Untwisting Lives
We Rise SF confronts immigration crackdown with support for workers
Carlos Porras, Program Director of We Rise SF — a labor-meets-immigration advocacy and support center based on Franklin Street in the City — has more stories than he could ever tell. Each one is both singular and universal, a reminder that behind the statistics are human lives.
One story involves a U.S. citizen worried about their undocumented parents. Another is of a longtime citizen fearful that old records could somehow lead to deportation. Then there’s the grandmother, a permanent resident for 25 years, who wept as she sought citizenship to finally feel secure.
“We have seen an increasingly high volume of calls and attendees to our clinics in our office, particularly union workers and families, concerned with what’s happening on the streets,” Porras said. “You’re trying to be as ready as possible to answer questions and to help folks complete applications so they can enhance their legal status.”
Under the second Trump administration’s draconian immigration crackdown — raids ripping through communities, people who believed they were safe swept up like bycatch, neighbors vanishing without a trace — We Rise has seen demand for its services surge.
We Rise offers several services for immigrant union members. These include help with citizenship, green cards, work authorization, DACA renewals, and more. The organization also provides free legal assessments and various workshops.
Folks such as Porras have frequently acted as chaperones or escorts for people attending hearings or otherwise needing to appear in public but afraid to do so. We Rise is in the process of establishing an accompaniment program, and leadership is seeking volunteers in the labor movement to accompany immigrants when and where they are needed. Volunteers will be trained in what they can and can’t do, and could be utilized anywhere from a federal courthouse to a simple trip to the store.
We Rise Executive Director Tom Ryan says that with thousands of immigrants seeking assistance, great need currently exists.
“We think we’ll have a robust accompaniment program that will add to what We Rise does on a professional level, but we’ll do it with labor volunteers,” he said.
When it comes to the intersection of labor rights and immigrant rights, Ryan said that they are one in the same.
Photo via Facebook @sfpathways2citizenship
“There isn’t really a difference,” Ryan said of the relationship between immigrant and labor rights. “What we think that the San Francisco labor movement has done by supporting and establishing We Rise is basically saying that they’re the same thing. We want to provide a voice for immigrant workers who maybe traditionally were […] left out of the conversation and left out of labor solidarity.”
San Francisco Labor Council Executive Director Kim Tavaglione shares that sentiment.
“Advocating for working families — regardless of immigration status — is very important to our labor council,” she said.
Ryan said that union members who are unsure of how their status might play out are more reticent to participate in their local.
Once members are more confident in their immigration status, “it unlocks their ability to be more active in their local,” he said.
Porras likened the ICE raids to a “machine that’s trying just to get everybody behind bars” and considers We Rise not just a service provider, but a spotlight on what’s going on in the City.
“We’ve been doing this for a while, and we’re in a privileged spot to be in San Francisco providing immigration services,” he said.
Ryan emphasized the ripple effect of the current immigration environment: people living in fear, unwilling to leave their homes, with jobs not getting filled and necessary work not getting done.
“They’re staying home from work, they’re doing all kinds of things, twisting their lives around to try to avoid disrupting their family,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that he hasn’t yet heard about any construction-site ICE raids in the Bay, but he believes that it’s just a matter of time, citing the Hyundai battery plant in Georgia where a whopping 475 people — over 300 of them South Korean nationals — were arrested by ICE.
“People have figured out a way to make a life in this country,” Ryan said. “Those systems are being upended by these attacks, and it’s on purpose. It’s to try to destabilize people.”
“It’s just shameful and hurtful to see so many lives being taken away and just being played with,” Porras said.