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​International Institute of Minnesota

Many thanks to Jane Graupman, Executive Director of the International Institute of MN for talking to us about the status of refugees and immigrants.  She has provided us a summary.

Attached please find:  Timeline and Talking Points for advocacy from International Institute

To contact Jane, 651-377-8651, jgraupman@iimn.org

Roseville Area School District

Thank you to Lourdes (Luli) Flores Hanson, Multilingual/DLI (Dual Language Immersion) Program Administrator for the Roseville Area School District for sharing detailed information about the district policies.

Attached please find:  Roseville Area School District - Resources to learn about and support MLL and immigrant children, youth, families and staff

To contact Luli, 651-434-8109, LOURDES.FLORES-HANSON@isd623.org

To contact Dr. Jenny Loeck, Superintendent of Schools,  651-628-6452, jenny.loeck@isd623.org

City of Roseville

Thank you to Tom Pitzl, Community Relations Specialist and Deputy Chief Joe Adams from the Roseville Police Department for sharing information on policies of the City of Roseville from the City Council and Roseville Police Department

Roseville City Council

Attached please find:  City Council Resolution Regarding Immigration Enforcement

Consider contacting the City Council before anything happens in our community to let them know you want them to continue to support immigrants and refugees in our community.  Here are links:

https://cityofroseville.com/56/Members

https://www.cityofroseville.com/FormCenter/Administration-5/Contact-City-Council-52

Roseville Police Department

Attached please find:  Immigration Matters document that they shared at the meeting.

Same as City Council,  consider reaching out to Police Department before anything happens in our community to let them know you want them to continue to support immigrants and refugees in our community.  Here is their contact information:

Chief of Police Erika Scheider, erika.scheider@cityofroseville.com

Deputy Police Chief Joe Adams, joe.adams@cityofroseville.com (Joe was at the meeting with Tom Pitzl

Tom Pitzl, Community Relations Specialist, 651.792.7288, tom.pitzl@cityofroseville.com

Karen Organization of MN

We were fortunate to have Alice Buckner from Karen Organization of MN (KOM) join us at the end of the meeting.  KOM has a mission similar to the International Institute, and they support immigrants and refugees from around the world, not just Myanmar.

Contact:  Alice Buckner, abuckner@mnkaren.org

Yard Signs “United with Our Neighbors”

Luli had shared with Roseville Lutheran Church that in these scary times, it is comforting to immigrants and refugees to see signs of support around the City. 

For that reason, Jill Lund and Assoc Pastor Marty Wyatt created a sign which says

“United with Our Neighbors” in English and the top five home languages of RAS students:  Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Karen and Nepali.

 

Roseville Lutheran purchased 100 of the signs from Raiders Graphics at Roseville Area High School.  They are giving them to their congregation for free, but suggesting a donation, that they are giving to Roseville Schools to support families in need.

Do Good Roseville is also going to take orders for signs.  Signs will cost $12.00, but we hope people will donate over that amount.  We will give any profits to Roseville Schools too.  You can order DGR signs at:  https://forms.gle/yhJAgwaF1MMdxJEc6

If you’d like to order signs on our own, you can contact:

Raiders Graphics, Shamus Barrett, SHAMUS.BARRETT@isd623.org

  • Minimum order is 20 signs.  Signs come with stakes.

  • Here is the price per quantity ordered:

    • 20 QTY: $12 per piece

    • 40 QTY: $10 per piece

    • 100 QTY: $9 per piece

    • 1000 QTY: $6 per piece

 

Care Portal

We did not discuss this at the meeting, but Mark Lenz from Care Portal (https://www.careportal.org/) also attended the meeting.  CarePortal is a tool for Christian churches to be able to help neighbors in need.  The social workers at Roseville Area Schools use this tool to communicate student needs to local churches.  It is my understanding that Grace Church has used it to meet a lot of community needs.   I have attached a graphic.  If you’d like more information, here is contact information:

Mark Lenz, Mark.Lenz@careportal.org.

 

Journey to Citizenship - Insights into the Immigrant Experience

This was not part of our meeting, but recently the League of Women Voters Roseville Area hosted a program on the immigrant experience.   Here is information about that program.

You can watch the program with this link to the League of Women Voters YouTube channel

She shared interesting statistics regarding the immigrant population in Minnesota and recommended the MN Compass website for further information.

So, what did Attorney Gloria Contreras Edin recommend that we might do at present?

> Distribute Know Your Rights cards. Where to distribute? Tape them in restrooms, quietly leave in certain restaurants, take to churches, places of worship for further distribution. The LWV Roseville ordered them from Red Card Orders. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center also has documents available for download in multiple languages.

> “Take your power” and support restaurants, shops in areas with high immigrant populations.

> And perhaps, most important, a simple SMILE when you encounter someone who might be a recent immigrant. “It means so much!”

Talking Points for Advocacy for the Refugee Program and Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

  1. Refugee resettlement program started in 1980 to create a legal pathway for people fleeing war, conflict or persecution to the US to begin a new life in safety.

  • Resettlement agencies have lost millions of dollars in funding

 

  1. Refugees contribute to the economy of our state and country.

 

  1. We encourage Congress to reinstate the refugee program

  • Historically Refugee Resettlement has been a bi-partisan program

  •  

  1. We encourage the congress to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, Ukrainians and Venezuelans. It would be cruel to send people back to these countries where they fear for their lives.

Supporting messages:

  • Minnesota benefits from the contributions of refugees. This program improves the lives of refugees and provides a needed workforce to Minnesota employers and economy.

  • This decision is short-sighted and that it does not reflect the long-term contributions of these new arrivals. In fact, it hinders it. These are people who go on to care for our country’s sick and seniors, people who work on farms and in factories, people who start business that employ others. By giving people a strong start to a new life, the returns are magnified over the years. 

  • Refugees mirror the deeply held American values of hard work, family, and opportunity. We see this everyday through the commitment our clients show in attending English classes or job training programs, in addition to working full time and caring for their children and families.  

  • Welcoming refugees is not only the right thing to do, the investment is also proven to have a strong economic return.

Recap on Federal Actions on Refugee Resettlement 2025

  • January 20: Trump signs executive orders banning refugee resettlement and freezing foreign aid.

  • January 24: Stop Work Orders (SWOs) for life-saving humanitarian aid programs are sent out to nonprofits. Resettlement agencies receive SWOs affecting vital R&P services for refugees who have already arrived.

  • February 7: Executive Order stating Afrikaners victims of racial discrimination by Black-led South African government.

  • February 10: Lawsuit filed by resettlement agencies against the refugee ban and funding halt.

  • February 13: A federal judge temporarily orders an end to the foreign aid SWOs, including for R&P services to already arrived refugees.

  • February 18: USCCB files suit against the government, as the administration argues that it continues to have authority to freeze funds.

  • February 25: Ruling on Pacito v. Trump ordering the administration to reinstate refugee resettlement contracts and continue to process and resettle the more than 100,000 refugees who were conditionally approved by USCIS as of January 20th.

  • February 26: A judge sets a midnight deadline for administration to reimburse resettlement agencies, but the deadline is held up by the Supreme Court. Trump administration terminates cooperative agreements for all ten refugee resettlement agencies—attempting to end the refugee program as we know it.

  • March 5: Supreme Court Justice Roberts rules to enforce decision of lower courts—Trump administration has to promptly release funds to resettlement and aid organizations (5-4 decision).

  • April 7: A joint status report in the Pacito case is due from both plaintiffs and the Trump administration documenting compliance with the court’s orders.

  • April 20: A report on the possible resumption of the refugee program is due from the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State (it remains unclear if and when this report will be made public).

Resources

LOCAL IMMIGRATION ATTORNEYS AND OTHER

ORGANIZATIONSLIST

DELEGATION OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY FORM INFO

DOPA FORM (BILINGUAL)

MNEEP CREATING SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS FOR MLL

AND IMMIGRANT STUDENTS ~ TOOLKIT

FAMILY PREPARATION PLAN ~ENGLISH

GUIA DE PREPARACION FAMILIAR ~ ESPAñOL

FAMILY PREPAREDNESS PLAN ENGLISH W/CHECKLISTS AND

MORE DETAILS

FAMILY PREPAREDNESS PLAN W/CHECKLISTS AND MORE

DETAILS - ESPAñOL

We Have Rights/Tenemos Derechos ~ video resources in

multiple languages

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS GUIDES IN SPANISH, SOMALI, ENGLISH

IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER OF MINNESOTA

​

DELEGATION OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY FORM INFO

AFT IMMIGRATION GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER JAN 2025

MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE REPORT (2021) 4 YEARS OF

PROFOUND CHANGE

THE SANCTUARY SCHOOL AND SAFE MOVEMENT

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