Immigration

While some lawmakers formerly suggested that CIR would make it to the agenda in 2010, skepticism among the media increases.  In the meantime, supporters continue to advocate the need for reform by quietly organizing today in a prayer vigil to urge lawmakers to not only seek Comprehensive Immigration Reform, but to also seek "compassionate" immigration reform.

 

An ecumenical prayer vigil for immigration reform will be held at 6 p.m. today at Las Americas Faith Community/Trinity United Methodist Church, 1548 Eighth St.

The vigil follows a National Day of Prayer coordinated by Interfaith Immigration. Similar prayer vigils are to take place nationwide.

The vigil will have prayers, songs and presentations, and those who attend will write postcards to legislators and call them during the service.

- Des Moines Register

On Tuesday, January 19th, NDN will host Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco for a luncheon and discussion on priorities in the relationship between Colombia and the United States. This forum is part of NDN's Latin American Policy Initiative, a program dedicated to building understanding of Latin America and the salient issues affecting each country individually.

As space is limited for this event, please RSVP.

We will serve lunch at 12:00pm, and the discussion will run from 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm. The event will take place at NDN, 729 15th Street, NW, between H St. and New York Avenue.

If you are unable to join us, you can watch a live webcast starting at 12:15pm ET.

If you have questions, or for more information about the event, please contact Sarah at ssanchez@ndn.org.

Tonight NDN will host a special screening of acclaimed documentary 9500 Liberty at the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center's Burke Theatre.  After making its way around the country with premieres in San Francisco and New York City, 9500 Liberty returns to the capitol as the winner of Best Documentary at the Charlotte Film Festival and the St. Louis Film Festival.  We hope you will join NDN for this special screening.

Doors will open at 7:30pm and the film will begin promptly at 8:00pm.  Following the film, NDN Founder and President Simon Rosenberg will moderate a discussion with filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler.  Special Guest Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16) will also be joining us for this wonderful evening. 

About the Film
9500 Liberty is a compelling new documentary about a suburban community's struggle to manage its changing population in a climate of fear and racial tension exploited by national groups and ambitious local politicians. The film documents how residents and advocacy groups on both sides used new media, technology and social networking to organize for the future of their community online, on the streets and at the center of local politics. 9500 Liberty provides a front-row seat to this battle, one that we will likely see repeated in the months to come as the immigration reform debate returns to the forefront of the national discourse.

Where
U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center, Burke Theatre
701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20004

RSVP
To RSVP for you and a guest, please contact Sarah Sanchez at ssanchez@ndn.org or 202-384-1219.  The event is free and is nearly sold out, so please RSVP by 4:00pm to guarantee your seat.

The film 9500 Liberty is a produced by the Interactive Democracy Alliance, a non-profit organization (501c3 status pending). For more information about the film, please visit www.9500Liberty.com, where you can watch the trailer and read the film's most recent press stories.

Andres Ramirez, Senior Vice President of NDN, along with America's Voice Education Fund and Election Data Services, released a report at NDN today examining the role of Latinos in the 2010 Census and Congressional Reapportionment.  The report, entitled The New Constituents: How Latinos are Shaping Census 2010 & Congressional Reapportionment, suggests that since the last census in 2000, the Latino population has grown dramatically.  Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States, and as such, will have a significant role in reshaping the US political map.  Projections show that nineteen states are poised to see changes in their Congressional representation: eight states will gain seats at least one House seat, while eleven will lose at least one seat in Congress.

NDN hosted an event to release the paper and discuss the topic with the papers' lead authors and immigration and census experts.  Those on the panel were Andres Ramirez, Senior Vice President, NDN, Frank Sharry, Executive Director, America's Voice, Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, NALEO, and Kim Brace, President, Election Data Services.

Watch the video below to see a video recording of today's event.

Follow this link to read the NDN Backgrounder on Census 2010, Immigration Status, and Reapportionment. 

This Tuesday, November 17th at 12pm, NDN will be hosting a discussion on the release of a recent report from America's Voice Education Fund on "How Latinos are Shaping Census 2010 & Congressional Reapportionment." Andres Ramirez, NDN Senior Vice President and Director of Hispanic Programs, Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice, Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), and Kim Brace, President of Election Data Services will discuss the results of the report, which demonstrate that Latinos are helping to re-shape the political map.

Eighteen states are poised to see changes in their Congressional representation due to the 2010 Census.  On Tuesday, learn how this could influence the make-up of Congress moving forward and the implications it has on immigration reform.

This event is open to the press and will take place at NDN, which is located at 729 15th St. NW, 1st Floor, Washington, DC.  As lunch will be provided for guests, please RSVP if you plan to attend.

If you are not in DC or if you can't make it this time, follow this link to watch "How Latinos are Shaping Census 2010 & Congressional Reapportionment" live online.  The livecast will begin at 12:15pm.

A video recording will be available on Wednesday, November 18th.

For more information, follow this link to NDN's backgrounder on Census 2010, Immigration and Reapportionment.

Washington, DC – NDN, a leading think tank and advocacy organization, joined with Media Matters to create the DropDobbs.com coalition several months ago to hold CNN anchor Lou Dobbs accountable for the rampant intolerance promoted through his nightly news show. The coalition was later joined by several prominent organizations to promote this effort.

Today, less than two months after the launch of our online and grassroots campaign, Lou Dobbs has announced he is resigning from CNN because “it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country, and affecting all of us…”

Andres Ramirez, Senior Vice President for NDN and coordinator for the DropDobbs coalition stated, “This is a great victory for all of us who have been working on this effort. We believe that Lou Dobb's intolerant style of politics is inconsistent with the powerful and respected CNN brand.  We are glad to see him go."

We want to thank and congratulate all the organizations who participated in this coalition.

For more information please visit DropDobbs.com.

This afternoon, the United States Senate voted 60-39 on the motion to invoke cloture on HR 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, rejecting the harmful amendment proposed by Senators Vitter (R-LA) and Bennett (R-UT).  NDN, along with 20 other leading advocacy organizations worked relentlessly over the past weeks to defeat this divisive amendment.  The Vitter-Bennett amendment would have irresponsibly disrupted the census next year and threatened the accuracy of the national reapportionment process in the years that follow.

Today's important vote would not have been possible without Harry Reid's strong leadership and commitment to justice.  NDN would also like to thank the strong coalition of advocacy groups that joined together to lead this effort.

Andres Ramirez, Senior Vice President at NDN and a leading voice in this debate said, "The Vitter-Bennett Amendment would have irresponsibility disrupted the census process next year.  We are proud of Senator Reid and the Senate for voting it down.  It is now much more likely that we have a clean and accurate census count next year."

Simon Rosenberg, President of NDN, said "I want to thank the 60 Senators who voted for cloture today, and for the dozens of groups who worked so far to defeat this irresponsible amendment. There is no doubt that if it had passed it would have disrupted the census next year, and reapportionment the years after.  I don't think this fight is over but this was an important victory for common sense and good government today."

For more information, follow this link to NDN's backgrounder on Census 2010, Immigration and Reapportionment.

Happy Friday!  For those of you that have been following the Vitter-Bennett amendment discussions, we wanted to make sure you knew about another forum for information: Don't Wreck The Census

We have partnered with this site in order to provide another excellent resource for up to date information surrounding the census debate.  On it, you will also find resources that allow you to take action by calling or writing your representative.  Click here to tell your representatives to vote NO on the Vitter-Bennett amendment.