07/03/2025
Dear friends,
The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) is creating rapid response teams in several counties, including Franklin, to assist those impacted by ICE arrests. PIRC will offer an Information Session on Monday, July 7, 10:00 am at First United Methodist Church in Chambersburg. Please see the document below dated March 2025.
Please share with others who you think might be interested. If you have any questions I will do my best to forward them to PIRC and get back to you in a timely manner. Please RSVP to [email protected]
Thank you.
Mark R. Terwilliger, Pastor
First United Methodist Church
225 South Second Street
Chambersburg, PA 17201
(717) 263-8491
March 17, 2025
Dear Community Member,
In February, more than 20,000 individuals were arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) nationwide. That’s a 627% percent increase in monthly arrests according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. Behind those numbers are loved ones who have been impacted by the arrests. Some are children. Many depend on the income of the arrested individual.
The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) along with several community organizations have joined together to create a rapid response team that will assist Pennsylvania residents who have been impacted by an ICE arrest. The geographic area we will serve includes Adams, York, Dauphin, Lancaster and Franklin Counties. We will establish a hotline so that affected individuals or organizations that serve these individuals can call and request assistance. The assistance we intend to provide will be legal services, health care (physical and mental), housing assistance, food, and transportation vouchers.
To launch and maintain this initiative, we need volunteers. This is where you can help! We need volunteers to:
• Answer calls to the hotline and complete a basic intake
• Connect people to services by completing a more detailed intake and a referral to relevant community organizations
• Confirm that the person in need received the services
All volunteers will be trained. Second language proficiency is not required. However, volunteers will need to submit three clearances (FBI finger printing, PA child abuse history, and the PA background check). If you already have valid clearances, these can be sent to PIRC. There is also a mandatory video to watch on preventing sexual abuse and molestation of children. PIRC will cover the expense of registering for the video and obtaining the clearances.
If you are interested in assisting with this initiative, please provide your contact information to a working committee representative or email your contact information to [email protected].
The Rapid Response Team will be emailing out next-steps to all volunteers the week of March 24th.
Thank you for your compassion and interest in this project!
With respect,
Andrew Baranoski
