The CHIRLA Action Fund has wrapped up its third round of endorsements which include the following candidates:
Anna Caballero for State Senate, District 12
Oscar Valladares for Rio Hondo College Board of Trustees
Katelyn Brazer for Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee Area 4
The CHIRLA Action Fund has wrapped up its second round of endorsements which include the following candidates:
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Los Angeles, CA – The CHIRLA Action Fund has wrapped up its first round of endorsements which include the following candidates for office:
As the son of a single immigrant mother who cleaned rich peoples homes in La Jolla, Kevin De León understands the reality of growing up in a mixed status household. Led by the examples of resiliency and hard work of his mother, Kevin De León values the immeasurable contributions made by the immigrant community to California. He believes there is need to take immediate and proactive steps to combat the cruelty of this administration.
That’s why he has made immigrant rights a priority issue in California, pushing comprehensive legislation like #SB54 to ensure California is a welcoming sanctuary state. Kevin De León has pledged to stand up and defend #DREAMers, prevent billions from being wasted on an ineffective border wall, and work to put an end to mass-deportation. #GetOutToVote for Kevin de León for U.S. Senate
CHIRLA Action Fund is proud to announce our endorsement of Katie Hill for Congress.
Katie Hill is the champion Congressional District 25 needs! She understands that immigrants are an important part of our community and will fight for a just immigration reform that benefits the immigrant community as a whole.
CHIRLA Action Fund is proud to announce our endorsement of Gil Cisneros for Congress representing California’s 39th District. Cisneros believes in protecting Dreamers and fighting for immigration reform, in helping college students finish their education without crushing debt, in building affordable housing in California, and in listening to the concerns of people of color.
Vote Gil Cisneros for Congress
Did you know you have the power to choose the next L.A. County Sheriff? The next Sheriff must include immigrants in his efforts to protect the county as a whole. For this reason, CHIRLA Action Fund has decided to endorse Alex Villanueva for L.A. County Sheriff. Villanueva has pledged to honor SB54, the California Values Act! We encourage you to #GetOutToVote for Alex Villanueva during these November elections.
California – Across California, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the CHIRLA Action Fund have organized actions to fight for a clean DREAM Act. After months of organizing lobby visits, press conferences and sit-ins, immigrant youth and their allies have been relentless in fighting for an end of year solution to the end of the DACA program.
Below is a list of actions taken to date to pass a clean DREAM Act this year:
DECEMBER 2017
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017
Los Angeles, CA – The CHIRLA Action Fund and Walton Isaacson worked together to present a different take on the anti-immigrant hate speech being spewed in this Presidential Election cycle. The #turnignorancearound advertisement takes hate speech and gives it a twist. As this type of negative speech continues to be given center stage, it is time to take a stand and stop the hate. For more information and background on this advertisement, read the story below and click on http://www.turnignorancearound.com to watch the full video.
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Spot Reframes Candidate’s Perjorative Characterizations
Earlier this week, Republican group Our Principles PAC used presidential candidate Donald Trump’s own words against him in an ad featuring women reading his offensive quotes about the opposite sex. Now, the CHIRLA Action Fund has turned Mr. Trump’s statements about Latinos against him in another spot.
The ad features various Latinos “owning up” to thecharacterizations Mr. Trump had made of them as dealers, killers, murderers, attackers, traffickers and thieves, each wearing a t-shirt with those titles. “I am a dealer,” “I am a killer,” “I am a thief,” “I am an attacker,” they say.
But as each turns around, they reveal their true identities: the “trafficker” is actually a trafficker of stories — a film director; the “murderer” is a murderer of boredom, a comedian; and the dealers include a dealer of flavors (a chef), a dealer of care (a nanny) and a dealer of justice (an attorney) and so forth.
General and multicultural agency Walton Isaacson came up with the ad, whose production began at the end of last year. “We are very committed to minorities … and we believe that there’s an urgent need right now to speak the truth and confront negative racial stereotypes,” said GCD Martin Cerri. “So this idea came up organically, while we were discussing about different target audiences that we represent at the agency.”
The ad took about three months to pull together, from ideation through production. All those featured in the ad are real people — “It was a process kind of similar to what you do when you approach a focus group,” Mr. Cerri said. “It was not a normal casting, we didn’t look for the perfect delivery, we looked for a range of real people with a big range of different occupations in order to make our point.”
The ad directs viewers to an accompanying site,http://www.turnignorancearound.com/, where they can see the film and purchase their own t-shirts re-framing Trump’s pejorative characterizations.
Washington D.C. – The Supreme Court of the United States dealt a blow to the delay strategy by Texas against the President’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program today. After seeking a 30 day extension–which would have ensured that the DAPA case would not be heard until June of 2017–the Supreme Court underscored that a resolution sooner is better than a resolution later.
So what does this mean for the 5 million undocumented immigrants waiting in the wings to become part of our American fabric? The news is a great development and one big step forward, but they will have to wait until one more major hurdle is overcome: the SCOTUS still needs to agree to hear the case. This is very likely to happen soon with a final decision delivered in June of 2016. As the court moves in this direction, there will be a continuation and build up of a massive movement across the country to underscore the importance of this case.
When the decision is delivered next Spring, community organizations are preparing for the massive number of applicants who will sign up as DAPA/DACA+ beneficiaries. It will be up to the next President to decide whether to keep the DAPA, DACA+ and the original DACA programs and build upon their success, or end the programs leaving millions in limbo. For now, we will wait patiently for the final decision from the Supreme Court.
As the field of Presidential candidates begins to narrow and Republican candidate anti-immigrant statements run rampant, it is without a doubt a breath of fresh air to see a candidate provide concrete solutions to our nation’s immigration system.
Senator Bernie Sanders joins Governor Martin O’Malley in meeting two key milestones: meeting with immigrant families and providing a detailed immigration plan. The key areas of reform in Senator Sanders’ plan includes issuing executive orders that include bringing more of the 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows should Congress fail to act on immigration reform in his first 100 days should he be elected President.
Other reforms include accountability at the border, putting an end to racial profiling and local police entanglement with ICE. One major point in his plan includes shutting down the for profit detention centers who have disregarded the basic rights of immigrant women, children and the LGBT community.
Senator Sanders also addresses the root causes of migration and links them with our free trade agreements which have disrupted the local economies of Mexico, Central and South America.
Lastly, and more importantly, Senator Sanders underscores the absurdity of “sweeping up […] millions of men, women, and children and throwing them out of the country unjustly.”
While the Republican candidates reminisce on racist and shameful immigration policies, create lists of Muslims and shut the door on vulnerable refugees, it is evident that what we need now more than ever is leadership that recognizes the true contributions of immigrants and implements policies that uplifts the dignity of all immigrants and refugees.
Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, hundreds of Angelenos upset about anti-immigrant comments made by Donald Trump gathering in protest during his visit to the Luxe Hotel in Brentwood. After having insulted Latinos and immigrants, Donald Trump was met by community members who held signs which read, “No hate in L.A.” and “We are not criminals.”
“There is no way a candidate for the highest elected office in the land can utter the type of hateful language that Trump is known for and expect to win the Latino/immigrant vote. We have no room for hate in Los Angeles,” said Diana Colin, CHIRLA Action Funds Program Director.
The positive message delivered by community members prevailed and sparked a social media and communications frenzy which highlighted the push back against unfounded allegations and “gut-feeling” anti-immigrant statements made by Trump.
The CHIRLA Action Fund is committed to fighting against anti-immigrant comments to ensure that a civil discourse with concrete solutions to immigration reform are not overshadowed by hate speech.
Pasadena, CA – A jubilant crowd gathered at the Lincoln Restaurant last night as the Mayoral Election results were displayed for all to see. Jacque Robinson received 30.3% of the total vote last night, which means she will be headed for a runoff election set for Tuesday, April 21.
Her mother, who is originally from Belize and shares Nicaraguan ancestry, and father were both present last night sharing in the joy of their daughter’s significant win. As the next election approaches, Robinson’s campaign will take a short, well-deserved rest and ramp up again very soon.
More on Jacque Robinson’s top two win last night:
Los Angeles – Results from yesterday’s Los Angeles City Council election in District 8 has Marqueece Harris-Dawson up by 61% of the vote. Based on these results, Marqueece has won the seat to make him the 8th District’s Council Member. There will be no need for a runoff election in May. Congratulations to Marqueece as he takes the win and prepares to represent Los Angeles.
