INDIANAPOLIS — A central Indiana nonprofit is working to help those who are dealing with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the state's immigration enforcement.
“We are talking in a sense of these people not being human. I think there is this need to have a basic sense of empathy. I don’t know where that went,” COIN Executive Director Lucia Mercado told WRTV on Wednesday.
Mercado is working to help immigrants and organizations in a time of uncertainty.
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“We pivot our efforts to fit what’s most urgent,” Mercado said.
Coalition for Our Immigrant Neighbors (COIN) is a team of service providers working together to facilitate and coordinate community efforts to provide legal, psychological, and other services to immigrants in central Indiana.
“The current environment against immigrants and refugees is taking a toll, meaning they don’t know what is real or not, what ICE can and cannot do,” William Esquivel said.
Esquivel works with schools in central Indiana to best support its clients.
“It’s shocking to see that there aren’t many people who have anyone else who might have a citizenship status, who could take care of the kids if they are taken away. We are not talking about criminals, we are talking about regular people,” Esquivel said.
Now, the nonprofit is working to guide organizations and immigrants.
“I would just say have some empathy and look at these people as people because they are humans,” Mercado said.
For more information on COIN, click here.
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