254404924

or, Create a Petition Change.orgLong Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition Meetings are held the third Monday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Univeralist Unitarian Church of Long Beach (located at 5450 Atherton Street near Bellflower BLVD).
All individuals who believe in equal rights for all are welcome!
Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition (LBIRC)
The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition is a grass-roots network of community-based organizations and individuals working for a more humane and just immigration policy based on respect for the human rights and dignity of all immigrants. The unity of the coalition is based on:
1. taking a united, public and moral stand for the basic economic, social,political and cultural human rights of immigrants and immigrant communities;
2. actively protecting immigrants against hate, workplace discrimination, and unjust deportation;
3. educating policy makers and the public in general about the challenges and obstacles faced by immigrant workers and families and their contributions to U.S. society;
4. promoting opportunities for immigrants to learn English and acquire the skills that will help them to advance and, for those who qualify, to prepare for citizenship.
The particular focus of this organization is on immigrant-related issues and activities in the greater Long Beach area in coordination with other regional, state and national organizations.
The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition joins other immigrants’ rights, human rights, and civil liberties organizations in calling for:
1.comprehensive and humane immigration policy reform consistent with the principles articulated in the Unity Blueprint for Immigration reform; http://www.aflcio.org/issues/civilrights/immigration/upload/ UnityBlueprint.pdf;
2. protection of labor rights and improvement of working conditions for all immigrant workers, documented and undocumented;
3. respect for the dignity and humanity of all immigrants regardless of legal status.
The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition joins other immigrants’ rights’ organizations in opposing:
1. guest worker programs that do not accord immigrant workers resident status and a path to citizenship;
2. the separation of families as a result of deportations and U.S. immigration policies;
3. immigration raids on homes and workplaces;
4. militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Long Beach Immigrants’ Rights Coalition is committed to:
1. helping immigrant communities in Long Beach and the surrounding areas to organize for better lives in all respects—employment, housing, health, education, social conditions, and culture;
2. educating immigrant communities about proposals for comprehensive and humane immigration policy reform;
3. providing on-going education about legal, political, labor and civil rights that can lay the foundation for a long-term immigrants’ rights movement;
4. helping to develop forms of community engagement and involvement that can lead to comprehensive immigration reform and the protection of immigrants’ rights.
The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition will engage in the following types of actions:
1. organize community forums to educate about comprehensive immigration reform, legal rights, and other policies and practices that affect immigrant communities (health, education, housing, labor, etc.);
2. actively participate in local, state, and national conferences and workshops to discuss immigrant-related policies and proposals;
3. help to build local, state, and national coalitions oriented towards bringing about social change;
4. explore and implement community-based responses to unjust immigration policies and solutions to immigrant community problems;
5. pressure for changes in local and regional public policies that help to improve the lives of immigrants (city councils, local police forces, local housing offices, etc.);
6. seek funding for conferences and community forums on immigrant-related issues;
7. raise funds for specific immigrant-related groups and projects.
The Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition respects the authority, rights, principles and work of each affiliated and allied organization.
An up-to-date list of the affiliated community-based immigrant organizations, unions, student organizations, faith-based organizations, peace and justice groups, higher educational institutions, and other social groups shall be updated and revised as needed and published as members of the “Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition.”