Immigrant Freedom Network News: February 2007
Mn Immigrant Freedom Network
~ IMMIGRANT FREEDOM
NETWORK NEWS ~
(Si necesita una copia de nuestras novedades en Espanol, porfavor
escribanos a freedom...@gmail.com y felizmente se la mandaremos)
February 2007
Fellow immigrants and friends, with this e-newsletter we
hope to keep you connected to us and our work.
If you want to get involved with any of the areas below, or would like
to know more, please call us at 651-287-0660 or call us free of charge at
1-877-265-8817.
Contents
* Please see our Special Announcements section at the end of
our newsletter for important solidarity actions with the Justice for Janitors
campaign *
1. Calendar of Events
2. Worthington
Updates
3. Immigrant Youth: Building a Movement
4. Mn Dream Act Coalition & Student Day at the Capitol Committee
5. AFFIRM: What is it and Why does it Matter?
6. Federal Immigration Updates
7. Media & Communications
8. Art for Social Justice
9. Volunteer & Internship Opportunities
10. How You can $upport Immigrant Leadership
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1. Calendar of Events
Tuesday, February 6
Student Day at the
Capitol Committee meeting. This year
we expect over 800 people at the Student Day at the Capitol and plenty of help
is needed to organize all of the details needed to make this day a success for
all—if you are interested in being a part of this committee, please contact
Juan Rangel at 651-287-0660 or email him at rang...@umn.edu. Meet at the MIFN offices.
Saturday, February 10
Mn Dream Act coalition meeting. Come find out about, and help plan, the many
events and efforts that a coalition of organizations and allies are organizing
for this year's struggle. Meet at the
MIFN offices, 2500 University
Avenue, Suite C8, St. Paul,
55114, start time is 12:30 pm.
Sunday, February 11
Community meeting in Worthington
Minnesota. Come join immigrant families and workers set
a plan in motion for this year's struggle for immigrant rights! Volunteers are needed to help with
registration, room set up and maybe child-care, please email us or call us if
you can commit to volunteering this day.
Start time is 2:00 pm, Nobles County Integration Collaborative, 117 11th Avenue, Suite 1, Worthington, MN 56187.
Week of February 11
Mn Dream Act gets
introduced! Chief authors include
Senator Sandy Pappas and Representative Carlos Mariani, keep an eye out for our
future emails with more information on this.
Tuesday, February 13
Presentation by Dr. Pedro Noguera, from New York University
titled "What Does It Take to Leave No Child Behind." Those of you interested in advocating for
equal access to higher education for all will find this presentation
interesting. 10:00 am, 3M Auditorium in
the Minnesota History
Center in St.
Paul, please visit this link for more details:
http://events.tc.umn.edu/event?event=115684
Sunday, February 18
Community meeting in Austin Minnesota. Come build a strategy plan with the Austin community to keep
pushing for a fair and just legalization bill for immigrant families and
workers. Volunteers are needed to help
with child-care and room set up, please call us or email us if you can commit
to volunteering this day. 12:30 pm,
Queen of Angels Catholic Church, Cunningham Hall, 1001 East Oakland Avenue,
Austin, MN 55912.
February 21, 22 or 23
Joint (Senate and
House) Committee Hearing. There will be a joint committee hearing of the
Mn House and Senate Higher Education Committees at Arlington
High School in St. Paul. Come hear students give their
testimony on why the Mn Dream Act matters to them. Tentative time is 5:00
pm. Look out for another e-mail with a confirmed date.
Tuesday, February 27
Student Day at the
Capitol! Student groups, schools, community
organizations, teachers, professors, allies, families, friends and all those
who care about equal access to higher education for all are invited to participate
in this day of action--last year, over 500 students and allies attended the day
at the capitol and this year we expect even more! Tentative time for the event is set from 8:00 am
– 2:00 pm. We are currently seeking
volunteers and organizational allies to help organize this day of action. If you'd like to volunteer with, participate
in or get more information on this effort, please call us at 651-287-0660
(1-877-265-8817) or email us at freedom...@gmail.com.
Thursday, March 1
AFFIRM Outreach & New Members Gathering. The Alliance
for Fair Federal Immigration Reform of Minnesota (AFFIRM) is hosting a night of
sharing food and conversation to talk about AFFIRM's history, structure,
guiding principles, and current projects.
MIFN is a member of this coalition and we'd like to invite other
organizations to formally and informally represent their organization at this
gathering to see how we can all come together to build a stronger and more
unified voice to fight for the rights of our immigrant communities, if you are
part of an organization that wants to become more active in advocating for fair
federal immigration policy this year, you won't want to miss this meeting! Gathering is from 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm at the Sabathani Community Center, 310 E. 38th St., Minneapolis,
MN 55409. For more information, please feel free to
call Amanda at the Office for Social Justice at 651-291-4477.
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2. Worthington
Updates
Over the span of a
month, members of MIFN spent nearly two weeks working in collaboration with the
UFCW Local 1161 to support the immigrant families and workers affected by the Worthington raid. We took the role of connecting families to
the proper information so they could locate their detained families or friends,
we provided infrastructural support for actions and resource allocation to
better meet the needs of these families,
and we also lent our bi-lingual skills and bi-cultural positionalities to lend
material and emotional support for the families. Many immigrants discussed how ICE agents
subjugated them or their friends to discrimination, racial profiling, physical
and emotional abuse, family separation and deportation. Committed immigration lawyers like the
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, DeLeon & Nestor, Ben Casper, and Paula
Duthoy, among others, stepped up to the plate to help many families with their
court cases. Latino Communications
Network, through their radio station called La Invasora 1400 AM, mobilized in
conjunction with MIFN and other Latino community members based in or around the
Twin Cities to make a 7-ton food donation possible for Worthington families. The community is still in flux, with some
families still trying to decide whether to stay or leave the city, whether to
find another job or stay at the Swift plant.
But one thing is clear; the community wants to keep fighting for their
rights! On Sunday, January 7, over 350
community members, families and workers gathered at the local elementary school
to build unity and hope. Children
received toys gathered and donated by key allies from the AFFIRM and MIRAC
coalition. Folks shared their concerns
and ideas about how to move forward after this brutal attack. Worthington
community members, MIFN, the UFCW Local 1161, the NCCA, and NCIC are planning
another community gathering and planning meeting for Sunday, February 11 to
connect all of the families' struggles together as we prepare for another year
of the immigrant rights struggle. If
you'd like to volunteer to help organize this event, please contact us at
651-287-0660.
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3. Immigrant Youth: Building a Movement
The Dream Curriculum
Thirty college level volunteers participated in this past
Saturday's training to implement this year's Dream Curriculum! Energy levels were high, sixteen classrooms
and nearly 400 high school students are eagerly waiting to engage with their
coach in discussions about the history of immigration, access to higher
education, organizing and messaging to bolster the struggle for immigrant
rights. We had a handful of strong
coaches return from last year to re-connect with the schools and students, thus
showing the commitment coming from university students who are dedicated to
building a movement for equal access to higher education for all. Some of the senior high students from last
year are now college freshman and are still on board to keep moving forward—thus,
the long term strategy of building a movement with and by young people is
surely progressing, we only expect the heart of this movement to keep growing!
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4. Mn Dream Act Coalition
This year's work around the Mn Dream Act was kicked off with a coalition
meeting held at El Colegio/La Escuelita in South
Minneapolis. Over fifty
participants, including coaches from this year's Dream training, came to
participate in building a more unified and long term grassroots strategy to
help pass the Mn Dream Act! Attendants
included committed and grounded legislators like Congressman Keith Ellison,
Chief Mn Dream Act author Senator Sandy Pappas, and the first Latina
in the history of Minnesota
to be elected to the state Senate, Patricia Torres Ray. The atmosphere became electrifying as
longtime Mn Dream Act advocates and student leaders broke out into small groups
to craft ideas and events that would strengthen the movement for equal access
to higher education for all. Some of
these ideas included creating Dream art and t-shirts, throwing a Dream Act
letter-writing house party with e-mail letters to the editor and more! Congressman Keith Ellison is working to
ameliorate the military clause in the federal D.R.E.A.M Act, as a member of the
U.S. House Judiciary Committee who has been assigned to serve on the
subcommittee on immigration, Representative Ellison has great potential to help
our communities fight for a fair immigration bill that respects the livelihoods
of our families and a federal D.R.E.A.M Act bill that does not further propel
our youth to join the military. If you'd
like to help build more momentum for the Mn Dream Act, please come to the next
coalition meeting on Saturday, February 10 at 12:30 pm at the MIFN offices.
Student Day at the
Capitol Committee
With 500 students and allies participating in last year's
action at the Capitol, many people were exposed to the burgeoning student
movement mobilizing for equal access to higher education for all. This awareness has ignited more allies and
other student groups to not only want to participate in the event but also to
actively help coordinate the logistics of this action. This year we expect over 800 people at the
Student Day at the Capitol and plenty of help is needed to organize all of the
details needed to make this day a success for all—if you are interested in
being a part of this committee, please contact Juan Rangel at 651-287-0660 or
email him at rang...@umn.edu. The next
committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 6 at 3:30 pm at the MIFN
offices, come join us!
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5. AFFIRM: What is it
and Why does it Matter?
The Alliance for Fair Federal Immigration Reform of
Minnesota (AFFIRM) is a diverse coalition of immigrant and immigrant-allied
organizations, including faith-based, social service, legal, union, grassroots,
business and philanthropic groups, that have united to advocate for immigration
reform and immigrant rights in Minnesota.
AFFIRM's guiding principles (upon which we base our actions, meetings,
and objectives) are grounded in the need to promote and work towards humane,
fair solutions and protections for Minnesota's
immigrants, refugees and their families.
These principles also reflect our understanding that the struggle for
immigrant rights is part of a larger movement for human rights with dignity,
justice and freedom for all, they are:
Path to U.S. Citizenship: All immigrants who live and work in the United States, are paying taxes, and contributing to the good of this nation should have the opportunity to pursue permanent resident status and citizenship in the United States.
Family Reunification: Family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents should have the legal means to immediately re-unite with parents, spouses, and children in the United States and have access to education and employment opportunities.
Legalization of Future Migration Flows: Immigration laws should establish a mechanism to legalize future migration flows so that immigrants who fulfill the economic needs or who are pursuing family reunification could enter legally, with full respect to their rights as human beings and as workers, and with a path to permanent resident status and citizenship.
Protection of Human Rights, Dignity and Due Process: Human rights and due process protections must be guaranteed to all people, regardless of immigration status. Immigration enforcement practices should respect the dignity of all, and should not use racial profiling and other discriminatory practices.
Protection of Workers and Employers: Immigration law should
provide employers with a mechanism to hire and retain valued employees, while
guaranteeing employees a right to change employers and providing a path to
apply for permanent resident status. Workers' rights, including the right to
unionize, and shall be guaranteed to all workers. Immigration law should not place the burden
and cost of enforcing immigration laws on employers.
As we prepare for another year of
legislative proposals on an immigration bill, it's extremely important that we
all come together to build a more powerful voice for our communities in order
to ensure that any immigration bill that is passed this year respects the human
and labor rights of our people. To find
out more about AFFIRM and how to get involved, please come to the next meeting
on Thursday, March 1 from 6:30-9:00 pm at the Sabathani Commuinty
Center.
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6. Federal Immigration Updates
The Immigrant Legal
Resource Center has released their forecast on immigration reform and can be
found on their website at http://www.ilrc.org/ As legislative proposals are introduced, we
remain committed to keep mobilizing to ensure that all of our legislators know
what we want for our communities: a fair and just immigration bill that
provides a clear path to legalization for all of our new Minnesota families and
workers. We strongly oppose previously
introduced three-tier systems for legalization.
Members of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform coalition have reminded
us to keep working on building a phone baking and email/letter writing
infrastructure to make sure our voices are heard during the time that things
are moving and shaking.
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6. Media & Communications: Voices of Immigrants
Changing and Educating Society
Thanks to the work of our last semester's interns, Martha
Ockenfels-Martinez and Sami Jo White,
the No Somos Ilegales campaign claimed it's fist victory as these U of
Mn students and allies at La Raza Student Cultural Center kept meeting with the
Mn Daily to have them abolish the usage of the terms "illegal immigrant" and
"illegal alien." Please check out this
link to read about the changes:
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/11/13/69875. Our efforts continue as we keep meeting with
media entities such as the Twin Cities Media Alliance, the Twin Cities Daily
Planet and the Austin Daily Herald to abolish the terms "illegal alien" and
"illegal immigrant" when reporting stories about immigration; working in
collaboration with the Minnesotano Media Empowerment project in the Department
of Chicano Studies to help increase our communities' awareness of the ways in
which media affects them and how they can be active on that front; documenting
the personal stories of new Minnesota families and workers affected by the
immigration raid; updating our list serv to keep communities in the loop about
important happenings with the Mn Dream Act and federal immigration bills;
putting the finishing touches on a Legislative Tool Kit that will help
legislators with talking points on immigration; and working with youth to help
prepare them to speak and write about issues important to them and trying to
get those stories published in community newspapers. Soon we hope to translate all of our YouTube
videos on the Worthington
raids so that a wider audience can connect to these stories.
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7. Art for Social Justice
MIFN has organized a traveling photo exhibit featuring MIFN
and Quito Ziegler's Mn Family Project photos with an accompanying educational
workshop that raises awareness about the many immigrant communities in Minnesota, about the
root causes of immigration, and about the experiences that connect the more
established descendants of European immigrants to the new Minnesotans. The exhibit uses art for public education and
social justice, it has been housed at St. Patrick's Catholic Church during the
fall of 2006, it is currently being hosted at Carleton College
and will be hosted at the Central Presbyterian Church in February. If you would like to see our photo exhibit or
host it at a location in your community, please call David at 651-287-0660.
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8. Volunteer & Internship Opportunities
The Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network is currently seeking
interns and volunteers in the following areas: Art for Social Justice, Media
& Communications, and Public Policy.
If you are interested in finding out more or applying for these
internship or volunteer positions, please call or email us at 651-287-0660 or freedom...@gmail.com.
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9. How You can $upport Immigrant Leadership
The MIFN is always looking for sources of funding to continue
to build the voice and power of immigrant peoples in Minnesota.
If you would like to donate money to support our work, please feel free
to write a check made out to Mn Immigrant Freedom Network and send it to our
offices at 2500 University Avenue,
C8, St. Paul, MN 55114. If you have any fundraising ideas and have
time to implement them, please give us a call at 651-287-0660 so we can work
together to raise more money for this movement.
If you know of any grants or foundations that are looking to fund work
like ours, please do let us know!
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*Special Announcements*
Call to Action for Twin Cities Janitors! A message from
our allies at SEIU Local 26
Twin Cities Janitors
have been working without a contract since January 1, after their employers
left the bargaining table and refused to discuss affordable family health
care. On January 13, janitors
overwhelmingly authorized a strike over their employers' unfair labor
practices. Just fourteen of the 4,200
janitors have health insurance for their families. This isn't just a contract
crisis; it's a moral crisis.
Business leaders have the power to change this by supporting good, full-time jobs with affordable health care for janitors and their families, and by leading the way in supporting quality, affordable health care for all Minnesotans.
Call the following
business and real estate community leaders to say:
I am a concerned
member of the community. I was shocked to learn that only 14 out of 4,200
janitors have health insurance for their families. I encourage you, as a business leader, to
urge the janitorial contracting companies to do the right thing and make family
health care affordable and accessible for their workers. Minnesota
can do better.
Building Owners:
Bob Ulrich, Target
Corp., 612-696-6163
Jon Campbell, Wells
Fargo, 612-316-1985
Boyd Stofer, United
Properties, 952-893-8820
For more information on this campaign please contact Iris at 612-331-8336 x13.
Our Interns and
Volunteers, Our Spring Freedom Fighters!
We'd like to say WELCOME to all of the college volunteers
who will be helping with the youth program and in the office this
semester! With all of the positive
energy they bring, we hope to see some really good student mobilizations and
discussions this year.
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As immigrant peoples and allies in this movement, we welcomingly encourage you to call us at 651-287-0660, or swing by our office, to get more updates on what's happening, to openly discuss issues related to the immigrant rights movement, or to find out more about future actions.
¡Juntas y
Juntos, si podemos!
Mariano, Sylvia, Juan, Alondra, and David
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2500 University Avenue, Suite C8
St. Paul, MN 55114
Tel. 651.287.0660
Email. freedom...@gmail.com
See our history and visit our website at:
www.mnfr.org
See our video footage at:
www.youtube.com/user/ImmigrantRightsNow
See our photography documentation at:
www.flickr.com/photos/mnimmigrantfreedom/