October 2026 FLPIR Newsletter
Turning Outrage into Action
Dear Friends,
As we go to press, the massive secretive detention of immigrants continues across the country, separating thousands of families from their loved ones. We mourn the death of 36-year-old Costa Rican immigrant Carlos Josue Marchena-Marchena, who died in ICE custody on Sept. 18, 2026 because he was not able to access medicine for his diabetes. Yet another immigrant, Wilber Perez, a 26-year-old DoorDash driver from Venezuela, was recently shot in the chest while in his car.
At the same time, we celebrate the release of Bay Area nurse Maureen Wanjiru Ngure from detention. Fortunately her lawyers were able to block her deportation to Equatorial Guinea. She is now reunited with her family in Kenya.
Below are some actions you can take this month to continue to support immigrant rights. Together we can make a difference!
-The FLPIR newsletter team
Turn Outrage into Action: Immigrants, the Courts, and You
Sunday, Oct. 25 from 2-4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center (3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley)
Join us to hear what's really happening in the courts from two former immigration judges and a deputy public defender, along with learning about the many ways you can help immigrants directly.
Learn more and meet our presenters.
No Kings: Vote Early
Saturday, October 17 in the East Bay and across the country
Join a march to encourage early voting in order to ensure that our votes count. With our democracy at stake, let’s all show up on October 17 to encourage unprecedented voter participation in the 2026 Midterm elections.
Information about Bay Area No Kings events.
Nurse Maureen Wanjiru Ngure Deported to Kenya
On Sunday, Sept. 20, at 3 a.m., after five weeks in detention at the Richwood Detention Center in Monroe, Louisiana, Maureen disappeared from DHS data records, indicating that she was in transit. Neither Maureen nor her family knew where she was being sent. In fact, she was sent to Elizabeth Detention Center near Newark, New Jersey.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, we learned that she was taken to JFK Airport, with her arms, legs, and waist shackled. She was placed on a commercial flight to Nairobi, Kenya, her home country. On this flight, she wasn’t shackled or accompanied by ICE agents.
On Wednesday, September 23, she arrived in Nairobi where she was welcomed by her family. Her five-week-long detention nightmare was over. Her husband and children are now reunited with Maureen in Kenya.
Maureen and her family are very grateful for all the support that you, National Nurses United, California Nurses Association, and elected officials, such as Concord Mayor Laura Nakamura, CA Assemblywoman Anamarie Ávila Farías, and Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, have shown. You stood up and spoke out about her detention. As a result, she was not deported to Equatorial Guinea or another third country, but was deported to her home country of Kenya.
Many immigrants have not been so fortunate. We know that tens of thousands of immigrants have been deported to third countries. We need to continue to speak up and take action on behalf of the many thousands of other detainees who are being held in horrendous conditions and/or sent back to dangerous situations in their home countries or to a third country where they do not know anyone and may encounter violence.
Join the Business Outreach Team & Attend the “Know Your Rights Business Outreach” Training
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 5-6 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 9, 4-5 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Support your community with business outreach education and support in San Francisco or the East Bay. You will develop relationships with business owners, managers, and employees, in order to help immigrants and their employers prepare for encounters with immigration enforcement. Join Karen C. and Sherry V. for a 1-hour Zoom training; they have been doing this outreach for a year. You will learn how to approach contacts and receive access to continually-updated materials to share with businesses.
Red Cards Available in Multiple Languages
Do you need Know Your Rights (KYR) Red Cards to pass out to people at your school or work or in your neighborhood? We have red cards in these languages: Spanish, Burmese, Cantonese, simplified Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, Amharic, Portuguese, Hmong, Urdu, Japanese, Thai, Farsi, Tagalog, Korean, and Vietnamese. We also have Spanish/English yellow cards (Rapid Response). Send your request with the amount you are requesting of each language and your mailing address. A small donation is requested.
Join Interfaith Court Vigils at Immigration Courts in S.F. & Concord
Recurring Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; specific times via link below
Locations: In SF, at 630 Sansome Street; In Concord at 1855 Gateway Blvd.
Immigration Courts have become sites of fear and danger for many immigrants who are simply trying to access due process. Join us in creating a sacred corridor of hope, connection, and community, right outside the courtroom doors. Join the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HI) and others to provide comfort, song, presence, and support. Various roles are available to participants.
Volunteer Opportunities with North Star Network
The North Star Network assists individual immigrants living in the U.S. who would like to emigrate to Canada. They have a long waiting list of immigrants who wish to receive free legal support and counseling. Founded by Quaker immigration lawyers, North Star Network provides volunteer counselors with training and mentoring, including weekly follow-up sessions. Volunteer counselors meet immigrants one-on-one on Zoom, to assess eligibility for specific legal pathways to Canada.
If you are interested in becoming a NSN Counselor, complete a NSN volunteer application.
Become a FLPIR volunteer! Help us protect our neighbors and make a difference!
Hand out and explain Know Your Rights cards
Do outreach to businesses
Join “Court Watch” and “Welcome Navigator” programs
Help immigrants prepare Asylum Applications
Adopt a Corner
Help with FLPIR events
More resources
September news articles about ICE, detention centers, children in detention, and more, compiled by FLPIR
Relearning Hope
Inside me is a reservoir of hope.
It has been backed up so long
by a dam of rationality and fear
it has almost forgotten
it was once a river.
It’s become slack and fecund
and way too still.
Once it moved freely,
transforming everything it touched;
once it brought change
and nourishment and life.
Hope was never meant to be trapped,
to be tamed, commodified, it was always
meant to flow through.
Ever since it became a workhorse,
forced into service,
it’s lost its true power.
But lately, each time I
hear a story of someone else’s courage
to meet what is most frightening,
I feel a brick come out of the dam.
And when I am brave myself,
I feel it inside me again,
the rush, the push, the organic
wild current of hope.
- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Please share this newsletter with a friend! Together we can make a difference!