The rights of immigrants are a critical humanitarian crisis in the U.S. There are over 200 million immigrants and refugees world-wide; many are individuals and families escaping extreme poverty and economic changes they have no ability to control. Others are escaping genocide and ethnic depopulation of the land their ancestors have called home for centuries.
The U.S. goes through periodic cycles of immigration and corresponding periods of liberalization and repression. The current debate and the crash of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress is just the latest chapter. (See the link to "Senate Grand Option Crashes" at the end of this section.)In Southern California immigrants from Central and South America are making dangerous desert and mountain crossings to reunite with family and to find work to support their families. Immigrant children are caught between their parents' desires for a better life for themselves and their children and U.S. policy that is limiting the best and the brightest of foreign nations from meeting their potential and contributing to the health of our own nation. As a result over 10,000 have died in the past decade attemping the crossing.
Many immigrants are the current victims of the "culture wars," American racism and xenophobia, white (and a few black) Americans experiencing fear as they slip closer to or into poverty, and of politicians who use the "immigration card" to attract voters.
At the Center for Social Advocacy we recognize the obvious truth that we are a nation of immigrants with a history of terrible genocide against the indigenous people living here when Europeans arrived to settle "the new world." In fact Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to rail against “the most stupid of their nation” - in this case German immigrants. (See the link to the Op Ed article, "The Founding Immigrants" at the end of this section).
We work to oppose social policies - such as legislation that makes it a crime to provide humanitarian aid to immigrants - and individual behavior - such as hate crimes - that victimize our vulnerable immigrant brothers and sisters.
We work to educate immigrants about their rights as residents and about the paths to citizenship.
We have supported local groups such as Border Angels that provide water and shelter to immigrants in danger of dying in the deserts and mountains on our border.
Executive Director, Estela De Los Rios is the chair for the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium.
Op-Ed: The Founding Immigrants The article places the current immigration debate in the proper historical context.
Ricardo Favela
C: (760) 468-4519
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What: Press Conference
Why: To highlight immigrant contributions to San Diego and discuss the findings of “Looking Forward: Immigrant Contributions to the Golden State,” a new report from the California Immigrant Policy Center.
When: January 26th, 2010 11:15 a.m.
Who: San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium
Speaker #1 – Murtaza Baxamusa, PhD: Murtaza H. Baxamusa will highlight the findings of the report. He has a PhD in Planning from the University of Southern California and a planning certification from the American Planning Association. Baxamusa is a member of the Urban Land Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego City-County Reinvestment Taskforce. His experience includes economic development studies for the US Department of Commerce and Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies for cities in the Los Angeles region, while working for the USC Center for Economic Development. He is the author of “The Bottom Line” report which looks at the structural issues surrounding the City of San Diego’s budget.
Speaker #2 – Alan Cabrera: Alan will share his experience as an entrepreneur from a Columbian immigrant background. Having established his family in Vista, Alan started and managed his own graphic design business, known as Ideas Cabrera, since 2000. Since that time, Alan has become a well known figure in the Vista community for his leadership skills and concern for the immigrant community in North County.
Speaker #3 – Imam Taha Hassane: Imam Taha Hassane will share his story as a new American. He is currently serving as the imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego. He joined ICSD in September 2004 from the Colorado Muslim Youth Foundation where he served as a youth counselor. Imam Taha graduated from the Institute of Islamic Sciences at the University of Algiers in Algiers, Algeria and served as a high school teacher and Imam in Tenes, Algeria for ten years before coming to the United States. He is married and is blessed with four daughters.
Speakers will also include other diverse immigrant entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Visuals: Large posters with statistics from report.
On Tuesday, January 26th the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium will hold a press conference at the Equality Alliance office 3650 30th Street, North Park (corner of 30th and Gunn, 2 blocks south of University), CA 92104, to present the findings of a new report, “Looking Forward: Immigrant Contributions to the Golden State.” The report features state-wide data and regional statistics, including information on: immigrant tax contributions, rates of entrepreneurship, and numbers of eligible voters. Local advocates, businesspeople, and families will share personal stories illustrating the many contributions San Diego immigrants make to the local economy and culture. In addition to today’s press conference in San Diego, this report will also be released with press events in San Jose, Fresno, The Inland Empire, San Francisco, and Orange County.
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The San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium is comprised of almost 30 community, faith, labor, and legal organizations from San Diego who came together in 2007 to support immigration reform, stop the spread of local policies and practices that target and violate the civil and human rights of immigrants, educate immigrants about their rights and the legal and other resources available to them, and educate the public about the important contributions of immigrants and counter the myths and misstatements made about immigrants. Visit www.immigrantsandiego.org for more information.
The California Immigrant Policy Center is a statewide partnership of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and Services Immigrant Rights & Education Network (SIREN) of San Jose. CIPC seeks to inform public debate and policy decisions on issues affecting the state’s immigrants and their families in order to improve the quality of life for all Californians.
