Progress Illinois

Over the past couple of day, we've highlighted statements of disgust from Illinois congressmen and candidates about the restrictive anti-choice amendment added to the House health care bill that passed last weekend. But abortion isn't the only hot-button issue that could complicate the Democrats' reform effort. Immigration is emerging as a potential sticking point, as well.

Lawmakers in both chambers have decided that insuring undocumented immigrants is not politically feasible. But as the final details are ironed out, Republicans and some Democrats are working to limit the assistance and consumer protections available to undocumented and legal immigrants alike. Legal immigrants who have been in the country for less than five years would not be eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, following current law, even though they are eligible for government subsidies on the exchange. And while the House bill allows those in the country illegally to purchase insurance on the health insurance exchange with their own money, the Senate is likely to bar them entirely.

Immigrant rights advocates aren't too pleased that protections for immigrants, who face mounting disparities in health care access and outcomes, are eroding. If the conference committee bill tracks more closely to the Senate version, Rep. Luis Gutierrez says the White House won't be able to count on his vote.

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Hoping to add some urgency to the debate in Washington, Rep. Luis Gutierrez recently said he will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform package as early as next month. But Sen. Dick Durbin isn't as optimistic that Congress will approve such a measure in 2009. "We won't do it this year, I don't want to mislead you," he told the crowd assembled for DePaul University's Perspectiveson Immigration conference this afternoon. "We have too much to do with health care reform and so many other things. But Sen. Charles Schumer of New York ... has promised that the bill will come forward next year." And Durbin's DREAM ACT, which would grant undocumented youth conditional permanent residency if they meet a set of education or military service criteria, will be central to that effort. "[W]e can do this," Durbin added. "And I know we can do it in the right way."

Watch this clip of the Senate Majority Whip's remarks, in which he describes his inspiration for the DREAM ACT, emphasizes the importance of a fair and equitable immigration system, and expresses his hope that it will be passed "in the first part of next year":

Illinois' own Rep. Luis Gutierrez is growing impatient over his colleagues' unwillingness to put immigration reform at the top of the congressional agenda this year. Calling "justice for immigrants today's civil rights struggle,"  the Chicago Democrat is preparing to push the issue by introducing a set of comprehensive reforms in Washington next month. Standing alongside immigrants rights advocates from 26 states, Gutierrez led a rally on Capitol Hill yesterday in which he outlined his plan. "We are here to say that we will not rest until the raids stop and our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers are no longer torn apart by the government of the United States of America," Gutierrez said.  Watch (more video available here):

There are ten points that form the core of Gutierrez' proposal. First, it calls for the creation of an honest and strategic plan for defining the role immigrants play in the nation's workforce. Under a new a commission, visa quotas would be determined based on labor market demands, not political priorities. And Sen. Dick Durbin's DREAM Act would be rolled in to put undocumented college students and military enlistees on the path to citizenship and high-skilled jobs. Also, for current workers, a number of protections would be included in the reforms, such as the right to fair immigration proceedings (intended to outlaw the sort of abusive treatment that workers suffered in the aftermath of the notorious raid in Postville last year).

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Chicago's City Hall isn't the most hospitable place for progressives seeking transparency or inclusive public policy. But that didn't deter activists of all stripes -- from labor organizers and abortion-rights supporters to homeless advocates and public interest researchers -- from making their presence felt in the chambers this morning. Here's our roundup of today's City Council meeting:

"RIGHT TO KNOW"

With Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward) projecting that he had 28 or 29 votes lined up to pass his "Right To Know" ordinance, UNITE-HERE Local 1 members entered the council chambers confident that hotels, including the infamous Congress, would finally be forced to publicize work stoppages to potential customers. Typically, if a measure is passed out of the Finance Committee -- as this one was last month -- it receives easy council approval. But as we've noted before, the business groups who have been lobbying hard against the notification law had a key ally on their side: Mayor Daley. Today, Ald. Ike Carothers (29th Ward) did the mayor's bidding by introducing a motion to refer Munoz' bill back to committee. Munoz attempted to block Carother's action and hold a vote today, but could not garner the majority necessary.

"The only tactic left at their disposal was defer and delay," UNITE-Here's Annemarie Strassel tells us. "We'll wait it out as long as it takes."

UNITED SNAGS $34.5 MILLION

Today, the full council voted on the $34.5 million incentive package being offered to United Airlines for agreeing to move its operational headlines to the Loop.   With no substantive discussion -- aside from Ald. Ed Burke's (14th Ward) assurance that the plan is "a good deal for United and a good deal for Chicago" -- the assembled aldermen agreed to fork over the taxpayer funds.  As we noted yesterday, there is no indication that the projected benefits will ever be tracked or the agreement enforced.

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On Wednesday, we highlighted a new Spanish-language ad campaign from the group Illinois Immigrant Action attempting to highlight Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk's insensitive and misguided rhetoric on immigration reform.  The campaign includes radio, internet, and print spots.  Here's an excerpt from script for the radio ad (translated into English):

I wonder what goes on inside the mind of a Congresman when he states that the solution for immigration is to send condoms to Mexico! Yes, he said that! I know it is hard to believe but Congressman Mark Kirk has suggested on the floor of the US Congress that the solution to illegal immigration is sending birth control to Mexico! Imagine that!  I think it is ridiculous!

Citing Mark Brown's Sun-Times column on the matter, Kirk and his D.C. lawyers are now threatening local radio stations with legal action if they run the spot, which they claim "contains false and misleading statements."  Here's the argument from the Patton Boggs law firm in a September 2 letter:

As reported by today's Sun-Times, this advertisement falsely claims that Congressman Kirk advocated "condoms" as a solution to illegal immigration. ... This is patently false. ... There is no record of Kirk ever mentioning "condoms" or "birth control" in connection with immigration or Mexico. ... [I]f your station airs this advertisement after gaining knowledge that it contains false and misleading statements, you are subjecting your station to potential liability.

This is getting a bit ridiculous.

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Mark Kirk's record on immigration reform is not sterling. It's also a topic he'd prefer to avoid. But if the North Shore Republican wants to run for U.S. Senate, the group Illinois Immigrant Action (the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights' 501(c)(4) sister organization) isn't going to let him dodge the issue.

At a press conference in Chicago this morning, IIA representatives and several Latino elected officials unveiled a $5,000 Spanish language ad-buy targeting Kirk. The spots mark the culmination of a two-week organizing blitz and will run in seven Spanish-language newspapers and on three radio stations.  They mock the Republican Senate candidate for his remarks on the House floor two years ago in which he explained his support for international family planning by suggesting that it would result in a slowing of Mexico's population growth rate (which actually had plummeted since 1980) and thereby "reduce the long-term illegal immigration pressure on America's borders." Organizers say immigrants and their allies deserve a sincere apology.

Kirk is contributing to "the fear and ignorance of the anti-immigrant forces out there," said State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), who also says he's making a poor political choice, given the rising number of Latino and Asian-American voters who support comprehensive immigration reform. Watch her statement:

While targeted and not on television, the blitz is still relatively small in size. But because of the "gossip factor" in the Latino community, ICIRR director Joshua Hoyt says they will have a "multiplier" effect. Because it's still early in the campaign season, the ad serves as a warning as well. "We want him to understand," Hoyt says, "that if he continues to scapegoat the immigrant community on issues like health care and crime and if he doesn't popse serious solutions, there will be a political price to pay."

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In the wake of President Obama's recent pledge to begin his push for comprehensive immigration reform this year, local activists today continued their campaign to ratchet up political pressure on the White House. Members of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) delivered more than 9,100 petitions to the Department of Homeland Security's Chicago office, urging Secretary Janet Napolitano to impose a moratorium on harsh enforcement tactics and the ensuing detention mess while potential reforms are debated.

Among the public officials on hand at an ICIRR press conference in the Loop was Illinois' own Rep. Jan Schakowsky. "The president, Barack Obama, said, 'We can get this done,' " the North Side congresswoman told reporters. "So why would the government persist in these policies of deportation, of dividing families? ... This is just wrong" Watch her remarks:

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Amid a growing restlessness that immigration reform has been put on the back burner in Washington, local activists are beginning to ratchet up the pressure on their elected officials. Yesterday, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) kicked off its own leg of the nationwide Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. As the Tribune reports, their latest strategy for pushing the reform agenda comes from an unlikely source:

[I]mmigration activists are borrowing from the playbook of conservative groups who helped defeat immigration reforms two years ago by bombarding legislative offices with e-mails and faxes.

"Now is the time, this is the year, we need our leaders to lead," reads part of a stock message to be sent to congressional offices.

One Illinois official who ICIRR's plan turns the tables on is Rep. Mark Kirk. The GOP senate hopeful has been particularly helpful to conservatives as they've attempted to slow reforms that would put the nation's 11 million undocumented on a path to citizenship. As a result, the organization's two-week organizing blitz -- which targets political offices, prayer vigils, and town halls -- will culminate on August 31 with the release of a Spanish-language political ad aimed at illuminating Latino voters about his anti-immigration record.

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When the summer recess is over and Congress returns to Capitol Hill, will immigration reform remain a top priority for Democrats? While members of Congress have been sending mixed messages about exactly how hard they'll push for reform, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has pledged to introduce legislation before Labor Day.  And just this morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said that she sees drafting such legislation as the most pressing issue on her department's agenda. Still, the White House itself has been somewhat slow to commit.

Today, seven Democratic members of Illinois' congressional delegation -- Reps. Mike Quigley, Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Jan Schakowsky, Phil Hare, Jesse Jackson Jr., and Bobby Rush -- sent an open letter to President Obama urging him to add his political muscle to the immigration fight. "Letters like this push the agenda," Rep. Quigley said at a press conference today. "Our role as a congressmen is to help set the priorities." Watch:

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Since the legislature left Springfield two weeks ago, details out of the governor's office regarding the looming state budget cuts to human services have been few and far between. The Illinois State Board of Education has been the sole exception and, on that front, a clear pattern has emerged: Line-items that are accompanied by federal matching funds have been largely spared while solely state-backed initiatives -- such as Illinois' nationally-recognized early childhood education program -- are being gutted.

One sector defying this trend, however, is adult education. Indeed, the decision by Springfield leaders to cut $10 million from this area, thereby forfeiting another $20 million in federal money, defies logic.  In a press release, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) lays out the details:

The new state budget sets adult education funding for the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) below last year’s level of $34.8 million, lumping adult education with career and technical education and GED testing and cutting the overall appropriation to $24.1 million.  Even worse, because of this cut, ICCB stands to lose more than $20 million in federal matching funds.  These losses combined would cut total state support for ICCB adult education programs by more than two-thirds.  More than 80,000 students will be left out of the classes they need to find better jobs, provide more for their families, become citizens, and contribute even more to the state.

"The state's going to leave $20 million on the table when the number of people needing adult education and basic job training ... is growing," Chicago Clerk Miguel Del Valle said at a news conference today. "It doesn't make any sense."  Watch his remarks:

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