Immigrants Rights Groups Plan Mobilization Against Republicans

YAY!

http://washingtonindependent.com/98299/immigrants-rights-groups-plan-mobilization-against-republicans

Immigrants Rights Groups Plan Mobilization Against Republicans
By Elise Foley 9/22/10 1:17 PM


Immigrants rights groups have made a major push for the DREAM Act, with rallies around the country and scores of calls to senators. Now that a Republican filibuster killed chances of the DREAM Act as part of the defense authorization bill, some immigration reform advocates plan to mobilize against candidates who opposed the DREAM Act to keep them out of office in November.

Fair Immigration Reform Movement partners said on a conference call today they plan to use the DREAM Act filibuster to campaign against Republican candidates.

“Yesterday’s vote was really unprecedented, and it effectively was a filibuster of immigration reform,” Rudy Lopez of Campaign for Community Change said. “That’s how the community sees it, and they’re not happy about it.”

The groups plan to canvass a number of states across the country — including Iowa, Nevada, Illinois, Colorado and Florida — to talk to voters about the need for immigration reform and encourage Latino voters to vote for progressive candidates.

“The position of Republicans on issues most dear to immigrants have gone from a disappointment to a disgrace,” said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The mobilization will include a media campaign, an online outreach effort and “hundreds of thousands” of live phone calls and mailers.

http://www.congress.org/news/2010/09/22/activists_focus_on_elections

Activists focus on elections
Immigration groups register voters to hold lawmakers accountable.


A day after losing the DREAM Act fight, immigrant-rights activists switched their focus to elections.

"The time has passed for just taking empty promises from anybody. The time has come to take names and to deliver a political message in November," said Joshua Hoyt of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights on a conference call with reporters.

Even before Tuesday's Republican-led filibuster of the defense authorization bill, the activists had said this vote was a test.

"This vote calls into question who's on the side of the immigration movement and who is not," Deepak Bhargava, head of the Center for Community Change, said earlier this week.

The members of Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a coalition of pro-immigration groups, plan to launch voter drives in Hispanic and minority neighborhoods, attend a jobs rally in D.C. with other liberal groups, and ensure that the lawmakers who voted against the cloture vote are held accountable.

"You are going to see clear and deliberate mobilization across the country," Theresa Trujillo, of Colorado Progressive Action said on the call.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org