In an e-mail exchange last week with Louisville immigration lawyer Becca O’Neill (pictured above right), Crescent Hill folks interested in participating in the Friday, July 15 visit to the Boone County (KY) immigration detention center learned more details. Many detainees speak only Spanish, and for this the lawyers need volunteer interviewers who speak Spanish fluently. Volunteers who are fluent in Spanish, therefore, are almost never turned away. French and Arabic are also popular languages, and sometimes detainees also speak other languages. Some detainees speak English, and volunteers who speak English only are assigned to interview them, as well as to provide clerical help during the visit. There is a cap on the number of English-speaking volunteers the program needs for each visit, and so folks interested in doing this should volunteer early. There is no room for non-interviewer “observers.”
Volunteers must participated in a training the night before a visit, in addition to being at the jail no later than 7:45 a.m. Friday morning. Most Crescent Hill folks who participate in the Friday, July 15 visit will probably go to the 6:15 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Thursday, July 14 training. Another option is to participate in the training this Thursday, June 16, which is the night before Friday, June 17 visit, which Mid-KY Presbytery staffer Tony Aja is going to go on. Both trainings are in Room 171 of the University of Louisville law school building.
- Perry
No comments:
Post a Comment