04-10-2009, 06:19 PM
Lessons Learned In Waukegan
by Adam Doster on April 08, 2009 - 5:00pm
In an op-ed published today, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) executive director Joshua Hoyt writes that, while the defeat of Republican and anti-immigrant activist Rosanna Pulido in yesterday's 5th Congressional District special election was "no surprise," it was encouraging to see her exposed as a "vile hater" over the course of her brief general election campaign. Hoyt goes on to write that Bob Sabonjian's unseating yesterday of Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde (right) was "more telling of what the future of Illinois politics holds for those who seek cheap electoral advantage by targeting immigrants."
Two years ago, Hyde pushed the Waukegan city council to approve 287(g), a Department of Homeland Security program that gave Waukegan Police the authority to begin deportation proceedings for immigrants convicted of violent crimes. This practice has been long criticized by immigrant rights advocates as leading to racial profiling and police abuse. Moreover, a recent Government Accountability Office report questioned its effectiveness, finding that the government has failed to determine how many of the thousands of deportees were the kind of violent felons 287(g) was devised to root out.
More from Hoyt's analysis:
Mayor-elect Sabonjian ran a spirited multi-ethnic campaign based on inclusion. He won with 54% of the vote, walking away with a 700 vote margin of the 7,500 votes cast. Challenger Sabonjian won every single one of the nine heavily Latino precincts targeted by the anti-Hyde activists, with margins as high as 69% to 31% (precinct 395) and 57% to 39% (precinct 392), with many around 56% to 41%.
Other Illinois elected officials who have advanced anti-immigrant rhetoric or policies should take note. One such figure, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, will catch an earful when he addresses the City Club of Chicago one week from today. ICIRR plans to protest outside the event, spotlighting the North Shore Republican's dismal record on immigrant rights is anything but "moderate."
Comments
Meme7 (not verified) on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 09:08
I was part of the campaign for Sabonjian with the immigrant community. A lesson that this election has shown those of us involved is that long-term organizing and hard work pays off!!!!!!!
Organizing the immigrant community to vote, isn't easy; there are many barriers for them (they don't know where they can register often, don't have information on local races, little faith in the electoral system, etc.) , but the fact that we've been working on this issue for a couple years in Waukegan, is what allowed us this win.
We had a core community of grassroots volunteers, who speak more Spanish than English, are very passionate and were already well-practiced canvassers and phone-callers, as most had also volunteered for GOTV type efforts leading up to Nov.
Through the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugees Rights we registered to vote and mobilized the immigrant community to vote in 2008 and 2006 and have a citizenship program, so that immigrants can become citizens and be eligible to vote.
So, to other organizers who read this I just want to say, keep going. The win is glamorous, but it took us three years to get here. On weekends this past summer, I stood outside the Super Fresh Market all day to get about 12 immigrant/citizen voters registered, 20 if I had a volunteer with me. So don't get frustrated, if this stuff were easy it would've been done already!!! It takes time, but it's worth it, we're now a national story (see NYT article)!
And Victory is really really sweet.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://progressillinois.com/2009/4/8/lessons-learned-in-waukegan">http://progressillinois.com/2009/4/8/le ... n-waukegan</a><!-- m -->
by Adam Doster on April 08, 2009 - 5:00pm
In an op-ed published today, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) executive director Joshua Hoyt writes that, while the defeat of Republican and anti-immigrant activist Rosanna Pulido in yesterday's 5th Congressional District special election was "no surprise," it was encouraging to see her exposed as a "vile hater" over the course of her brief general election campaign. Hoyt goes on to write that Bob Sabonjian's unseating yesterday of Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde (right) was "more telling of what the future of Illinois politics holds for those who seek cheap electoral advantage by targeting immigrants."
Two years ago, Hyde pushed the Waukegan city council to approve 287(g), a Department of Homeland Security program that gave Waukegan Police the authority to begin deportation proceedings for immigrants convicted of violent crimes. This practice has been long criticized by immigrant rights advocates as leading to racial profiling and police abuse. Moreover, a recent Government Accountability Office report questioned its effectiveness, finding that the government has failed to determine how many of the thousands of deportees were the kind of violent felons 287(g) was devised to root out.
More from Hoyt's analysis:
Mayor-elect Sabonjian ran a spirited multi-ethnic campaign based on inclusion. He won with 54% of the vote, walking away with a 700 vote margin of the 7,500 votes cast. Challenger Sabonjian won every single one of the nine heavily Latino precincts targeted by the anti-Hyde activists, with margins as high as 69% to 31% (precinct 395) and 57% to 39% (precinct 392), with many around 56% to 41%.
Other Illinois elected officials who have advanced anti-immigrant rhetoric or policies should take note. One such figure, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, will catch an earful when he addresses the City Club of Chicago one week from today. ICIRR plans to protest outside the event, spotlighting the North Shore Republican's dismal record on immigrant rights is anything but "moderate."
Comments
Meme7 (not verified) on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 09:08
I was part of the campaign for Sabonjian with the immigrant community. A lesson that this election has shown those of us involved is that long-term organizing and hard work pays off!!!!!!!
Organizing the immigrant community to vote, isn't easy; there are many barriers for them (they don't know where they can register often, don't have information on local races, little faith in the electoral system, etc.) , but the fact that we've been working on this issue for a couple years in Waukegan, is what allowed us this win.
We had a core community of grassroots volunteers, who speak more Spanish than English, are very passionate and were already well-practiced canvassers and phone-callers, as most had also volunteered for GOTV type efforts leading up to Nov.
Through the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugees Rights we registered to vote and mobilized the immigrant community to vote in 2008 and 2006 and have a citizenship program, so that immigrants can become citizens and be eligible to vote.
So, to other organizers who read this I just want to say, keep going. The win is glamorous, but it took us three years to get here. On weekends this past summer, I stood outside the Super Fresh Market all day to get about 12 immigrant/citizen voters registered, 20 if I had a volunteer with me. So don't get frustrated, if this stuff were easy it would've been done already!!! It takes time, but it's worth it, we're now a national story (see NYT article)!
And Victory is really really sweet.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://progressillinois.com/2009/4/8/lessons-learned-in-waukegan">http://progressillinois.com/2009/4/8/le ... n-waukegan</a><!-- m -->