By Donald Gilpin

Against a national backdrop of continuing conflict over immigration laws and practices and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a group of about 70 business owners, academics, and other residents met last Wednesday at the Nassau Street Presbyterian Church to hear from an array of speakers and express their support for the immigrant community.

At the second annual “stakeholders” meeting, sponsored by the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) and the Princeton University Center for Migration and Development (CMD), featured speakers included LALDEF leaders; two students, one a Princeton University senior who is a DACA recipient, partnering with Princeton University and Microsoft in a national lawsuit, the other a Princeton Day School junior participant in LALDEF’s FUTURO program for first and second generation immigrant students; and two experts on immigration, Princeton University Professor Rosina Lozano and CUNY Professor Alberto Vourvoulias, former deputy editor of Time magazine’s Latin America edition.

Setting the tone “with a deep sense of urgency” in her invitation to the meeting, LALDEF Board Chair Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, a Princeton University sociology professor, noted that “demand for LALDEF’s expertise has spiked” in the last three months, “in the wake of raids and arrests in several states, including our own.”

Fernandez-Kelly continued, “we have witnessed escalating anxiety among families lacking legal standing,” and added that LALDEF’s office space and staff have been overwhelmed. “To meet this dramatic new set of needs, LALDEF is reaching out to community partners committed to basic human dignity as well as the constitutional rights of our immigrant neighbors,” she said.

Fernandez-Kelly described the troubled climate that has recently prevailed. “Immigrants and refugees were the center of last year’s presidential campaign and Donald J. Trump’s administration is now delivering on promises made by targeting undocumented Americans for harsh treatment,” she said. “This new climate of terror and distrust is dividing families; creating unnecessary suffering; and dishonoring American traditions of justice, compassion, and fair play.”

“Very few times in our history have the circumstances for immigrants been as harsh as they are today,” she continued. “We’re making a statement about reversing that perilous trend. For 14 years LALDEF has fought relentlessly on behalf of hospitality, decency, and justice.”

Varvoulias, a journalist and academic who has also served as the executive editor of EL Diario/La Prensa, the country’s oldest Spanish-language newspaper, told the story of his involvement, as the grandson of a refugee, in speaking out for the rights of immigrants. Varvoulias’ grandfather fled from Anatolia early in the 20th century to Latin America, then to the United States after the Turkish Revolution.

“My grandfather was the rock my family was saved on,” Varvoulias said. “I was much more fortunate. I lived in very easy times.”

More recently, Vourvoulias was working in Italy observing tens of thousands of immigrants “washing ashore.” He observed how xenophobic elements in Italy reacted and he understood the importance of “people before policy issues. These were human beings. We were helping human beings These weren’t policy issues. We are the offspring of refugees.”

He went on to explain how his children at Princeton High School urged him to support LALDEF. “Global issues are also local issues. We knew people who were suffering from problems, basic human rights issues: access to health services, education, and legal representation.”

LALDEF Executive Director Adriana Abizadeh described many “sleepless nights, emergency calls at all hours when our neighbors were being raided, and many long hours at the office to ensure that every client was served,” and she presented LALDEF’s ambitious plans for the year ahead, including a new home and further expansion of their programs. “At LALDEF we don’t save the day. We find a way,” she said.

Abizadeh pointed out many successes achieved by LALDEF this year, with demand growing rapidly — about 3,000 clients last year and anticipation of about 4,000 this year, as well as the growing FUTURO program to support immigrant students in transition from high school to college, passage of a bill to provide state tuition assistance for undocumented students, a big push to make New Jersey the 13th state to expand driver’s licenses to undocumented residents, and training for Solidaridad Princeton!, a rapid-response network to support immigrants in need.

LALDEF will stay in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, but next month will be moving its headquarters to a much larger building, Abizadeh reported. The historic building they have acquired was once a social club for immigrants, and it contains an additional 4,500 square feet of space and the capacity to greatly increase the number of people served by LALDEF’s programs.