22

July

SAVE THE DATE! For CRLN’s 35th Annual Pedal for Peace: Bike/Run/Walk in Your Barrio.

July 22, 2022 Jhonathan F. Gómez Action Alerts

SAVE THE DATE! For CRLN’s 35th Annual Pedal for Peace: Bike/Run/Walk in Your Barrio.

The 2022 Celebration will take place on Saturday September 17. More details to come.

For the last 35 years people and organizations in Chicago have come together to fundraise in support of various projects in Latin America. This year we continue this unique tradition that connects us to the work for human rights and immigrant rights by partnering with Centro Romero, Center for Immigrant Progress, Chicago- Cinquera Sister Cities, Chicago-Guatemala Partnership and Concern America. Together we are supporting projects in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Immigrant Rights work in Illinois.

This year we will continue to fundraise for six exceptional projects. Participants will request donations from friends and family to sponsor them. The donations are accepted electronically or by personal check sent by mail. And just like years before, there are many ways to participate.

* You choose the day for your activity
* You can Bike/Run/Walk alone or with family/friends
* Your activity can be on a path, a neighborhood streets, in a park, or on an exercise bike
* You can ask a friend or family member to donate to the projects in honor of your activity
* And send us many photo of yourself biking/running/walking

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Jhonathan F. Gómez at jgomez@crln.org.

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April

Watch the Good Friday Walk for Justice

April 1, 2021 Nathan Gasser Action Alerts

Rise Up and Roll Away the Stone

View or download the Prayer Booklet to use while you watch the Good Friday Walk for Justice

This Good Friday, our collective community remembers that we belong to each other. We believe we have the power to rise up together and lean into the strength of our foundational bonds of justice for all.

We have the power to roll away stones of white supremacy, greed, and state violenc e. As we roll the stones away, we commit to co-create systems in which resources are shared, allowing our imaginations to generate radically new ways of living and thriving in a more just society.

We believe that the stone of injustice will be rolled away in our rejection of the status quo. As Easter people we recommit ourselves to choose actions of trans- formation. Together we pledge our efforts to bring about greater justice for all peoples and Earth itself.

Join us as together we reﬂect, pray, proclaim and celebrate the many ways that together we are Rolling the Stones Away.

To learn more about the walk go to walkforjusticechicago.com.

To support this year’s Walk, make checks payable to CRLN (memo GFWalk) and mail to CRLN, 5655 S. University Ave, Chicago 60637 or online: http://bit.ly/3rHuesZ

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April

HOLY WEEK 2017: EXPANDING SANCTUARY

April 3, 2017 Claudia Lucero Immigration

Continue reading HOLY WEEK 2017: EXPANDING SANCTUARY

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December

Sanctuary FAQs

December 19, 2016 Claudia Lucero Immigration

15

December

Immigration Organization Resource List

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Immigration

Faith-Based Organizations

Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition:

CNSC, a project of the Chicago
Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, is an interfaith coalition of
religious leaders, congregations and communities, called by our faith to
respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our immigrant sisters and
brothers.

Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform:

CCIR is a campaign to mobilize Catholic institutions, individuals, and other persons of good faith in support of a broad legalization program and comprehensive immigration reform.

www.justiceforimmigrants.org/

Interfaith Immigration Coalition:

IIC is a partnership of faith-based organizations committed to enacting fair and humane immigration reform that reflects our mandate to welcome the stranger and treat all human beings with dignity and respect.

http://www.interfaithimmigration.org

Interfaith Worker Justice:

IWJ advocates for justice for all workers in the U.S. – native-born citizens, legal residents, and those who are forced to live and work in the shadows, undocumented workers and their families.

http://www.iwj.org

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs:

JCUA combats poverty, racism and anti-Semitism in partnership with Chicago’s diverse communities.

www.jcua.org

Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services:

Witnessing to God’s love for all people, we stand with and advocate for migrants and refugees, transforming communities through ministries of service and justice.

www.lirs.org

Illinois Organizations

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights:

ICIRR is dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.

http://www.icirr.org

Immigrant Youth Justice League:

A Chicago-based network that represents undocumented youth and allies in the demand for immigrant rights through education, resource-gathering, and youth mobilization.

www.iyjl.org

National Organizations

Center for New Community:

A national organization committed to building community, justice, and equality. The Center is grounded in many faith traditions, and builds community where the dignity and value of all humanity is manifest.

http://www.newcomm.org

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement:

FIRM is a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level.

http://www.fairimmigration.wordpress.com

National Immigrant Justice Center:

NIJC provides direct legal services to and advocates for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.

http://www.immigrantjustice.org

Reform Immigration for America:

A national network of advocacy groups. If you sign up for updates on this site, you will be sent updates on events and campaigns specific to your zip code.

http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/

Detention and Due Process Organizations

Detention Watch Network:

DWN focuses on immigration detention issues. They post information about due-process-related concerns in proposed comprehensive reform legislation.

www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/

Rights Working Group:

RWG strives to restore the American commitment to protect civil liberties and human rights for all people in the U.S. RWG has grown a strong coalition of civil liberties, human rights and civil rights, national security, and immigrant rights organizations to work hand in hand to restore due process.

www.rightsworkinggroup.org

U.S./Mexico Border Organizations

Coalición de Derechos Humanos:

Coalición de Derechos Humanos (“The Human Rights Coalition”) is a grassroots organization which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike.

www.derechoshumanosaz.net/

No More Deaths:

No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights.

www.nomoredeaths.org/

BorderLinks:

An international leader in experiential education that raises awareness and inspires action around global political economics. Organizes “delegations” to visit the border region or Chicago, IL to understand migration issues first-hand.

www.BorderLinks.org

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December

IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Immigration

INFORMATION TO FIND SOMEONE IN DETENTION

Below you will find contact information for groups who can help you find family, friends or members of your congregations in detention.

The

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) Family Support Hotline – 1-855-435-7693 or 855-HELP-MY-F(amily) — is a good place to start.

It connects families in crisis with reliable and immediate information, referrals to legal, ministry, and social services – while also providing a long-term connection to someone who can help them locally. Click

here

for the ICIRR website.

Contact the

Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants (ICDI)

–

1-773-779-6011 ext 3846 –

for information about detention centers, weekly vigils at detention centers, and how to get care packages to loved ones in detention. Click

here

for the ICDI website.

You can also try to locate individuals through the

ICE Online Detainee Locator System

at

https://locator.ice.gov

, by calling the ICE Helpline at 1-888-351-4024, or by calling the consulate of the detainee’s home country.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

: For information on detainees housed at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, family members and attorneys should contact Chicago field office: 101 West Congress Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois 60605,

Phone:

(312) 347-2400

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INFORMACION PARA ENCONTRAR ALGUIEN EN DETENCION

A continuación encontrará información de contacto de grupos que pueden ayudarle a encontrar a familiares, amigxs o miembros de sus congregaciones en detención.

La Coalición de Illinois para Inmigrantes y Refugiados

(ICIRR por sus siglas en ingles) tiene una línea de ayuda para familias – 1-855-435-7693 o 855-HELP-MY-F (amily) – este es un buen lugar para comenzar. ICIRR Conecta a las familias en crisis con información confiable e inmediata, proporciona referencias a servicios legales, ministeriales y sociales – al mismo tiempo que provee una conexión a largo plazo con alguien que pueda ayudarles localmente.

Haga clic aquí para ver el sitio web de ICIRR.

Comuníquese con el

Comité Interreligioso para Inmigrantes Detenidos

(ICDI) 1-773-779-6011, extensión 3846- para obtener información sobre centros de detención, vigilias semanales en los centros de detención y cómo mandar paquetes de atención a sus seres queridos en detención.

Haga clic aquí para ver el sitio web de ICDI.

También puede tratar de localizar a personas a través del

Sistema en línea de localización de detenidos de ICE

en

https://locator.ice.gov

, llamando a la línea de ayuda de ICE al 1-888-351-4024 o llamando al consulado del país de origen del detenido.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

: Familiares y abogados buscando información sobre personas detenidas con El Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE) pueden contactar la oficina central: 101 West Congress Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois 60605,

Teléfono:

(312) 347-2400

15

December

Action Alert: Immigration Bill Senate Floor Debate

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Immigration

ACTION ALERT: Now is the time!

Call Your Senators EVERY DAY until Immigration
Reform Passes!

Call

1-866-940-2439

(or
202-224-3121)

Feel free to use this sample script:

“I am from [City, State, Congregation], and as a person of faith, I urge the Senator to vote YES for the bipartisan immigration reform bill. I urge the Senator to protect the refugee and asylum provisions from negative amendments, and to support amendments that would reunite families, reform enforcement practices to be more humane, and make the path to citizenship more accessible.”

Background:

The Senate will be considering amendments to the bipartisan immigration reform bill as early as
Monday, June 10th, and voting on the bill in late June. Key amendments will be
considered regarding who is eligible for the path to citizenship, social
services available to immigrants, intrusive enforcement practices and border
militarization, and changes that could negatively impact refugees and asylum
seekers. We need 60 votes to pass positive amendments; 41 votes to defeat
negative amendments; and a final 60 votes for immigration reform to pass in the
Senate.

Amendments will be considered very quickly, so it’s important that your Senators hear from you NOW and EVERY DAY until the Senate passes immigration reform! Your Representatives
also need to hear from you, as many worry that the House will not support a
pathway to citizenship for our undocumented community members. You can find
your Senators and Representatives’ direct contact information at

www.senate.gov

and

www.house.gov

.

During the amendment process, we made more than 3,000 calls, and were a big part of
defeating the worst amendments and gaining modest improvements to the bill. We
need to escalate the number of calls made during the upcoming debate and vote
on the Senate floor. ALL Senators must hear from their constituents who support
immigration reform that reform must prioritize family unity and create a clear
and accessible pathway to citizenship.

Call

1-866-940-2439

to be connected with your Senators.

Feel free to use this sample script:

“I am from [City,
State, Congregation], and as a person of faith, I urge the Senator to vote YES
for the bipartisan immigration reform bill. I urge the Senator to protect the
refugee and asylum provisions from negative amendments, and to support
amendments that would reunite families, reform enforcement practices to be more
humane, and make the path to citizenship more accessible.”

Follow @CRLN_LA on Twitter and “like” the CRLN-Chicago Religious Leadership
Network on Latin America or Chicago New Sanctuary
Coalition on Facebook to receive the most up-to-date alerts on amendments being
considered in the Senate floor debate. Find Your Senators’ Twitter names on their websites
http://www.senate.gov and urge them to vote YES on S.744 by tweeting @[their twitter
name].

Ex: “@Sen_JoeManchin As a
West Virginian & person of faith I urge you to support #pathtocitizenship #immigration
reform #cir”

Also, consider writing
a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of immigration
reform, urging your Senators and Representatives to be champions for family
unity, refugees and asylum seekers, a pathway to citizenship, and more humane enforcement
practices. Host prayer vigils and other faithful actions near your Senator or
Representatives’ office, and get your community involved by writing letters and
spreading this alert far and wide. For resources and more information, go to
www.crln.org.

15

December

NAFTA at 20: Public Citizens’ Report

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Immigration

Public Citizen has published a thorough review of the past 20 years of NAFTA with their new report, “NAFTA at 20: One Million U.S. Jobs Lost, Mass Displacement and Instability in Mexico, Record Income Inequality, Scores of Corporate Attacks on Environmental and Health
Laws” Click here to see the report. and march with CRLN and the Illinois Fair Trade Coalition this Saturday to say ‘¡No más!’ to this harmful legacy of free trade and neoliberalism! No to the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a.k.a. NAFTA on Steroids!

Contact your members of Congress to urge them to vote no on Fast Track legislation for the TPP!

Below are some of the reports’ main findings, but click here to see the report in full. With mounting evidence around the false promises of free trade, the report goes more deeply into growing income inequality throughout the hemisphere and lawsuits filed by corporations against sovereign nations for “a loss of future profits” resulting from domestic public interest and environmental laws.

The export of subsidized U.S. corn did increase under NAFTA, destroying the
livelihoods of more than one million Mexican campesino farmers and
about 1.4 million additional Mexican workers whose livelihoods depended on
agriculture.
Scores of NAFTA countries’ environmental and health laws have been challenged in foreign tribunals through the controversial investor-state system. More than $360 million in compensation to investors has been extracted from NAFTA governments via “investor-state” tribunal challenges against toxics bans, land-use rules, water and forestry policies and more. More than $12.4 billion are currently pending in such claims.
Facingdisplacement, rising prices and stagnant wages, over half of the Mexican
population, and over 60 percent of the rural population, still fall below
the poverty line, despite the promises made by NAFTA’s proponents.
Though the price paid to Mexican farmers for corn plummeted after NAFTA, the deregulated retail price of tortillas – Mexico’s staple food – shot up 279 percent in the pact’s first 10 years.

15

December

Globalizing the Struggle, From Ferguson to Colombia: State Violence and Racialized Oppression Know No Borders

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Colombia

Article by CRLN staff member, Celeste Larkin and Chicago organizer, Martin Macias, published on truthout about a mostly people of color delegation to Colombia to visit African descendant communities organizing for their autonomy, land and lives. Celeste and Martin report back from their trip and explore what it means to be in solidarity with the communities they met in Colombia.

Click here to read the full article.

Globalizing
the Struggle, From Ferguson to Colombia: State Violence and Racialized
Oppression Know No Borders

Jumping Rope in Buenaventura:

Children from the community of La Playita play across from the site of where paramilitaries would torture and brutally dismember residents. Residents tore it down and built a community center next door.

For decades, Afro-descendant
communities in Colombia have fought for autonomy and self-determination as a
response to government policies that produce multiple forms of violence in
their communities. Fully aware of, and in solidarity with, mobilizations in
Ferguson, Afro-Colombians recognize the common dreams of movements for racial
justice for people of color people across the hemisphere. Two members of a
delegation that visited these communities in August 2014 reflect on their own
solidarity process and explore the ways that transnational solidarity manifests
(or doesn’t) in movements. How can we move beyond allyship and towards a
practice of co-struggling?

One week after Michael Brown was
murdered in Ferguson, nine US-based activists and artists of color and one white
woman traveled to meet racial justice movement leaders in Colombia. Our
delegation was led by

Proceso de Comunidades Negras

(PCN, Black Community Process), a collective of African-descendant Colombian groups focused
on cultural and political power for Colombia’s black population. The history of
dispossession is a long one for African descendants in Colombia and across the
diaspora i.e. European colonial conquests, subsequent violent and dehumanizing
economies of enslavement, the state’s denial of social services and
reparations. With the energy of the #BlacksLivesMatter mobilizations flowing
through our hearts and minds, we began our weeklong human rights delegation
throughout the Southwest Valle de Cauca region of Colombia.

Communities in that region have
experienced displacement and disenfranchisement (and/or the threat of them) for
decades as a result of large-scale infrastructure development, tourism
expansion projects and agricultural policies that favor production of export
crops (mainly sugar cane) over domestic food production. Some communities are
actively resisting illegal mining operations that destroy and usurp their
ancestral territories. Residents are actively resisting the destruction/capture
of their land which comes as a result of illegal mining operations. The
directors of these illegal enterprises operate with impunity – which is further
demonstrated by their use of paramilitary forces to threaten or assassinate
community leaders.

Reparations

And if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or
a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the
seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him
out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish
him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress:
of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou

shalt give unto him. And thou shalt
remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God
redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.

– DEUTERONOMY 15: 12-15

It’s with this Biblical passage that
Ta-Nehisi Coates started his crucial essay, ”

The Case for Reparations

The passage has very real implications: if a person or community has been
subjected to a traumatic period (or century) of bondage and dispossession, it
would be unjust and ahistorical to expect that they can immediately begin a
productive, happy life with such a deficit in power, resources, and
self-determination. Indeed, the historic and collective dispossession of
Afro-Colombians must be reconciled through amends and reparations, or the
imbalance of power at all levels of society will continue and their newfound
“equality” will be nominal only.

Yet instead of redistributing the
wealth created off the backs of generations of people of color and through
racist and violent projects of dispossession, the US government has
successfully streamlined capital and resources into the lucrative projects of
the military industrial complex which has been utilized to maintain order more
than protect and serve. The racialized patterns of criminalization within this
environment of military build-up have created an era wherein the bodies of
people of color are treated as criminal until proven innocent. And it is within
this setting of very immediate violence and years of residual trauma that
Coates’ call for reparations historicizes the urgency for fundamental changes
for communities of color.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE.

15

December

Take Action Now to Restore Funding for Immigrant Services

December 15, 2016 admin Edu. Immigration

Please make one phone call now to restore crucial funding for immigrant services across the state. The Illinois Senate just passed a bill intended to restore programs eliminated on April 3 which include the Immigrant Services Line Item. At $6.67 million, the Immigrant Services Line Item (ISLI) within the Illinois Department of Human Services budget makes up less than .01% of the total state budget. ISLI funds two major programs:

The Immigrant Family Resource Program provides information and assistance to families interacting with state agencies as they work toward self-sufficiency. The program engages immigrant serving agencies to help IDHS fulfill its legal obligations to provide language-appropriate services. Over the past 12 years it has connected more than 500,000 immigrants to vital safety net services and helped them navigate the challenging process of integration.
The New Americans Initiative brings together immigrant serving organizations to promote US citizenship and provide citizenship application assistance. The program has helped more than 96,000 immigrants with their applications since 2005. Immigrants who become US citizens earn on average $7000 more per year than noncitizens, and pay more in taxes.

We must now tell the House Members we need their vote. Please call your state representative now and ask them to vote yes on SB274 Amendment 4 to restore funding for immigrant services.

TAKE ACTION: Please call your State Representative

“My name is ____ and I’m a member of Chicago Religious Leadership Network. I’m asking for Rep ____to support full restoration of the $26 million to the Fiscal Year 2015 budget including the Immigrant Services Line Item. Please vote yes on SB274 Amendment 4.”

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR HERE

Archive

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