Ending Exploitation of Immigrants in Maywood In 2003, One LA - IAF member congregation St. Rose of Lima in Maywood began a series of house meetings where congregants shared stories describing the effects of the city's weekly checkpoints, which stopped every car that passed through the city's main thoroughfare. Every driver was asked to show a driver's license and drivers who did not have a license had their cars towed. While the checkpoints were ostensibly intended to target drunk drivers, St. Rose of Lima leaders discovered that more than 90 percent of impounds were for lack of a license - and the vast majority of those drivers were undocumented immigrants ineligible for a license.
Towed cars were held for a mandatory thirty days and the tow yard in Maywood charged $30 a day, making the final fee for retrieving one's car around $1,200 (the daily impound cost plus the ticket and release fees). Most immigrant families in the Southeast region could not pay this cost and simply lost their cars when they were impounded. In the summer of 2003, St. Rose of Lima hosted a regional action where more than 1,000 community members came together to demand from the mayor of Maywood an end to the checkpoints. The mayor agreed to a moratorium on the checkpoints and the following day cars were released from the tow yard. There has not been another checkpoint since in the city.
The towing continued, however, as police staked out workplaces where they expected immigrants to be working and stopped people for minor infractions (cracked tail lights, rosaries hanging from the mirrors, etc.). After city officials refused to meet with One LA - IAF leaders to address the issue, more than 100 congregants each took responsibility for identifying 10 registered voters and talking with them about this issue. In the election of November 2005, turnout doubled from the previous city council election and a new council was elected. In the first months of the new council's term, thirty-day holds in the city were ended, the traffic division of the police department was dismantled and the city was declared a "sanctuary" for immigrants from around the county.
For press on One LA - IAF's work in Maywood, click here.
Working for Statewide Protections for Immigrants: The work in Maywood inspired the Pomona Cluster of One LA - IAF to address the checkpoints that plagued their city as well. They worked with the Pomona Police department to begin a pilot program where the cars of drivers who had no license were held for only one day. This new policy replaced 30-day holds for drivers who didn't have a driver's license. Pomona's rates of collisions and traffic violations, as tracked by the city, continued to decrease after implementation of the policy. These results led the Pomona cluster and other One LA - IAF institutions and leaders to work to pass SB 626, proposed by Nell Soto in the 2006 legislative year, which would have changed state law to limit the holding of cars held for driving without a license to one day. The bill did not pass in the state assembly, but One LA - IAF leaders are considering a renewed attempt to address the issue in the coming year.
For press on the work to limit impound time in Pomona, click here.
The Zocalo Project: Easing Access to Consulate Resources throughout LA County. The Zocalo Project, named after the Spanish word for "city square," focuses on immigrants of Mexican origin who are the largest and fastest growing immigrant group in the region and are least able to legalize their status. The Zocalo Project is a strategy for "Mobile Matricula" events in which the Mexican Consulate brings their Matricula Consular ID processing to the community, conducting day-long processing events at local churches and schools affiliated with One LA-IAF. Since its inception in 2005, the Zocalo Project has conducted 22 events through which more than 7600 immigrants have received Matricula Consular IDs, enabling them to open bank accounts, apply for mortgages and finance their children's educations.
For press on the Zocalo Project, click here.