SOMOS / WE ARE Declaration of the 6th Annual Leadership Assembly
During our Sixth Annual Leadership Assembly, celebrated in Greenville, North Carolina, November 13 ‐ 15, 2009, leaders of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC) analyzed the economic, political and social context in which the Latin American and Caribbean immigrant communities are immersed. We concluded that the negative and mistaken view that predominates of our communities and which has been propagated by xenophobic and anti‐immigrant forces, is at the root of policies that adversely affect our communities, both here in the United States and in our countries of origin.
NALACC PRESS STATEMENT
TPS for Haitian Nationals: The Right Thing to Do
Jan. 15, 2009
Latino Immigrant Communities Grateful for this Decision by President Obama
Chicago, IL – The announcement a few minutes ago by Janet Napolitano, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, announcing the decision by President Obama to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian immigrants residing in the U.S. without a visa, will go a long way in helping Haitian nationals to be better partners in the emergency relief and reconstruction of Haiti, following the massive earthquake that struck the island nation this past Tuesday.
NALACC requests immediate TPS for all nationals of Haiti
January 14, 2010
The Honorable Barack Obama
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We, the undersigned, representing thousands of immigrant families, write to commend you for your immediate and sensible response to the earthquake that struck Haiti two days ago. As you know, natural disasters can often have tragic consequences, particularly in a nation as impoverished as Haiti. We are writing to respectfully request that you use your discretionary authority to immediately grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to all nationals of Haiti currently residing in the United States of America.
NALACC Celebrates International Migrants Day with Launching of SOMOS/WE ARE
On December 2000, the United Nations declared December 18 International Migrants Day to recognize the significant increase in migration flows and to explicitly integrate migrants in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. International Migrants Day recognizes that migration flows are a global phenomenon and it reminds us that regardless of where we were born, as migrants WE ARE, above all, human beings fully deserving of being treated with respect and dignity.
The struggle to achieve full recognition of the humanity of the migrant person continues, as evidenced by epithets such as “illegal” and “criminal alien” which dehumanize us as immigrants and deny our real contributions to this society. This negative and mistaken view of our community has been the primary reason why real, sensible and humane immigration reform has eluded us to date while justifying systematic abuses to our human and civil rights.
To celebrate International Migrants Day, NALACC will launch our SOMOS/WE ARE initiative which inspires us to take action in reclaiming our humanity. NALACC member organizations in several cities across the United States, including Boston, MA; New York, NY; Greenville, Tarboro, Wilson, and Pitt Counties, NC; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Cincinnati, OH; and Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, will celebrate International Migrants Day by promoting SOMOS/WE ARE with diverse actions and activities that include press conferences, municipal proclamations, community forums and cultural celebrations.
6th Leadership Assembly Concludes Successfully, Adopts "Somos / We Are" Principle
NALACC celebrated the conclusion of its Sixth Annual Leadership Assembly at the East Carolina University Heart Institute in Greenville, NC. Over 100 Latino and Caribbean leaders from throughout the United States, special guests and community and political leaders in North Carolina gathered on November 13 - 15 to analyze the economic, political and social context in which the Latin American and Caribbean immigrant communities are immersed. These leaders concluded that the negative and mistaken view that predominates of migrant communities is at the root of policies that adversely affect our communities, both here in the United States and in our countries of origin.
The Sixth Annual Leadership Assembly resolved to adopt the initiative and call to action SOMOS / WE ARE to reaffirm the dignity of our Latino and Caribbean immigrant communities and to profess our pride in our multicultural and multilingual roots and heritage. The Assembly adopted December 18th, International Migrants' Day, as the symbolic date to launch the SOMOS/WE ARE initiative and call to action and to recommit ourselves to defending our dignity and resisting all attempts to dehumanize our communities.
Follow these links to read the complete declaration and the press statement on the Assembly's conlcusion.
Thousands Unite to Demand that CNN Get Rid of Dobbs
On the eve of the broadcast of CNN’s series “Latino en América,” NALACC member organizations participated in a series of press conferences and public actions taking place in over 20 cities as part the BastaDobbs.com campaign. NALACC leaders presented the video “CNN: Lou Dobbs or Latinos en América?” and announced the massive participation of Latinos in the campaign to ask CNN to get rid of CNN. They are signing up via www.bastadobbs.com or by sending the word “BASTA” via text message to 30644.
See thecomplete list of events and take action now.
Chicago Area Leaders Communicate NALACC's Priorities to Rep. Gutierrez
On October 8th, 17 NALACC leaders from the Chicago area visited the district office of Representative Gutierrez to deliver a letter thanking him for leadership in crafting humane and sensible immigration reform and detailing NALACC's recommendations for reform.
What Comprehensive Immigration Reform Means to the Latino and Caribbean Immigrant Community
- Foto de G. Camacho
During the summer months, members of NALACC conducted community dialogues in 10 cities in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Nebraska, and Souther California, with the purpose of hearing directly from community members their views on "comprehensive" immigration reform.
Each community dialogue gathered an average of 20 people in an intimate setting that was structured around the following questions: 1. Do you think the Latino/Caribbean immigrant community is a benefit or a burden to U.S. society and why? 2. What do you think immigration reform should include so that it can most benefit the United States and you?
Across the board, responses from these community dialogues revealed that for the Latino/Caribbean immigrant community the meaning of "comprehensive," regarding immigration reform, is significantly different from what it has come to mean in federal legislative circles. Specifically, Latino and Caribbean immigrants favor legislation that is premised on a view of immigrant communities as valuable contributors to the United States and not as burdens or threats that deserve additional punitive measures.
Read a full report on the community dialogues.
Latino Immigrant Communities Urge President Obama and the U.S. Congress to Act Promptly to Change Inhumane and Broken Immigration Policy Now in Effect
Speaking during his trip to Mexico, President Obama stated yesterday that immigration policy reform would have to wait until 2010 while other legislative priorities such as health care reform are addressed this year. Leaders of NALACC have issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s remarks:
“President Obama’s words have disappointed and discouraged millions of Mexican and other Latino and Caribbean immigrant families who reside the United States of America” stated Oscar Chacon, NALACC’s Executive Director. “As the largest segment of the immigrant community in the U.S., immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America, have been most egregiously affected by current U.S. immigration policy which systematically violates the human and civil rights of immigrants, particularly those who are in detention and deportation proceedings” added Mr. Chacon.
“While a delay in enacting immigration reform is far from ideal, there are immediate actions that the Obama Administration can take to ameliorate the human suffering caused by the misguided focus on failed enforcement measures. NALACC reiterates our call to President Obama to issue an immediate stop to raids and deportations and to bring an end to the cooperative agreements between the Immigration Custom and Enforcement agency and local police departments,” added Mr. Chacon
NALACC Urges Obama and Congress to Swiftly Enact Sensible and Humane Immigration Reform
In a letter sent on June 24th, NALACC commended President Obama for convening a meeting with Congressional leaders on June 25 to begin tackling immigration reform. NALACC also urged the President and the U.S. Congress to swiftly enact sensible and humane immigration reform.
“In our view, it is critical that the U.S. Congress enact immigration reform soon and that they do it well” stated Angela Sanbrano, NALACC’s President. “We do not want additional anti-family measures, but real changes that expedite the processing of legal permanent residency and citizenship applications, restore due process for immigrants in deportation proceedings and provide an expeditious and financially accessible path to legal permanent residency for people who have been forced to live without such protection by the current obsolete law we have in place,” added Ms. Sanbrano.
“We are a blessing to this country” stated Jose Luis Gutierrez, Treasurer of the NALACC Executive Committee. “We deserve to be full members of the country we have adopted and to which we have contributed with our work, our taxes, our family values and our culture. We are concerned that the process to make us full members of this society, that is to say, citizens of the United States, will be frustrated by long and thorny legal processes or by temporary work visas that will not fully protect our rights” added Mr. Gutierrez.
The letter can be downloaded as a PDF and the relevant press release can be read here.
Update: On June 25th, NALACC members in various cities and by various means made their hopes and worries clear ahead of the meeting in the White House. A national press release giving NALACC's reaction to the meeting was distributed the day after the meeting. Read it here.
Interview Addressing Obama’s Visit to Mexico
Oscar Chacón, executive director of NALACC, pointed out that Barack Obama’s first visit to Mexico represents a step toward better binational relations. “We believe that it is important to reopen a binational dialogue between Mexico and the United States in order to return to system where, in a joint effort, we can work on the solution to the great challenges that affect both countries, starting with migration,” stated Chacón.
In addition, he affirmed that during this visit the interedepence that exists between the two nations in the sconomic sphere should be recognized, with ignoring that “the issue of the growing pattern of insecurity among the citizenry should be dealt with, particularly in connection to the drug-trafficking phenomenon.”
For NALACC, Barack Obama’s presence in Mexico should be understood as a launchpad for the new relations to come between the United States and Latin America.
The first video of the interview is provided below (in Spanish).
The Executive Director of NALACC’s statements can be seen in full by going to the following link.
Additional Materials:
NALACC Receives Important New Support
We are glad to share the good news that two well-known foundations have decided to support NALACC's transnational work. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, via its Initiative on Global Migration and Human Mobility, has approved a grant request by NALACC to launch a study of the fiscal impacts of remittances on Mexico and El Salvador's governments. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has approved a grant request for NALACC's advocacy activities around the Inter-American Development Bank over the next two years. NALACC would like to extend its sincere appreciation to these funders and to you as well for your help on these key initiatives.
“News and Media” Section and “NALACC Home Page” Are Now Being Syndicated in RSS Form
Now, from any place on the NALACC site, you can go directly to these syndications from your navigator and subscribe by clicking on the RSS symbol in the navigation bar to the right of the URL address. By subscribing to the RSS, you can now see a more compact and direct version of NALACC news at your convenience.
