Bucks County immigrants brainstorm, advocate for more welcoming policies

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Around 50 people gathered at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown on Wednesday night to discuss welcoming policies for Bucks County’s growing immigrant community.

The event, hosted and organized by The Welcoming Center’s Immigrant Leadership Institute program, encouraged attendees to name challenges they face as immigrants and offer solutions for county officials to consider.

Andrea Lawton, one of the organizers, described it as a “big listening campaign.” Community members broke out into groups to brainstorm issues and potential solutions, which will eventually be shared with the county commissioners.

Participants’ suggestions included sharing more bilingual information about public transportation schedules; providing accessible English classes virtually rather than in-person; and expanding access to and knowledge about medical resources for community members without health insurance.

According to the most recent U.S. Census data, 10.2% of county residents are foreign-born — that’s almost double the percentage compared to 24 years ago, when the foreign-born population was 5.9%. As of 2020, more than 6% of Bucks County residents are Hispanic or Latino. In 2000, just 2.3% of the county’s population was Hispanic or Latino.

Aurelio Chavez Morales has also seen the region’s Latino immigrant community grow more “each day.” He moved to Bucks County from Mexico 24 years ago and is grateful for the resources that exist, such as the Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic at Doylestown Hospital that provides low-cost medical and dental services for residents who lack health insurance.

In addition to more English classes for newly arrived immigrants and computation classes at the local level, Chavez would also like to see statewide change to support Bucks immigrants by allowing all Pennsylvania residents to obtain a driver’s license regardless of their immigration status. That was previously the law until requirements changed in 2002 stipulating residents needed to have a regularized immigration status.

Not having a license is a huge cost and barrier for many immigrants living and working in Bucks County, Chavez said, and is “very necessary” for daily life activities, such as just getting to work or dropping kids off at school.

Katey Marseglia, Bucks County human services hub coordinator, was present at the meeting and told participants she was there “to listen” — which Lawton said was the goal of the event.

“We want [county officials] to know that we are here to help and collaborate with them,” Lawton said. “And vice versa, we need their collaboration, and coming from the people, from the community, is better, because they had the opportunity to be here and listen, and to know that we are here. And we are powerful.”

The event Wednesday night was the second gathering held at Mercer Museum for La Red de Liderazgo, a WhatsApp group Lawton started three years ago for Latino immigrants in Bucks County. There are currently 360 members and the group is growing — Lawton said it’s a space for immigrant residents to support one another and connect. They hope to organize more events in the future.

“I’m very proud of them,” Lawton said of the attendees at the event. “Because they were here, they were talking about their needs, and they’re not as scared anymore.”