Forum to discuss agricultural labor and comprehensive immigration reform set for Oct 3rd

The Oregon Farm Worker Ministry will host a community forum to discuss Agricultural Labor and Comprehensive Immigration Reform on October 3rd from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Christ's Church (412 W. Clay Street) in Monmouth.

Speakers to include John Munson, Executive Director of Oregon Farm Worker Ministry (OFWM), Edith Polanco and Robin Wright from CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition and Jamie Arredondo of Farm Worker Housing Development Corporation (FHDC).

The free forum will include question and answer session.

For information, contact Ed Brandt at (503) 623-5153.

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Pew Hispanic Center Releases Study on Health Insurance and Hispanic Immigrants

According to a release from the Pew Hispanic Center posted on Capitol Wire PR,

Six-in-ten Hispanic adults in the U.S. who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents* lack health insurance. In contrast, 28% of Hispanic adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 17% of the overall U.S. adult population lack health insurance.

Read the full release with links to the research by going here.

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Eric Cantor’s message if you get sick and lose your insurance

During a Public Square on Healthcare Reform hosted by the Richmond Times Dispatch, Representative and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) offered advice to a woman who said her relative got cancer and has no health insurance.

Yobi Benjamin at the San Francisco Chronicle paraphrased the exchange.

The question an audience participant asked is paraphrased as "Relative got cancer and lost his insurance... what happens?"

Representative Eric Cantors response paraphrased: "Sell or auction all your belongings. After you reach a certain poverty threshold, apply for Medicaid, the federal medical insurance for the very poor. If that's not enough apply for indigent services."

You can watch the video of the actual exchange below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVAJ3Wh67U&feature=player_embedded

Read the full story at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail?entry_id=48234#ixzz0S3OVTXA9

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Students Around the Nation Call for Passage of DREAM Act

This press release comes from our partners at the National Immigration Forum. The National Immigration Forum is the leading immigrant advocacy organization in the country with a mission to advocate for the value of immigrants and immigration to the nation.

For Immediate Release
September 23, 2009

Contact:
Katherine Vargas
(202) 383-5987 or (202) 641-51988 (mobile)
(kvargas@immigrationforum.org)

Push for DREAM Act Gains Steam

More than 125 student-led events across the Country call for action on bipartisan immigration legislation

Washington, DC - Today, the United We DREAM Coalition is organizing a day of action with more than 125 events in 26 states in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act or DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation that will benefit talented immigrant kids who attend college or serve in the military. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington. For more information on today's DREAM Act events visit the United We DREAM Coalition website.

Today's national day of action show the energy and enthusiasm of students organizing so they and their families can achieve the American dream. The DREAM Act is a critical component of comprehensive immigration reform and we anticipate that it will be part of the broad package of reforms that begins moving in Congress later this year.

The plight of thousands of students who are culturally American, caught in the limbo of our laws, and who cannot fully integrate into our society remind us of what is at stake in the DREAM Act. Each year that passes by with Congress failing to act on immigration, America looses a vital asset: an educated class of promising immigrant students who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be contributing members of our society.

We all recognize the value of higher education and service to our country. By denying these aspiring immigrant youth the opportunity to pursue a brighter future, our country is thwarting their potential to benefit and strengthen the U.S. economy. The bipartisan support enjoyed by the DREAM Act helps set the stage and builds momentum in Congress to address comprehensive immigration reform. It will not be enough to just get these young people into the system unless we create a way for their families to get legal status and get them fully into the American system. As part of a series of reforms that make legal immigration a viable option for families and workers, the DREAM Act makes a ton of sense.

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Dolores Huerta to speak on Immigration Reform and Farmworker Justice

The Annual Salem Peace Lecture is pleased to celebrate its 20th year with organizer Dolores Huerta, co-founder and first Vice-President of the United Farm Workers of America, speaking on Immigration Reform & Farm Worker Justice. The Peace Lecture will be held on Wednesday, October 21 @ 7:30 PM at Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Reverend Gail McDougle, Pastor of Salem's First Congregational Church UCC, will be Honored with the 2009 Salem Peacemaker Award.

Wednesday, October 21st at 7:30 p.m.
The Annual Salem Peace Lecture Presents:
Dolores Huerta: Speaking on Immigration Reform and Farmworker Justice

Dolores Huerta was co-founder and first Vice-President of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). In 1962 she and Cesar Chavez formed the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor to the UFW. She directed the UFW's national grape boycott, resulting in the entire California table grape industry signing a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the UFW.

Ms. Huerta spoke out early and often against toxic pesticides, like DDT and parathion, that threaten farm workers, consumers and the environment. She lobbied in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., organized field strikes, directed UFW boycotts, and became one of the UFW's most visible spokespersons. Robert F. Kennedy acknowledged her help in winning the 1968 California Democratic Presidential Primary moments before he was shot in Los Angeles.

Ms. Huerta directed the east coast boycott of grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines. The boycott resulted in the enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law of its kind in the United States, granting farm workers the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions. In 1975 she lobbied against federal guest worker programs and spearheaded legislation granting amnesty for farm workers that had lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States for many years. Her efforts were instrumental in passing the Immigration Act of 1985.

Dolores Huerta has received many awards, including three honorary doctorate degrees. In 1984 the California State Senate bestowed upon her the Outstanding Labor Leader Award. In 1993 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. That same year she received the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award, the Eugene Debs Foundation's Outstanding American Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award. In 1998 she was named one of three Ms. Magazine's "Women of the Year" and was honored among the Ladies Home Journal's "100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century."

Ms. Huerta continues to work long hours on behalf of the rights of farm workers, immigrants and women, and she serves as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. She has been arrested 22 times for nonviolent, peaceful protests.

Each year the Peace Lecture Committee recognizes a local advocate for peace and justice. This year we are pleased to honor Gail McDougle, pastor of First Congregational Church UCC, with the 2009 Salem Peacemaker Award.

For more information, contact Bethany Loberg at 503-910-6832 or bethany@causaoregon.org

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UPDATE: Oregon Coalition Applauds Rep. Gutierrez for Taking the Lead on Immigration Reform Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

Oregon Coalition Applauds Rep. Gutierrez for Taking the Lead on Immigration Reform Legislation

On Citizenship Day, CAUSA joins with Communities across the country to call for real action on comprehensive immigration reform

Salem, Ore. – Today, hundreds of immigrant leaders and representatives called upon Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) to lead a strategy in the coming weeks that will get specific comprehensive immigration reform legislation introduced and moving through the halls of Congress. With the overwhelming support of communities across the country, Rep. Gutierrez agreed to do so at an event in Washington organized by the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (a network of pro-immigrant advocacy groups) as part of their Citizenship Day celebration.

Rep. Gutierrez played a pivotal role in the Familias Unidas interfaith tour earlier this year that introduced families separated from loved ones by our broken immigration system to his colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and House Democratic Leadership and helped build compassion and support for immigration reform.

“The immigrant, faith, labor and business community in Oregon are ready to support a bill that fixes our broken immigration system,” said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA. “We want to support Rep. Gutierrez and the CHC in taking bold action to break through the years-long stalemate on Capital Hill.”

CAUSA and our allies expects the Gutierrez’s effort to lead to a progressive immigration bill which they defined as having the following features:

• a pathway to citizenship that keeps families together;
• elimination of the family immigration backlogs that keep people waiting years and decades for legal entry;
• a system to modernize the process by which visas are allocated so that they reflect actual economic needs;
• protection of worker rights for immigrants and native-born workers;
• restoration of basic due process rights and protection of basic rights and liberties;
• enforcement that respects these rights and restores confidence in the immigration system; and effective and innovative immigrant integration programs

“We are confident that if we can get a game going, we can win just and fair immigration reform,” Lopez said. “It will take leadership and a sense of urgency, and Rep. Gutierrez and the CHC had the courage to stand up and tell the stories of our separated families at a time when people weren’t listening. Now we are asking him to step up to the plate again to get things moving in Congress for an immigration reform bill. We hope members of the Oregon Congressional delegation join in him in making the passage of an immigration bill a top priority.”

While a great deal of attention has been on health care reform – and rightly so – the urgent need for immigration reform has not diminished. If anything, the acrimony, deception and scapegoating of immigrants in the health care debate has underscored the need for a comprehensive solution that resolves the immigration issue. Immigrants, faith leaders, businesses, labor unions, progressive groups, and a broad coalition across the political spectrum want solutions to our current immigration mess.

“We need smart, sensible, American solutions to the issues facing American communities, and that includes immigrants,” Lopez said. “We take citizenship very seriously and want to help shape the direction of our nation.”

CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, is the largest Hispanic civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit www.causaoregon.org

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10 Questions Legislators Should Ask FAIR Representatives

This week the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is in Washington D.C. to lobby legislators to discourage them from reforming America’s broken immigration system.

FAIR hasn’t been having a very good week. Turn-out to their "Hold their feet to the fire” event has been poor, the media has been discussing the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center that labels them a “hate group”, and the Smithsonian Institution publicly acknowledges it mistakenly rented space to the organization.

In effort to help out busy legislators and their staff, Rev. David Ostendorf at the Center for New Community has come up with a series of questions (and responses) that members of Congress can ask FAIR representatives when they come knocking:

1. Do you live in my District/State? A. Really? I hope you’ll move out soon. B. No? Why are you wasting my time?
2. When are you going to return that racist $1.2 million FAIR got from the Pioneer Fund? A. Never? Why don’t you just pass it through to the Klan? B. There is no B.
3. Since the Smithsonian banned FAIR from using its space again, where will you hold your awards dinner next year? A. Glen Beck’s studio? B. Roy Beck’s basement?
4. For an alleged mass movement against mass immigration, why was your turnout this year so embarrassingly miserable? A. You’re all smoke and no Fire. B. You couldn’t organize more than fifty.
5. How’s your latest eugenics study going? A. There isn’t one? Why not? B. You don’t call your stuff eugenics anymore?
6. Why don’t you want immigrants to have good health care? A. You already had your flu shots? B. You want Joe Wilson to be President?
7. What’s up with your hanging out with the vigilante Minutemen? A. You’re too afraid to pack your own guns? Wow. B. You’re too lazy to defend the border yourselves? Wow.
8. Do you support the Constitution of the United States? A. Yes? But only if it’s printed on white paper? B. Yes? But only up to the Tenth Amendment?
9. Why aren’t there any African Americans in your contingent? A. The four members of your infamous Choose Black America front were busy this week? B. Black people have to be treated like immigrants too?
10. What’s with FAIR’s ties to white nationalists? A. You like the intellectual stimulation? B. There’s a growing market for “Whites Only” signs?

Read the full article at http://www.imagine2050/ or by visiting: http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/09/16/top-ten-questions-and-responses-members-of-congress-should-ask-fair-representatives/

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Tell Congress, "Don't Meet with FAIR!"

If you tuned into President Obama's speech last week, you saw plain evidence of the extremism and lies in the immigration debate.

With members of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) descending on Washington, now is the time to let Congress know that F.A.I.R. is an extremist group whose agenda is not in the best interests of our nation.



We Can't Validate this Hate:

"As Whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?" — John Tanton, FAIR Founder and Board Director

Tell Congress, "Don't Meet with FAIR!"

Send your Members of Congress a letter to say no to FAIR, and yes to real solutions on immigration by visiting America's Voice HERE.

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South Carolina Congressman brings disgrace on Republicans during President’s Healthcare Speech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

South Carolina Congressman brings disgrace on Republicans during President’s Healthcare Speech

In a shameful scene reminiscent of the summer Town Halls where right-wingers scream out insults and regurgitate misinformation at elected officials, a Congressman from South Carolina showed his true colors while disgracing his fellow Republicans.

Last night, while President Obama gave his speech on Health Care Reform in the United States House chamber, he addressed the fallacy being promoted by right-wing extremists that undocumented immigrants would receive benefits under his current healthcare reform proposal. In the course of the President’s statement, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) screamed out “You lie!” In those two words, the out-of-control South Carolina Congressman committed an unprecedented “breach of protocol” in the House chamber, spread a lie himself and did serious damage to the reputation of the Republican Party.

Like most anti-healthcare and anti-immigration reform extremists, Representative Wilson attempted in vain to derail the President’s healthcare reform speech with a falsehood and an insult. All he accomplished was to demonstrate that he, like many other Republicans, has nothing valid to offer to the Health Care Reform discussion.

“Congressman Wilson did a serious disservice to his constituents and has brought disgrace to House Republicans,” said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA. “The attempt by right-wing extremists to derail the healthcare reform bill by using misinformation and immigration as a wedge issue is just more of the same obstructionism--heavy on rhetoric and weak on facts.”

According to the Senate Finance Committee’s framework for a health plan, it explicitly says "No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits." Like many non-partisan fact checks have revealed over the summer, a CNN fact check responded to Wilson saying that “although the bill would require undocumented immigrants to purchase their own healthcare, they would not be eligible for public subsidies”. Section 242 of the House bill limits benefits to family members who are citizens or legal residents

After the President’s speech, Representative Wilson tried to save face by apologizing, but the damage was already done to his reputation and that of his fellow Republicans.

CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, is the largest Hispanic civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit www.causaoregon.org

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Fear-Mongering and Falsehoods About Health Care Reform from Anti-immigrant Group

Immigration Impact: Anti-Immigrant Group Adds to Falsehoods About Health Care Reform

Washington D.C. - In a report released by the Center for Immigration Studies today, the anti-immigrant group jumps on the bandwagon of those attempting to derail substantive health care reform through fear-mongering and falsehoods. Their baseless claim that millions of unauthorized immigrants will receive government-subsidized health care on the government's dime has already been discredited by the President, the media, and the U.S. government's own researchers. These groups, however, persist in their efforts to hijack the debate in order to demonize immigrants.

In his Immigration Impact blog post today, IPC Senior Researcher Walter Ewing writes:

"These big, scary numbers {from CIS} are based on the false premise that there are simply no mechanisms in place to prevent unauthorized immigrants from receiving coverage under the bill. But, as a report released late last month by the Congressional Research Service points out, H.R. 3200 explicitly bars unauthorized immigrants from receiving federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance. Moreover, as Saturday's New York Times reports, the health care bills currently circulating in Congress would increase insurance coverage among low-income workers primarily through the expansion of Medicaid-which already has proof-of-citizenship requirements in place."

Click here to read the rest of the post.

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Bishop Shouted Down by Anti-Reform Hecklers For Speaking Spanish

Last week, Stamford Bishop Emilio Alvarez was shouted down and insulted by anti-healthcare reform hecklers at Representative Jim Himes’ (D-CT) town hall meeting in Norwalk, Connecticut.



For the full story visit the Wonk Room at Think Progress.

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What happened at Oregon Town Halls?

Do you know what happened when CAUSA and our allies took the Reform Immigration For America message to Congressional Town Halls around Oregon last month?

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