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Illinois Immigrant Advocates Launch "No Gold Card Citizenship Campaign |
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While the White House celebrates Citizenship Day, steep fees and difficult new test prevent thousands to become citizens, the coalition is launching a campaign to urge each major party presidential candidate to make U.S. citizenship accessible in the first 100 days of his new Administration.
WHAT: Press conference to launch the campaign "No Gold Card Citizenship." A recently released report by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) unveiled a shocking decline on U.S. citizenship applications due to sharp increase of fees.
Following the press conference, a delegation will march towards the USCIS office (101 W. Congress) to deliver a letter addressed to Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
WHEN: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.
WHERE: Grant Park, on Michigan Ave. between Van Buren and Congress - Chicago, IL
WHO: Immigrant advocates including Flavia Jimenez, Director of the New Americans Initiative; Fred Tsao, ICIRR Policy Director; Jose Lopez Yañez, business owner and new citizen along with eligible immigrants that cannot afford the fee, and community leaders.
WHY: On September 17, Citizenship and Constitution Days are celebrated. This year the White House will celebrate with a press conference at the White House Rose Garden and President Bush will receive recommendations from a national task force on immigrant integration. But despite the Administration's rhetoric regarding welcoming immigrants, it has thrown new obstacles in the path of legal immigrants who want to become citizens: a 70% increase in fees last summer, and a new, more difficult test. These changes in effect limit citizenship to well-educated and well-off immigrants, and leave behind millions of eligible immigrants who are not able to apply.
Visuals: Participants will be dressed up, holding sign resembling big gold credit cards and will pass around fake gold credit cards with a call to action on the back. The letter to be delivered to USCIS will be written on the back of a big fake gold credit card. We will also display charts showing the shocking decrease in applications.
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