By Khalida Sarwari
San Jose’s Hispanic community is invited to a meeting tonight about issues facing the immigrant community.
The meeting was organized by the group Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, or SIREN, to address issues members of the immigrant Hispanic community may have misconceptions about, SIREN spokeswoman Jazmin Segura said.
SIREN’S policy director, Zelica Rodriguez, will discuss San Jose’s car impoundment program and inform residents about their rights if they are detained by homeland security.
Segura said the Secure Communities program, which requires fingerprints of those booked into local jails to be shared with federal immigration authorities, will also be a key discussion topic.
“It has been in the news a lot and I think that there’s a lot of confusion in the immigrant community regarding how this program works and how it’s impacting the community,” Segura said. “We want to make sure that communities feel safe and that they can contact local law enforcement.”
The meeting will be held in Spanish from 6 to 8 p.m. at Centro Communitario Seven Trees, located at 3590 Cas Drive.
Segura said the group hopes to launch a more comprehensive campaign next year to address issues that face the Vietnamese and other immigrant communities facing deportation or having immigration issues.