For Immediate Release
Immigrant Leaders Met with Renewed Energy for DREAM Act and Immigration Reform
The forum that drew more than 500 civic and faith leaders from 25 states also invited members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Senator Robert Menendez and Representatives Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velazquez, where they laid out a 3-prong legislative strategy to make immigration reform happen this Fall. They are:
“Having Reverend Lee travel to Washington D.C. solidified our continued work in representing the diverse voices and experiences in the immigrant rights movement,” said EunSook Lee, executive director of NAKASEC. “We eagerly join with our allies across the country in this reinvigorating call for the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform.”
First setting foot in America in 1978, Reverend Lee, then a college student, left a politically suffocating Korea to join his wife who had already settled in the U.S. as a nurse. It was a matter of staying together as a family, but it was also a matter of escaping from turmoil.
The action was organized to respond to the hostile national dialogue about immigrants and immigration reform and the harsh policies of the Department of Homeland Security, which led to a record number of deportations last year. With Congress back in session, event organizers and participating organizations used this opportunity to continue the immigration debate and push Congress and the Administration to deliver on their promise for real reform.
The event is sponsored by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and the Reform Immigration FOR America (RI4A) coalition. NAKASEC is a member of the Immigrant Organizing Committee (IOC) executive committee, which is the governing body of FIRM and co-chairs the AAPI table of the RI4A campaign.
Photo credit – NAKASEC. To view more pictures from the events, click here: