can quash rumors, learn the law, and make sure it is followed. . . . Minerva was clear. No one is looking to sleep in church basements or looking for handouts. They are looking for church people willing to practice their faith.”
With Reporting by Carissa Katz
