Lifting Up the Issue of Immigrant Rights in Anti-immigrant Communities: Voter Engagement in San Diego
From Mobilize the Immigrant Vote!
The Stage
More than one in five San Diegans was born outside the country with 53% of the foreign born coming from Latin America, 33% come from Asia, and 10% come from Europe. San Diego is a critical area in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform and social justice change.
There are thousands of families who lives are affected on a daily basis by the broken immigration system, and there is a significant anti-immigrant backlash that needs to be addressed. Escondido is a prime example of “ground zero” regions in San Diego County. Although the first Latina was elected to the Escondido City Council in 2008 (or perhaps because of this), Escondido residents have been increasingly victimized by a harsh anti-immigrant environment in the city. The council took the extraordinary step of passing a law targeting landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants and has increased traffic stops and seizures of cars. The time is right for change — with each election in San Diego, more people of color and youth voters, sympathetic to immigration reform and social justice victories, are participating in elections. Many of these voters participated for the first time in 2008’s historic elections and are engaged and ready to participate with the partnership of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and Justice Overcoming Boundaries (JŌB).
ACCE and JŌB are the anchor organizations of the San Diego Keeping Families Together Coalition whose goal is to improve the lives of immigrant families in San Diego County and to be a leader in the fight to win comprehensive immigration reform. ACCE is a new grassroots organization started by the former members of staff of California ACORN. ACCE’s mission is to build power for low and moderate income communities through organizing, advocacy, leadership development, and strategic campaigns. While ACCE is a state-based organization that is driven by the needs of and controlled by low and moderate income and communities of color in California, it will build on the strength and experience developed by former ACORN leadership and staff.
JŌB began in 2003 when a group of clergy and community leaders began coming together to envision a regional, county-wide, faith-based organization focused on addressing the disparities in San Diego County. The leadership of JŌB committed to engage other community institutions in an effort to build bridges across race, class, and geography, bringing more people to the table of justice. In October, 2004, JŌB held its inaugural event with a 2,000 person public meeting. JŌB’s mission is to invest in the development of community leaders so that they may address issues that affect them, their families and their communities.
The 2009 Victory: Continuing the Work of 2008
In 2009, the Keeping Families Togther Coalition activated immigrant voters and their families to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. 50,000 immigrants participates in the Fiesta del Sol, a demonstration of immigrant families who want to see change, and 2,000 signed pledge cards for immigration reform. One of their greatest successes was creating an environment in which it was part of the job of elected officials to speak out on immigrant issues. In such an anti-immigrant setting, they certainly did not change all hearts and minds, but the impact was significant. Five local elected officials pledged to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, helping take them one step further from supporter to champion.
Profile of a Grassroots Leader: Rosa Madrigal Magana
Rosa Madrigal Magana has been a community activist since 2006. She was born and raised in Colima, Mexico, and moved to San Diego in 1982. Rosa wanted to become an American citizen, so that she could have greater opportunities for her and her family, and so she could have the right to vote. She fulfilled her dream and became a citizen in 1996. Since that time, she has always voted in elections. Rosa became more active in her community when she joined ACORN in 2006. She fought to clean up her neighborhood, against medical rip-offs and participated in the historic immigrant rights March in 2006. Rosa continued to work for immigration reform by rallying neighbors and visiting members of Congress and she was disappointed when no bill was passed. Rosa said, “People like my sister are struggling for the opportunity to become a citizen like me, and even though thousands of us marched, the politicians just weren’t listening.” So Rosa decided to take action and get involved in elections for the first time in 2008. As part of ACORN’s work with MIV she became a block captain, helping people to register to vote, and turning out her neighbors in what proved to be a record turnout election. Rosa and many ACORN leaders are now building a new organization called Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). Rosa says, “We need everyone that supports our fight to contact their member of Congress to vote. If we can do that, we will win.”
Best Practices
- Pooling resources for greater impact: the regional multi-organization partnership has allowed them to achieve more than either could have done individually. “These are tight economic times for us all,” says Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director of JŌB. “We’ll feel proud that we’re making smart use of our valuable resources.”
- Training leaders to stay on message: In 2009, the partnership trained 200 grassroots leaders to speak with a unified message on immigration reform. “If we’re trying to change the environment for debate on immigrant rights,” says David Lagstein of ACCE “it’s critical that our team is completely on message.”
- Sticking it out for the long haul: San Diego is an example of a region where the demographics are ahead of the organizing infrastructure. It’s a conservative region where much work needs to be done. ACCE and JŌB are committed to transforming the conditions in this region despite the multi-year work ahead.
What’s Ahead
In 2010, the San Diego Keeping Families Together Coalition will assist 1500 eligible citizens in filling out voter registration affidavits; assist 350 eligible residents in applying for US citizenship; identify 20,000 new immigrant rights voters; train sixty new leaders; obtain 150 business and institutional sign-ons; engage thirty candidates or more on their immigrant rights agenda and target 150,000 voters on November Election Day.
For more information about the San Diego Keeping Families Together Coalition, contact Norma Chavez-Peterson of JŌB at norma@justicesandiego.org or 619-696-9474 or David Lagstein of ACCE at dlagstein@calorganize.org or 619-602-2206.
February 7th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
[...] View original post here: Voter Engagement in San Diego – Mobilize the Immigrant Vote! [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 11:07 am
[...] Lifting Up the Issue of Immigrant Rights in Anti-immigrant Communities: Voter Engagement in San Diego [...]
November 16th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
[...] Lifting Up the Issue of Immigrant Rights in Anti-immigrant Communities : Voter Engagement in San Diego [...]