By Ann Kuffner
UUFSMA Member
One day in April 2022, a Central American family seeking asylum in the U.S. prepared to cross the border from Mexico. Immigration attorneys Rebecca Eichler and Careen Shannon will describe the family’s journey and how dozens of dedicated advocates and humanitarians played vital roles in getting them to safety. They produced the award-winning documentary, “Las Abogadas: Attorneys on the Front Lines of the Migrant Crisis,” screening at film festivals and universities in the U.S. and internationally. The film’s mission is to inspire individuals and groups of people to help migrants in need.
Rebecca Eichler has over 20 years of experience practicing immigration law in the Washington DC area and providing disaster legal aid around the world, working with clients seeking protection under U.S. & international law. She’s a full-time resident of San Miguel de Allende. Rebecca advises deportees from the U.S., migrants in transit, and asylum seekers at the U.S. border. In fall 2018, she spearheaded central Mexico’s legal aid response to the migrant caravans, providing individual consultations and know-your-rights presentations to hundreds of migrants on what to expect at the border.
Careen Shannon is an attorney, writer and former law professor who has focused on U.S. immigration law and policy for nearly 30 years. She’s the co-author of several books, and author of many articles, about immigration law and global migration. She’s made numerous trips to the U.S.-Mexico border to provide pro bono legal services to immigrant families held by the U.S. government in detention camps.
Rebecca and Careen sit on the Board of Directors for the Latin American Relief Fund, which supports Albergue ABBA, a migrant shelter in central Mexico.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal faith inviting its community to gather around a set of harmonizing values and principles for living. Our UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Belief in a divinity is not the central issue around which we gather for worship and generous action. Rather, we come together with a belief in community, love, compassion, social justice, reverence for nature, and the spirituality of music, all within the interconnected web of existence.
UUFSMA donates generously to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button.
To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST. Enjoy previous services at https://www.youtube.com/UUFSMA.
In addition to continuing live Zoom services, UUFSMA has returned to in-person Sunday services. Reservations are no longer necessary. UUFSMA meets at the hotel: Posada de la Aldea on Ancha San Antonio 15.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Sunday Service
“It Takes a Village: One Migrant Family’s Journey to Safety”
Speaker: Rebecca Eichler & Careen Shannon
Sun., Mar. 5, 10:30am
Posada de la Aldea Hotel
Ancha de San Antonio 15
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513
