SOLEDAD — A community “Know Your Rights Forum” is set to take place in Soledad on Oct. 1 at the Soledad Community Center for residents to better understand individual rights under the constitution.
“With the current immigration climate there’s a lot of anxiety, apprehension, misinformation in South County to residents,” said Sandra Martinez of the South County Immigration Task Force. “We know that there’s no necessarily immigration raids that have occurred but nobody knows what’s coming our way and there’s a lot of anxiety especially among children in South County.”
These forums are expected to empower the community through education as to what are the rights of either undocumented citizens or residents, especially the fourth and the fifth amendments. The fourth amendment speaks about the right of people to be secure in their persons, homes, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the fifth amendment talks about persons being held to answer for crimes unless indictment of the grand jury.
“We are trying to empower the community with information, especially family preparedness plan,” Martinez said. “They are teaching the families how to prepare in case a family member no longer arrives at home. What are the children going to do, who is going to be the leader.”
There is also a 24-hour hot line and the Immigration Task Force distributed flyers to promote a network where residents can get information from a reliable source.
“It’s really critical for us as a designated Sanctuary City, I think it’s really critical for us to demonstrate and show that support to our families that live here in Soledad,” said Council Member Anna Velazquez. “The Immigration task forum has different dates and different locations for these immigration forums that are going to happen throughout South County. We’re starting first with Soledad and then Gonzales and King City.”
The Forum on Oct. 1 will be held at the South County YMCA from 1 to 5 p.m.
The Immigration Task Force works with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, the Monterey County Bar Association and the Monterey County College of Law.
