Senate kills divisive Vitter Amendment seeking to wreck Census

Today, the Senate voted and achieved cloture with a 60-39 vote to cut-off further debate on the Commerce-Justice-Science Spending Bill killing the Vitter Amendment that sought to use the 2010 Census for anti-immigrant politicking.

In response to the Senate's action, the Service Employees International Union Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement.

"Today U.S. Senators put working families ahead of the politics of division and hatred. Joining a chorus of former U.S. Census Directors and advocacy leaders , the Senate voted down Senators Vitter and Bennett's misguided attempt to undercut 2010 enumeration efforts and mar this critical process with hateful, anti-immigrant politics.

"The Senate's move to protect the 2010 Census will help ensure we achieve an accurate count of our nation's diverse population-protecting billions of dollars in federal funding for local communities and ensuring reapportionment is based on a factual representation of who we are as a nation.

"As we approach the March, 2010 launch of the U.S. Census, SEIU will continue our efforts to support an accurate, timely count of Latinos and other traditionally undercounted communities. When entire communities are left out of decisions about allocation of federal funds, all working people suffer. When Latino and immigrant communities are left out of political redistricting conversations, our democracy suffers."

SEIU was partnered with AAJC, CAP, Demos, HNBA, LCCR, LDF, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, NDN, PFAW in the Don't Wreck the Census campaign. Since launching, the campaign helped drive thousands of letters and calls to the Senate, urging them to block the divisive Vitter-Bennett amendment

CNN refuses to run ad calling for Lou Dobbs' ouster

Last Thursday America's Voice began airing a new ad on MSNBC continuing the call for CNN to drop Lou Dobbs. According to their website, dispite raising the funds to air the ad on CNN, CNN executives refused to air their PSA titled "Drop the Hate, Drop Dobbs".

America's Voice has been raising money at their website to run the ad. Since the beginning of the campaign, the organization has already raised $16,000 from online donations.

For more information, visit America's Voice at http://www.americasvoiceonline.org/.

Cristina Lopez to discuss Oregon & Oaxaca Connection at Willamette University tonight

Tonight Cristina Lopez will present on The Connection Between Oregon and Oaxaca and the Impact of Immigration on Families at 7:00 p.m. in Eaton Hall at Willamette University in Salem.

Currently Oaxacans make up the largest group of immigrants in Oregon, bringing a variety of indigenous languages and cultures with them. Her presentation is sponsored by the Willamette University's departments of Sociology, Politics, History, Women and Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, and Spanish as well as the International Studies Program and the Chaplain's Office.

Cristina Lopez was born in Santo Domingo Tonala in the Mixteca region in Oaxaca. She was raised in the Napa Valley in California after immigrating to the US with her family in 1984. Cristina attended UCLA and received a BA in Women's Studies, and Chicana/o Studies in 2005. Cristina joined the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) after learning about the organization and its support of the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) in the 2006 conflict in Oaxaca. Cristina serves as the Coordinator of the Los Angeles FIOB Committee, and is on the Board of Directors of the Binational Center for the Development of Indigenous Oaxacans (CBDIO) a non-profit organization created by the FIOB in 1993.

The FIOB is a community-based organization and a coalition of indigenous organizations, communities, and individuals settled in Oaxaca and Baja California in Mexico and in the State of California in the United States. FIOB works to promote leadership development and self-determination in indigenous migrant and non-migrant communities, and to defend the human rights of these communities with justice and gender equity.

For more information contact Ted Richardson at trichard@willamette.edu

President Obama signs Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law

Today President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law making it a federal crime to assault an individual based on a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and/or disability. The legislation also strengthens existing hate crimes protections for a variety of other categories, including race, color, religion, ethnicity and national origin.

The passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is the first time in history gender identity will receive positive protection in federal law

The expanded hate crimes prevention act is named after Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas. Both brutal murders occurred in October 1998.

Organized Labor Report Lays Groundwork For Comprehensive Immigration Reform

This press release comes from our allies at the National Immigration Forum. The National Immigration Forum is the leading immigrant advocacy organization in the country with a mission to advocate for the value of immigrants and immigration to the nation.

For Immediate Release
October 27, 2009

Contact:
Katherine Vargas (kvargas@immigrationforum.org)
(202) 383-5987 or (202) 641-51988 (mobile)

ORGANIZED LABOR REPORT LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

Washington, DC - Today, the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work and the National Employment Law Project released a report on how harsh immigration enforcement has "severely interfered with the protection of workers' rights, to the detriment of immigrant and native-born workers alike." The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington.

Our deficient immigration system has created an uneven playing field that allows unscrupulous employers to exploit and intimidate immigrant workers and which undermines labor protections and wages, thus eroding workplace conditions for every worker.

Today's report raises the voices of organized labor - the authentic voice of working class Americans - and their support for robust regulation of labor laws and enforceable immigration laws. The labor movement realizes, as immigration reform advocates do, that improved wage and hour enforcement helps good employers and workers alike.

As long as we have 5.4% of the American workforce outside of the system and not protected by basic labor laws, good employers and American workers will continue to be out-hustled by unscrupulous employers that take advantage of our broken immigration laws.

We need comprehensive reform of our immigration system to ensure a legal workforce, protect all workers and restore fairness to the labor market.

Check out our October 2009 Quarterly e-Newsletter

CAUSA's new Online Quarterly Newsletter is out now in email boxes everywhere. We have eliminated our snail mail version to save on trees and costs. Link here to read our web version.

If you do not get our newsletter, e-Blasts or news alerts in your email, sign-up by linking here to start recieving them.

Dolores Huerta to speak tonight at Willamette University

Tonight the Annual Salem Peace Lecture will celebrate its 20th year with organizer Dolores Huerta, co-founder and first Vice-President of the United Farm Workers of America, speaking on Immigration Reform and Farm Worker Justice. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Reverend Gail McDougle, Pastor of Salem's First Congregational Church UCC, will be Honored with the 2009 Salem Peacemaker Award.

Wednesday, October 21st at 7:30 p.m.
The Annual Salem Peace Lecture Presents:
Dolores Huerta: Speaking on Immigration Reform and Farmworker Justice

Location: Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon Directions

Dolores Huerta was co-founder and first Vice-President of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). In 1962 she and Cesar Chavez formed the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor to the UFW. She directed the UFW's national grape boycott, resulting in the entire California table grape industry signing a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the UFW.

Ms. Huerta spoke out early and often against toxic pesticides, like DDT and parathion, that threaten farm workers, consumers and the environment. She lobbied in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., organized field strikes, directed UFW boycotts, and became one of the UFW's most visible spokespersons. Robert F. Kennedy acknowledged her help in winning the 1968 California Democratic Presidential Primary moments before he was shot in Los Angeles.

Ms. Huerta directed the east coast boycott of grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines. The boycott resulted in the enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law of its kind in the United States, granting farm workers the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions. In 1975 she lobbied against federal guest worker programs and spearheaded legislation granting amnesty for farm workers that had lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States for many years. Her efforts were instrumental in passing the Immigration Act of 1985.

Dolores Huerta has received many awards, including three honorary doctorate degrees. In 1984 the California State Senate bestowed upon her the Outstanding Labor Leader Award. In 1993 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. That same year she received the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award, the Eugene Debs Foundation's Outstanding American Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award. In 1998 she was named one of three Ms. Magazine's "Women of the Year" and was honored among the Ladies Home Journal's "100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century."

Ms. Huerta continues to work long hours on behalf of the rights of farm workers, immigrants and women, and she serves as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. She has been arrested 22 times for nonviolent, peaceful protests.

Each year the Peace Lecture Committee recognizes a local advocate for peace and justice. This year we are pleased to honor Gail McDougle, pastor of First Congregational Church UCC, with the 2009 Salem Peacemaker Award.

For more information, contact Bethany Loberg at 503-910-6832 or bethany@causaoregon.org