August 16, 2020 Dena Jensen
Q: So guess who’s not at all afraid to commit to actions regarding the Bellingham Police Department? (And don’t get excited on this first one, because, in this case, it’s not good news).
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Screenshot graphic shows small Zoom meeting image of City of Bellingham Administrator Brian Heinrich at the top of a shared computer screen image displaying text, in spreadsheet format, providing data regarding Customs and Border Patrol calls related to CBP dispatches to the City of Bellingham
June 26, 2020 Dena Jensen
On June 23, 2020 the first meeting of the City of Bellingham’s Immigration Advisory Board was held remotely, via Zoom. A recording of the meeting has not yet been posted on the COB website. The meeting primarily covered member introductions and housekeeping issues such as whether Roberts Rules of Order would be adopted for meeting procedures, or if other models would be preferred and adopted. However, some of the items being evaluated that night could prove critical in their impacts on how effective the IAB can be in addressing concerns and needs of immigrants, regardless of their status, in Bellingham. The notes below primarily cover those type of items that came up during the meeting. Continue reading
August 20, 2019 Dena Jensen
Last night’s Bellingham City Council meeting provided a pretty good lesson in what white fragility does – and doesn’t – look like. To the majority of the Council Member’s credit that night, most of them did not seem to exhibit “discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice,” which is the definition of white fragility offered by Oxford’s Lexico dictionary. But a couple of them did.
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August 16, 2019 Dena Jensen
This is the final installment of notes on the July 15, 2019 Bellingham City Council Justice Committee meeting regarding immigration issues. The next Justice Committee meeting will occur this Monday, August 19, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in Council chambers. Here is a link for the agenda for that meeting https://meetings.cob.org/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=2059&doctype=1
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August 10, 2019 Dena Jensen
Time is flying and I am finally getting to posting notes on the second 15 minute segment of Bellingham City Council’s July 15, 2019 Justice Committee meeting where they were discussing issues related to immigration.
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July 21, 2019 Dena Jensen
Due to my own time constraints and a desire to get some information out about this as promptly as I can, I am going to provide my notes in installments, on this July 15, 2019 meeting where Bellingham City Council’s Justice Committee discussed work-plan items related to immigration.
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July 17, 2019 Dena Jensen
On Monday, July 15, 2019, Bellingham City Council’s Justice Committee met in Council Chambers at City Hall, with their one focus being, “Deliberation Regarding Work-Plan Items Related to Immigration.” I will work on publishing notes on this meeting soon. But first, I did want to draw people’s attention to a particular statement of City Council Member April Barker’s at that meeting. Council Member Barker serves on the Justice Committee, with Council Member Pinky Vargas, along with Council Member and Justice Committee Chair Hannah Stone.
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July 6, 2019 Dena Jensen
During Old/New Business at the July 1, 2019 evening Bellingham City Council Meeting, Council Member Hannah Stone made an announcement regarding the formation of a workgroup, connected to the Council’s Justice Committee, focused on immigration issues.
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May 12, 2019 Dena Jensen
Community members continue to show up weekly to call on our local government agencies to engage with members of the immigrant community, of all statuses, to reduce and hopefully put an end to, the daily fear and apprehension that they endure living under the Trump administration, not to mention the profiling and mistreatment numerous individuals experience at the hands of local officials.
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It’s been two full years since the City of Bellingham abruptly pushed aside the Keep Bellingham Families Working ordinance in favor of approving their own ordinance regarding immigrant protection. In all that time there has been no amending of that ordinance or activation of civilian oversight or of a safe space to report discrimination or persecution.
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