Real ID - Real Bad IDea; Church and Community Groups Demand Comprehensive Immigration Refo

Real ID - Real Bad IDea; Church and Community Groups Demand Comprehensive Immigration Reform

3/16/2005 10:48:00 AM

To: State and Assignment Desks

Contact: Joyce Ellwanger, 414-933-6157 or jellwang [at] execpc.com, Tim Brown, 262-260-6270 or timntina [at] execpc.com

WAUKESHA, Wis., March 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -– A series of high-profile immigrant issues, coupled with a new tough-on-immigrants mood in the legislature has people in Wisconsin and beyond concerned about bad legislation that discriminates against immigrants. A coalition of nation wide grassroots groups will sponsor a public hearing to oppose Congressman Sensenbrenner's Real ID bill on Thursday, March 17 and will show the powerful real life stories of refugees, immigrants and their advocates. The "Real ID" bill, which Congressman Sensenbrenner rushed through the House without debate, will among other things, grant unprecedented power to bounty hunters to hunt down and arrest immigrants and deny immigrants driver licenses.

"We all believe it is a bad legislation which caters to the current climate of fear and discrimination and which paints all immigrants with a terrorist brush," said Tim Brown, of the Racine Interfaith Coalition and, himself, an immigrant. "Somehow, we have lawmakers who think we should fight terrorism by ensuring that our landscaping and restaurant workers can't have a driver's license or car insurance. That makes us less safe on the road, not safer. This kind of legislation will do nothing to stop terrorism; it will only make life a little harder for people who already have it pretty tough."

Christine Neumann Ortiz of Voces de la Frontera, a co-sponsor of the event added, "As a voting constituent of Congressman Sensenbrenner, I am ashamed that a Congressional leader from Wisconsin would use the pretext of anti-terrorism to justify policies that promote racial divisions."

SOPHIA, a congregation-based justice organization in Waukesha, tried to help Terwinder Singh's family. Terwinder was a businessperson, a mother of two wonderful children who are U.S. citizens, and a good neighbor –- she ended up being deported because she had a flat tire. The group has asked legislators to look into the ways the law could be fixed to avoid this kind of family-destroying tragedy in the future different than the Real ID bill. The groups are recommending comprehensive immigration reform as a solution to our country's current broken immigration system.

Immigrant communities are mobilized like never before to hold decision-makers accountable. At the public hearing, participants will call on both state and federal legislators to consider the effects of immigration laws on the immigrants and refugees who live in their jurisdictions and around the country. The coalition will also hold a national call in on March 18 to call for killing the "Real ID" bill in the Senate. Comprehensive immigration reform would provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship, focuses on reunifying families and reducing backlogs, restores worker protections, and provides opportunities for safe future migration; that is what the groups stand firm for.

SOPHIA and the Wisdom Immigration Committee, representing seven Wisconsin affiliates, have joined with more than 25 organizations in Wisconsin and The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) to sponsor the public hearing that will take place at Waukesha at La Casa de Esperanza, 414 Arcadian St., beginning at 6 p.m.

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