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Border Action Network / Acción Fronteriza
PO Box 384 • Tucson, AZ • 85702
Ph 520.623.4944 • Fax 520.792.2097
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• www.borderaction.org
Press Release
For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Contact:
Hilary Tone, Communications Coordinator
O: (520) 623-4944
C: (520) 481-6482
Border Action Network to March in Washington, DC
Arizona families strengthen push for immigration reform this year
Tucson, AZ – Twenty members of Border Action Network, a human rights organization based in Arizona, will join 100,000 participants in a march on Washington demanding immigration reform. The march, planned for Sunday, March 21st, represents a national call to action, and comes at a heated time in the debate over immigration reform.
Across the United States, immigration reform supporters have raised their voices, delivering 100,000 postcards to key legislators, flooding the White House with phone calls and emails, and holding vigils and rallies in their cities. Border Action Network members have led this fight in Arizona, sending nearly 20,000 postcards to President Obama, Senator McCain, and Congressional Representatives.
Despite recent studies demonstrating the economic benefits of overhauling our immigration system and polls revealing widespread public support for reform, obstacles exist.
The past year has seen an escalation in deportations, families ripped apart, and state legislatures, following Arizona's lead, passing virulently punitive anti-immigrant legislation in the vacuum created by the federal government's failure to reform what all sides agree is a broken system. A few weeks ago, President Obama devoted only a few sentences to immigration reform in his State of the Union address.
"Though times are tough in the U.S. and in Arizona, reforming our immigration system will present more benefits than problems, especially for workers, businesses and families," says Jennifer Allen, Executive Director of the Border Action Network.
"The U.S. is in dire need of real solutions, like immigration reform, that can push the country forward and make it competitive, while reinforcing the value of family unity. To pursue these solutions, we need to take action."
At Border Action Network’s General Assembly on February 6th, members from Douglas, Pirtleville, Sierra Vista, Nogales and Tucson decided to do just that, joining the national call to march in Washington, DC. During their trip, Border Action members also plan to meet with members of the Arizona Congressional Delegation.
Over the next month, members will raise money to cover their costs by holding car washes, tamale sales, and yard sales, and asking for business and individual support.
"The decision to go to Washington was easy," says Julissa Villa, of Border Action Network. "We need take every action we can to make comprehensive immigration reform happen this year."
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Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are healthy places to live.
For more information, visit www.borderaction.org.
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