Around 50 people gathered on the Bulloch County Courthouse south lawn Saturday to protest for the human rights of immigrants and in support of those experiencing fear and uncertainty because of the Trump administration’s threats and actions.

It was the second of a series of Saturday protests regarding various aspects of the new administration’s policies. The Young Democrats of Bulloch County is one organizing group, but the Saturday, March 1, demonstration also involved volunteers from the recently formed Migrant Support Group of Bulloch County.

So one of the tables set up on the lawn – with improvised paperweights on a windy afternoon – carried information from and about this group. Julianna Leverette, one of the event organizers, said they are partnering with different organizations not only to protest but to provide useful information and moral support to individuals.

“One of the things that we all feel really passionate about is making sure that people in this local area have resources that they can take with them to apply in their everyday life regardless of what’s going on in the news, or in the media,” Leverette said. “On a larger scale, we want to be able to give them local support and let them know that they have community here.”

Another table was a “sign making station,” with markers and poster board. 

“People are welcome to bring their own sign, but we also wanted people to feel like they can just walk up, ask questions about what we’re doing, and have a genuine conversation, regardless of what side you’re on, and learn more. So, if they feel passionate about it after learning more, they can make a sign and stand with us too,” she said.

Some of Saturday’s messages on signs included, “Respect our Existence or Expect Resistance,” “Immigrants Built This Nation,” “We’re All in This Together,” and back from the previous weekend’s more generic protest, “Choose Love,” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

Migrant Support Group

The Migrant Support Group, which has held a few meetings of its own, had some printed materials to share with immigrants’ families.

Noemi Mijares, a Support Group volunteer, spoke briefly in English and Spanish about the availability of these materials, including laminated “Know Your Rights” wallet cards that include a space to write a lawyer’s contact information, just in case. She noted that the group is developing volunteer teams, such as one with licensed drivers who can drive for individuals who do not have a license.

In an interview, Mijares, who was born in Mexico but is now a naturalized U.S. citizen, explained that the president’s orders for mass deportations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and attempt to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents have combined with rumors to spread fear even among immigrants who are legal residents or citizens, and their children as well.

Her daughter, 11, and son, 15, are students at William James Middle School and Statesboro High.

“My daughter actually faced that a couple weeks ago, and that was a huge topic that we talked about at our last migrant support meeting,” Mijares said. “A lot of her friends weren’t coming to school. There were texts that were going around in the system with all the kiddos texting each other, ‘Don’t come to school on this date because ICE is going to be there.’ It turned out that was not the case, but it was the fear, and we saw a lot of the kids didn’t show up.”

Even before that, when President Donald Trump first arrived back in office, a number of local families kept children home from school, and then when they did go, “they would be on the bus crying,” Mijares said. “It was very hard, even for myself. I got scared, because obviously of the birthright citizenship rights of my kids, and I’m like, if they take my citizenship away what’s going to happen to my children?”

She hasn’t been to Mexico in years, and her children speak English, not Spanish. So if taken back to Mexico, “We would feel completely out of place, because that’s not our home, this in our home, and we came here because this is our dreamland, you know, and we got to make our dreams come true,” said Mijares.

Her approach has been to supply documents to her children and the schools.

“So right now they carry their birth certificates as well as my naturalization certificate in their backpacks, the school system has one on  file,  I carry one, and in case anything happens I’ve kind of educated them on what  to say and what not  to say to ICE,” she said.

Adrienne Cohen, not an immigrant herself but a key organizer of the Support Group, explained her motivation.

“Well, I guess the whole idea of ‘Love your neighbor,’ is involved, you know,” Cohen said. “We’re supposed to care for all of our neighbors and not just some of our neighbors, and people are scared, and the thing is that, for me, I feel like I can have a voice, I can feel safe. I don’t have to worry about somebody coming and arresting me from ICE, or whatever, and sending me somewhere. So  I want to use my voice to do  what I can to  reach out  and make sure people know what their rights are.”

The group, she said, would also help to provide support to family members left behind if any of their loved ones were detained or deported.

Leverette said she wasn’t a Young Democrats member but had partnered with the group as an organizer and added, “It’s nonpartisan. I really want to stress that too. It’s about community more so than politics.”

The other lead organizer of the protest series, Madeline Ryan Smith, is the Bulloch County Democratic Committee vice chair and Democratic Party of Georgia Disability Caucus chair, and ran for a Georgia House seat last year.

Next Saturday’s, protest, announced for 12-3 p.m., falls on International Women’s Day.

“We are going to have a rally here, probably with more speakers, similar to what our Rallies for Roe in the past looked like, but it’s going to be focused on, obviously, women’s rights, women’s empowerment, but mostly focused on Georgia’s Heartbeat Bill, banning reproductive health care and all of the cuts with Medicaid,” Smith said.