FORUM FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS HELD IN SAN FRANCISCO JANUARY 25, 2008

San Francisco—The 2008 Immigration Forum called “Preparing the Fields to Plant the Seeds” was held last Saturday, January 26, 2008 from 12: 00 to 5:00 PM at the Mission Presbyterian Church at 3261 23rd St. in downtown San Francisco, CA.

The immigration forum discussed the Dream Act, the Sanctuary Movement, the Kennedy-McCain Proposals and anti-immigrant bashing in the United States. They also discussed the roots and causes of imm9gration.

The forum was sponsored by the Faith in the Movement Coalition (FMC) composed by Manos Unidas Community Center of the Mission, Alliance For A Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP), Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) Damayan New York-New Jersey, Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, JAC of the Presbyterian Church of the USA, KM Pro People Youth, Grace Urban Ministries and the Mission Presbyterian Church.

Forum Speakers

The inclement weather failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the participant in the forum. Some of the speakers were Craig Wong from the Grace Urban Ministries who talked about the role of the church in defending the immigrants.

Nunu. A woman speaker from BAJI expressed the African American community solidarity towards immigrants. She called the immigrants rights movements “the new civil rights movement that must be supported by all sectors.”

Mazda from International ANSWER explained the March 25 2006 Immigrant Rights Upsurge against HR 4437. He made it clear that the immigrant movement is essentially a workers movement for their right to work”

Meanwhile David Uh from the Manos Unidad read the Presbyterian Church declaration for all immigrants and offering them the sanctuary movement.

On the other hand, Arturo Garcia of AJLPP and CDIR talked about the plight of 1.2 M Filipino illegal immigrants. He also talked about the problems of the 4,5 million Filipino American community.

Jerome Palencia of the KMB talked about the problems of the immigrant youth and the DREAM Act. He served notice of the non-passage of the DREAM Act in the US Senate and urged the people to struggle on.

The immigrant rights forum also registered voters for the 2008 elections. The forum ended around 5 PM after a sumptuous meal prepared by the church people.

For more information contact CDR=USA at (231) 241-0906 or email at cdir_usa@yahoo, com