Human Rights and Diversity - 08/10/2023
APPROVED MINUTES
EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS & DIVERSITY COMMISSION THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023 7:00 P.M., EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER Office of Housing and Community Services
COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Leeper (Chair), Shahram Missaghi, (Vice Chair), Sana Elassar, Philip Skeie, Asad Aliweyd, Samuel Griffin, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver, Zaheer Khan, Christine Kleckner, Jody Knight, Brenda Pfahnl, Kuhu Singh
COMMISSION STAFF: Megan Yerks, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m. Commission Members Griffin, Kleckner, and Pfahnl were absent. Khan attended virtually and Missaghi arrived during the staff report. II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS
There were no guests in attendance.
III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION: Skeie moved, seconded by Weaver, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 7-0.
IV. APPROVAL OF THE JULY 13, 2023 MEETING MINUTES
MOTION: Urbanski moved, seconded by Khan, to approve the minutes dated July 13, 2023. Motion carried 7-0. V. COMMUNITY PRESENTATION – SANA ELASSAR, EL PASO – THE PASSAGE
Yerks said Commissioner Elassar will discuss her experience in El Paso. She also said Elassar shared this experience at the Human Library at PeopleFest. She shared that she was traveled twice during Covid to work unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border. Unaccompanied minors have no legal status to be in the United Stated. Elassar said she was stationed at Fort Bliss
in Texas in 2021. This is one of the largest sites that takes in unaccompanied minors and holds
approximately 10,000 kids. At the time she was deployed, she was the only safety officer and at that time there were 7,000 kids there. The age range was from 13 to 17 years of age. Elassar pointed out that this site has been converted into an ORR Influx site as of June 2022. Elassar commented that most on the unaccompanied minors come from Guatemala, which is
approximately 2,500 miles away. The percentage of the Guatemala minors are 48 percent. Minors