(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "The Journal".

I'm Steve Kendall.

As northwest Ohio continues to become more diverse, there is increasing need to address how the U.S. deals with immigration issues.

A coalition concerned about this recently met to ask our elected officials to cease anti-immigration rhetoric and focus on solutions.

Joining us in the first segment, are Beatriz Maya from La Conexion and also Farhana Habib from the Northwest Ohio Immigration Network.

So, welcome both of you to "Journal" today, and I know that let's talk a little about, first of all, both of your organizations, Beatriz, La Conexion, talk about what that organization is, then Farhana, we'll talk with you about the Northwest Immigration Network.

- Well thank you for having us here Steve.

I am executive director of La Conexion, as you mentioned, and La Conexion is a community based organization establish in 2013 by a group of Latinx residents of the northwest Ohio region.

And the issue was that we were seeing the Latinx community grow in the region.

As you know, there was significant growth between the 2010 census.

And again, we saw that again increase, a significant increase just to mention Wood county, the Latinx population group, 46% in Wood county alone.

And we had a similar growth all over the northwest Ohio region actually helping offset population losses in the region and in the whole state.

But as we were seeing the population increase, we were seeing that there was no organization actually organizing the community, providing a voice, a representation, and actually fighting for the issues that we care about.

So outside of Toledo, right?

Because in Toledo as a major city, of course you do have a network of support for the Latinx community as well as other communities.

But the minute you leave Toledo, all the way to Dayton.

- [Steve] Sure.

- And west and east, there was nothing.

Right?

So that's what we were said to do, to establish this organization.

And we work mainly with the low income Latinx community and recent immigrants of any nationality, because actually all of our programs are open to newcomers of any nationality.

Right?

And...

Sorry.

- I was gonna say because, and you make a good point that, as you said, because let's face it, the rural areas Ohio aren't typically super diverse.

And so you make a good point that it would be normal if there're not to be those kind of support services or those sort of support organizations once you move outside of metropolitan area, because typically the population has been less diverse than it would be in a big city.

So that makes a lot of sense that that's where you really need to address your activities.

Farhana, talk a little bit about the Northwest Ohio Immigration Network.

You were part of this event in September at Lourdes College to talk about immigration issues.

So talk about your group a little bit.

- The Northwest Ohio Immigrants Rights Network is a offshoot, if you will, of La Conexion.

It started out about four and a half years ago in 2018.

And it is a... Several organizations have come together, multi-faith organizations, faith-based organizations and other organizations that believe that we need to change the narrative in state of Ohio and elsewhere and especially in our northwest Ohio region regarding immigrants, refugees, undocumented people who've lived here forever.

And we have issues with them that need to be addressed mainly with the policy change and mainly with our lawmakers.

The Northwest Ohio Immigrants Rights Network is not so much service based, but we really want to change things through policy and approaching the lawmakers.

The event that you talked about that was held on September 11th, we had invited several people, who had core communions with us, with the Sisters of St. Francis and the Multi-faith Council and others.

And we had invited all the interested organizations that would come together.

And we had a very energetic, if you will, meeting there, in which many people are doing services and these are disjointed.

And we came together in order to make sure that we know each other and what we are doing for our immigrant brothers and sisters.

And also in order to make bridges between organization in order for us to come together to approach our senators, lawmakers and change the narrative from... And educate the people at large regarding the misconceptions that exist for immigrants.

- And when you talk about that, what are the things you see in briefly, I mean, in terms of what are some of the misconceptions that you're trying to dispel and inform policy makers and lawmakers that, "Look, you're talking about this "in a way that isn't accurate, it isn't appropriate."

What are some of the things you're trying to change with them specifically?

- I am going to talk about the two things that are the top most in everybody's mind, given the November 8th is approaching.

- Okay.

- One is economy, and two is inflation and...

So for economy, we actually had a employer's round table several months ago in which all employers... And we had representatives from various senators in Ohio in that employer's round table so that they could hear it not from us who they think are activists, but people who actually are hiring people who really need employees that they cannot hire because they don't have a status.

So in order to change the policies in a way that people can get to work such as driver's licenses, or in order for people to be able to hire and not be legally punished for hiring people who are undocumented, in order to form policies that are a win-win situation for the employers and for the society at large, because these are tax paying jobs and people will be paying taxes if they are employed.

- Well, and that's a really good point, because you said it connects the people who are actually at the front line, the hiring, [Farhana] Yes.

the companies who can address [Farahna] Yes.

the policy makers, the lawmakers as opposed to, as you said, some they... "Well, here comes that activist again.

"So of course she's gonna say this."

But when they hear it from some...

Which is always ironic, when they hear it from somebody else, it carries a different weight for some reason, because I guess it's that way.

Now Beatriz when you talk about the services you guys are providing, because we got a couple of minutes since segment, what are some of the things you're trying to bring to those outlying areas outside of the city of Toledo?

The kind of services that need to be available there now?

- Well, there was not a lot of services specifically for recent immigrant in particular.

For instance, we have a pretty severe issue with lack of interpretation at main agencies and hospitals.

And so that is changing little by little, thanks to the advocacy by La Conexion and other organizations as well.

But language access is a pretty serious problem.

And there is a lot of work that needs to get done still in that particular area.

Right?

- [Steve] Right.

- And there are other services that... Because some of the recent immigrants lack documentation, USA documentation, then they don't have access to some basic services as well.

So our agencies are kind of filling the gap for these services and providing them, as well as other things like La Conexion provides like English classes and citizenship classes and workshops.

Basically integration services and integration education, because when you are new in a country, there is a lot that you need to learn, right?

To function properly.

Like for instance, having a credit history, that's something that is very new for us.

Sometimes we are used to pay cash and that's a perfect credit history for us.

Right?

But here, no.

You need to have debt and they need to see that you pay and that's your credit history.

Right?

So we do a lot of workshops like that, integration, educational workshops.

- But when we come back, because we're gonna have obviously some other folks on too, who are part of this organization, this meeting you had on September 11th, and we can talk more about the services too.

But Farhana, thank you so much for coming on and talking about the north.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- [Steve] Sure.

And anytime you guys are doing something like that, feel free to get in touch.

So yeah, thank you.

We'll be back in just a moment here on "The Journal".

Back in just a second.

Thank you for staying with us here on "The Journal".

We have guests from a group of organizations that got together to talk about immigration issues and to try and change the narrative on how we talk about immigration in northwest Ohio.

And we're joined in this segment by Moja Kamala from the coordinator of Welcome BG, part of the welcoming committee there, and also Jennifer Vasquez from the Multi-faith Council of Northwest Ohio.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for having us.

- Both of you were part of this.

So talk a little about your organizations and your role in the event that took place on September 11th and how you see your participation as we move forward with the initiatives that were discussed there.

So Jennifer, if you wanna talk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- So I am part of the leadership of the Multi-faith Council of Northwest Ohio.

I've also been a member of the Northwest Ohio Immigrant Rights Network since it's founding as well.

So I have served both organizations there.

And the Multi-faith Council, their mission is to facilitate programs that draw together diverse faiths for the purpose of building respect and relationships and working together for the common good.

And so there's quite a bit of overlap between what the faith communities are experiencing, what the immigrant communities are experiencing in terms of some of this hateful rhetoric and fear based kind of language.

So we were able to come on as a co-sponsor as to... Because we have some similar goals.

The thing about the... Go ahead.

- No, I was gonna say, and it's interesting that you mentioned that because we would look at the faith organizations thinking there really wouldn't be a lot of difficulty among them or within them, but they're obviously just like every organization.

There's gonna be some... Not everybody is gonna agree on everything.

And that's kind of what you're trying to deal with internally as new people come into the area basically, with your organizations as well, then.

- Sure.

I think it's human nature to gather together with people who are of a like mind or maybe a like background.

And so when people come into the community from the outside, there can be, especially with the narratives we're hearing in the society about scarcity and about fear, and there's only enough for so many, and so we need to kind of fight for our own resources and be afraid.

So the faith communities, really, all of the major world religions have a different narrative that has to do more with abundance and hospitality, and radical welcome and the inherent worth of every single person.

And so those are sort of the values that the Multi-faith Council brings to the conversation to try to get over some of that political divide.

- Sure.

And when... And from your point, Moja, your role in this, and your organization's role?

- We are Welcome BG and Welcome BG falls under a lot of welcoming initiatives throughout, not only in Ohio, nationwide, and now actually internationally.

And we are under the umbrella of Welcome In America.

And they all came to recognize the need.

They were coming from the labor shortage economic development angle of it.

And they recognized, just as Beatriz said in the earlier segment, that especially in our community, we have a larger amount of people who are retirees, people who are not longer working.

And you hear how many times I went to McDonald's and it took me too long, there's a reason for that.

There's labor shortages.

- [Steve] Staff shortage sure.

- The employers know that.

They recognize that, which is why they're willing to not only work with us, but as well as the political partnerships to make sure that we know that we need people to come and work.

And the people who are coming who are immigrants, they are of that working age.

So coming from that, that's how Welcome BG came to be, and it was a resolution that was passed by city council back in 2017, and we have been operating since 2019.

Basically our mission is to then attract, and look out for those people to come to be part of our community and hopefully they find us nice, safe, accommodating, inviting and welcoming to them.

And so that they can also fill in those labor shortages.

And that's where our task majority of the time is... Our time is placed on that, which is basically economic development, living and thriving once they're here, where... You know, housing, where they're staying, is what also was mentioned before, language access.

How easy is it for them to integrate to get... Come in, running and actually share their talents and skills.

And that's what we are predominantly here for.

- Well, and it's interesting, both of you talked about things that I know that are current, but a lot of what we've talked about in both segments so far, if you look back in history, it's the same, unfortunately, the same arguments about as you said, well, they're coming in and we have to fear because they're gonna take our jobs.

Those are unfortunate themes that have run through American history whenever any immigrant group came in.

It's just ironic that here we are several hundred years later and we're still having to talk about it.

But I guess it requires, as you said, it requires groups like you to help bridge that and sort of find a way to make this all work.

But it's ironic that we...

The arguments haven't changed.

The unfortunate rhetoric hasn't changed.

And I guess it's good that your group is trying to get together to do that.

That all of you are trying to move that forward.

When you look at the progress, have you...

When you talk with this...

The first segment, you talked about policy makers, when you have a chance to talk with 'em, if you do, what's their response?

How do they react when you describe, as you said, the economic situation, the trying to make people feel welcome situation, how do they react to that?

Do they say the right things?

Do they do the right things or not?

I don't wanna put you on the spot, but do you get the reaction you hope to get at least maybe move the bar a little bit in the right direction?

- I would think if we got the reaction or the responses that we're hoping for, we won't be sitting here.

- Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- But unfortunately, and I know that efforts not just my organization, but Northwest Ohio Immigrant, we've tried to have those round tables, where we actually want to invite them to sit down, as they said, not just to hear from us, but from the employers that are impacted every single day.

But most of the times we either get their representatives and unfortunately that's what harms the whole progress in that the rhetoric continues and the only time an immigrant issue comes up or is used is always used as a political tool for personal gain and they forget that they're human beings behind the word immigrant.

- Yeah.

And that's a good point now.

And from the Multi-faith Council's point of view, obviously you go across all denominations, all religions.

When you sit down and talk with the various people there too, it's a challenge for everybody obviously, because everybody is trying to figure this out.

And I say unfortunately, we've been trying to figure it out for 300 years, it seems.

Do you get the kind of movement there you'd like to have to when you talk with other people in other denominations when you get together?

Are you able to come to some sort of like policy agreement to some degree of like, here's what we're gonna try and do?

Or is it... Or is that still a struggle a little bit?

- I think as the council, we're just sort of an umbrella organization, the Multi-faith Council.

So we don't have our own policy statements.

But each of the individual member groups does have their own policies.

Together we try to be a force for good in the community.

And that does vary.

People have differences of opinion about the exact way to do things.

But the Multi-faith Council has been part of a lot of the compassionate city initiatives.

Toledo is a compassionate city, and that was in large part through the Multi-faith Council and their work with some partners.

And so they really have had for their entire 20 year existence, a focus on how can we be more welcoming, inclusive, so that everybody has... Is able to experience wholeness or wellness?

However that's defined.

And so we don't necessarily have to agree on all of the doctrinal points or even all of the policy points to be able to work towards that kind of environment.

And I do see progress in individual getting the word out.

The Northwestern Ohio Immigrants Rights Network has had a lot of educational events, and there have been a lot of well-meaning people who have come who just are totally siloed and don't know any immigrants and don't know these stories and don't know the situation.

And so through the educational events we've been able to raise awareness and get people more involved.

- And that's a really good point.

I think both of... All of you have talked about that, that the more we learn about each other, the better off we are.

- [Jennifer] Yes.

- Yet that's the first step I guess.

- [Jennifer] Yes.

- Being aware of other people and how other people... Who other people are, what they are, what they're not.

Because I think that's the big thing, we have conceptions about our ideas, about what we think people are, and the reality is we're probably totally wrong, but we think we know and that's... And so your groups bringing people together to talk more about who everyone is and what... That is probably a big first step.

So Great, great.

Yeah.

- Their stories, I think is what would ever change, because us talking will never be enough, but we have to make platforms where communities come together and have these conversations because I can be sympathetic from a far, but like you said, if you've never met an immigrant one on one, and when you do it's like, "Oh, you're just a human being like I am."

- [Steve] Yeah.

Yeah.

What a shock?

- And you don't think...

Exactly.

- [Steve] I didn't know you're amazing.

- Exactly.

- That's what it takes to get to that level.

Yeah.

- That's the only way we'll change that narrative.

- Well, Moja Kamala and Jennifer Vasquez, thank you so much for being on and we appreciate you taking the time to do this and thank you for all the work you're doing currently in the community.

Appreciate it very much.

- Thank you for giving us the platform.

- We'll be back in just a moment here on "The Journal".

Thank you for staying with us on "The Journal".

Our guests in this segment are once again Beatriz Maya and Farhana Habib.

We talked a little bit about the or the meeting you had, the organizations, all get together on September 11th.

Talk a little bit about the outcomes of that particular get together.

- Yeah, the goals of the meeting were to deepen relationships and initiate collaborations.

So there were some pretty tangible things that came out.

And for instance, one very specific is to increase collaborations regarding services provided to immigrants and refugees.

Because in some cases in the dialogue we could see that there was duplication of services, or even people not knowing what the other agency was doing.

So becoming more familiar with the work that each of us are doing.

So one of the things that came out is to come up with the directory or a guide of agencies and services that are provided these both for each of us as providers, but also for immigrants themselves to have a good guide of resources, right?

In northwest Ohio.

So that was one of the things that we're gonna be working in the next couple of month.

- Yeah.

Now, and you mentioned resources, obviously all of your organizations have to have some form of funding.

I mean, how can people help you with that?

Is there a mechanism for them to support the Immigration Network?

Is there, for like La Conexion is there a way for people to get involved to help you provide some of the resources for you so you can provide the resources for other people?

- Yeah.

That was one of the things that came out and it happened to every single organization that was present and is the lack of funding, really to do the work that we need to do, particularly when we are seeing this populations increasing.

And from all over there was agencies serving refugees, there were legal services like advocates for basic legal equality, ABLE, was one of the conveners.

And they were talking about the need to increase legal services.

However, the lack of funding there is for these services.

Right?

And, of course La Conexion, we really ran with very little funding.

So that was a very, very common complaint in the group.

- And Farhana, one of the things we touched on a little bit is that, and you mentioned I think specifically too, is that people have a lot of misconceptions.

They believe they know about immigration, there are certain things they believe.

What are a couple of the misconceptions that you really would like people to understand that they really don't understand about immigration and about the people that we're talking about?

What are the two biggest things you would say, "Hey, you're wrong.

Here's what people think.

"Here's the reality."

- I'm a physician.

- [Steve] Okay.

- And it took me 16 years of going through all the legal channels to become a U.S. citizen.

So when people say get in line, the line is really long.

- [Steve] Really long.

Wow.

- And it is a very expensive process.

So it's not as if I came into the U.S. today and in three months I would have a green card and in a year I would have a blue passport.

That is not how things happen, that is not how our immigration system is set up.

So people first, before they have these conceptions or misconception or believe on the political rhetoric, they need to educate themselves on what our political system entails for an immigrant who comes in, either through legal channels or if they are undocumented, what are the ways that they can become legal resident of United States of America.

For undocumented workers, for DACA, it is a very, very hard road because the venues do not exist or they exist with many barriers.

So before people say do this or do that, they themselves need to get educated and not pass judgment on people.

People are here for a variety of reasons and most of them are the same as anybody else.

- [Steve] Sure.

- For life without danger and to seek happiness and to be with their family or to work for their family and for their betterment.

So we all live for the same goals in our lives.

- And those are very good points and I appreciate you coming out talk about, because I think as you said, people seem to think, oh, like one week you come in, the next week you're a citizen.

And as you said, the processes are much more complex than that, and that's a probably a huge misconception.

Thank you so much for helping with that.

Thank you... Oh, real quick.

Yeah.

- [Beatriz] If can- - Yeah.

Sure.

- If I can add, just because I don't wanna leave without talking about the need for immigration reform.

- [Steve] Okay.

All right.

- And that's another misconception talking about why do we have 11 million undocumented people in the country?

They just don't go through the process.

And the point is, there hasn't been every form of our immigration laws for over 30 years or more.

So the point is, there have been dramatic demographic changes, our population is aging and dramatic economic changes.

We need workers.

Right?

- [Steve] Right.

- So this is what is bringing these workers here.

So the immigration laws have not adjust to the- - [Steve] Have not kept up with the time.

- With demographic and economic.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- [Beatriz] So we need that.

- Okay.

And we're gonna have...

Unfortunately we're gonna have to leave it there.

But I appreciate all of you coming on to talk about this and obviously it's an issue that we need to talk a lot more about, and educate and illuminate people on.

So thank you so much Beatriz and Farhana thank you so much.

And thanks to Jennifer and also Moja for coming on today and talking to us about this.

You can check us out at wbgu.org, and of course you can watch us every Thursday night at eight o'clock on WBGU-PBS.

We will see you again next time.

Good night and good luck.

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