We’re Child Care Organizers. But We Couldn’t Ignore Immigrant Rights.
By: Mary Ignatius, Parent Voices California
Afraid to go to work, many immigrants now need money for rent and food. As a parent organizer, Marina is responding by getting desperately needed resources to families. She is bewildered by the level of attacks on immigrants: “We pay taxes, we’re supporting this country. Why are they doing this to us?”
Seeing her community paralyzed with shock as ICE agents drag away family members without due process and regard for their rights, Liliana draws on her personal experience and now acts as an interpreter for other families, explaining the paperwork they need and what the lawyers are saying.
These women and their peers are members of Parent Voices California (PVC), a grassroots organizing and leadership-development nonprofit working to ensure more just, fair, and inclusive systems for families and children.
 Immigrant defense isn’t what we are funded to do. Formally, Parent Voices California organizes families and caregivers around childcare issues: increased funding, improved quality, and better access for all families. But immigrant defense is the need right now.
Grassroots organizations believe that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. We give parents tools—political and personal—to create the changes they want to see. So, when our members said what they needed in this moment, we could not ignore it.
In response, we are offering know-your-rights trainings to empower parents with critical information—what ICE agents legally can do and not do, and how to recognize a valid warrant. Our advocacy led two counties to invest $2 million in defense funds, directing resources to families and helping them create emergency plans, such as who should care for the children if their parents are detained.
Legal consultations are helping families with tangible next steps: asylum processes, green card applications, DACA renewals, and citizenship applications. Thanks to our partnership with the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Parent Voices Marin has been able to offer more than 120 free immigration consultations to our members and their families.
We are the only organization in Marin County offering this kind of direct support. But the last scheduled consultation will take place in November unless we can find more funding.
These efforts are making a tangible difference in children’s lives: when parents are informed and prepared, they can speak with their children calmly and confidently, grounding them in the midst of the fear and uncertainty they absorb from adults.
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