Questions kept flowing two hours into the Immigrant Justice Meet-Up & Info Session Thursday night in the side room of Rojo on Highland, and the two dozen who attended weren’t ready to stop.

Queries came about efforts to send immigrants out of the country, sometimes – if not often – denying them their right to due process. It was enough to leave some disheartened.

But Celsa Stallworth, a Mexican immigrant and an organization manager with ACLU of Alabama, sent everyone home on a high note.

“Let’s acknowledge what we have achieved here tonight,” Stallworth said. “Let’s acknowledge that. Let’s acknowledge what you learned and what we felt.  We are in a movement time; there’s a lot of overwhelming. Let’s celebrate us, celebrate each other.”

Prior to the panel discussion and Q&A session, Allison Hamilton of the Alabama Coalition of Immigrant Justice said that immigrants are not receiving justice today.

“I don’t think we’ve seen this kind of intentional mass deportation since the era of the Great Depression, when I think over a million people were deported to Mexico, many of whom were U.S. citizens,” she said. “But this is the first time in recent history that we’ve seen this level of just xenophobia to the level of rounding people up and kicking them out.”

Hamilton said it’s worse now because President Trump feels that he’s more empowered than he was in his first term.

“It’s worse because, unfortunately, they’re a lot more prepared this time,” she said. “You can see that a lot of what Congress and the administration have put together, put in place over the last eight years, or four years, really, has made it a lot easier for Trump to move quickly and do a lot more damage in a short amount of time.

“Basically, the stage was set to do these things.”

Thursday’s meet-up was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham. Stallworth said she hoped the session would counter the negative narrative that’s been placed on immigrants across the country. That narrative, Stallworth said, amplified by media and disinformation, is harming the immigrant community, almost making actions that have hurt or separated families seem justifiable.

Stallworth, a Mexican immigrant, said the end does not justify the means when it comes to that negative narrative.

Kathy Jones is president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. She said members of her organization have been watching in horror at what’s been happening to people who are immigrants and immigrant students in the community.

“So many people who are living their lives are being basically scooped up and taken without any due process and basically disappeared,” Jones said. “We’re very concerned about that. The solution to that is to get organized so that people can understand what’s happening and also to try to find ways to help protect the people who are being taken from their homes.”

The lively discussion included questions about what college students could do to potentially combat being taken from their dorm rooms. The consensus was that immigrant students need to “be prepared” with a plan of who will call an attorney to lobby on their behalf.

Panelists talked about establishing an ICE Watch – similar to a neighborhood watch – to maintain a lookout against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

“Trump gave them the green light to go into protected spaces,” Hamilton said, “but we don’t have to give the green light back. You can stand up to them.”

The audience received information for dealing with being approached by ICE. That included a red card with information in English on one side and Spanish on the other, including the phrase, “I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.”

Someone attending the event asked whether ICE agents could enter a polling place. Speakers said the tactic couldn’t be dismissed as impossible.

“That’s a tactic that’s used to intimidate groups,” Stallworth said. “We have a voter protection hotline because we definitely don’t want that to be there. You can call in and report intimidation.”

Thursday’s meet-up was the second of four sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Upcoming events are 6 p.m. on May 20 at Yellowhammer Brewery in Huntsville and 11:30 a.m. on June 3 at Grace Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa.