
Solidaridad Central Jersey
Who We Are
Solidaridad Central Jersey is a group of volunteer community members created to support our immigrant neighbors. Our primary work is to assist with the submission of asylum applications.

Our Mission
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To support our neighbors seeking asylum
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To increase their chances of finding legal representation

What We Do
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Operate a Pro Se Clinic to assist our neighbors in making their best case for asylum.
Pro Se means “For Oneself”
Our clinic supports the neighbor; they make the decisions about their case.
We are not lawyers and provide no legal advice to our neighbors. We have an attorney review team who provides consultation/review of applications but does not represent our neighbors. Our volunteers receive training from immigration experts prior to beginning their work with our neighbors.
Our Values
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No Judgment about:
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Who should be here
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Strength or weakness of case
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Personal story of neighbor, family or community
Respect:
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Human dignity has no levels
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No one is “illegal”
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We don’t save people -we help
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Decisions belong to neighbor
Do No Harm:
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Anonymity
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Confidentiality
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If not sure ask
Board of Trustees
Ericka Deglau, President has volunteered with Solidaridad since 2019, participating in its first volunteer training seminars and some of the organization’s first efforts to assist neighbors with asylum applications. She joined the leadership team in 2023 and subsequently, the newly formed board of trustees, where she assists with planning and development, volunteer and intern recruitment, training and scheduling. Professionally, Ms. Deglau, who holds an MSW and a PhD in Anthropology, has worked on community-based initiatives in child welfare prevention and HIV/AIDS services in NYC and NJ. In 2006, she developed and became the director of an intensive weekend MSW program designed for human services employees for Rutgers University’s School of Social Work, where she also taught policy courses as a faculty member, retiring in 2022. Locally, Ms. Deglau served as a Commissioner on Princeton’s Human Services Commission for 6 years, where she led a sub-committee that organized a community needs assessment during the pandemic, in collaboration with partners at Princeton University. The daughter of immigrants who were able to immigrate to the U.S. as the result of UN conventions and US policies for refugees and displaced persons established in the aftermath of WW 2, Ericka is committed to the principle of asylum.
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Kathleen Cassidy, Vice President joined the Solidaridad Leadership team in 2020 and has served as a Volunteer and Training Coordinator, becoming one of the founding members of the Board of Trustees in 2023. She interfaces with various Princeton University Departments and projects to recruit volunteers as well as chairing Solidaridad’s Development Committee. Ms. Cassidy has a Masters in Social Work and is retired from a 30-year career in the New Jersey Department of Human Services. She focused on policy and program development in the areas of mental health, children’s services and housing. After retirement, she worked as a consultant with various Mercer County non-profits. She has long been an advocate for immigrants and organized efforts to ensure that Dreamers (DACA) recipients received information and assistance with applications for the program.
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John Heilner, Treasurer helped found Solidaridad in 2018, served on the organization’s Leadership Team and, in 2023, became a founding member of the Board of Trustees. He initially served as the principal outreach person to asylum seekers through his network of contacts in the immigrant community in Princeton and Trenton. He has also recruited volunteers through the Access & Inclusion Office at Princeton University. John serves on Solidaridad’s Development Committee. Mr. Heilner holds bachelor’s (Princeton) and master’s (University of Michigan) degrees in engineering and a Harvard MBA. He worked in many parts of the transportation business - aircraft manufacturing, an airline, a major travel agency, and finally, as a consultant to large travel purchasers. After retiring, Mr. Heilner became involved in immigration through coaching youth soccer in Trenton. He has served as Treasurer of Mercer Street Friends and the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He served on the Princeton Human Services Commission for 12 years, founding its Immigration Subcommittee, which helped rewrite the town’s Police Immigrant Directive, fights wage theft, and provides “Know Your Rights” information and other outreach.
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Joyce Campbell, MSW, LCSW, Secretary, joined Solidaridad in January 2025 as a Board Member. Joyce is the Principal of Common Good Consulting, LLC, founding the firm after retiring from a full-time successful career as a social worker and nonprofit leader. During her career, Joyce honed her skills in building relationships, collaborations and organizations. The goal has always been for the work to benefit all, to nurture the belief that all have a responsibility to the whole, that where one benefits, we all benefit. Joyce is passionate about work that reduces poverty in America and that gives voice to those with lived experience. Joyce retired in December 2024 as Chief Executive Officer of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) which serves the Trenton area’s food and nutrition insecure and provides services that increase self-sufficiency and improve the quality of life. During her tenure TASK doubled its meal distribution as well as doubling the organization’s budget and assets, and increased programs and services to those in need. Prior to her employment at TASK, Joyce worked for 20 years at Catholic Charities of Trenton, where she was associate executive director for External Affairs. A professional social worker, Joyce earned her MSW degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Joyce is a founding board member of the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness and served on various Mercer County human service-related committees. Joyce has been recognized for her work on several occasions by legislators and the community, culminating with receiving the NJ Office of the Food Security Advocate’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2024.Joyce also serves as a field liaison and field placement specialist for Rutgers University Graduate School of Social Work, and has guest lectured for several social work courses.
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Alan Paluck, Clinic Coordinator joined the Board of Trustees in 2025 and continues to serve as Clinic Coordinator. He joined Solidaridad in 2019, assisting neighbors in a variety of ways from providing rides to their ICE supervision meetings and court dates to taking an active role with Solidaridad’s Pro Se Clinic as team interviewer. In 2020, he volunteered to serve as Pro Se Clinic Coordinator (one of two Coordinators at that time) and became a member of Solidaridad’s Leadership Team. Currently Mr. Paluck continues to coordinate the Clinic, performing a variety of functions to maintain a sustainable service of asylum support for our neighbors. Mr. Paluck has a Masters in Special Education and a professional certificate in educational administration and worked as an educator for 44 years in several Connecticut public schools, primarily in urban settings. He became interested in volunteering to work with undocumented neighbors as a natural outgrowth of his prior professional background in working with disadvantaged and disenfranchised children and adolescents and their families.
Theodore J. Fetter became a member of the Board of Trustees in 2025. He has volunteered with Solidaridad Central Jersey since 2022, assisting in the pro se process. Professionally, he earned a A.B. degree from Lafayette College and a Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in US history. His work involved more recent history and research into both public administration and law. Tenure-track academic positions did not develop, so he found a career in judicial administration, a new career path in the 1970s. He began as a consultant and researcher/writer at the National Center for State Courts from 1974-78. Then he managed the state courts of Wyoming from 1979 to 1981. And then he moved to New Jersey and soon became the Deputy Administrative Director of the Courts, working in New Jersey from 1982 to 2008, when he retired. Along the way he wrote several books and articles on court planning, budgeting methods, court histories, and court operations in rural areas. He taught at court-related institutes and appeared often as a public speaker. With the New Jersey courts he became very familiar with court interpreting, the impact of the courts on minority and marginalized persons, and internal audit. In retirement he's been an active volunteer. Much of that has related to his faith, Unitarian Universalism, in his local congregation of Princeton, in regional and statewide activity, and at a national level. He is very involved with racial justice and immigration activities and has chaired or co-chaired many state and national studies. Other volunteer work includes support for inmates through People and Stories/gente y cuentos, and activities with the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice, and Solidaridad Central Jersey.
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Bill Wakefield, Trustee Emeritus, joined Solidaridad in 2022 as a notetaker and interviewer and joined the leadership team in 2023, becoming one of SCJ’s founding board members that same year. Bill began his immigration efforts with the Latin American Legal Defense and Education fund, serving on the Board, teaching ESL and leading the ID Card effort in Princeton. As part of First Friends, he was a visitor with detained immigrants at the Elizabeth Detention Center and served on the FF Board. As a result of his visits, as a Sponsor, he was able to achieve a release for an asylum seeker from Kashmir. Bill chaired the Immigration Conference sponsored by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. In addition to immigration, he has been active in mass incarceration efforts working with several local organizations. In 2016 Bill was awarded the “Bud” Vivian award by the Princeton Area Community Foundation in recognition of his advocacy and work on social justice issues. Bill was a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Cornell University and spent his career managing engineering and construction projects worldwide. *Solidaridad and the wider Princeton community is deeply saddened by Bill’s loss on May 5, 2025.
Solidaridad was created in 2018 by local Princeton/Mercer County volunteers concerned about possible ICE raids that would disrupt the lives of our immigrant neighbors. A rapid response team was created to immediately respond to the home of a neighbor if a raid occurred. It was soon clear that this was not occurring and the primary activity became rides to ICE offices in Newark and Mt.Laurel. By early 2020 a Solidaridad ProSe Clinic was created to support our neighbors with asylum applications. A once a week clinic was established at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church.
When the COVID pandemic caused in-person activity to shut down the Pro-Se clinic went virtual and we have been operating primarily on WhatsApp ever since. We have found this both efficient and flexible and it allows for multiple teams to be operating on independent schedules.