On Monday February 10, I went with a group of 5 people to make a visit to Rep. McCaul's office. Many congregants from CBI and the other synagogues in Austin live in his district. This visit was organized by Bethany Carson from Grassroots Leadership. The objective was to let McCaul know that our community is against the renewal of the 10 year contracts for Texas Detention Centers. With the deadline for Hutto coming up in about a week's time, each person present spoke to McCauls assistant to try to relay the urgency of taking up a position against the private Detention Center corporate spread, which is inhumane, bypasses congresses budgets, and is against the will of the constituents in their communities. The ideas that were spoken about are relayed below. There was another Jewish man present in this meeting besides myself. We both made reference to how the Reform Jewish community in Austin feels strongly against acts that defy humans rights to asylum in this country, and to be more compassionate to those seeking refuge in America when their lives are at risk. The assistant, being merely a messenger to a very conservative republican rep, listened to our arguments, but barely made any notes in his notebook. One of the times I saw him jot down a note was when I mentioned that there is a structure outside of detention centers meant to house those few asylum seekers that already don't have a family network to house them while they await for their trial, and that network lies within the non-profits. Ironically, those shelters all have empty beds, since everyone is detained. The assistant remained quiet stoic as to not reveal a political position, but it was our feeling when we left that it is quite likely that the messages would not be properly conveyed to his boss. This particular district (R-TX 10th) is one of those gerrymandered ones that includes many democrats but votes republican. It was my first experience visiting representatives' offices, and was an important step in understanding the different approaches to putting pressure on government officials at a grassroots level. Values Communities not cages Detention is inhumane Congress must protect the public from ICE Texas is not a laboratory for ICE’s experiments Directly impacted people front and center Key Messages
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AuthorDaniela Weil is a kids' writer/illustrator who lives in Austin, and a member of Congregation Beth Israel. Daniela works as a volunteer there and for RAC-Tx. Archives
February 2020
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