Creating Positive Community Information Exchange
by Larry Walker, BRIDGES Network, July 2020
In 2001, Hector E. Garcia attended a St. Paul meeting between a Minnesota immigrant group and the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Services — federal agency charged with handling immigration matters, which was converted after 9/11 into three separate departments — CIS, ICE and CBO). The meeting was one of a series of tense interactions between INS and the immigrant community in person and through the media. Hector observed that community members left angrier than when they arrived and no solutions had been identified.
After the meeting, Hector suggested to Curt Aljets, District Director of INS, and to a Pastor who spoke for the community that it was possible to attain more constructive results from such meetings. Hector, at that time, was MN/Dakotas District Director for NCCJ (National Conference for Community & Justice). He offered to hold an interactive session with Mr. Aljets' staff. Out of that session, evolved a group decision to start the Twin Cities Immigrant Community Roundtable.
Then, Hector volunteered to organize and moderate the meetings. Aljets, his staff and the immigrant community accepted this generous offer and agreed to participate in designing the structure.
Two months later, the first TC Immigrant Community Roundtable was held. It would continue to meet on a quarterly basis for the next 12 years. During this time, the INS (later Citizenship and immigration Services) confirmed that among all their districts in the nation, Minnesota had the best relationship between the agency and its immigrant communities.
The reason behind ICR’s success was Hector’s recommendation for an intentional and disciplined approach to conducting all meetings. He invariably started each meeting by stating the Principles that would govern the conduct of the meeting. Those six Principles were:
Respectful, succinct expression and attentive listening.
Focusing on items beneficial to entire community vs. self-interest.
Optimizing points of interest rather than arguing about whom to blame.
Teamwork rather than adversarial interaction.
Emphasis on action and inclusive solutions based on good communication.
Pursuing and proposing proactive solutions.
Each meeting featured presentations by representatives of the agency and the immigrant community as well as other government agencies, nonprofits, students and community organizations working with immigrants. Time was dedicated to Open Forum dialogue, presentations and questions from the audience. The latter conveyed immigrant concerns to the presenting organizations.
Before ending each meeting, Hector challenged the audience to take action on any of the issues discussed. Whenever a significant concern was expressed by two or more individuals, an informal Action Group was immediately formed. Each Action Group would then set up a separate time for research and discussion. Action Groups were given time at a subsequent Roundtable meeting to report on results or further questions requiring answers. These Action Groups were typically composed of a mix of concerned immigrants, citizens and organizations with related knowledge.
During its twelve years of operation, the Roundtable completed 33 successful results from those Action Groups. Two of these became national models as described below.
Immigrants complained it was very difficult for them to meet with an immigration official when needed. They described arriving at 5:00 a.m. at the immigration office and waiting outside (winter and summer) to get an audience. Sometimes they would be unsuccessful all day until 5:00 p.m. when the office closed. They would then have to return and wait.
The Action Group that tackled this issue suggested appointments could be booked online. All outside waiting during the winter was eliminated through measures taken by the INS. The INS implemented this solution, which eventually became the INFOPASS appointment system used nationwide.
It became clear that it was unnecessarily difficult for immigrants to become informed about the social mores, services, and/or practices in Minnesota (e.g. parking regulations in Minneapolis and St. Paul after a snowstorm).
After meeting with several other foundations, the Action Group received a grant from Bremer Foundation to develop a “New Immigrant Guide” for the Twin Cities. A modest 75-page document was produced; it provides cultural basics and explains services available as well as contact information to request additional clarification. The Guide was published in English, Spanish and Somali; the package included a video in Somali and served as a training aid. The guide package was intended to assist persons integrate and become productive residents in their new home as quickly as possible.
This TC Guide proved so valuable to authorities and the immigrant communities that the CIS later published “Welcome to the United States. A Guide for New Immigrants.” This Guide helps all immigrants and refugees to become contributing members of the country. It is published in English and thirteen of the most common immigrant languages and is distributed at immigration offices, public libraries as well as being available online. The U.S. Guide for New Immigrants includes basic information on American history and law, legal residency and citizenship requirements, as well as national information on practical matters such as gaining employment. See link: https://www.uscis.gov/archive/uscis-updates-welcome-guide-new-immigrants
In 2012, the Twin Cities Immigrant Community Roundtable received a valuable recognition from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During a presentation in Minnesota entitled “Immigration and the U.S. Economy,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs Betsy Markey made the following statement, which was later sent to the Roundtable in writing:
Started in 2001 by Hector Garcia and other community activists, the Twin Cities Immigrant Community Roundtable was one of the first and most active groups in the country to foster mutual understanding between local immigrant communities and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. Today the Department of Homeland Security uses this same model to bring about greater cooperation between immigrants, DHS and public and private organizations that interface with our immigrant communities. I applaud the foresight and leadership role the Twin Cities Immigrant Community Roundtable has played to create a constructive and safe problem-solving environment.
The TC Immigrant Community Roundtable meetings stopped in 2013 due to a decline in the arrival of new immigrants to Minnesota, the availability of the national Guide, and other resources.
In 2015, the Immigrant Community Roundtable model inspired the creation of the "Ramsey County Roundtable to Build Trust and Cooperation between Community and Law Enforcement" after the Ferguson police shooting of Michael Brown. This Roundtable then led to the creation of other initiatives with similar goals.
Hector’s Community Roundtables remain to this day excellent examples of successful collaborative partnerships among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with community members who are citizens and immigrants or refugees in pursuit of the common purpose of universal understanding and contribution.