The Illinois DREAM Act has the power to make a real difference in the lives of undocumented young people throughout Illinois
and moves the immigration debate forward.

ACT NOW!!

Speak up for accurate information, access to education and a voice for all undocumented youth! There are too many stories of young people being caught in a broken immigration system.

The Illinois DREAM Act (SB 2185) is scheduled to be voted on in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, May 3rd, and this is your opportunity to right a wrong.

Click here to get your legislator’s contact information and take a few minutes to call or email your legislator and make sure that she or he is supporting Illinois DREAM Act (SB 2185). Every little bit counts!

South Asians for Immigration Reform

Children of our undocumented community grow up in the U.S, and become like other “American kids.” But they cannot work or pursue their dreams because they don’t have legal status. Every year, roughly 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, but many don’t apply for college. HOW CAN YOU CHANGE THIS ?

Some of the SAPACers got to meet Prerna Lal in D.C. last month when she received the Changemakers award from South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT). Prerna is a Co-Founder and Online Coordinator of DreamActivist , a online immigrant youth community  that has mobilized thousands to action. Last month, Prerna received notice to appear in court for removal proceedings and could face deportation to her native Fiji despite having parents who are legal permanent residents. Prerna is an example of how our immigration system is broken.

What is the Illinois DREAM Act? Here are the 3 things you need to know about the proposed bill!

ACCURATE INFORMATION: DREAM youth too often get incorrect information from high school counselors and college admissions officers regarding their college options. This bill will encourage these counselors and officers receive regular training regarding educational opportunities for immigrant youths. Having accurate information would give DREAM youths the hope they need to continue their educations and help reduce the rates of high school dropouts.

ACCESS TO EDUCATION: Many qualified DREAM students do not have the financial resources to pursue college.  The Illinois DREAM Act would establish a privately-funded Illinois DREAM Fund, administered by a volunteer state commission, to make scholarships available to undocumented students at no cost to taxpayers. The bill would also open up college savings programs and prepaid tuition programs to all Illinois residents, so that the families of DREAM students will be better able to pay for tuition. Not one penny comes from tax dollars.

A VOICE: In addition to administering and fundraising for the Illinois DREAM Fund, an Illinois DREAM Commission could monitor implementation of other parts of this law and research the needs of DREAM youth as they make their way through college.

MAKE THE CALL, PEOPLE, &

HELP ILLINOIS

DREAM BIG!!!

BEING BROWN IS NOT A CRIME!

Photo courtesy of ICIRR

Today hundreds of immigrant students and community leaders are in Springfield meeting with elected officials to encourage them to pass the IL DREAM Act (SB 2185).  The IL DREAM Act would provide thousands of undocumented students across the state a chance to pursue their dreams.  The bill, if passed into law, would allow undocumented students to access higher education and get driver’s certificates, and establish a privately funded scholarship fund to help with the financial burdens of college.   The general presentation in the media is that Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) and the DREAM Act are Latino/Hispanic issues.  From my personal experience, I can tell you this is false.  In fact, during my time as an organizer in Chicago’s 50^th Ward, I ran into many promising students from South Asia and other parts of the world who would directly benefit from the passage of this bill.  South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a South Asian civil rights organization, has collected hundreds of stories of South Asian immigrants that would directly benefit from the DREAM Act and from comprehensive immigration reform (CIR); you can read some of the stories on SAALT’s website.

I will be the first to acknowledge that the IL DREAM Act is not the perfect policy fix for our broken immigration system.  After all, it still doesn’t address the biggest fear of many undocumented immigrant students–the threat of deportation to a foreign country where they have no family members and whose language they don’t speak–but it is a step in the right direction.  On the national stage, we have been fighting for the DREAM Act for over 10 years, with the most recent attempt last December failing due to a partisan logjam and bickering.  The passage of the IL DREAM Act will give us fresh momentum and energy to push for the DREAM Act at the national level.  Most importantly, it will distinguish us from other states that are engaged in political grandstanding and scapegoating when it comes to immigrants rather than coming up with practical solutions to deal with our broken immigration system.

I would like to leave you with words from an IL DREAM Act advocate that is directly affected by the broken immigration system.  Carla, who was brought here at the age of five from the Philippines and has been in the country for over seventeen years, said this when asked why she is lobbying for the IL DREAM Act: “We don’t ask for much. Other than a chance. A chance to pursue our dreams.”

I hope you will join me along with Carla and hundreds of other supporters and ask our elected officials to pass the IL DREAM Act (SB 2185).

You can send an automated e-mail and fax through ICIRR’s action center.

Thank you!

Guest blogger Sung Yeon Choi-Morrow is the Community Organizer at Asian American Institute. Born in Korea and raised in India, she now enjoys working with various Asian American communities in Chicago.

You want a voice? Vote!

The other day while I was sipping a hot masala tea at a sweet shop on Devon I overheard a conversation about voting. What surprised me was not the content of the conversation but the fact that I still remembered enough Hindi from my childhood in India to understand what they were saying! Unfortunately the content of the conversation was far too familiar.

“Are you voting next week?”

“Oh, it’s election again? No, what’s the point?”

“Yeah, I know, it doesn’t make much of a difference, whether you vote or not.”

“That’s what I mean. Brother, your time is better spent somewhere else.”

Haven’t we all heard this conversation, or even participated in this conversation at some point?

The truth is, it may seem that it doesn’t matter, but it does.  I’d like to introduce to you the “Cockroach Effect” (sorry for the nasty visual here).  When you discover one little cockroach in the cabinet underneath your sink, you probably freak out for a second but then find Raid or a paper towel or something and just kill it. Unless you have an exceptional fear of roaches, you’ll probably forget about the incident and not think much about it.

But let’s say you opened up your cabinet under your kitchen sink and you saw hundreds if not thousands of roaches crawling around! The first thing I’d think is, “Yikes, I should’ve written down that phone number from the Orkin commercial!” And then I’d frantically Google “Orkin” and get a terminator out to my house.

In some ways politics works the same way. Yes, if one Indian American living on Devon decided to vote, no one may notice. Not the elected officials, not the candidates running, not the media, NO ONE. But if ALL the Asian Americans living in the 50^th Ward voted and had a historic turnout for November 2^nd, people would notice.

We need to work to create the Cockroach Effect! We need everyone to vote and get others out to vote.

If Asian Americans want to have a voice, get recognition, and bring resources to our community, we must vote, and get our people out to vote!

Please consider volunteering with the Asian American Institute for this weekend and Election Day in the 50^th Ward to make history by turning out the highest number of Asian American voters for a midterm election!

Please email Brandon@aaichicago.org for more information or call him at 773.271.0899 x200.

Commit to vote!

Tuesday, October 5 is the Illinois deadline to register to vote or update your voter information for the November 2 General Election!

Chicago Voter Registration Info

Suburban Cook County Voter Registration Info (outside Chicago)

Illinois Voter Registration Info (all other areas outside Cook County)

Seats up for grabs in this election include

• Senator
• Representatives
• Governor
• Lt. Governor
• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• Comptroller
• Treasurer
• State Representatives
• Cook County Board President
• A slew of judges
• And a whole lot more.

It’s an important election, so make sure you’re registered!

If you have any questions about voter registration anywhere in the U.S., please email us at info@sapac.org. We’re happy to help and will respond ASAP.

SAPAC will be sharing more election information in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to our website.

SAPAC is co-sponsoring this town hall in the 50th Ward, our Devon Ave. neighborhood–a port of entry for so many South Asian immigrants and refugees.

One Community United: A Town Hall for the South Asian Community on Immigration and Human Rights

Join community members for an interactive town hall to discuss immigration reform and human rights in the South Asian community. With immigration reform proposals being circulated in Congress, an opportunity to speak out about our community’s experiences and identify ways to take action together is both urgent and important.

When: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 6:30 PM

Where: Indo-American Center
6328 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL 60659

Why:

• Discuss immigration and human rights
• Exchange ideas and information
• Hear from local and national organizations
• Get involved and make change

Refreshments will be served!

RSVP by May 24 by emailing info@saalt.org or calling 301-270-1855.

The One Community United Town Hall is coordinated by SAALT and Chicago members of the National Coalition of South Asian Organizations (NCSO):

• Apna Ghar
• Indo-American Center
• South Asian American Policy and Research Institute (SAAPRI)
• South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC)
• The Hamdard Center

The Town Hall is also co-sponsored by:

• Albany Park Neighborhood Council
• Asian American Institute
• Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII)
• Community Builders Chicago (CBC)
• Indo American Coalition for Immigration (IACI)
• North American Association of Indian IT Professionals (NAAIIP)

One Community United is a campaign on immigrant and civil rights coordinated by the NCSO. The campaign seeks to promote community dialogue and elevate the call for humane immigration laws and strong civil rights protections. For more information on the NCSO and the campaign, please contact SAALT at info@saalt.org or visit us at www.saalt.org.

A recent Crain’s article, citing research by a U of I prof, suggested that much of our tax revenue shortfall can be explained by persistent job loss over the last decade. In 2000, Illinois had its lowest unemployment rate on record, 4.5%.  Our current unemployment rate is hovering around 11%. This begs the obvious question, where did the jobs go? The simple answer would be to blame the recession. But if you dig a little deeper and look at the types of jobs that have been lost, you can see that Illinois might have a bigger problem.

The cause of unemployment is generally broken down by economists into three categories:

1. Unemployed by choice–Say if you were between jobs or left a job to start your own business

2. Cyclical–Unemployment caused by a business cycle recession, i.e. a period of low aggregate demand

3. Structural–Unemployment as a result of a lack of demanded skills, most likely because of technological innovation

Illinois has lost about 390,000 jobs since 2000. Nearly three-quarters of those jobs were in manufacturing. The remainder is in service industries like construction.

What does this mean? Certainly some of those manufacturing jobs have been lost because of the recession and will return as the economy recovers, but a large proportion won’t come back because they are no longer in demand. While some of those skills maybe transferable to other jobs, others will not and they will persistently struggle to re-enter the labor market.

Obviously this is a simple analysis, but in a period where difficult budget choices have to be made by policymakers, it seems that a focus on education and skill development opportunities would make a significant difference in our short- and long-term fiscal health.

Clearly this won’t solve all our long-term budget problems as we have still have to deal with pensions and the stickiness of wages (I’m lookin’ at you, Unions) . But I’ll save that for another post.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Indian American, Harvard-educated attorney, lost a close election for Illinois State Comptroller earlier this month in the primaries.

However, he may have another chance, at a higher office: Lieutenant Governor.

From ABC, WLS-TV news:

The Democrats are tossing around names to replace Scott Lee Cohen, who resigned over the weekend as candidate for lieutenant governor.

Democratic leaders don’t like talking about it publicly, but some believe the party’s fall ticket should be more diverse. They also believe that Cohen’s resignation allows the party a chance to add diversity, which is why two Asian Americans are getting serious buzz.

“A lot of people know us. I don’t need to re-introduce myself in a big way,” said Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Peoria-raised Krishnamoorthi says his losing effort in the democratic primary for state comptroller has proven his ability to win votes downstate and to raise money. Running a positive ad campaign, the 35-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer finished less than a percentage point behind nominee David Miller. He raised $1.1 million and said there’s more money to help the fall ticket if he’s selected.

“A lot of supporters who helped me in this race will provide that energy and most needed as a democratic party,” said Krishnamoorthi.

Another possible replacement candidate is Tammy Duckworth, who was unavailable for comment. Democratic sources tell ABC7 that some party leaders favor Duckworth or Krishnamoorthi because they are qualified Asian Americans and would add diversity to the fall ticket.

Every election cycle, I have friends that ask me questions about registering to vote, where to vote, how to pick judges, etc. I put together some information for IL voters that I hope you will find helpful. There are no biased opinions here — just facts about where you can find more information about your ballot and how to vote in this election. Please feel free to share this with others — esp. the ones you have a sneaking suspicion may be too shy to ask these questions! And please share any great resources you’ve found.

Thanks! Now get out and VOTE!

-Ramona

Can I still register to vote?

No. Regular voter registration ended Jan. 5 (the standard one month prior to an election), and grace period registration ended Jan. 26.

You should register to vote after this primary election so that you can vote in the regular election on Nov. 2.

What are we voting for in IL?

In the February 2, 2010 Gubernatorial Primary Election, IL voters will cast ballots that include:

• U.S. Senator
• U.S. Representatives
• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• State Comptroller
• State Treasurer
• State Senators (some)
• State Representatives
• Cook County Board President
• Cook County Commissioners
• Cook County Assessor
• Cook County Clerk
• Cook County Treasurer
• Cook County Sheriff
• Cook County Board of Review Commissioner (1st district)
• Appellate and Circuit Court Judges
• Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners (some)
• Regional Superintendent of Schools
• Democratic, Republican & Green Party Township Committeemen
• Various statewide, countywide and local referenda questions

Do I have to declare a political party preference?

Yes. In primary elections, you will be asked which political party’s ballot you would like to vote.

What will my ballot look like? Where do I go to vote?

Remember that you can print out your ballot, mark it up with your voting preferences, and take it into the voting booth with you. You do not have to vote on memory alone!

In suburban Cook County, you can see your exact ballot and polling place at the Cook County Clerk’s website.

In Chicago, go to ChicagoElections.com.

In other parts of IL, go to the IL State Board of Elections.

If you want to see what referenda might appear on your ballot, the IL State Board of Elections provides a handy Referenda Search. (It’s a bit clunky, so you’re better off just looking at your exact ballot using the links above.)

What time are the polls open?

Polls are open from 6am to 7pm every Election Day.

What is early voting and where/when can I do it?

Early voting ended Jan. 28. However, you can cast an in-person absentee ballot from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1. For more info, go to the Cook County Clerk’s website.

How do I get an absentee ballot?

Jan. 28 was the last day to request a mail-in absentee ballot.

The options available to you now are to cast an in-person absentee ballot (see above) or to vote in person, at your polling place, on Feb. 2.

How do I know which judges to vote for?

Voting for judges is important. It’s a big part of your ballot, but it doesn’t take a lot of extra work to figure out which ones to support.

In Cook County, go to VoteForJudges.org. Read through the home page and then go to the Evaluations page to get your guide.

I use this guide to help me pick judges every time I vote. I print out the PDF version, highlight the judges I will vote for, and take that with me into the voting booth.

In the rest of IL, check the Illinois State Bar Association’s evaluations. The ISBA is only one of the bar associations included in the VoteForJudges Cook County guide, but it’s the only current statewide guide I’ve been able to find. Please share others you know of!

What kind of voting equipment will I use?

You may choose to use a paper ballot or an electronic touch-screen machine. Instructions should be posted at your polling place; you can also ask an election judge for assistance.

What if I show up and they tell me I can’t vote?

If you believe you are registered to vote and are at the correct polling place, ask for a “provisional ballot.” The election judges must provide you with at least a provisional ballot. They cannot turn you away. If they deny you the right to vote, call your County Clerk’s office. (Take the phone number with you to your polling place just in case.)

Don’t be shy about this. You know from previous elections and even reports from this year that people tamper with elections. You have every right to cast your ballot without interference or intimidation. And you have every right to tell your election authority to get their butts out to your polling place if anyone gives you trouble.

Know Your Rights

This is your Voter Bill of Rights. Read it – it’s important.

Voter Bill of Rights

1. Cast your ballot in a non-disruptive atmosphere free of interference.
2. Vote if you’re in line by 7pm.
3. Vote by provisional ballot if your registration is not found.
4. Vote a full ballot at your old polling place if you have moved within 30 days of the election.
5. Request voting assistance, if needed.
6. Bring newspaper endorsements or sample ballots into the voting booth.
7. Protect the secrecy of your ballot.
8. Receive a new ballot if you make a mistake or change your mind.
9. Review your ballot to ensure it’s complete and correct.
10. Have your ballot counted fairly and impartially.

Have more questions?

Lastly, if you have any questions at all about this year’s elections, ASK ME. Even if you don’t live in IL, I can help you find the answers to your questions. I would be happy to help you.