Early Tuesday morning, on January 18, 2011, with a mug of coffee in hand and the windshield wipers on, CAIR-Washington Civil Rights Coordinator Jennifer Gist drove down to St. Leo's Catholic Church in Tacoma for the Northwest Detention Center Roundtable Meeting.

Seated in the church's lobby with activists, volunteers, and representatives of other organizations from the Puget Sound area, the Northwest Detention Center Roundtable brings together diverse activists to network resources, educate our communities, and advocate on behalf of those detained in the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC).

Since CAIR-Washington works with a great number of immigrant and refugee clients,Jennifer attends the bimonthly Roundtable meetings to network with other organizations and to learn more about the Detention Center itself.

Convenient for a newcomer to the NWDC Roundtable meetings such as Jennifer, Tuesday's meeting included an overview of the NWDC, immigration legislation in the United States, and the history of the Roundtable, provided by Mr. Ken Morse, a longtime NWDC advocate and one of the original founders of the Roundtable. After a brief review of immigration history in the United States, Mr. Morse provided an overview of the size and demographics of the Northwest Detention Center. The NWDC Roundtable is intended to bring together activists and organizations to work with underserved detainees at NWDC, providing legal representation, translation services, religious services, job skills, and a connection to their families outside the detention center.

Following Mr. Morse's presentation, Jennifer met two representatives from Congressman Adam Smith's office (who oversees the Congressional District in which the NWDC is located) and set up an appointment to discuss issues of detainees at NWDC not be provided with a Halal diet.  To further discuss this issue, Jennifer and CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari,  will be going to Congressman Smith's office on February 22, 2011.