I've done some more postcarding this week, this time sending postcards to North Carolina encouraging people to vote for Democrats. I have been writing so many postcards I've developed a callus on the side of my thumb from gripping the pen! I have requested a bundle of 100 postcards from the one group I write for that provides postcards. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be getting them but I think it should be fairly soon because they need to be sent out by April 2. I'm not sure if I'll do any other small batches before I get that one. There's lots of campaigns that are starting up or about to. One thing that keeps me in check as far as how many postcards I write is that none of the groups provide postage. Currently it costs 61 cents per postcard and that adds up!

My local Indivisible group is starting up monthly meetings. They had the first one this past week and I attended. It was a nice gathering, about 35-40 people were there. They talked a little about the group, what kinds of events they are doing (visibility brigades - people holding signs on freeway bridges) and what they have planned in the future (there's another nationwide NO KINGS protest planned for March 28). The visibility brigade is once a week, in the mornings, and I think I'd like to try that out.

A couple weeks ago I attended a training put on by a group that works closely with immigrants going to the courts for either court dates or to the ICE office for required check-ins. I signed up to be a court observer and had my first shift last week. The purpose of being an observer is to take notes on the proceedings - how the judges and attorneys act and what kinds of things go on. They have a specific form for you to use for your observation notes. It gives the group a better idea of what is going on with the courts (the group runs legal clinics and I think this information is helpful in knowing what they need for those clinics) and also lets DHS know that they are being watched.

As observers, we can't do much. Prior to court starting, when we are waiting to be let in the courtroom, our lead would approach people as they got off the elevators and ask them (in Spanish although immigrants come from all over and one person spoke French instead) if they were there for court today. If they said yes, then she would give them a red card and explain that everyone in this country, regardless of status, has rights. The cards we were handing out also have a local hotline number people can call in case they witness ICE activity.

Once we were in court, we sat in the back and took notes as best as we could. The judge we got that day was apparently known for practically whispering so it was hard to hear the information I needed to write down. The first few people called up had a lawyer with them who had just taken on the case, so more time was requested to review paperwork. These people were usually given return court dates about 2 months out. Other than those few who had lawyers, the rest were pro se, which means they were representing themselves. Several mentioned they weren't able to afford a lawyer because they weren't working and wanted more time to try and find one. A lawyer isn't required but if I was in the situation I would want a professional to help me out. A few people had everything in order and the date for their final asylum hearings were set for 2 years from now - yes, in 2028. There was a lawyer representing DHS but he didn't have a big part in these proceedings. A couple of times the judge would ask what DHS's stance was when more time was requested and it was always NOT in favor of more time but the judge always gave some more time, if not 2 months then at least another month. There were some single people but there were several families, too.

One thing that I found so troubling and unfair was this: if you have an asylum case pending then the judge will ask you, if asylum is NOT granted, what country do you want to be deported to? Well, most people are only familiar with where they came from and here. And people, thinking they have an A or B choice, will often say to deport back to their home country. But then when the court hears their asylum case, it will use this "request" to prove that asylum is not warranted because clearly they have no fear of returning to their country if they asked to be deported there.

But what no one bothers to tell the immigrants is that they have the right to refuse to declare a country to be deported to, in which case DHS will automatically assign the home country. However, DHS declaring the home country doesn't lead to an automatic denial in the asylum hearing. And, unless you have an attorney to guide you through the process or somehow pick up on this knowledge, you just don't know about this. The judge does not help you at all - like they don't NOT help you but they don't explain this, either. It's just not right!

There were a couple times where our lead for the day slipped out after a case had been heard to let the person know about the legal clinic the group runs so I hope at least a couple people were able to get some assistance with their case. I was hoping to sign up for another court session this week but it's a short week due to the holiday on Monday and also the group has a lot of volunteers so trying to get a spot is almost like buying tickets for a hot concert. They go quick! I'll try again next week, though. It just means I have some time to figure out how I'm going to explain red cards in Spanish. I do speak a little bit of Spanish but most of it is specific to my hospital work.

Listening

I found this beatboxing version of Black Betty I think from Memo of the Air. It's not full length - I wish it was!- but it's pretty cool.

Reading

I'm still reading Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell. I'm about half way through the book and Britain has just declared war on Germany. Winston had been warning the country about Hitler for years but no one would listen to him. Winston and Clementine were really a team effort, all through his career but especially when he became Prime Minister. They were both kind of broken people and if she hadn't influenced his actions I think everyone would have been worse off. It's taking me a while to get through this book - it's a little bit long, at about 460 pages. And I've been choosing to do my reading at night in bed, which means I often fall asleep in the middle of a chapter. It's due back at the library in 4 days, though, so I'd better get a move on with it!

Watching

I doled out another episode of Royal Flying Doctor Service and, as much as I love the show, I feel like it's getting kind of soap opera-y. It might not be so tragic for me when this season ends!

I have been watching more Olympic ice skating clips. Rusty-Bytes commented on my last blog post about the ice dancers Chock and Bates so I looked up their routines and wow, they are fantastic! And, oh my gosh, poor Ilia Malinin! He was expected to win the gold but he had one of the worst Olympic routines I've ever seen and ended up coming in 8th place. He fell twice and popped a lot of his jumps and the look on his poor face at the end was just so sad. I mean he was professional and bowed to the crowd but he looked like he was about to melt down. Mad props to the gold medal winner, Shaidorov from Kazakhstan. Lovely routine, used a song performed by a Kazakh singer and got Kazakhstan its first gold medal in 30 years!

That's it for this week!

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