Fundraiser planned in Eastport to help aid asylum seekers

A fund‑raising event, "Welcoming the Stranger: Downeast Maine Cares," will be held on Monday, August 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Eastport Welcome Center at the head of the breakwater. Finger foods will be served and a roster of speakers is in the works. The event is by donation with the goal of providing support in a two‑pronged approach: helping immigrants in Maine through the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition in Portland and helping immigrants at the southern border, in particular children separated from families.
Sally Decicco, a part‑time resident of Eastport, worked for three weeks in El Paso last fall as a volunteer for the national organization Annunciation House. The organization helps immigrants through the legal asylum process after they have been released from detention. She was based at a La Quinta hotel, one of about 15 sites around the city working with the immigrants. "ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] would bring about 50 at a time in a bus. There were two to three busloads a day," she said.
Immigrants were given meals, clothing and toiletries by her organization. "We gave them shoelaces and belts, because ICE removed them," she notes. Immigrants stay in hotel rooms provided by Annunciation House while they work with volunteer translators to contact their sponsors, usually family members elsewhere in the country.
The legal process of asking for asylum status is long. "They are 'detained' until they can prove they have family or another sponsor to go to," Decicco explains. Another part of the process is proving through interviews that they have legitimate cause for "credible fear," she adds. Detainees usually stay three to four days at the hotel until their sponsorship plans are settled. The sponsor pays for their transportation. "We take them to the airport or the bus." She pauses. "And then we cried. We prayed they would make their connections. We gave them signs with travel and connection information."
Decicco's experience stayed with her, and when she arrived in Eastport for the summer she and others were moved by the wrenching stories of children being separated from their families and kept in conditions that have met with condemnation by politicians and others, as reported widely in national news outlets.
"The real need is helping the children get back to their families," says Lisa Marquis‑Bradbury. "Taking them from their parents is the worst thing you could do. The trauma is forever." She pauses. "I can't believe they're still doing this," she says of the separation of children and holding pattern.
Paula Johnson Lumbert of Calais is involved in the event and says, "l am happy to support local efforts to raise money to help immigrant children living in border facilities." The minute the group came up with the fund‑raising event, they felt relief to be doing something positive. "Just knowing that we're doing something feels so good," says Marquis‑Bradbury. "It was like we felt such relief," adds Lane Willey, another organizer. They are joined by Hailley Bradbury, Ross Argir and others.
"We're trying and succeeding," says Marquis‑Bradbury. "I would challenge any church in this town to donate." Willey adds with a smile that her son is a preacher in the south. "I'm challenging my son and his congregation to give $2 each to this fundraiser, and they're not a rich church."
Additional information about speakers, fund designation and concrete needs such as sheets and blankets for the Portland effort will be available closer to the event. Contact Willey with any questions at <lane_willey@yahoo.com>.