3. ENSURING TRUST & QUALITY
Fear in the Political Climate
Fear has played a key role in preventing immigrants from finding resources. After I asked Rocio Garcia a program assistant leader for the LIBRE project of San Mateo County what the biggest shortcomings San Mateo had in providing immigrant with resources she did not say that it was a numerical lacking of organizations providing the resources (refer to slide 1). Rather she blamed the exsistence of fear amongst immigrant communities as a causation for resources not been sought after as well as government benefits not being utilized.
Angie Ibarra from Generations United in Redwood City additionally comments on immigrant fear in light of the political climate and said after commenting on how many of the services require a car to get to and families without legal status are at risk every time they leave their house of possible deportation. These factors are significant to the inaccessibility.
Illegitimate Legal Services
On top of the vulnerability of many undocumented families in San Mateo County, both Rocio and Angie discussed fraud legal services that are being used to scam immigrant out of their financial resources which are essential to the expensive and long legal process of obtaining status. (refer to Slides)
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The quality of the resources that are being provided by other CBO's and government agencies may be sound, however, the misguided services that some immigrants have been at risk to are factors that add to the fear, confusion, and inaccessibility of these resources.
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Recommendations
As we notice, mistrust in the government due to valid fears in our current political climate, lack of credible information due to the already complicated legal processes of gaining status are both hindering the accessibility of Immigrant resources to promote civic integration in San Mateo County.
In battling fear, Angie Ibarra from Generations United presented her organization's model of family to family partnership in relationship building within the county. She calls this model ‘Neighbor Together’ which involves “aligning families who have resources, with families who don't and developing relationships.”
“Just build relationships with your neighbors. But we make it complex by saying oh, I don't speak Spanish or I don't know. And I Feel comfortable. … Acknowledge that we are all neighbors together” (Angie Ibarra, Generations United)
This model could potentially transform the way that resources are offered to immigrants, instead of having to drive or find a means of transportation to sit in an office and wait for access to these services before being referred to another service elsewhere, what if services came to these neighborhoods. What if trust and partnership were established along with provision of services, fear could be targeted and deeper integration could be worked towards and long-term and positive way.