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Illinois House Passes Humane Detentions Act!

The Access to Religious Ministry Act, HB 2747, passed unanimously out of the IL House today! This marks a huge victory against the politics of fear in our state, and a signal that Illinois stands for humane detention practices. Amidst a backdrop of expanding, appalling raids throughout our nation, this house vote is a sign of hope- and a reminder that our voices makes a real difference in this fight.

Live in Illinois? Send a fax supporting the Access to Religious Ministry Act (HB2747) today! Learn More: download press statement.

If your organization would like to endorse the bill, please fax or email this letter of endorsement to Ana Guajardo at 312-332-7044 (fax).

Why We're Marching... all the way to the polls in November

Urgent: One MILLION New Americans will not be able to vote come November, unless we push to end the outrageous citizenship backlogs!

About ten thousand people poured into the streets today to march not only for the dignity of all workers, but to urge for the passage of real, humane immigration reform in this country! At this year's march we informed people about citizenship, voting, and volunteering for the New Americans Vote 2008 Campaign (during which we will mobilize 50,000 immigrant voters).

May Day May 1st, 2008:
10:00 -12:00: Kickoff at Union Park | 12:00-1:30: March to Downtown | 1:30 onward: Rally in Federal Plaza

Click here to download the Press Release

Minutemen Attack Religious Access Bill, HB 2747

Illinois Minuteman Project leader Rosanna Pulido has been on the rampage in recent weeks insulting Catholic, Muslim, and LGBTQ communities alike! Comments by spokespeople like Pulido from hate groups like FAIR continue to shock advocates for social justice, especially when these comments refer to entire communities or are direct responses to state bills that would allow Religious leaders to minister to immigrant detainees and asylum seekers in times of need. Watch this video of her testimony on April 16th.

Want to do more? Take action, support the Religious Access Bill, HB 2747!

Would-be Citizens Deliver Letter, Protest Delays

Protest at USCIS Chicago A group of would-be citizens gathered outside the USCIS (Government Immigration) office in Chicago today to protest the huge backlogs in citizenship approval that are keeping them from participating in civic life. They went to drop off a letter of discontent to the Chicago District Director. After a long wait, District spokesperson Marilou Cabrera addressed the crowd, claiming that there was no backlog in the Chicago office. She was confronted by two elderly immigrants who shared their stories of waiting excessively on their citizenship. One of them, a lady living in the US for 50 years, had applied last year in July but is still waiting for her citizenship. She would like to become a citizen in time to vote in the 2008 elections.

Extra! Listen to the protest on NPR, and see more snapshots here.
More: Get the Public News Service report

First New Citizens Day in Springfield a Success!

Get Involved

On Tuesday, April 15th, over 100 new American citizens and 200 immigrant, community, and religious leaders from across Illinois journeyed to the State Capitol. New citizens from the Asian, Polish, Muslim, Arab and Latino communities were recognized for becoming active participants in the civic life of this country. They were met with a standing ovation in the State legislature!

Participants in the first-ever New Citizens Day in Springfield spoke with their legislators about the need to continue supporting programs like the New American Initiative, the We Want to Learn English Initiative and the Outreach and Interpretation project. Advocates and leaders also urged legislators to push forward the Access to Religious Ministry Act (HB 2747), which would allow priests and imams to counsel immigrant detainees and asylum seekers during difficult times away from their families.

Illinois blogs Capital Fax, Progress Illinois, and Illinois Issues reported from Springfield.

Religious Leaders Demand Access to Detainees

Update: Take action, support HB 2747 here!

On Tuesday, March 25th, religious and community leaders announced the next day's journey to Woodstock, Illinois. There they will try to access the McHenry County Jail to provide ministry to immigrant detainees. Many of these detainees are seeking asylum and are being detained while awaiting their day in court. Many have been charged with no crime.

The Access to Religious Ministry Act, Illinois House Bill 2747 was announced Tuesday to respond to the spiritual needs of the growing numbers of immigrant detainees in Illinois. State Reps. Daniel Burke (D-23) and Julie Hamos (D-18) are the main sponsors. “Access to religious ministry is a basic human right that we all deserve, especially in times of need,” said Rep. Burke. HB 2747 would ensure access of religious workers to immigrant detainees in county jails across the state. More: Download press release.

"SAVE Act"- Playing Games with our Privacy?

Anti-immigrant groups are pounding our Representatives in Congress with calls supporting the “discharge petition” to force the House to vote on the deportation-only Shuler-Tancredo bill (HR 4088, also called “SAVE Act”). There are over 180 Reps. signed on, and 218 are needed to force the vote.

If we don’t want to see taxpayer dollars squandered on unrealistic enforcement schemes, priests and aid-workers locked up for helping immigrants, and 2.5 million citizens getting stuck in a flawed federal database, we must take action! Call Rep. Rahm Emanuel today, and say, “Please use your leadership to oppose HR 4088 and stand up for real, comprehensive immigration reform.”
District office: (773) 267-5926.

Foster Upset: Staying Positive on Immigration Pays

Anti-immigrant tactics by Jim Oberweis lose big in IL 14

Last Saturday Democratic scientist Bill Foster shocked the political world by beating Republican dairy and investment millionaire Jim Oberweis in the race to replace outgoing Congressman Dennis Hastert in the formerly solidly Republican Illinois 14th Congressional District. This is a case where candidate Foster, the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) finally “got it right” on immigration.

Faced with an aggressive attack by anti-immigrant candidate Jim Oberweis, Foster presented a positive, nuanced, solutions-based approach to the issue. At the same time the DCCC successfully highlighted Oberweis' hypocrisy on immigration.

The combination of a humane, solution-oriented approach by candidate Foster and a hard-hitting offense on the immigration hypocrisy of Oberweis produced a stunning victory for Foster and the DCCC. More importantly, it should remind candidates of all stripes just how little it pays to pander on immigration.

Read Executive Director Joshua Hoyt's full analysis here.

Read Illinois political blogger ArchPundit's analysis here

Get analysis on Progress Illinois

Budget Shows Immigrants are Essential to State

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) is pleased with the State of Illinois budget announcement today. “This budget announcement shows Gov. Blagojevich’s commitment to assisting the immigrant communities of Illinois to quickly become full contributors to our state,” said Joshua Hoyt, ICIRR Executive Director. “One in four Illinoisans is either an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. This budget recognizes that immigrants are essential to our economy and social fabric.” Read press statement.

Illinois Immigrants Vote in Record Numbers

Thousands of naturalized US citizens raised their voices in the Illinois Primary Election this Tuesday, February 5th. Immigrant voters demonstrated that they are politically engaged, on the rise, and prepared to fight for the dignity of their communities.

On Chicago’s South West side, in Congressman Dan Lipinski's contested district, Latinos and Muslims turned out to vote in record numbers. Leaders from both communities formed strong alliances to support issues including immigration reform and the restoration of civil liberties. The work done to get out the vote by these communities contributed to a 105% increase in voting in the 28th precinct of the 15th Ward.

Other areas with remarkable increases in turnout include Waukegan and Schaumburg, where the large immigrant population voiced concerns about drivers’ certificates, immigration reform and the police/immigration enforcement proposal in Waukegan. It is clear that both parties must pay attention to the growing political power immigrant communities are asserting and begin to deal with the difficult issues they face.

Congressman Gutierrez Withdraws Lipinski Endorsement, Cites Voting Record on Immigration Issues

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has learned that Congressman Luis Gutierrez withdrew his endorsement of Congressman Dan Lipinski based on the Congressman’s poor voting record on immigration issues. One-fifth of the district’s residents are immigrants, yet Cong. Lipinski has not represented this part of his constituency.

Find out more, watch a video, and don't forget to vote on February 5th!

Congressman Aids One Immigrant, Ignores 11,999,999

While ICIRR was glad to see Congressman Dan Lipinski come to the aid of French immigrant Corina Turcinovic and her community this week, leaders in Congressman Lipinski’s third congressional district are asking, “What is he doing for the other 11,999,999 undocumented immigrants still living in the shadows?”

The Congressman has voted for legislation that would criminalize pastors, doctors, and teachers for aiding undocumented immigrants, for an extreme amendment that would cut funding to cities like Chicago for declining to enforce federal immigration measures, and for enforcement-only measures like the Secure Fence Act, which assumes we can “block our way out of the current immigration mess.”

Read a statement from community leaders in the 3rd District, or watch the video of last Sunday’s community forum there, which the Congressman did not attend.

Would-be Citizens Pay More, Wait More, and Vote Less

ICIRR Policy Director Fred Tsao testifed before a Congressional Subcommittee this week about the impact of the tremendous backlogs to obtaining citizenship that immigrants across the country now face. The agency that processes citizenship applications, USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), was not properly equipped to handle the recent influx of new registrations, which was caused by the agency’s own decision to increase citizenship fees by 70% last July.

This processing backlog of sixteen to eighteen months means that legal residents who had rushed to become citizens in time to vote in the 2008 elections will be left out to dry, their dreams of full participation in our country needlessly placed on hold.

"'The price of USCIS's failed leadership and poor planning is the disenfranchisement of those immigrants who have played by the rules,' said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union," in a recent in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

Read ICIRR Policy Director Fred Tsao’s testimony here, download the press release, or read more in the Wall Street Journal or Chicago Tribune.

Conservative Pundit Shuns Anti-Immigrant Tactics

New Hampshire primary, Iowa caucus results shift debate...

In the wake of Mitt Romney’s losses in Iowa and New Hampshire and the victory of Senator McCain in New Hampshire, conservative pundit Victor Davis Hanson is urging the Republican Party to move away from the rhetoric of mass deportations and towards workable compromises.
Read about it in the article “CIR Back On The Table”. Let’s hope the candidates begin to understand, as ICIRR Executive Director Joshua Hoyt illustrated in last Sunday’s op-ed, “That anti-immigrant dog just don’t hunt!”

Anti-Immigrant Politics Fails to Move Votes

If common decency isn't enough to convince politicians to stop using anti-immigrant tactics in their campaigns, the results from Iowa should help. In a recent Chicago Tribune article, ICIRR Executive Director, Josh Hoyt, writes: In a state where voters had a clear choice to vote for former Massachussettes Governor Mitt Romney’s tough stance on illegal immigration in the Republican Caucuses, instead they turned out in historic numbers to vote Democratic. There they picked Senator Obama, who has unabashedly advocated an earned path to citizenship for the undocumented. [...]

Romney was beaten by the very same Huckabee who he blasted in thousands of commercials for not denying access to higher education to those Arkansas children who had the bad luck to be brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. Even John McCain, given up as political roadkill over the issue of immigration, surged to a shockingly strong finish.

Immigrant bashing is simply not an effective strategy to win elections, as was proven in the 2006 elections, in Virginia and New York in 2007, and in Iowa in 2008.

Read the Tribune article here or download press statement.

ICIRR Leader Probes Clinton on Immigration

Saturday, December 1st marked the first annual Heartland Presidential Forum in Iowa. Four busloads of ICIRR community members braved the icy conditions to show solidarity with diverse organizations across the Midwest. Coming at a crucial time in the campaign calendar, the Forum allowed community leaders to ask the candidates tough questions about everything from housing to immigration reform.

ICIRR leader Billy Lawless asked Hillary Clinton whether she would commit to passing comprehensive immigration reform soon after taking office. Her response, which was non-committal, drew boos from the audience.

Want to know more?

Community Leaders Confront Anti-immigrant Pundit

11/29: Chicago community leaders gathered in front of Barnes & Noble last night to protest TV pundit Lou Dobbs and his dangerous manipulation of the facts. Those who rallied outside the bookstore carried signs reading, “Immigrants are laborers, not lepers.” The signs referred to Dobbs' habitual linking of immigration to a fictitious rise in leprocy.

After Dobbs' book talk, Presbyterian minister Jennifer Hill asked about the hundreds of men, women, and children that die every year attempting to cross the border. Dobbs yelled at Jennifer to “Seek redemption for not blaming the Mexican government for their deaths.” Seeing that Dobbs would not engage respectfully (earlier in the evening, a supporter screamed, “Hispanics are not like us, they’re not white,” with no response from Dobbs), half of the crowd left.

Meanwhile, on CNN, Dobbs exploded over ICIRR Director Joshua Hoyt’s suggestion that “the immigration debate has descended into the world of bullies, bigots, and demagogues." Judge for yourself- watch a clip of Dobbs supporters, or read the transcripts of Lou interviewing Congressman Gutierrez here.

Papers Confront Party Leader on Immigration

11/27: The mainstream media is now confronting Democratic Party Leader Rahm Emanuel (5th Congressional District- IL) about his "political cowardice" on immigration. A recent New York Times editorial, referring to Congressman Emanuel, states, "The natural allies of immigrants have been cowed into mumbling or silent avoidance." This at a time when, according to a recent Chicago Sun-Times column, "Republicans are having a field day taking a hard line and blaming illegal immigrants for everything wrong with this country."

Enough is enough. It's time for both party's leaders to stand up for what is right, make an honest effort to fix our broken laws, and denounce the scapegoating of immigrants for political gain. The American public, and the people whose hard work fuels our economy, deserve no less.

Ads Attack Emanuel for Failure to Support Immigrants

11/15: The progressive blogosphere lit up this week with news that Democratic Party Leader Rahm Emanuel (5th Congressional District- IL) supports the SAVE Act (HR4088), legislation that takes an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform- with no path for the undocumented to gain legal status.

To the left is a copy of the Spanish newspaper ad published in Hoy on November 15th, 2007, that asks the question, Why is Congressman Emanuel Betraying our Friends and Families? Read the full text in English, or download a copy in Korean. The ads were paid for by Blue America and approved by the Illinois Coalition.

Immigrant advocates and netroots activists were already shocked by Emanuel's remarks in last week's Chicago Tribune article, where he called immigration "the new third rail of politics." This came just months after the Congressman pledged to move a comprehensive reform bill forward last spring. Listen to the NPR story here.

The ad urges people to Call Congressman Emanuel now at (773) 267-5926 and tell him, "Stop being afraid to fight for immigrants, and start acting like a real leader." Send a fax or email to your Representative, saying NO to SAVE.

For more information about these ads, contact Catherine Salgado at csalgado@icirr.org. For more on the "rubber chicken campaign" that ICIRR launched during the Yearly Kos convention, click here.

DREAM Act Will Not Be Heard- Youth Still Need a Solution

10/24: ICIRR is deeply disappointed with this morning's cloture vote, which prevented the DREAM Act from moving forward in the Senate. The vote was 52-44 in favor of considering the bill, with bipartisan support, but this fell short of the 60 votes needed to proceed.

Senator Durbin, on the floor of the Senate, stated that The DREAM Act presents us with a choice where “we can allow a generation of immigrant students with great potential and ambitions to contribute more fully to our society and national security, or we can relegate them to a future in the shadows, which would be a loss for all Americans.” (Congressional Record-Senate, July 13th, 2007, S9202). For more info, see today's press release.

Previous Website Headlines:

- DREAM Act Needs Your Support
- Final Brick in the "Second Wall?"
- Taking it to Congress: ICIRR Director and Chicago Immigrant Leader Testify for Reform
- Springfield Meltdown: Immigrant Needs Ignored
- Report reveals staggering number of uninsured immigrants
- Reform Failure and Rising Fees Boost Number of Applicants for U.S. Citizenship
- Obama denounces Senate failure
- Reform bill derailed by politics of fear
- Reform Bill Moves Forward
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- Dreams Across America Train Pulls into Chicago!
- Time to Move Reform Forward- Take Action!
- Senate Reform Stalled- ICIRR Acknowledges Efforts of Durbin and Obama
- ICIRR Praises Bipartisan Effort, Calls for Crucial Changes: Take Action!
- Drivers' Certificates Add up to Big Savings in Illinois
- May 1st Unity March for Immigration Reform