March For America Actions Continue at Republican National Committee

Washington D.C. -- Today, in continuation of yesterday's March For America events, CAUSA and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) were instrumental in helping to organize and lead an action at the Republican National Committee.

About 150 people representing a range of organzations from around the nation went to the offices of the RNC to ask for a meeting with Chairman Michael Steele.

With 100 pro-reform advocates outside, 50 people, including CAUSA's Executive Director Francisco Lopez and Andrea Miller, sat down on the floor in the lobby. After 20 minutes into the sit-in, it was announced that the RNC Chairman had agreed to a meeting set to take place on March 31st.

The goal of the meeting on March 31st is to ask Chairman Steele to reject obstructionist tactics that are alienating mainstream Americans and to press the Republican Party to join Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2010.

The action at the RNC came just one day after the March and Rally at the National Mall in attended by immigration reform advocates from around the nation.

The reports on the numbers of those in attendance ranged from 200,000 to 500,000 people. Event Organizers had the number reported by the Parks Department and a Fox News Affiliate at around 500,000. While various others reported 200,000 and over.

Regardless of the exact number, the Marches and Rally at the National Mall yielded renewed commitments from the President and Congressional leadership to advance immigration reform legislation this year.

Sunday's March and today's action at the RNC were a prelude to in-district town halls and meetings during the spring recess. Stay tuned for details on upcoming meetings and townhalls with Legislators around Oregon.

Special Note from Sean Thomas-Breitfeld with Center for Community Change about today's action at the RNC:

"This action would not have happened without the dedicated leadership of FIRM partners. Special thanks go to: Francisco Lopez (who was unwavering in his support for this action) and leaders from CAUSA; Xiomara Corpeno (who added this to her already full plate of responsibilities for the weekend), Angelica Salas and leaders from CHIRLA; Julien Ross and the leaders from CIRC; and Stephen Noble Smith, Josh Hoyt (who conceived of this idea only 10 days ago) and leaders from ICIRR. Many many thanks also to One America, NAKASEC and Voces de la Frontera for turning out great and energized leaders for today's courageous and successful action!"

###

Read more »

Press Conference to Kick-off Oregon Leg of Immigration Reform Caravan Today

MEDIA ADVISORY
October 14, 2009

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


Press Conference to Kick-off Oregon Leg of Immigration Reform Caravan Today

Caravan to call on President Obama and Democratic Congress: Keep your PROMISE and pass immigration reform now

Salem, Ore.—Today, members of CAUSA, Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Coalition, will join with immigration reform advocates from California, Idaho and Washington State in a caravan that will go to California.

The caravan will join with more than one thousand other advocates from around the nation on Thursday at Santa Clara University where Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is expected to speak. Those in attendance will call on the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress to stop deporting families and keep their promise and pass immigration reform.

Prior to the departure from Salem today, CAUSA will hold a joint press conference at 4:00 p.m. with a dinner to follow at 5:00 p.m. Pastor Gail McDougal of the First Congregational Church in Salem will be present to give a blessing to all those departing on the journey. All immigrant rights supporters and the media are invited to attend.

STOP DEPORTING OUR FAMILIES: IMMIGRATION REFORM CAN'T WAIT!
Caravan Send-off, Press Conference & Dinner
October 14, 2009 at 4:00pm
CAUSA Headquarters
700 Marion Street NE
Salem, Oregon

The action is being organized by members of Silicon Valley Alliance for Immigration Reform, CHIRLA, OneAmerica, NWFCO, ICAN, WCAN, CAUSA and the Reform Immigration for America Campaign.


# # #

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

Read more »

Oregon Immigrant Rights Coalition to join multi-state caravan to California

MEDIA ADVISORY
October 9, 2009

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

Oregon Immigrant Rights Coalition to join multi-state caravan to California

Caravan to call on President Obama and Democratic Congress: Keep your PROMISE and pass immigration reform now
Salem, Ore.--Next Wednesday, members of CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, will join with immigration reform advocates from California, Idaho and Washington State in a caravan that will go to California.

The caravan will join with more than one thousand other advocates from around the nation on October 15th at Santa Clara University where Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is expected to speak. Those in attendance will call on the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress to stop deporting families and keep their promise and pass immigration reform.

Prior to the departure from Salem, CAUSA will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. with a dinner to follow at 5:00 p.m. Pastor Gail McDougal of the First Congregational Church in Salem will be present to give a blessing to all those departing on the journey. All immigrant rights supporters and the media are invited to attend.

STOP DEPORTING OUR FAMILIES: IMMIGRATION REFORM CAN'T WAIT!
Caravan Send-off, Press Conference & Dinner
October 14, 2009 at 4:00pm
CAUSA Headquarters
700 Marion Street NE
Salem, Oregon

The action is being organized by members of Silicon Valley Alliance for Immigration Reform, CHIRLA, OneAmerica, NWFCO, ICAN, WCAN, CAUSA and the Reform Immigration for America Campaign.

# # #

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

Read more »

Campaign Launched to Spearhead National Immigration Reform Effort

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2009

Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign Launched to Spearhead National Immigration Reform Effort

Coalition joins forces to push for immigration solutions in 2009

Contact:
Katherine Vargas: (202) 641-5198
Shuya Ohno (202) 309-5645
Germonique Ulmer (202) 339-9331

Washington, DC - A national campaign to help President Obama make good on his promise to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2009 was unveiled at a press conference in Washington today. The event was part of a week-long series of activities across the country to demonstrate broad national support for comprehensive immigration reform and a commitment to win the legislative battle expected later in the year. The campaign announcement comes just days before the President is slated to meet with Congressional leaders at the White House on June 8 to discuss plans to move legislation forward this year.

At today's press conference, leaders of labor unions, business coalitions, civil rights and religious groups, and pro-immigrant advocacy organizations announced the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. It is an effort to focus the political power of these diverse constituencies and give the American people a way to communicate their broad support for comprehensive immigration reform directly to lawmakers in Washington.

The campaign's organizers pointed to what they described as "a new political reality for immigration reform." With a united labor movement and a President committed to comprehensive reform, unprecedented voter mobilization and turnout in immigrant communities last November, polls that consistently show at least 60% of the American people supporting comprehensive immigration reform, and the impossibility of rounding up and deporting 12,000,000 undocumented immigrants, the campaign's organizers are quite optimistic about the chances for legislative success in 2009.

Furthermore, the campaign announced it was deploying new technologies such as a national text messaging system and various on-line organizing strategies to direct messages from constituents directly to Members of Congress. This is combined with a national campaign staff of organizers and policy experts, as well as the powerful networks of the 200 organizations participating in the campaign.

Ali Noorani, the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, one of the leaders of the campaign said, "America voted for change and for leaders to tackle and solve tough problems. The broken immigration system is a symbol of how Washington has been avoiding tough problems for too long. It's time for leaders to do what a majority of Americans want done - fix our immigration system."

"For far too long, we have allowed a can't-do minority to block progress and manipulate this issue to tear out country apart, said Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and one of the leaders of the campaign. "It is time to say to those blocking the progress America needs on this issue: 'no more.' We need a system that restores dignity and the rule of law, and we have the ability and the opportunity to make that hope a reality."

"The time to act is now," said John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a leading progressive advocacy organization, who spoke at the press conference. "It's our collective challenge and responsibility to develop and advocate for common-sense immigration reform," said Podesta, a former White House Chief of Staff and a co-chair of President Obama's transition team.

"Families are the bedrock of our society, and a system that keeps hard-working, tax-paying, legally present immigrants apart from close family members for years and even decades is bad for America and calls for immediate repair," said Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center. "Across the country, momentum is building in the Asian American community for comprehensive immigration reform. Addressing the family immigration backlog and bringing undocumented families out of the shadows are top issues for our community and we're excited to join the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign to get common sense immigration reform passed this year."

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said at the press conference, "Our nation's broken immigration system isn't working for anybody -- not immigrant workers who are routinely exploited by companies, and not U.S. born workers whose living standards are being undermined by the creation of a new 'underclass.' As a part of broad-based economic recovery, we need a comprehensive solution -- and soon."

"This launch marks the beginning of an historic campaign to achieve immigration reform that is long overdue and desperately needed if we are going to rebuild our economy and make sure the American Dream is alive for our children and grandchildren," said Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), who also represented the Change to Win labor federation at the event.

Robert J. Dolibois, Executive Vice President of the American Nursery & Landscape Association represented the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, a coalition of business groups that supports comprehensive reform and have been working with labor unions in the agricultural sector and Members of Congress to pass the AgJOBS bill, which is expected to be a component of comprehensive reform. He said at the press conference, "Opponents of immigration reform somehow think that the mass expulsion of millions of hearts and souls living among us merely seeking to better their lives will somehow make us a better nation. One must wonder how 'biting the proverbial hand that feeds us' is in the national interest."

"At the end of the day this is not a political issue but rather one of a moral and spiritual imperative," said Rev. Sam Rodriguez, Jr., President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an evangelical leader at the event who represented the faith community, which will play a substantial role in the national campaign. "Every day that passes without comprehensive immigration reform tarnishes the soul of our nation as children are separated from their parents, immigrants hide deeper in the shadows and over 12 million people live in a land without the opportunity of ever experiencing the fullness of life, embracing the hope of liberty or pursuing the promise of happiness."

"Some may ask, why now? Plain and simple, the U.S. immigration system - as it currently exists and operates - no longer works. Fixing it will be a challenge, but action must be taken sooner rather than later. The time is now to do the right thing and fight for practical solutions that benefit all of us and are rooted in the restoration of the rule of law, earned citizenship, united families, and fair treatment of workers," stated Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

Salas' organization led a press conference in Los Angeles on the steps of City Hall on Monday that included Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. It was one of more than 40 events in 35 states earlier in the week to launch local entities of the national campaign.

Nationally, more than 200 organizations have signed on to the campaign and a national summit of more than 700 advocates and allies of the campaign is taking place today through Friday at Gallaudet University in Washington. A town hall meeting with Members of Congress - likely to be among those to meet with the President at the White House on Monday - takes place Thursday (9:50 a.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capital Hill). This is followed that day by hundreds of meetings between campaign representatives and Members of Congress. Campaign organizers said the bulk of the week would be spent preparing to take the campaign and its message back to their communities and to make Members of Congress aware of the strong support for comprehensive immigration reform in their states and districts.

For more information on the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign, please visit www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org or www.reformamigratoriaproamerica.org

Read more »