Overseeing the fight for civilian oversight to protect immigrants and people of color in Bellingham / Noisy Waters Northwest

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you don't have my vote postcard front cropped

postcards to mayor redacted aqua

Graphics show one postcard front side (top), and multiple reverse/message sides of postcards sent to Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville by community members in June of 2017

May 23, 2018  Dena Jensen

The following report offers information gained through a public records request I made of the City of Bellingham on January 18, 2018.

Protecting vulnerable members of our community is a shared responsibility that none of us should take lightly. As much as government agencies may strive for and purport transparency, it is generally human nature to not be able to recognize our own flaws and, if others point them out, to do our best to excuse them or deny that this flaw, which another person sees, is really there.

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Bellingham: The City of Insidious Discrimination / Noisy Waters Northwest

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February 23, 2018  Dena Jensen

Monday February 19, 2018 was the one year anniversary of the Dignity Vigils in Bellingham, where community members have been gathering to stand in solidarity with undocumented and immigrant families and people as well as joining to stand against law enforcement and federal immigration collaboration which leads to deportation. These weekly events, part of the Keep Bellingham Families Working campaign, have been occurring every Monday during the lunch hour in front of civic buildings downtown, and often on Monday evenings at the WTA station on Railroad Avenue. Continue reading →

One Year Anniversary for Dignity Vigils in Bellingham / Letter to Bellingham City and Whatcom County Councils, Dena Jensen

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https://www.facebook.com/events/144972296180055/
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/01/17/oakland-bans-cooperation-federal-immigration-agents-braces-for-ice-raids/

February 13, 2018  Dena Jensen

Dear Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council:

I am writing early this week to let you know that next week there will be a special Dignity Vigil honoring the one year anniversary of these vigils in downtown Bellingham held in solidarity with immigrant and undocumented people, and to stand against law enforcement and federal immigration collaboration which leads to deportation. I hope you will all plan on attending during any portion, or all of the 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. time period. I will send you more details about next Monday’s vigil when they are available!:

https://www.facebook.com/events/144972296180055/ Continue reading →

Seeking strong engagement from Council Members with members of oppressed communities / Letter to Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council, Dena Jensen

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democracy now maru mora

Click the graphic to access the 1/17/18 Democracy Now interview with Maru Mora Villalpando

January 17, 2018 Dena Jensen

Dear Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council:

It was very interesting standing out in front of Mount Baker Theater on Martin Luther King Jr. Day during the City of Bellingham’s MLK event. Many of our county’s most effective activists were out there holding signs, conducting interviews, and passing out educational literature to people who were either passing by or going into the event. Continue reading →

ICE Serves Deportation Notice on Undocumented Leader for Organizing Detained Immigrants / Press Release, NWDC Resistance and Mijente

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crosscut ICE targets Maru

Click the graphic to access a 1/16/18 article on this topic by Crosscut

January 16, 2018 Press Release, NWDC Resistance and Mijente

 

The recent deportation notice filed against Washington-based immigrant rights activist and mother, Maru Mora-Villalpando, is a clear sign that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is turning into Trump’s secret police and silencing immigrants who fight back.

 

Press Conference Tuesday, January 16 at 9 a.m. at 1000 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA

Stand up for dignity / Letter to Whatcom County and Bellingham City Councils, Noisy Waters Northwest

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NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL FOR NWNW

October 11, 2017  Dena Jensen

Subject: Further perspective on ordinances to protect members of our undocumented immigrant community

Dear Whatcom County Council and Bellingham City Council:

I wrote to all of you last week regarding creating ordinances that would provide more protections for members of our undocumented immigrant community. I recently had a local government official share their perspective on that letter with me. In this case, it doesn’t matter who made the statements because I think portions of the perspective expressed to me were similar to those I have heard expressed at council meetings. Continue reading →

After Fellow Worker Dies, Guest Workers Take Action / Press Release, Community to Community Development

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August 7, 2017  Community to Community Development

Bellingham, WA- After learning of the death of fellow worker Ernesto Silva Ibarra, who requested medical care from his employer Sarbanand Farms and not receiving it, guest workers recently fired for trying to organize, will march tomorrow [Tuesday, August 8, 2017] to the company’s management office in Sumas to demand accountability for Ernesto’s death, as well as to demand pay of their owed wages, and renewal of their expired visas for which the company is responsible.  Continue reading →

Elfo asks, why citizen oversight for community safety? Answers become apparent / Noisy Waters Northwest

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August 2, 2017  Dena Jensen

On Saturday July 22, 2017 Community to Community Development posted a live-feed of their Family Forum for Community Safety that was held that evening at the Bellingham Public Library.

Near the end of the event, the facilitator, Rosalinda Guillen of Community to Community Devolopment, explained why she was being direct and public with this discussion.  She said that people are concerned about the federal government finding ways to impose immigration regulations and to make the county sheriff comply with immigration enforcement. Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo responded, indicating that federal officials had already tried to exert pressure and impose regulations, but that his sheriff’s office had said no and that they would continue to say no to federal mandates. Continue reading →

07 MAY, BREAKING: Washington Residents Use Trump Rally to Remember Native American Land / Press Release, Mijente

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mijente whatcom 3

Over Dozen white, Latinx, and Native American Residents Are Risking Arrest Blocking Traffic to two Main roads in Lynden, Washington with “Make Lynden Coast Salish Again” Banner.

May 7, 2016  Mijente.net

Lynden, WA – Over dozen residents of Whatcom and King Counties are blocking two main streets leading to the rally of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in Lynden, Washington. Continue reading →