COPS/Metro: "Immigrants are not a Danger. These Are our Neighbors"

[Excerpt]

"Josephine López Paul is a lead organizer with Communities Organized for Public Service, or COPS/Metro Alliance, in San Antonio. Her organization is expecting 1,000 community members at an event on Dec. 8.

“There’s division and trauma everywhere, so we’re hoping this gathering will be a light—what we need to be as a community and to be brothers and sisters to each other in this city,” she told America. “The election doesn’t change what we do. We keep on going.”

Still, Ms. López Paul reported a “palpable fear” in the community.

“The electorate voted against immigrants,” she said. “But most of these folks don’t live the everyday reality that we do. We feel the pain of immigrants in our city and on the border and in our region.”

Making local connections, she said, breaks down barriers and dispels false caricatures of immigrants. “They are not a danger,” Ms. López Paul said. “These are our neighbors.”"

Donald Trump's Ellection Has Brought New Fear to Immigrant CommunitiesAmerica the Jesuit Review [pdf]