FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dae Joong Yoon, 323-937-3718
Sookyung Oh, 323-937-3703
July 24, 2007
Korean Americans Welcome Back California House Members from July 4th Congressional Recess
Los Angeles, CA – The Korean Resource Center (KRC) & the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) welcomed Representatives Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, David Dreier, Mike Honda, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Ed Royce, Hilda Solis, & Diane Watson from the July 4th Congressional recess with a “legislator care package.” Other organizations across the country, including the New York Immigration Coalition, have also “welcomed back” their legislators with similar care packages. Care packages contained:
• signed postcards from Korean American constituents;
• principles for comprehensive immigration reform;
• fact sheets about the importance of DREAM Act and comprehensive
immigration reform for Korean American communities;
• stories about impacted Korean Americans; and
• a T-shirt from the “Building America’s Future Together: Immigration Reform Now” mobilization on April 30-May 1, 2007.
“With the absence of comprehensive immigration reform and action in the Congress, immigrant communities will be the victims of anti-immigrant measures. We sent these ‘care packages’ to House members to urge them to exercise leadership and act for immigration reform. Just last week, Prince William County in northern Virginia passed an ordinance that requires individuals using public services, such as the schools, hospitals, and even libraries to check out a book, to prove their documentation. This controversial ordinance also forces county police officers to check the citizenship status of anyone they’ve stopped or arrested whom they have ‘probable cause’ to believe that they are undocumented. These hateful provisions are driving immigrant communities even deeper into the shadows. In the Los Angeles area, we have Korean American families calling our offices because of this fear and other related cases of discrimination,” said Dae Joong Yoon, Executive Director, KRC.
“NAKASEC and KRC just came off the heels of the successful ‘Dreams Across America Tour’, a public awareness campaign to humanize the issue of immigration reform. What we learned is that consistent projection of individual stories can change public opinion. Starting with the Summer Youth Empowerment Projects in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Flushing, we will be continuing to videotape and distribute stories that capture the experiences of Korean American immigrants and their dreams for a better life,” said EunSook Lee, Executive Director, NAKASEC.
