Bearing Witness

Isaiah 6:8  And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

The second AZ2DC (round 2) bus has come home from the trip to DC to pray outside The Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner’s door.  This hallway has become a place of holding vigil since October.  The desire of all those that stand in that hallway to sing and pray is to see Congress move on immigration reform.  The families that we know and love are suffering and the window of opportunity for a bill to pass this year is quickly disappearing.

Much has happened in establishing a presence in DC since the first bus left.  Many groups of people like ourselves have come from around the country to pray together for reform.  They, like we have done, sleep on the floor of St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church; like us, they traveled long distances to come to DC to appeal to the members of the House of Representatives to place a bill on the floor.  Our method is prayer and telling our stories.  We also sing.

I came home from this trip last night and have an overwhelming sense that though this mission to DC has a very specific objective of ending suffering by repairing a broken immigration system, it also holds in its hands a very holy purpose of “bearing witness”.  It wasn’t lost on any of us that at this Advent season, where we Christians bear witness to the coming of Christ, that we were enacting many of the same motifs of the Christmas story.  We knocked on closed doors looking for “room” in our nation for the strangers among us.  We experienced the good favor of “kings” and the fear of powerful people who could hurt children and mothers.  We met and affirmed those that “pray and wait” in the fasters tent, resembling the Simeons and Annas among us.  We sang loudly in the open air like the angels, made pilgrimage like the wise men, asked for help from people who could help if they were willing, worshipped and prayed and prayed some more … and we bore witness in the open to anyone who would dare listen to the stories of those affected by our flawed  immigration system.  We sang and prayed of the coming of Jesus into this very space and place for our rescue. Jesus is our hope, for He is the one who reminds us that when we welcome the immigrant (the stranger) we welcome Him.

The faithful core team that has been present since the beginning will remain until the 13^th, when congress ends its session for the year.  They will serve to integrate others from around the county who will come throughout the week to carry the work of the vigil daily.  There will be many who come.  They will bear witness also, they will offer their stories … of dads in deportation proceedings who committed the crime of having a bolt missing from a license plate … of the dreams of parents for their children and how these children intend to make them proud … they will tell of the children left behind after a hardworking parent is forcibly removed from the U.S. … they will tell of their faith in God, their commitment to sacrifice until the suffering stops, their hope and love for this country, and their persistent endurance to continue in the struggle.  They will look like our team looked, grandmas, moms, dads, college students, young adults, teen-agers, small children, a few scattered white and black people … all of them ready to bear witness to what they know.

Our last activity on this trip was to visit DC as “touristas”.   Providentially, we had just left the Lincoln memorial and were at the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial when CNN came up to us to do an interview.  We had been singing there.  They wanted to get our reaction to the death of Nelson Mandela.  We were stunned, we hadn’t heard, so busy all week and all day in particular.  It seemed so extraordinary to be located directly among this much history, all mingled up inside the same message … “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”.  CNN left us, and we prayed that we would be and raise up Lincolns and Mandelas and Kings and that we would suffer long and that we would always, “bear witness”.

Matthew 18:16

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Submitted by Kit Danley from a bus somewhere between Washington, DC and Phoenix, Arizona, Neighborhood Ministries.

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We append the following disclaimer on all posts: “Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.”

Congressman Mike Honda on the California Dream Act

From The Los Angeles Times letters section, Sunday, July 31, 2011

Dream Act may blaze a trail

Re "California Dream Act signed into law," July 26

Akin to California's cutting-edge leadership on a range of issues, the governor now leads the country on immigration reform.

In passing the Dream Act, California is enabling thousands of California students to constructively contribute to our economy.

The Dream Act is just the first step. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform quickly. Deportation of millions is clearly not viable. Deporting America's undocumented immigrants would cost us far too much.

Congress needs to step up on comprehensive immigration reform, and commitments by courageous states like California pave the way.

Michael Honda
Washington
The writer is a Democratic representative from San Jose [California].

We append the following disclaimer on all posts: “Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.”

Putting faith into action to support the DREAMact

From July 12, 2011

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] -- Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and more than a dozen religious leaders representing a broad variety of faith traditions, today announced a DREAM Act Sabbath -- an initiative enlisting churches, synagogues, and mosques around the country to dedicate time during their regular weekly worship service to a conversation about the DREAM Act. The nationwide event will talk place this fall on September 23rd, September 24th, and September 25th.

From a Birmingham Jail to Georgia and Alabama

Guest blog: Lessons from “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”

From Robert Chao Romero

“I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all’… I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: ‘What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?’… Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church.”

 These words, penned by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, still ring unfortunately true today. In his day, Dr. King was the leading Christian voice protesting the unjust Southern laws which enforced unbiblical segregation between blacks and whites.   Citing St. Augustine, Dr. King asserted that unjust laws are not really laws at all because they stand in contradiction to God’s eternal Law.   He found himself deeply disappointed with most evangelical and fundamentalist churches of the South because they failed to  publicly   challenge the southern segregation laws which stood in direct opposition to the biblical truth that all men and women, regardless of ethnic background, are made equally in the image of God.  

Many applications from “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” can be made with regards to undocumented immigration issues in the South today.   The state legislatures of Alabama and Georgia have once again penned some of the most hateful and unbiblical laws targeting ethnic minorities—in this case, undocumented immigrants from Latin America.   These laws are like Arizona SB-1070 on steroids.  The Alabama laws, passed earlier this month, bar undocumented immigrants from attending college, prohibit undocumented immigrants from applying for or soliciting work, and criminalize the rental of residential property to undocumented immigrants.  The Georgia legislation, signed by state governor Nathan Deal in May, authorizes police officers to question individuals about their immigration status in certain criminal investigations and threatens to fine undocumented immigrants $250,000, or send them to jail for 15 years, for using fake identifications in search of employment. 

This mean-spirited racist legislation from Alabama and Georgia violates both the letter and spirit of several biblical principles: 

1. God commands that immigrants are not to be mistreated or oppressed.  Exodus 22:21
2. God loves immigrants.  He provides for their needs.  Deuteronomy 10:18;
3. God calls us to advocate for immigrants and to defend their rights.  Proverbs 31:8-9. 
4. Jesus teaches that if we love him we will love immigrants.  When we love immigrants, we are actually loving him.  Matthew 25: 34, 35, 38, 40. 

 It is immoral and unjust to benefit from the labor of undocumented immigrants and simultaneously to blame them for all of our society’s social ills.   Undocumented immigrants contribute more than 2 trillion dollars to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product every year.  Our economy is entirely dependent upon them.   They pick our fields, raise our kids, and clean our homes.  They mow our lawns, fix our drywall, and renovate our homes.  They cook our food at American, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian restaurants, and when we’re done they wash our dishes as well.  They work in our factories, coffee shops, and every fast food establishment you could imagine.  They clean our workplaces and office buildings long after everyone has gone home to have dinner with the kids.

It is a sin to be ungrateful.  I think that it is especially a sin to benefit from all of the hard work and economic contributions of undocumented immigrants  and at the same time to scapegoat them for our nation’s, or our state’s, economic woes.   This is biblical mistreatment and oppression.  

It is also immoral to deny a university education to the children of undocumented immigrants.   Although this may be a popular position in Alabama, such denial of educational opportunity is utterly unbiblical and unjust.  A fundamental biblical principle is that no one should be punished for an action for which they had no control  (Deuteronomy 24:16).   To use a biblical analogy, if the parents eat sour grapes the children’s teeth should not be set on edge (Jeremiah 31:39).

In the same way, undocumented college students should not be punished for  crossing a border when they had no decision in the matter.   Most undocumented college students were brought to the United States when they were just small children or infants.  In fact, 60,000 such undocumented students graduate from high school each year in the United States.   Many of them are valedictorians and at the top of their class.  Tragically, thousands of these students are denied a college education because of state laws which bar them from the university.

As in Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day, I ask, where is the Southern Church?  “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of [Governor Deal] dripped with words of interposition and nullification” in May? “Where were they when [Governor Bentley] “gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred” less than two weeks ago?

Like Dr. King, I weep for the Southern Church.  I am a pastor and the grandson of a pastor.  I love the Church. My heart breaks, however, when I see the name of Jesus misrepresented by Christians who support or fail to challenge unbiblical laws such as those recently passed in Alabama and Georgia.

On a positive note, I am encouraged by the Southern Baptist Convention, which recently passed a resolution in support of  "a just and compassionate path to legal status, with appropriate restitutionary measures, for those undocumented immigrants already living in our country."  The resolution falls short of explicitly condemning the racist laws of Georgia and Alabama, but it is a step in the right direction.   As the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and a prominent religious institution in the South, the Convention’s statement will hopefully prompt many Southern Christians to reconsider their perspectives on immigration in light of the biblical admonition to love immigrants and speak out on their behalf.

Robert Chao Romero is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies.  He received his J.D. from U.C. Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Latin American History from UCLA.  He is the author of The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 and various articles related to race in Latin America and the United States.   He is Founder and President of Christian Students of Conscience, a ministry devoted to training and mobilizing university students around issues of race and justice from a biblical perspective (cscrevolution.org).  

Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.

Father's Day Blues by Crissy Brooks

I ran into Bernardo on Monday. Bernardo is my neighbor. He is also an immigrant laborer, a husband, and a father. We met a few years ago when we worked on a daylaborer center together. We run into each other from time to time and this week it was apparent he was not doing well.

Bernardo’s wife is ill in Mexico. His son has dropped out of university. When things were good here and work was plentiful, he was able to support them. He was able to pay the rent, buy the medicine and pay his son’s tuition. The sacrifice and costs of being separated seemed to be worth it. But now there is little work and his wife’s health is declining. Bernardo feels like he is failing them and the added stress of being so far away was a visible burden I could see as he spoke of his family’s situation.

Families being separated because of economic hardship is not a new narrative. Some of the best Blues music of the south was born out of this harsh reality. During the Great Migration of the 1910 – 40’s, approximately 1.75 million African-Americans moved north where there was work, often separated from their families. The common theme of the Blues- “my baby’s gone and I will be soon…” wasn’t about a woman just walking out on him. It was about the socio-economic reality of being separated by necessity to find work. She (or he) left to work in the North. The music is great and telling because it gives voice to the authentic pain. The pain of being apart from those you love, the pain of making choices in desperation, the pain of the social realities that led to the situation.

I wonder what gives voice to Bernardo’s pain. Perhaps that is why I write about him here, to give the pain of his separation a voice. I understand that he had a choice. I understand that for generations many people migrating for all different reasons had choices. But I am not sure how much of a choice “starve here or leave your family and find work” really is. I have heard poverty described in terms of the availability of choices. If those are your two choices, I suppose you are quite poor.

Sunday, June 19^th is Father’s Day and I can’t help but think about the thousands, even millions of fathers out there like Bernardo. Fathers separated from their families because of their lack of available choices. Fathers who are sacrificing to provide food, education, and medical care, for the ones they love. And I wonder what my response to them should be?

What would I do given those choices, what would you do? It is easy for me to judge the choices of others. I consider myself quite resourceful and creative, sure that I could come up with some solution. But I have not had to face the choices that many of my neighbors like Bernardo have faced. Though we live in the same place, our realities can be quite different. Our challenge now is to build a new shared reality together that will hopefully be plentiful in choices for all of us.

Assemblymember Roger Hernández on Immigration (CA AD 57)

California Dream Act (AB 131) Passes Assembly on May 5, 2011. It is now headed for the California Senate.

From the 57th California Assembly District's Roger Hernández web site:

(Sacramento) – Assemblymember Roger Hernández (D-East Los Angeles County) joined the rest of his fellow Democrats in the Assembly to support Assembly Bill 130, the California Dream Act, when it came up for a vote on the floor of the State Assembly. Assemblymember Hernández told his colleagues AB 130 is needed so undocumented college students can apply for and receive financial aid. Assemblymember Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), author of AB130, has introduced a similar bill every year since 2005. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed the legislation repeatedly. Here’s more from Assemblymember Hernández in this Assembly Access video.

California's 57th Assembly District falls within eastern Los Angeles County and includes the cities of Azusa, Covina, Baldwin Park, Industry, Irwindale, La Puente, West Covina and the unincorporated communities of Avocado Heights, Bassett, Charter Oak, Citrus, East Arcadia, Hacienda Heights, Ramona and Valinda.

Governor Jerry Brown has already said that he would sign this kind of bill when passed by California's Assembly and Senate.

Find out how your California Assemblymember voted and thank him or her for supporting eligible students. How will your State Senator vote? Find your senator here and let him or her know that you support the California DREAM Act. 

For more on other California legislators and congressional representatives and positions on immigration see what America's Voice has to say about Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-CA) here.

I hope this becomes a recurring series of informational posts on State and Federal legislators and their positions on immigration, immigration reform and DREAM Act related issues. If you'd care to submit a blog post on this topic or another immigration and faith related issue, see our guidelines here.

David Cho: Am I a Traitor?

I have had the great opportunity to meet some amazing people in my journey with people who migrate. David Cho is one of these who I met earlier this year at a conference by the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. Here, David shares his own historic day and some of his feelings. Many DREAMers share these feelings.

May 27 marks a historic day: Larry King ended his radio show in 1994; Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China in 1997; UCLA won their 7th NCAA basketball championship under Coach John Wooden. On this unique date, I popped the question to a very special and important person, my-then girlfriend, now fiancé, Jane.

I always felt a huge rush every time I gave a speech in front of hundreds and thousands of people. But proposing to Jane was the most nerve-wracking. Was I not ready?

What was most important was that she said “Yes”. And I was forever grateful and indebted to her.

Look how happy she looks!

But up until this very moment, I actually felt awful the entire day. I reflected back on my DREAM Act activism the past three years: sharing my testimony for the first time in public at City Hall; speaking in front of 25,000 people at May Day; driving to Washington D.C. from Los Angeles for the Campus Progress National Conference; appearing in numerous rallies and radio stations across the nation; and being featured in C-SPAN, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and the White House blog. I enjoyed every moment sharing my story and inspiring other students to fight for the DREAM Act. We came so close to passing it last December. Having said all this, I felt like I was betraying the movement and millions of students in my situation.

I questioned whether marrying Jane was the “right” thing to do. Will people consider me a traitor? Will I still be able to continue to share my story locally and nationally? How? Am I leaving fellow undocumented students in the shadow?

Hundreds of questions cluttered my head throughout the day. I talked to my close friends, like Nancy Meza, who supported my decision and urged me to suppress my pride. I thanked my friends for their support. After contemplating about my decision, I decided to pop the question. The deciding factor was my love for Jane. We are ready and excited to embark on a new journey together. People in many circumstances take different paths in life – we made the decision to marry a bit earlier than the rest of our peers.

This movement and the millions of undocumented students have shaped me into who I am today. I will continue my activism, remain as chair of ASPIRE at UCLA next academic year, and keep fighting for the DREAM Act.


This was originally posted at NAKASEC. We thank them for their permission, and David's to post this here.

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Part 2

Legislative News from World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director:
  


Immigration Enforcement

Yesterday, the House began consideration of H.R.2017, the FY 2012 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act under an open rule which means that any member of Congress can file an amendment to increase or decrease spending for DHS operations, like immigration detention, Secure Communities, 287(g), etc. As reported out by the Appropriations Committee, the DHS appropriations bill would increase the number of daily immigration detention beds by 600 (33,400 to 34,00), increase immigration detention spending by $25 million above President Obama’s budget request, and increase Secure Communities spending by $10 million above President Obama’s request. A number of amendments have been filed that would further increase funding for immigration enforcement, including for border fencing, detention and removal operations, and 287 (g) programs.


Today, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up four bills, including H.R.1932, the Keep our Communities Safe Act of 2011. This bill would give the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to detain immigrants indefinitely if they are subject to a final order of removal and cannot be deported for some reason, or if they are subject to a removal order that has been stayed by a judge while their immigration case is on appeal. The Judiciary Committee is also expected to mark up bills pertaining to E-verify in the near future.


World Relief urges Congress to oppose HR.1932 as it commits precious U.S. taxpayer dollars to detain vulnerable migrants seeking protection in the United States while providing them with inadequate recourses to challenge their detention. World Relief also expresses strong concern about passing E-verify without a parallel path for earned legalization for undocumented immigrants and funding of expanded enforcement measures without full consideration and passage of comprehensive immigration reform.

Click here for part 3.

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Funding Update

FY11 FUNDING UPDATE + FY12 FUNDING ADVOCACY

The FY11 budget deal was approved as HR.1473 on April 15th, and refugee accounts were not substantially cut! We came out amazingly well. We actually got an INCREASE in funding relative to fiscal year 2010 (if you don't include the FY '10 Supplemental or the across-the-board cuts).  And we only took a $25 million hit in the ORR account, which we would have had anyway because they had "rollover" money from the prior year.  The across-the-board cuts only amounted to a .2 percent cut. Attached is a more detailed analysis, as well as the entire bill, and a summary is below:

• The Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, which funds the R&P grant and overseas assistance to refugees, was funded at $1.69 billion, $160 million less than the total amount appropriated in FY10.  While this is technically a cut, this is a victory for refugee advocates, as the House had proposed a $827 million decrease in funding, and the overall reduction was only a 0.2% cut. Overall this is very good. MRA is lower than the level enacted in FY10 ($1.85 billion, which includes supplemental funding) but higher than the President’s request.

• ORR was also spared drastic cuts—the bill only rescinds $25 million in unspent ORR funds (mainly from state reimbursement of cash and medical costs and the unaccompanied alien children program), but the House had proposed rescinding $77 million in unspent funds from ORR, so again, this is a victory for refugee advocates.

• The International Disaster Assistance account was funded at $863 million, which is lower than what was available last year ($1.3 billion – which includes a big supplemental for Haiti), but actually higher than the president’s request. On ORR we are pleased that no funds were cut and they were able to keep some of the funds that were unspent.

  While we avoided massive cuts to the refugee program for Fiscal Year 2011, that's only until the end of September this year. Congress is already working on an appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012, and many members are proposing drastic cuts, even more drastic than we faced this year, for 2012.

We are asking for FY12 funding for MRA at least at FY11 levels of $1.69 billion, and FY12 funding for ORR at $825 million, the President’s request.  Please continue to call your members of congress, urging them to support adequate funding for refugees in FY12. Keep a look out for additional advocacy alerts and materials as the FY12 process moves forward. 
 

TAKE ACTION NOW! Ask your Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor the bill!

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update Undocumented.tv

This information is provided by World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director, Jenny Yang.

 Our video campaign and blog at Undocumented.TV continues strong today.  The blog is updated weekly with various authors writing about immigration as it relates to hot topics of the day.  Our most popular blog posts include:

• Immigration and Justice-  by Jenny Yang, co-author of Welcoming the Stranger and Director of Advocacy and Policy, World Relief, based in Baltimore, Maryland.
• The Connection Between Faith, Human Trafficking, and Immigration-  by Sarah Eisele-Dyrli, editor of the blog No More Slavery <http://nomoreslaveryct.com/> , and  an active anti-trafficking advocate in Connecticut.
• Honoring the Law, Extending Mercy- by Matthew Soerens, co-author of Welcoming the Stranger and U.S. Church Training Specialist, World Relief based in Dupage, Illinois.
• How Refugees and Other Immigrants Preach the Gospel to Me- by Sharon Moore, recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and new occupational therapist working with older adults in Durham, North Carolina.
• Letter from an Undocumented Student- by Tony Pardo, writing under a pseudonym, a 22-year-old recent graduate of UCLA, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, he resides in Southern California.
• Starbucks and Strawberries- by Andrew Wainer is an Immigration Policy Analyst for Bread for the World Institute in Washington, DC.
• The President at Chamizal - by Sami DiPasquale is the executive director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach in central El Paso, Texas.

 You can watch the award winning short film A New Dream on Undocumented.tv/watch and participate in a discussion forum there.

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

CA Assembly Member Introduces Strict Immigration Law [UPDATE]

In a discussion group last year with immigration advocacy organizations, we discussed the possibility of Arizona SB 1070 inspired laws in California. A few legislators were identified who had run on platforms that included harsh treatment of immigrants. There was a consensus in the room that it would be more difficult to pass this kind of legislation in California in 2011 that it was in Arizona in 2010, but we should be vigilant.

California Assembly member Tim Donnelly (R-59th Assembly District) has introduced The Secure Immigration Enforcement Act, or AB 26. The bill would allow citizens to sue any local government that operates as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. It would also require every employer in the state to use E-Verify to check on the immigration status of employees.*

Tim Donnelly is a Republican assembly member from Southern California and a Tea Party member. During a recent interview on Fox News, Donnelly said that beyond this law, he also wanted to target the use of welfare money by undocumented immigrants.*

For a story on this see KPBS: CA Assembly Member Introduces Strict Immigration Law. 

*Source: KPBS

[UPDATE] from California Immigrant Policy Center


Dear Friends

There is a strongly anti-immigrant bill sponsored by Assembly Member Tim Donnelly, the founder of California's largest Minutemen chapter,  that is about to come before the California Assembly Judiciary Committee. Although we are confident that it will ultimately fail, we need your voice in opposition to this harmful bill.

AB 26 (R-Donnelly) would prohibit public officials and entities from limiting local enforcement of immigration law, it would mandate the E-Verify program, it would criminalize work for many immigrants and subject taxpayers to needless and costly litigation over its constitutionality, at a time when CA cannot afford it.

The following is a sample opposition letter to AB 26 addressed to  Assembly Member Mike Feuer, the Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Assembly Member Feuer needs to hear from us about the harm this bill would do if it were to become law. PLEASE WRITE AND SEND IN YOUR LETTER TODAY. The hearing is currently set for April 5, 2011. In order to get into the file for the hearing, your letter should be submitted by March 29th. Thank You!

NOTE: I will post the letter in a separate post above.