PHOTOS: Over 100 turn-out to ICE Office in Downtown Portland

Portland, Ore--Over 100 people including union members and immigrant and human rights advocates turned-out today at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland to call for a halt to deportations of hard-working immigrants and a stop to killings of immigrants by U.S. Border Agents. 

The March and Rally was organized by CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, Rural Organizing Project, and SEIU Local 503 OPEU.  The groups called on Congress and President Obama for a humane solution to the nation's broken immigration system by passing comprehesive immigration reform.

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SEIU: "Enforcement without comprehensive reform is like redecorating when the house is on fire"

Today, SEIU issued the following statement in response to the 'quiet immigration raid' that took place last month at a contract company in the downtown area of the Twin Cities, Minnesota.

"Enforcement without comprehensive reform is like redecorating when the house is on fire. Instead of solving problems, it only succeeds in pushing undocumented workers away from responsible employers and deeper into the shadows--benefitting the most unscrupulous off-the-books employers and degrading the quality of life for the rest of us. In the end, we are no where closer to solving the broken immigration system: communities lose; responsible businesses lose; families lose."

The "quiet raid" that left 1200 undocumented janitors jobless and unable to provide for their families is being called "one of the largest immigration crackdowns under the Obama administration" by Minnesota Public Radio .

Read the full statement from SEIU by linking here.

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Senate kills divisive Vitter Amendment seeking to wreck Census

Today, the Senate voted and achieved cloture with a 60-39 vote to cut-off further debate on the Commerce-Justice-Science Spending Bill killing the Vitter Amendment that sought to use the 2010 Census for anti-immigrant politicking.

In response to the Senate's action, the Service Employees International Union Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement.

"Today U.S. Senators put working families ahead of the politics of division and hatred. Joining a chorus of former U.S. Census Directors and advocacy leaders , the Senate voted down Senators Vitter and Bennett's misguided attempt to undercut 2010 enumeration efforts and mar this critical process with hateful, anti-immigrant politics.

"The Senate's move to protect the 2010 Census will help ensure we achieve an accurate count of our nation's diverse population-protecting billions of dollars in federal funding for local communities and ensuring reapportionment is based on a factual representation of who we are as a nation.

"As we approach the March, 2010 launch of the U.S. Census, SEIU will continue our efforts to support an accurate, timely count of Latinos and other traditionally undercounted communities. When entire communities are left out of decisions about allocation of federal funds, all working people suffer. When Latino and immigrant communities are left out of political redistricting conversations, our democracy suffers."

SEIU was partnered with AAJC, CAP, Demos, HNBA, LCCR, LDF, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, NDN, PFAW in the Don't Wreck the Census campaign. Since launching, the campaign helped drive thousands of letters and calls to the Senate, urging them to block the divisive Vitter-Bennett amendment

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