The above title is the slogan of The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) that announced that at 2:00 pm, Sunday, March 21, 2010 over 100,000 Americans will gather at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. for a “March For America”. The following is a statement by ICIRR:

Our nation needs for our President Obama and Congressional leaders such as our Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Majority Whip, to step up and assume their leadership responsibilities on the issue of immigration.

Our immigration laws must reflect both the interests and values that we share as Americans, and the status quo is bad for our nation. 

We cannot have national security and secure borders without immigration reform that requires that immigrants step forward and register. 

We cannot rebuild our economy while continuing to allow illegal employers to undercut wages for all workers by exploiting immigrant labor. 

America is both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants and our values are betrayed when politicians are too frightened to pursue solutions while we are destroying 400,000 families a year – most with U.S. citizen members – through deportations. We will tell our President Obama and our Senator Dick Durbin, “Change Takes Courage”.

It is time for our President and Congress to stop hiding from the truth: our Nation needs practical and fair comprehensive immigration reform.

With overwhelming majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives there are no excuses for Democratic politicians to hide from their responsibility for solutions to tough problems like immigration reform. There are no excuses for Republicans to not engage in bi-partisan problem solving.

 President Obama, Senator Durbin – Friends Keep Promises. It is time for you to introduce immigration reform legislation in the U.S. Senate.

 Congressman Kirk, if you wish to be the Senator for all of Illinois, it is time for you to step forward in support of solutions, instead of hiding behind empty rhetoric that only continues our current broken system. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, show some courage and pass the legislation that Congressman Luis Gutierrez has introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

President Obama, Senator Durbin: The American people deserve courage to enact immigration solutions. The time to act is now.

In Illinois, our goal is to take 10,000 people, 200 buses to D.C. for this historic rally. We are proud to say that there are 104 buses already going to Washington, D.C., organized by students, churches, and immigrant rights organizations.

We ask everyone to support this March for America. You can sign up to be a rider, to contribute, or to sponsor a bus at www.icirr/ride, or in Spanish at www.icirr/marcha. 

The ICIRR invites the ethnic media for a briefing on March 1 at Logan Square Neighborhood Association, 2840 N. Milwaukee, 11:00 to 12:30 PM, to discuss about the resources critical to ease the integration of African, Arab, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Latino, Filipino, Indian, Polish, Pakistani and Vietnamese families in Illinois.

The economic downturn has hit all families, especially those who are Limited English Speaking.  It is important to provide vetal information to our communities regarding city and state services that support immigrant and refugee families which finding is in jeopardy.

The briefing will include: An update on services available for immigrant families; Testimonies from diverse immigrant communities focusing on the need of language assistance and other critical issue that affect different communities; Next steps to strengthen immigrant communities.

Another civic group, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, is having a “Lunch and Learn” discussion about “Detained and Deported: Failed by a Broken Immigration System on March 4, 12:00 to 1:30 at Spertus Institute, 610 S. Michigang Ave. 3rd floor, to listen on Reflections and Testimonies on Why We Need Reform. You will hear from and about those caught in the middle of the detention and deportation system that is the shame of our country.  Speakers include: Reyna Wences, Leader of the Immigrant Youth Justice League; Rabbi Macalee Gordon, Activist for the rights and care of immigration detainees; and Peggy Slater, ICUA Immigrant Rights Activist (will discuss legislative update and call to action).   

Meanwhile, the  U.S. Conference of Mayors President Burnsville, MN Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, is leading a bipartisan delegation of more than thirty U.S. mayors in meetings with federal lawmakers on Capitol Hill to encourage them to put aside partisan differences and quickly pass a comprehensive jobs bill that puts Americans back to work and invests in MainSreet metropolitan economies, where joblessness is concentrated. 

In a press conference prior to their Hill meetings, mayors highlighted the growing unemployment numbers in their individual cities -- 13.9 percent in Long Beach, CA; 13.4 percent in Las Vegas, NV; 14.9 percent in Providence, RI and 11.9 percent in Milwaukee -- and pressed for a sense of urgency on Capitol Hill. 

“Mayors deal face-to-face with unemployed citizens because we see these people everywhere – in coffee shops, grocery stores, beauty salons and barber shops. And they all tell us the same thing – all they want is a good, dependable job so they can support their families,” said Kautz.  

“These unemployment rates will continue to plague our cities for years to come if we don’t act now,” Kautz continued citing economic forecasts by Global Insight that show by 2011, over 100 metropolitan areas will still have an unemployment rate higher than ten percent. “Mayors are holding the nation together by making impossible decisions everyday, and we have made cuts to the point where only bone is left. This year will be one of the toughest for local budgets with cities facing severe shortfalls and even more employee layoffs.” 

 Kautz recognized the Senate jobs bill introduced by Senator Reid (D-NV) as a first step saying, “While mayors are pleased that the Senate has agreed to move forward with a modest tax bill to help small businesses hire new workers and create new jobs, no one should be under the illusion that this bill alone can address the nation’s unemployment problem.”  
Last month, more than 200 of the nation’s mayors came to Washington, D.C. to advocate their 2010 Metro Agenda for America as a means to job creation. The Metro Agenda prioritizes direct fiscal assistance to cities, block grants for green jobs, investments in neighborhoods through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), COPS grants for public safety jobs, summer jobs for young people and targeted transportation projects for infrastructure jobs.  

The nation’s mayors are pleased the House passed a jobs bill last December that includes many of their Metro Agenda priorities, and are calling on the Senate to act on the House bill. Mayors are also working with leaders in the House of Representatives, including Education Chairman George Miller (CA) on a proposal, to be introduced soon, that responds to the needs of MainStreet with funding for job creation and job retention in cities. 

 Noting the bipartisan group of mayors gathered from both large and small cities for a common cause, Kautz said, “There is no Democratic way or Republican way to create a job. We were all here in Washington last month, we are all here now, and we will keep coming to our nation’s capital in the hopes that Congress will follow the mayors’ example of working together to address the employment needs of America’s people. And we hope Congress shares our sense of urgency to move quickly to help American families who are struggling.”