| ADVERTISEMENT |
Alessandra Soler-Meetze: Challenges and Accomplishments
This is the second part of an interview with Alessandra Soler-Meetze,
Director of the ACLU of Arizona. Read the first part.
Phoenix, Arizona. Alessandra Soler-Meetze believes her experience
as Communications Director for the ACLU of Florida prepared her to
some extent for her challenging role as Director of the ACLU of
Arizona.
During her years working in Florida, new immigration enforcement
policies began creating partnerships between federal authorities and
local police departments in some parts of the country. Eventually,
this trend would become a national model for the government to
address the complicated issue of undocumented immigration.
“We did a little bit of work on immigrants’ issues in Florida at that
time, but immigration has now become the number one political issue
of this year’s elections,” said Soler-Meetze. “When I got here it was
learning about the 287 (g), learning about secure communities, what
this deputization means. These policies were just starting to be
really formed and really implemented in Florida in a very, very small
scale. When I came here it was just this explosion; we have the
highest number of deputized officers enforcing immigration laws,
higher than in any other state in the country; there were over 300
hundred of them.”
Her new role in Arizona, particularly handling issues related to
immigration enforcement, represented a new learning curve.
“The learning curve was really focusing on how these issues affect
the community on the ground, because what was happening is that
the government says one thing, ‘Oh yeah, we’re focusing on the
criminals, the ones that are a real danger to the community,’ but the
reality is that you know they are arresting and detaining people for
(civil violations like) not having a drivers license, so I think that
although they have stated policies on the federal level, they are not
really following those policies practices on the local level, and the
result is people’s rights are violated on a massive scale here.
Immigrant rights issues here in Arizona make up about 50 percent of
our work, a large portion of our legal work. We have five cases
against government officials for violating the rights of immigrants on
behalf of what really has become a besieged immigrant community.
People may not think of the ACLU as an immigrants’ rights
organization; it’s not the organization that comes to mind that
defends immigrants rights, but we’ve been around since the 1920s,”
said Soler-Meetze.
History
After the Immigration Act of 1918, a statute that expanded the way
the U.S. government defined deportable foreigners, United States
General Attorney Alexander Mitchell Palmer (from 1919 to 1921)
launched a campaign targeting radicalism. J. Edgar Hoover, then a
law school graduate student, and who was also working for the
Justice Department's Enemy Alien Bureau, contributed to Palmer’s
campaign –which was known as the Palmer Raids– by compiling a list
of foreigners residing in the United States. Hoover checked arrest
records, subscription records of radical newspapers, and party
membership records. The main goal was to place foreigner
individuals with supposed radical beliefs on deportation proceedings.
The ACLU was created in this context and as a response to the
Palmer Raids.
“Our first immigrants’ rights case was in 1920,” said Soler-Meetze.
“We stood up to an effort by the government; the government was
basically deporting people who had radical views, what they
considered to be radical. There was an attorney general at the time
named Mitchell Palmer, and he was just deporting people because
they did not agree with their political views. That was 90 years ago
so we’ve really been much, much more aggressive in defending the
rights of the immigrants since the 1920s.”
Accomplishments
The ACLU of Arizona was founded in 1959. Soler-Meetze is pleased
that at the state level, her branch is known, among other aspects,
for advocating for immigrants’ rights, as well as for her outreach
efforts in the community.
“I’m so proud of the fact that people, at least in Arizona, know what
the ACLU is. Yesterday I went to pick up my girls at the daycare and
someone came up to me and said, in Spanish, ‘I’ve seen you
before…I don’t know where,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, we do a lot of work
through media or through Univision,’ and she said ‘that’s where I’ve
seen you…’ She said ‘We really appreciate what you do.’ This is
somebody who I never met before and just came up to me and said
‘thank you for everything you’ve done.’ Right after SB 1070 was
enjoined, even though it was enjoined in the federal government’s
case, I got calls from a lot of people saying ‘Thank you so much for
the work that you have been doing on behalf of our community.’ I
think that that’s something I am really proud of. We really made a
concerted effort to reach out to the community through our legal
work, to do the work that really needed to be done to fight off, fend
off these horrific policies that are damaging our community.”
For Soler-Meetze, her satisfaction working for the ACLU of Arizona
also has a very special personal meaning, since she is the first Latina
to head Arizona's ACLU affiliate.
“(The meaning of this) It’s huge! I am very proud of that, very proud
to be working for an organization that has for so many years stood
up for the fundamental values of equality and fairness for everyone,
and to be (the first) Latina in Arizona I think that is something that I
very much appreciate. I don’t think that I want to be anywhere else
(than) working for the ACLU; this is exactly where I feel like I need to
be. I’m working to really build the capacity of our organization to do
more litigation, to do more outreach, and I think that that is really,
really important.”
Outreach
A great deal of what the ACLU of Arizona does consists in educating
the public about the work they do not only in the courts but in the
community and with individuals. In Arizona’s current political
atmosphere, outreach has become even more necessary.
“We work very closely with our coalition partners to distribute
material. Our role has been over the past couple of years to kind of
really focus on the legal analysis, focus on being there as a resource
for the community. So we’ve been producing materials so that people
know what their rights are when they are registering their kids (in
school). And recently this year we’ve taking on a role in terms of
educating, conducting workshops and trainings for advocates on
things like SB 1070 and HB 2008, the benefits bill; thousands and
thousands of people were eligible to apply for benefits have not
because they’re terrified that they are going to be deported based
on their perceived immigration status.”
Among the educational materials the ACLU of Arizona has produced
include literature about immigration rights, school enrollment and
most recently a guide for travelers facing scrutiny by the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Many of these materials
reach the Spanish-speaking community in its own language.
Soler-Meetze believes the fact that the ACLU is a national
organization, as well as its ability to partner with an array of other
community agencies, is a key factor in identifying and meeting the
real needs in the community.
“What it is unique about the ACLU is that we have affiliates in every
single state in the country. We’re here and I think people recognize
that, people from Arizona has recognized that. The great thing about
the ACLU is that we work with a broad variety of groups and of
course, all coalitions have disagreements, and I think it is only
healthy, but our role has been to work with the various different
groups to kind of figure out what the needs are, and to really try
help to meet those needs and provide the legal resources to the
community. We have a network of volunteer attorneys who we have
trained, who we work with when there is a raid in the community,
where we work with these attorneys to make sure that they are
able to access the victims of raids and make sure they have legal
help and do receive the help. We have been working with attorneys
and advocates and the various different groups.”
To be continued.
Director of the ACLU of Arizona. Read the first part.
Phoenix, Arizona. Alessandra Soler-Meetze believes her experience
as Communications Director for the ACLU of Florida prepared her to
some extent for her challenging role as Director of the ACLU of
Arizona.
During her years working in Florida, new immigration enforcement
policies began creating partnerships between federal authorities and
local police departments in some parts of the country. Eventually,
this trend would become a national model for the government to
address the complicated issue of undocumented immigration.
“We did a little bit of work on immigrants’ issues in Florida at that
time, but immigration has now become the number one political issue
of this year’s elections,” said Soler-Meetze. “When I got here it was
learning about the 287 (g), learning about secure communities, what
this deputization means. These policies were just starting to be
really formed and really implemented in Florida in a very, very small
scale. When I came here it was just this explosion; we have the
highest number of deputized officers enforcing immigration laws,
higher than in any other state in the country; there were over 300
hundred of them.”
Her new role in Arizona, particularly handling issues related to
immigration enforcement, represented a new learning curve.
“The learning curve was really focusing on how these issues affect
the community on the ground, because what was happening is that
the government says one thing, ‘Oh yeah, we’re focusing on the
criminals, the ones that are a real danger to the community,’ but the
reality is that you know they are arresting and detaining people for
(civil violations like) not having a drivers license, so I think that
although they have stated policies on the federal level, they are not
really following those policies practices on the local level, and the
result is people’s rights are violated on a massive scale here.
Immigrant rights issues here in Arizona make up about 50 percent of
our work, a large portion of our legal work. We have five cases
against government officials for violating the rights of immigrants on
behalf of what really has become a besieged immigrant community.
People may not think of the ACLU as an immigrants’ rights
organization; it’s not the organization that comes to mind that
defends immigrants rights, but we’ve been around since the 1920s,”
said Soler-Meetze.
History
After the Immigration Act of 1918, a statute that expanded the way
the U.S. government defined deportable foreigners, United States
General Attorney Alexander Mitchell Palmer (from 1919 to 1921)
launched a campaign targeting radicalism. J. Edgar Hoover, then a
law school graduate student, and who was also working for the
Justice Department's Enemy Alien Bureau, contributed to Palmer’s
campaign –which was known as the Palmer Raids– by compiling a list
of foreigners residing in the United States. Hoover checked arrest
records, subscription records of radical newspapers, and party
membership records. The main goal was to place foreigner
individuals with supposed radical beliefs on deportation proceedings.
The ACLU was created in this context and as a response to the
Palmer Raids.
“Our first immigrants’ rights case was in 1920,” said Soler-Meetze.
“We stood up to an effort by the government; the government was
basically deporting people who had radical views, what they
considered to be radical. There was an attorney general at the time
named Mitchell Palmer, and he was just deporting people because
they did not agree with their political views. That was 90 years ago
so we’ve really been much, much more aggressive in defending the
rights of the immigrants since the 1920s.”
Accomplishments
The ACLU of Arizona was founded in 1959. Soler-Meetze is pleased
that at the state level, her branch is known, among other aspects,
for advocating for immigrants’ rights, as well as for her outreach
efforts in the community.
“I’m so proud of the fact that people, at least in Arizona, know what
the ACLU is. Yesterday I went to pick up my girls at the daycare and
someone came up to me and said, in Spanish, ‘I’ve seen you
before…I don’t know where,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, we do a lot of work
through media or through Univision,’ and she said ‘that’s where I’ve
seen you…’ She said ‘We really appreciate what you do.’ This is
somebody who I never met before and just came up to me and said
‘thank you for everything you’ve done.’ Right after SB 1070 was
enjoined, even though it was enjoined in the federal government’s
case, I got calls from a lot of people saying ‘Thank you so much for
the work that you have been doing on behalf of our community.’ I
think that that’s something I am really proud of. We really made a
concerted effort to reach out to the community through our legal
work, to do the work that really needed to be done to fight off, fend
off these horrific policies that are damaging our community.”
For Soler-Meetze, her satisfaction working for the ACLU of Arizona
also has a very special personal meaning, since she is the first Latina
to head Arizona's ACLU affiliate.
“(The meaning of this) It’s huge! I am very proud of that, very proud
to be working for an organization that has for so many years stood
up for the fundamental values of equality and fairness for everyone,
and to be (the first) Latina in Arizona I think that is something that I
very much appreciate. I don’t think that I want to be anywhere else
(than) working for the ACLU; this is exactly where I feel like I need to
be. I’m working to really build the capacity of our organization to do
more litigation, to do more outreach, and I think that that is really,
really important.”
Outreach
A great deal of what the ACLU of Arizona does consists in educating
the public about the work they do not only in the courts but in the
community and with individuals. In Arizona’s current political
atmosphere, outreach has become even more necessary.
“We work very closely with our coalition partners to distribute
material. Our role has been over the past couple of years to kind of
really focus on the legal analysis, focus on being there as a resource
for the community. So we’ve been producing materials so that people
know what their rights are when they are registering their kids (in
school). And recently this year we’ve taking on a role in terms of
educating, conducting workshops and trainings for advocates on
things like SB 1070 and HB 2008, the benefits bill; thousands and
thousands of people were eligible to apply for benefits have not
because they’re terrified that they are going to be deported based
on their perceived immigration status.”
Among the educational materials the ACLU of Arizona has produced
include literature about immigration rights, school enrollment and
most recently a guide for travelers facing scrutiny by the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Many of these materials
reach the Spanish-speaking community in its own language.
Soler-Meetze believes the fact that the ACLU is a national
organization, as well as its ability to partner with an array of other
community agencies, is a key factor in identifying and meeting the
real needs in the community.
“What it is unique about the ACLU is that we have affiliates in every
single state in the country. We’re here and I think people recognize
that, people from Arizona has recognized that. The great thing about
the ACLU is that we work with a broad variety of groups and of
course, all coalitions have disagreements, and I think it is only
healthy, but our role has been to work with the various different
groups to kind of figure out what the needs are, and to really try
help to meet those needs and provide the legal resources to the
community. We have a network of volunteer attorneys who we have
trained, who we work with when there is a raid in the community,
where we work with these attorneys to make sure that they are
able to access the victims of raids and make sure they have legal
help and do receive the help. We have been working with attorneys
and advocates and the various different groups.”
To be continued.
By Eduardo Barraza December 2, 2010 | Second Part | First Part | Third Part
| Hispanic Institute of Social Issues © 2006-2011 All rights reserved. webmaster@hisi.org |
Pictured in her office, Alessandra
Soler-Meetze, Director of ACLU of
Arizona, is proud of the work her
organization has done in the
community, and for the fact she is
the first Latina to head the ACLU's
affiliate in Arizona.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
Soler-Meetze, Director of ACLU of
Arizona, is proud of the work her
organization has done in the
community, and for the fact she is
the first Latina to head the ACLU's
affiliate in Arizona.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
| Related Links |
| Featured Video: Alessandra Soler-Meetze on Sheriff Joe Arpaio |
| ADVERTISEMENT |
Eduardo Barraza is a journalist and writer,
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
| ADVERTISEMENT |
| CLICK ARROW TO WATCH VIDEO |
Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
|
| HISTORY IS ABOUT TO CHANGE Grassroots Journalism |
| ADVERTISEMENT |
| Looking to publish a book? |
| Retain the financial and creative control as well as the rights of your literary works. |
| ADVERTISEMENT |
| Operation Immigration Arrests, Protests, and Turmoil in Maricopa County |
| Price: $19.95 + s/h $3.80 Total $23.75 Length: 47 minutes EAN: 978-0-9797814-6-9 |
