Film About One Community's Response to Anti-immigrant Violence Comes to Eugene



Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness

 Eugene, Ore.--On October 8th, “Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness”, the third film in the Not In Our Town series, will show in Eugene at the Hult Center.  Not in Our Town is a project of The Working Group, whose mission is to highlight stories of communities taking positive action to fight intolerance

"Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness" documents the story of a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant violence devastates the community. In 2008, a series of attacks against Latino residents of Patchogue, NY culminate with the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived in the Long Island village for 13 years.

The film will be followed by a roundtable community discussion. Participants will include Dan Tichenor, the Philip H. Knight Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon and a Senior Fellow at the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, Rhian Miller, Senior Producer and Co-Founder of The Working Group, City of Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, Ranfis Villatoro, an organizer with CAUSA, Oregon's Immigration Rights Coalition and Juan Carlos Valle, Board President at Centro LatinoAmericano

The program is free and open to the public. Donations accepted at the door.

DATE: Saturday October 8
TIME: 3:00 pm
LOCATION:
Hult Center Studio
1 Eugene Center
Eugene, Oregon

SPACE IS LIMITED--PLEASE RESERVE YOUR SEAT BY REGISTERING HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/195397

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“Dangerous and Intrusive” E-Verify Bill Passes House Committee

September 22, 2011

This press release comes from our allies at the National Immigration Forum. The National Immigration Forum works to create a vision, consensus and strategy that leads to a better, more welcoming America – one that treats all newcomers fairly.

“Dangerous and Intrusive” E-Verify Bill Passes House Committee

Washington, D.C. On September 21, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Legal Workforce Act, legislation that would force all employers to use the E-Verify electronic employment verification system. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, and was passed amid a growing chorus of opposition from conservative, Tea Party, and libertarian groups. Following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum.

“Representative Lamar Smith yesterday came a step closer to forcing every American employer to get permission from the government before hiring. His error-ridden ‘no work list’ is expected to cause hundreds of thousands of American workers to lose their jobs.

It is no wonder that opposition to this bill is coming from opponents of big government. Organizations such as the Tea Party Nation, the Liberty Coalition, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and other conservative and libertarian groups have been raising their voices against mandatory E-Verify. To them, the government databases from which we will all be forced to seek permission to work are a thinly-veiled national ID system, and will interfere with the right of Americans to work. Forcing the E-Verify system on small employers will be a jobs killer and it will set a ‘dangerous and intrusive precedent’ for using the hiring process to check Americans for other purposes, such as payment of taxes.

E-Verify will also leave crops rotting in the fields, and that is why Congress has heard loud and clear from agricultural producers. Much of the agricultural work force is undocumented, and forcing growers to use E-very without first legalizing their workers will put many farms out of business. Thousands of jobs that depend on the operation of those farms will be lost.

House Speaker John Boehner should think twice before bringing this bill to the floor. By letting Lamar Smith control the Republican’s immigration agenda, he is not only making it more difficult to attract the Latino vote, but he is increasingly alienating key supporters of his own party, including agricultural interests and opponents of big government.”

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Equality Assembly to take place on October 5th in Portland

September 20, 2011

Equality Assembly to take place on October 5th in Portland

Portland, Ore. -- On October 5th, in collaboration with Vecinos de Alerta, SOMOS, PPE, and La Iglesia de San Miguel, Causa, Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Organization will hold an Equality Assembly in Portland. This event is part of a campaign to speak to local leaders and raise awareness about issues important to the Latino Community.

What: Portland Equality Assembly
When: Wednesday, October 5th from 6-8 p.m.
Where: Rigler School, 5401 NE Prescott St, Portland Oregon

Local elected leaders will be present to hear testimony from community members in support of:

•  Stopping local law enforcement collaboration with ICE
•  Passing Tuition Equity, so all Oregon students can afford higher education, regardless of immigration status
• Supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members of our community
• Restoring driver’s license access to all Oregonians, regardless of immigration status

For more information about this event, please contact Aeryca Steinbauer at 503-488-0259 or aeryca@causaoregon.org.

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Causa, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Organization, is the largest Hispanic civil and human rights and grassroots advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies.

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Oregonians Speak Out Against Job-Killing E-Verify Bill

September 15, 2011

Oregonians Speak Out Against Job-Killing E-Verify Bill

Portland, Ore.—On Wednesday, members from Oregon’s faith, labor, business, civil rights and immigrant communities spoke out against E-Verify during a press conference in Portland. E-Verify, an internet based computer database run by the Department of Homeland Security, is a voluntary system used by employers to screen prospective employees. The press conference was part of the national day of against the legislation making the flawed program mandatory.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee began to review and vote on Chairman Lamar Smith's (R-TX) House Resolution 2164, the "Legal Workforce Act". HR2164 would make E-Verify mandatory and force employers to perform a computer check for every job applicant against an error-prone government database, before any American worker could start a new job. To resolve any errors, an individual would have to go through a Social Security (SSA) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office, a process that can take, on average, nearly 100 days

This law, if passed, would cause lawful American workers to lose their jobs or be denied employment, an increase the risk of government intrusion, drive jobs into the underground economy, deprive the government of tax revenue, and impose additional costs on small businesses—all without meeting the program's stated purpose of ending the hiring of undocumented workers.

“If E-Verify becomes mandatory, millions of lawful workers will be incorrectly flagged by the system and will have to fight through a government bureaucracy to fix their records. Simple spelling errors or one wrong number can result in a non-confirmation through E-Verify, and it can be a nightmare to get such errors fixed within overburdened federal agencies. It’s likely that a huge number of lawful workers will have their start date delayed or be denied employment,” said Kevin Díaz, Legal Director of the ACLU of Oregon.

“America needs a real solution to upgrade the obsolete immigration system. Lamar Smith's E-Verify bill seeks to remove immigrant workers out of the US economy. The bill is completely unrealistic”, said Natalie Patrick-Knox, Causa’s Portland Organizer. “Immigrant workers are an important and vital part of many industries and the US economy. The real solution is to simply figure out a fair and just way to make undocumented workers and families right by the law, and create a system they can go through, and not around, to make them full members of our society and economy."

Organizers are calling on Oregonians to call their members of Congress and urge them to vote no on the job killing legislation--HR2164.

Speakers during yesterday’s press conference included Kevin Diaz, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, Javier Lara, Organizer for PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union, Jeff Stone, Executive Director of Oregon Association of Nurseries and Co-Chair of the Coalition for a Working Oregon, Promise King, Executive Director of Oregon League of Minority Voters, Ignacio Paramo, MLK Worker Center Director for VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project and Valerie Chapman, Pastoral Administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

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Causa, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Organization, is the largest Latino and Latina civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies. For more information, visit http://www.causaoregon.org/

Contact:

Francisco Lopez, Executive Director, 503.269.5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director, 503.488.0263

RESOURCES:

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VuHEc3uNwU

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OR Groups Speak Out About E-Verify

OR Groups Speak Out About E-Verify
Chris Thomas, Public News Service - OR
September 15, 2011
AUDIO: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/mp3.php?f=rss-22179-1.mp3
PORTLAND, Ore. - From immigrants' rights groups to religious, labor and business organizations, more than a dozen groups in Oregon joined in a national day of action on Wednesday to voice their united opposition to the Electronic Employment Verification System (EEVS), commonly known as E-Verify. It is a government database that some employers use to check the immigration status of workers or job applicants. In a few states, its use is mandatory, but not in Oregon. However, a bill in Congress would change that.

Immigrants' rights groups are not the only ones concerned about the possibility. Others opposing E-Verify that participated in the day of action include the American Friends Service Committee, CAUSA, the Main Street Alliance, the Oregon Association of Nurseries, PCUN, and SEIU Local 49.

Kevin Diaz, legal director with the ACLU of Oregon, says a person's immigration status won't matter on the job, if their information in the federal database is wrong.

"If for some reason your check doesn't clear because of one of those errors, it could mean that you lose some employment, or you may not be able to start work until that all gets cleared up. That may require you to go to various federal agencies to figure out where the errors are."

Those who support making E-Verify mandatory say the system is not unreliable, and that a survey last year of employers who use it indicated most are satisfied with it. The current controversy is about making it mandatory.

The ACLU also has privacy concerns about the database, says Diaz. He points out that, even if the error rate is small, it translates to more than 1 million legal workers with inaccurate records.

E-Verify proponents contend it would put more workers on the job legally and drop Oregon's unemployment rate. However, Diaz says that that view assumes jobless workers in other industries would want to relocate and retrain for the kinds of jobs in agriculture or food service often held by undocumented workers. He's convinced mandatory E-Verify would create more problems than it solves.

"Essentially, you're causing the potential to lose jobs for Americans. You've got an extra burden that falls particularly hard on small business. You have the potential to lose tax revenue. And it doesn't even accomplish what it says it's supposed to accomplish."

The legislation (HR 2164) to make electronic work-eligibility checks mandatory is in the House Judiciary Committee in Congress today.

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/22179-1

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Oregonians unite against attack on workforce and business as part of National Day of Action Against E-Verify

September 13, 2011

Oregonians unite against attack on workforce and business as part of National Day of Action Against E-Verify

Members of the business, immigrant, labor, faith, and civil rights community will hold a press conference on Wednesday, September 14 at 11 a.m. in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Ore—On Wednesday, September 14, business, immigrant, labor, faith, and civil rights leaders in Oregon will stand together with others from across the country to tell Congress that forcing employers to use the flawed E-Verify system will harm U.S. workers and employers and undercut the country’s economic recovery. The groups will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at St. Francis of Assisi, 311 SE 12th Avenue, Portland.

Speakers will include Kevin Díaz, Legal Director of the ACLU of Oregon; Jeff Stone, Executive Director for the Oregon Association of Nurseries and Co-Chair of the Coalition for a Working Oregon; Javier Lara, Organizer for PCUN (Oregon’s farm worker union); Ignacio Páramo, MLK Worker Center Director for VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project; and Valerie Chapman, Pastoral Administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

E-Verify is a federal internet-based system used by some businesses to check the work eligibility of employees. Sponsoring organizations point out that requiring employers to use E-Verify will cause lawful American workers to lose their jobs or be denied employment, increase the risk of government intrusion, drive jobs into the underground economy, deprive the government of tax revenue, and impose additional costs on small businesses—all without meeting the stated purpose of ending the hiring of undocumented workers.

The latest proposal to require all employers to use the E-Verify system is currently moving through the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, H.R. 2164, is scheduled for a mark up this Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

A mandatory E-Verify system would require employers to perform a computer check for every job applicant against an error-prone government database, before any American worker could start a new job. If a worker’s information is incorrect in the system, that individual would have to go to a Social Security (SSA) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office to address the problem. The worker would not be able to start work until the error was resolved.

“If E-Verify becomes mandatory, millions of lawful workers will be incorrectly flagged by the system and will have to fight through a government bureaucracy to fix their records. Simple spelling errors or one wrong number can result in a non-confirmation through E-Verify, and it can be a nightmare to get such errors fixed within overburdened federal agencies. It’s likely that a huge number of lawful workers will have their start date delayed or be denied employment,” said Kevin Díaz, Legal Director of the ACLU of Oregon.

Due to errors in the system, E-Verify has been found to erroneously identify a significant portion of U.S. citizens and lawful residents as potentially unauthorized to work. Others get fired immediately, without being given the chance by their employers to correct their records. Based on estimates of the E-Verify error rate drawn directly from DHS’ own reports, at least 1.2 million lawful workers would have to get their records fixed or lose their jobs if E-Verify becomes mandatory. Of those, 700,000 would likely lose their jobs. To make matters worse, there is no centralized place to contact to fix records and, according to the GAO, in 2009 the average response time for such requests was a staggering 104 days.

“Mandatory E-Verify will harm all workers and employers, and it won’t stop the hiring of undocumented workers,” said Ramon Ramirez, President of PCUN (Oregon’s farm worker union). “Instead, requiring the use of E-Verify will drive more workers and employers into the shadows, where they are less likely to pay taxes and workers are more likely to be abused.”

Research indicates that E-Verify fails to meet its goal of preventing unauthorized work over half of the time. One study found that E-Verify does not catch 54 percent of the undocumented immigrants who are checked through the system. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a 2008 mandatory E-Verify bill would decrease tax revenue by more than $17 billion over ten years, as more employers and workers move into the underground cash economy.

“We need our legislators to offer sensible, comprehensive ideas for job creation and immigration reform, rather than attacking and scapegoating workers,” said Ignacio Páramo, MLK Worker Center Director for VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project.
There is widespread resistance to mandatory E-Verify, and the Portland event is one of many events that are being planned across the country. Portland’s event is co-sponsored by VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project, PCUN, Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, SEIU Local 49, Main Street Alliance of Oregon, ACLU of Oregon, National Lawyers Guild, Causa Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Organization, Portland Jobs with Justice, American Friends Service Committee, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, and Oregon New Sanctuary Movement.

Contacts:

Michael Dale, Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, 503-730-1706
Ramon Ramirez, PCUN (Oregon’s farm worker union), 503-989-0073
Kevin Díaz, ACLU of Oregon, 503-227-6928

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Lolo Cutumay & Raices de Jaragua in Concert on September 25th

Come listen to Lolo Cutumay and Raices de Jaragua sing for Social Justice Peace while helping the Salvadorean cause!

When: Sunday, September 25th 2011
Where: 6401 SE Foster Rd. Portland, OR 97206
Time: 6:30 PM

Only $10 per person

For more information contact: Lolo Cutumay at (503)358-1868 | lolocutumay@gmail.com or Luis Guerra at (503) 999-5940 | luis@causaoregon.org

This concert is being supported by Causa, SEIU Local 503 and Salvadoreños Unidos de Oregon “SALUDO”.

Salvadorean food and non-alcoholic beverages will also be available for purchase.

All proceeds will go towards an art festival in El Salvador and Causa, Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Organization. The art festival is in memory of the 15th Anniversary of the assasination of the revolutionary singer and poet: Francisco Manzanares (Paquito Cutumay).

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