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Press Release For Immediate Release,
February 12, 2004
Contact: Gabriela Lemus,
202-833-6130
LULAC Joins with Religious
Leaders for Historic Immigration Summit
Nationwide Grassroots Campaign Launch for
Meaningful Reform
Washington, DC – Today,
LULAC is joining together with religious leaders
from the Global Evangelical Task Force and
Nueva Esperanza to discuss strategy and
launch a nationwide grassroots campaign for
meaningful immigration reform. The historic
summit will be held in the Hart Senate Building
starting at 1:00 p.m. and will bring together
members of Congress, Latino organizations,
immigration rights groups and congregations from
all over the United States.
“The Evangelical Task Force is
a welcome addition to the immigration debate.
They will work to mobilize thousands of churches
and we will join with them to organize and
mobilize our grassroots around the country to do
what is right. Our goal is to pass by June 2004
a bipartisan bill to bring hard-working,
tax-paying undocumented families out of the
shadows with a clear option to permanent
residence and citizenship. Many lives are at
stake and it does a disservice to both
immigrants and the country to ignore this
critical issue and not acknowledge the needs of
the economy and of the individuals affected,”
said Brent Wilkes, LULAC Executive Director.
The summit will address the
issue of how to best address the nation’s need
for comprehensive immigration reform that
includes a mechanism for earned legalization; a
reduction of current backlogs; and family
reunification among other issues. “The current
state of the U.S. economy and national security
needs demand that we do a critical assessment of
who is here in the country to understand the
management of future flows of immigrants,” said
Gabriela D. Lemus, Ph.D. LULAC Director of
Policy and Legislation.
President Bush stepped up to
the plate by creating a platform for a fair
bipartisan bill that includes a guarantee for
family reunification and an option to residence
and citizenship, including the permanent
restoration of Section 245(i). It is now up to
Congress to pass meaningful comprehensive
immigration reform legislation and send it to
the president to sign.
The League of
United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the
oldest and largest Latino civil rights
organization in the United States. LULAC
advances the economic condition, educational
attainment, political influence, health, and
civil rights of Hispanic Americans through
community-based programs operating at more than
700 LULAC councils nationwide.
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