Tell Sourcewell no translation contracts for ICE bounty hunters
Yesterday's election results showed the power of organizing. Now let’s use our momentum to send a clear message to the companies working with ICE: accountability is coming.
Sourcewell, a public agency based in Minnesota, is one of the largest procurement cooperatives in the country. When it approves a vendor, it gives that company a fast track to do business with more than 50,000 local governments, schools and nonprofits. With a wave of messages, we can help bring SOSi’s work for ICE to Sourcewell's attention.
Use the button to open a pre-filled email or copy and paste the message bwlo. Edit to add your name and city, then hit send.
Subject: Concern about Sourcewell’s contract with SOSi
Suggested message:
Dear Board Chair Thiel,
I’m writing to ask Sourcewell to reconsider its cooperative contract for language services with SOSi (contract 081225-SOS), in light of the company’s work for ICE, which you may not be aware of.
SOSi holds an ICE skip tracing contract to locate immigrants for deportation using digital tools and on-the-ground surveillance, and a second contract for what the agency calls “safety verification” checks on unaccompanied immigrant children. These ICE checks have led to children being removed from their homes and relatives who care for them being arrested. Together, SOSi’s contracts helping ICE find immigrants are worth up to $682 million.
Sourcewell’s members use language services to communicate with the very communities ICE is targeting: parents at school conferences, patients at clinics, residents seeking public services. Those families need to trust their interpreters, and that’s hard when the contractor is also locating immigrants, including children, for ICE.
Members count on Sourcewell to vet its vendors. Because Sourcewell awarded this same contract to several other vendors, members would not lose access to language services if it ended the SOSi contract. I respectfully ask that you do so.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your City, State]
Thanks for taking action with us!
Comments