The Welcoming Network was formed by Santa Cruz neighbors in 2020 as a network of “welcoming teams” embracing asylum seekers and other refugees newly arrived in our communities. Now, six years later, President Trump’s mass deportation efforts have brought about a new reality: suddenly, many thousands of our longtime neighbors have been made into refugees in their own community.

In 2025, we gathered to consider how to respond to this new reality.  First, we decided to reinforce our support for security and legal aid for the many families we have accompanied, past and present.  

Second, we expanded our criteria for accompaniment to include asylum seekers and other refugees who have been in the U.S. for a longer period of time. 

Third, we recognized that families affected by ICE abductions are traumatized and thrown into crisis so we expanded our agenda to form community support teams for those families as well. 

Fourth and finally, we recognized that while we do not have the capacity to form community support teams across our whole region–especially in the more vulnerable communities to our south–we do have resources, experience, and other capacities to share. So we decided to begin to act in partnership with the larger network of neighborly self-defense that has emerged in our region over the past year.

This fourth step is still taking shape. As usual, we are learning by doing. We do know it is necessary to proceed with a deep respect for the self-organization and indigenous leadership of our partner communities: not only because of geographic distances, but also because of inequalities that can stand in the way of real partnership. Those involved have started to refer to this as the Solidarity Team. This team now reports to our network’s gathering at 7pm on the third Tuesday of every month.

So far, the Solidarity Team has begun three efforts:

1. Publicize and promote fundraisers for the Puentes Fund, administered by our partners at Community Bridges, which provides support to families affected by an ICE abduction.  Based on our experience in the Welcoming Network, we don’t think that a one-time grant of money is adequate: families need transitional financial support and on-going community support similar to our welcoming teams. That said, Puentes is an important first step, and Puentes fundraisers are a good way to build a base of support for these families across our region.  They are also an important act of solidarity with our more vulnerable neighbors. 

2. Deepen our engagement with our faith communities.  We believe every one of the hundreds of faith communities in our region has still largely untapped material and spiritual resources to bring into action, including the capacity to conduct a Puentes fundraiser and perform other acts of sanctuary.  We successfully held our first faith-based Puentes fundraiser at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on April 12, 2026. 

3. Outreach to other organizations and networks concerned with supporting vulnerable families in the hope that we might contribute to community support (or mutual aid) across our region for families affected by ICE detentions.

The Solidarity Team invites members of the Welcoming Network to join in this and similar work as they are inspired and able.  A good way to do that is to attend the monthly gathering on the third Tuesday of each month at 7pm on Zoom. 

13 April 2026 | Written by Paul Johnston