compa...@s The moment has come and it is screaming at us. Please begin to distribute attached letter to legislators to your lists to add more names and organizations to this letter which will be sent tomorrow Tuesday at 11:59. Javier Rodriguez
March 25 Coalition Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional Contacts: Javier Rodriguez [email protected] 213-909-6397 Gloria Saucedo [email protected] 818-919-4718 www.march25coalition2009nc..org An Open Letter to 10 March 2009 California Senators Gil Cedillo and Gloria Romero, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Assemblyman Kevin de Leon, LA Councilman Richard Alarcon A Request for California State Senate, State Assembly and LA City Council Resolutions Calling on President Barack Obama to Issue the Promised Executive Order to Halt ICE Raids in workplaces and Communities. The campaign requesting President Barack Obama to issue an Executive Order to Stop the ICE raids in the country has begun to galvanize. The indicators can be seen in the media reports, a New York Times and La Opinion editorials, the recently begun Familias Unidas National Congressional Tour scheduled for 20 cities, the protests in Riverside, California, Phoenix, Arizona and many cities across the nation, thousands of letters, emails and faxes and a national letter signed and sent to the White House by over three thousand leaders and organizations, a resolution introduced in the City of San Francisco, the request by 20 New York elected leaders to the newly appointed NY Senator, the statement made by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a MALDEF Washington Dinner and additionally, from Mexico, an Open Letter from 40 national organizations and leaders respectfully requesting the same, an immediate halt to the raids and for the passage of a humane immigration reform. And all this has already reached the White. Obviously with the latest ICE developments, we need to further intensify and build the momentum in California and nationally. With the utmost respect, on behalf of the March 25 Coalition and Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional, Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish and the rest of organizations and activists in the building of the next May 1st March in Los Angeles, we need you to introduce and assure the passage of a resolution in the California State Senate, State Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council, calling on President Obama to issue the promised Presidential Executive Order to Stop the ICE Raids and also calling on him to fulfill his pledge for an approved and signed immigration reform bill in his first year in office. We believe that a California official call will have a resounding chain effect in the country, motivating other states and local governments to follow suit. Additionally, a victory on this issue will stop the right on its tracks, and ICE, with over 18,000 agents, the largest federal enforcement agency, is unequivocally part of the country’s right wing and its latest raids and official statements indicate a desperate move to stop the unstoppable, the legalization and empowerment of the 13 million plus undocumented immigrants and their families. Finally your resolutions and the awaited Presidential Executive Order will send an indisputable message to our community to come out and massively participate in the National May 1st Marches. For your information, In LA, we have begun the efforts to build the National May 1st March for 2009 and we expect that over 150 cities nationally will joyfully and militantly express the sentiments of our people to the President and the new Democratic Majority. In the Obama era, the fruits of the intensive massive work begun since early 2006, will finally be realized. Our Time has come. Si Se Puede - Yes We Can Respectfully, Javier Rodriguez Political and Media Strategist, Gloria Saucedo Director Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional, Atty. Cynthia Anderson National Lawyers Guild, Moctesuma Esparza CEO Maya Cinemas, Jorge H. Rodriguez Labores Local 300, Dov Charney CEO American Apparel, Atty. Don Justin Jones, WilliamTorres Boxing Promoter, Antonio Rodriguez Atty. at Law, Dip. Jose Jacquez Medina, Jaime Rodriguez, Fr. Richard Estrada Our Lady Queen of Angeles Parish, Alicia Flores Oxnard Director Hemandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional, Ruben Gonzalez Small Businesman, Zeff Farias President California Mexican American Chamber of Commerce, Prof. William Robinson UCSB, Francisco Arago, Iliana Carter, Raul Sandoval, Horacio Hernandez, Alberto Aviles Independent Columnist PaisanoPower.com, Armando Gudino Program Director KPFK, Humbert Terrones Producer, Atty. Isabel Rodriguez March 25 Coalition, Jaime Rodriguez Jr, Maria Ahumada and Eduardo Hernandez Angel de la Comunidad, Roberto Bravo and Gladys Pinto President and VP Consejo Binacional de Organizaciones Mexicanas Comunitarias, Juan Torres Asociacion de Loncheros Unidos, Martha Soriano President Casa del Mexicano, Marc Rich House of Reps UTLA*, Chito Quijano BAYAN National, Sal Lopez Programmer, Humberto Luna La Preciosa National Radio*, Jesus Jimenez Fiesta Mexicana Restaurants, Rosa Martha Zarate Braceros del Norte, Paul Rasso and Victoria Baca United Democrats, Atty. Pete Navarro MABA*, Atty. Carlos Vellanoweth, Patricia Vellanoweth, Mario Castro PR Productions, Phil Aguirre President PR Productions, Oscar Pulido, Atty. Jose Angel Barajas, Yannet Navarro President Club Guadalajara, Dr. Armando Navarro UCR, Mariana Gonzalez National Alliance for Human Rights, Frank Velasco Mitchell Printing and Publishing, Teresa Marquez Chair Boyle Heights Stakeholders, Alfredo Delgado CEO President AG Custom Motoring, Luis Guzman AG Custom Motoring, Vicente Rodriguez Marcha Migrante, Atty. Jose M Vera, Roger Mata Construction Services Inc., Mario Hernandez Dir. Public Affairs Western Union, Saul Sandoval Programmer, Salvador Portugal Hijos Ausentes de Zacapu, Atty. Norma Patricia Gurrola Arredondo, Club Ballesteros Salvatierra-Guanajuato, Federación Californiana de Michoacán (FECADEMICH), Presidente Luís Sandoval, Federación Veracruzana USA Presidente Ángel Morales, Federación Poblana Presidente Roberto Bravo, Federación Sonora Presidente Horacio Campas, Federación Yucateca de California Inc. (FEDYC) Presidente Gladys Pinto-Muñoz, Federación Ciudad de México Orange County Presidente Juan Álvarez, Guerrerenses Unidos de CA. Presidente Darío Santos Ramírez, Club Guadalajara USA Presidente Yanett Navarro, Asociación de Hijos Ausentes de Oconahua Presidente Jesús Ortiz, Federación de Guanajuato Presidente Manuel T. Rodríguez, Hidalgo Representante Alfredo Falcón, Alianza de Federaciones y Organizaciones Mexicanas (AFOM) Presidente Antonio Ramírez, Asociación de Clubes Duranguenses Presidente Leticia Juárez, Federación Baja California Presidente Sebastián Domínguez, Federación de Nuevo León Representante Juan Alday, Federación de Nayaritas Presidente José R. Meza, Organización Nacional de Verduleros Presidente Armando García, Fundación Unión y Progreso Hispano Presidente Roció Gálvez, La Familia Unida Presidente Juan Torres, Federación Tabasqueña de N.Y. Presidente Juan Cáceres, Asociación de Grupos Religiosos Representante Josefina Gutiérrez, Fr.Luis Angel Nieto, Fr. Richard Estrada Queen of Angels Parish, Elvira Arellano Deported Leader Familias Unidas, Christina Vazquez UNITE, Karl Kramer, Campaign Co-director, San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, Martha Sanchez Soler Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano, Manny Lares Cal State Dominguez Hills, San Francisco Chronicle Pelosi: End raids splitting immigrant families Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, March 8, 2009 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined hundreds of families Saturday evening at a church in San Francisco's Mission District demanding an end to the immigration raids and deportations that separate parents from children across the United States. Pelosi, who has said securing U.S. borders is a top priority, used the forum to call for a comprehensive immigration program that recognizes the broad contributions immigrants have made to the fabric of the country. "Our future is about our children," Pelosi told a crowd of mostly Latino families at St. Anthony's Church. No matter if those families arrived two days ago or centuries ago, Pelosi said "that opportunity, that determination, that hope has made American more American." She said, "Taking parents from their children ... that's un-American.." Pelosi's comments came during the San Francisco stop of a 17-city national "Family Unity" tour led by leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Members of the caucus expect to meet with President Obama in two weeks to discuss the nation's immigration policies. "No city in American has been spared the devastating effects of our broken system," said Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat who is leading the five-week tour. "We cannot wait any longer for fair and just immigration reform." Under the Bush administration's Operation Return to Sender, tens of thousands of people have been arrested nationwide, including at least 1,800 in Northern and Central California. While the raids have drawn protests across the region, anti-immigrant groups such as the Northern California chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps have defended the actions. In a state whose population is expected to rocket to 54 million by 2040 - including a Latino population of 27 million compared with 16 million whites and 7 million of Asian descent - immigration will be a critical issue for decades. Organizers of Saturday evening's event said raids and family separations - often parents are taken away from their U.S.-born children - run counter to a country where early Irish, Italian, Asian and African American families founded some of the country's most important institutions. In addition, they say, such measures have devastating impacts on the young children who are left behind, or forced to move with their parents. Ivan Torres, a 9-year-old boy from San Jose, said he lives in fear that his father, who earns a living cleaning offices, will be taken away: "If (my father) is deported, who will pay the bills? Who will take care of me and my two sisters? We need to keep families together." E-mail Kelly Zito at [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Internet group address: http://groups.google.com/group/ChicagoMayDay To send e-mail: [email protected] To unsuscribe: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
