Invocation

April 3, 2006

Dear Friend & Colleague:

The House Republicans passed a bill in December that would, among other things, make it a federal crime to live in this country illegally, turning the millions of illegal immigrants here into felons, ineligible to win any legal status. This legislation would fosters hate and discrimination against all immigrants irrespective of their status and would criminalize undocumented and those who assist them in a country that has characterized itself as a “land of immigrants” and of compassion.

The Immigrant Rights Defense Committee of New Jersey is sponsoring a massive broad based community expression of support for all immigrants and communicating to the political leadership that we support a fair and comprehensive legislative initiative.

The Immigrants Rights Defense Committee of New Jersey was created to defend the rights of immigrants because we believe that beyond the status issue, every person should be afforded and treated with dignity as well as having their human right respected.

We believe the Senate’s Judiciary Committee bill while not fully satisfactory is a more comprehensive immigration bill. The Committee’s voted to eliminate the provisions that would criminalize immigrants for living here without due process and made an amendment to protect groups and individuals from being prosecuted for offering humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants. The Committee’s version would allow immigrants who work, pay taxes and learn English to become fully incorporated into American society as citizens and would encourage the millions of immigrants to come out of the shadows. There would also be provisions for temporary guest work programs. This legislation also provides border security and would nearly double the number of Border Patrol agents over the next five years, criminalize the construction of tunnels into the United States from another country and speed the deportation of illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico.
The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, and today the country has more than 33 million foreign-born residents, the largest number since the Census started keeping such statistics in 1850. An estimated 11 million are believed to be undocumented immigrants in the United States. The question is where is their home? We believe as Representative Graham said to his colleagues: "Their home is where they've raised their children. Their home is where they've lived their married lives." "Whatever we do," he added, "we have to recognize that for several generations people have made America their home." The majority of these undocumented workers are contributing to fueling our continued economic growth and support critical values that we treasure as American.

To demonstrate our support for our new immigrants, the Immigrant Rights Defense Committee of New Jersey will conduct a march and rally in Newark, New Jersey, our largest city and gateway for many earlier immigrants, on April 23, 2006. We will assemble in Lincoln Park at 1:00 PM with the march starting at 2:00 PM and hold a rally near the Newark Federal Court House on Broad Street and ending at Military Park. We ask that you join us.

Please join us. Should you require addition information or wish to become a supporting organization, please call 973 278 7199 or email to comiteperu@msn.com

Sincerely
President: Norberto Curitomai
Vice President: Lucilo A. Santos
Legal Advisor: Martín Pérez
Community Advisor: Raymond Ocasio.