Panelists confirmed for community discussion on ICE

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Investigative Post has finalized its lineup of speakers at our Nov. 5 event focused on ICE and immigration.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, 695 Elmwood Ave. It is free and open to the public. 

The event will feature a panel of speakers who work daily with immigrants and refugees, followed by a question-and-answer session. The program will begin with a presentation by J. Dale Shoemaker of his reporting on ICE raids, arrests and detentions of migrants in the region and the detention center in Batavia.

Confirmed panelists include:

• Jennifer Connor, executive director of Justice for Migrant Families.
• Pamela Bos Kefi, CEO of Journey’s End Refugee Services.
• Brittany Triggs, immigration attorney for the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project.
• Ba Zan Lin, an asylum seeker-turned U.S. citizen from Burma.

Connor’s Justice for Migrant Families provides support to those detained at the ICE detention center in Batavia and their families. Her previous advocacy has included work for the Green Light New York campaign, the Fund Excluded Workers coalition and national movements resisting global militarization and nuclearism. 

Kefi’s Journey’s End Refugee Services helps refugees settle in the Western New York region. She previously served as executive director of the International Institute of Buffalo. Kefi’s career in refugee and human services began when she was a PeaceCorps volunteer in Tunisia.

Triggs, as an immigration staff attorney with the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project, represents immigrants in removal proceedings and before U.S. Customs and Immigration Services. She previously worked in immigrant-serving legal service organizations in Miami and Chicago and taught English in Honduras. 

Ba Zan Lin is a leader in the Burmese community here in Buffalo. He will discuss his background as a political asylee who later became an American citizen. He is a strong advocate for immigrant rights. 

Other upcoming events being presented by Investigative Post include:

• A book club discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. at Fitz Books, 1462 Main St., on The Death of Truth by Steven Brill.
• Geoff Kelly and Jim Heaney interviewing mayor-in-waiting Sean Ryan on Friday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. the Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave.