Packed house in Goshen hears about resources to protect immigrants - South Bend Tribune

A Democratic Party meeting on immigration in Goshen, Indiana, drew a capacity crowd to discuss community support and resources.

Speakers urged attendees to vote, use their voices and support local immigrant-owned businesses.

Indiana houses four immigration detention centers, and a new state bill could expand cooperation with ICE.

Local organizations like the National Immigration Justice Center and the Center for Healing and Hope offer legal and health services to immigrants.

GOSHEN — A Goshen College student held back tears as she read a classmate's story to a silent, attentive crowd.

“You see, I carry my U.S. passport because I have been granted the privilege to have one, though, just like the dollar, I feel like it’s losing its value,” Ashley Garcia Coto said as she presented the anonymous story. “There are terrible things happening outside at any time of night and day, poor hopeless people are being dragged out of their homes.

“They’re allowed to only take a knapsack and a little cash with them and even then, they're robbed of their possessions on the way, families torn apart, men, women and children are separated.”

A Democratic Party Meeting on Immigration had the Goshen Theater bursting at its seams. There were people standing lined against the back wall or standing on the stairway to the balcony, unable to find an empty seat in the Miller Auditorium, which seats 558 people.

All these people showed up Tuesday, Feb. 17, to talk about immigration enforcement concerns, how to support their immigrant neighbors and the various resources available to the community. The forum, sponsored by the Goshen City Democratic Party, featured 10 speakers and various informational booths outside the auditorium.

“Do what you can with what you’ve got, where you are … Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th president, offered that powerful advice more than 100 years ago,” said Richard Aguirre, the host and co-leader of the Coalition Against the Elkhart County Immigration Detention Center. “I offer it to remind you that we can resist policies and wrongs that we believe are unjust and help brothers and sisters who are suffering from injustice.

“By doing what we can, with what you are, where we are living in our county, the only way we can make a difference is through collective action, so doing those kind of small things will have a big impact.”

Students with Voces Fuertes, an immigrant advocacy group at Goshen College, shared anonymous stories from the Goshen College community.

Voces Fuertes is a student-led organization that is dedicated to uplifting immigrant voices and people who are marginalized, according to student Ariana Montiel. The organization advocates for immigrant justice and empowerment.

An uncomfortable truth

Indiana houses four immigration detention centers: Clark County Jail, Clay County Jail, Clinton County Sheriff's Office and Miami Correctional Facility.

Miami Correctional Facility has 558 beds occupied out of 1,000; Clay County Jail has about 268 immigrants; Clinton County Sheriff's Office has an estimated 22 immigrants; and Clark County Jail has upward of 95 immigrants, according to Felipe Merino, an immigration and criminal defense attorney in Goshen.

In a press release from U.S. Rep. André Carson (D-7th) from July 2025, he confirmed reports that Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Indiana, will be used for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment. On July 15, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sent a letter to New Jersey Congressman Herb Conaway (D-3rd) outlining the plan to use that Indiana National Guard facility and Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey as temporary facilities, as reported in The Courier Post.

“We haven’t seen the activity here that we saw in Chicago, or that we saw in Minnesota … but ICE has its hands in the community in a different way, because the state government is very, very cooperative,” Merino said.

The Indiana House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 76 Feb. 12. The bill would penalize governmental bodies and universities for limiting immigration enforcement, require law enforcement to hold immigrants for 48 hours if requested to by ICE and prohibit employers from knowingly or unknowingly employing an undocumented immigrant, according to reporting by The IndyStar. The Senate author must now accept or reject changes made to the bill in the House.

“The state government is opening the doors for ICE to do whatever they want to do here, and that’s why they can detain as many people as they do without having to come in and wreak havoc in the streets, even though I wouldn’t put it past them,” Merino said.

What can you do?

The consensus throughout the night was simple: Vote and use your voice.

“Some of our speakers tonight will be giving you some actions you can take to support your immigrant neighbors and support local groups doing good work in this area, but there is another way you can take action, which is to vote for better policies and better leaders,” Goshen City Democratic Party Chair Paul Stauffer said.

One student speaker, Sheila Herrera, urges people to keep using their voice even when it feels like nobody hears them.

“Your voice does matter. Even though you feel like no one’s hearing, someone is hearing you,” Herrera said. “If you are out protesting or marching, you know that it is being recognized and you're not doing" nothing.

Speaker Rafael Barahona, 2025 board chair for the Goshen Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the importance of placing community over convenience.

“Everyone likes deals and there’s a convenience in Amazon, but we can all shop local,” Barahona said. “We can go to lots of businesses that are owned by immigrants, entrepreneurs and support our local community in that way.”

Another speaker, Jane Ross Richer, immigrant resource coordinator with the Center for Healing and Hope, said the best support comes from financial donations, helping keep the local food pantry stocked and by forming a circle of care.

“One way you could show up right now is by forming a circle of care with three or four families you already know through your church or other organization to welcome and accompany an immigrant family in our community who is navigating extraordinary circumstances,” Ross Richer said.

What resources are available?

The National Immigration Justice Center supports the immigrant community through providing legal services for low-income immigrants, according to Lisa Koop, NIJC director of legal services. The NIJC has an office in Goshen.

The NIJC utilizes four strategies for defending justice for immigrants: direct legal services, impact litigation, policy advocacy and strategic communications.

“We represent asylum seekers. We represent survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking,” Lisa Koop said. “We represent clients facing family separation through detention and deportation, and our clients have been hurting for the last year.”

While immigration operations in Elkhart may not look like what is happening in Chicago or Minneapolis, enforcement is a little less obvious.

Most detainments happen because of minor criminal infractions like driving without a license or through regular check in's with ICE, according to Koop. Immigrants that have already received authorizations to work are being summoned for check in's sometimes as far away as Chicago. What Koop is seeing is people appearing for check in's and then being taken into custody.

“Over the course of the last year, a lot of our work has shifted to detain work, so we’re learning about community members that have been taken into ICE custody that are in jail in Kentucky or in southern Indiana and we're trying to defend against their deportation and help families stay together,” Koop said in a one-on-one interview with The Tribune.

Another close-to-home resource is the Center for Healing and Hope in Elkhart, according to Ross Richer. The center provides affordable health care for the uninsured and advocacy services for immigrants, she said.

“The reason we do this work is because we believe Jesus is calling us to welcome a stranger, care for the sick and feed the hungry,” Ross Richer said. “Now, not every immigrant is a stranger, or sick, or in need of food.

“I believe many immigrants in Elkhart County are doing OK. Immigrants and their families are strong, resilient and creative people.”

The center has put together an Immigrant Resource Guide that lays out resources for medical services, legal help, food pantries, soup kitchens, clothing pantries, ID cards and advocacy, English classes, citizenship classes, libraries, adult education, public school, higher education, children and parenting, interpretation/translation, financial institutions, employment agencies, housing, city services, transportation, consulates, help lines and other services.