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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: (Local Affiliate Spokesperson)
Saturday, December 7, 2002
GAMALIEL FOUNDATION SUPPORTS CIVIL RIGHTS FOR IMMIGRANTS AS A NATIONAL ISSUE
National organizing institute approves and commissions its first-ever national campaign
(Merrillville, IN) After engaging in group reflection and hearing personal testimonies, more than (approximate number of people in the room) leaders of the Gamaliel Foundation unanimously approved a resolution that sets into motion a groundbreaking nationwide campaign for the just treatment of immigrants at its annual National Leadership Assembly.
The Gamaliel Foundation, a national organizing institute with a 34-yearhistory of community-based action and empowerment, formally announced the approval at the close of its conference. Representatives of more than (number) affiliate organizations from Maryland to Minnesota pledged their support and submitted the names of leaders who would help spearhead the new initiative.
The nationwide Civil Rights for Immigrants campaign marks a grass-roots response to the systemic mistreatment of immigrants in the United States.
(SHORT QUOTE FROM LOCAL AFFILIATE)
Recent events—particularly the adoption of the Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 and the explosion of post 9/11paranoia—have enabled legal and law enforcement bodies to crack down on the civil rights of immigrants. According to the analysis and testimony of Emmanuel Muwonge, a Milwaukee-based attorney who works with immigrants, said newcomers to the United States are routinely subjected to invasive interrogation, closed-door proceedings, and degrading employment, among other blatant injustices.
“We’re trying to create a Metropolitan Majority, and immigrants are the fastest growing segment of our population,” explains Rev. Cheryl Rivera, President of the NLA. “We cannot pretend that this isn’t a land made up of immigrants. Therefore, democracy can only work when it works for everyone. Civil Rights for Immigrants is about full participation in this democracy.”
The leaders and members of the Gamaliel Foundation have found this situation unjust and unacceptable. With the formal adoption of the Civil Rights for Immigrants campaign, the foundation can organize people across our free country to demand a change.
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