illinois coalition for immigrant and refugee rights

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)

Far-left, strongly pro-illegal immigration group whose president sits on an advisory council to the Mexican government and which is closely linked in to Illinois politics.

In the Chicago area, they've conducted citizenship and voter registration drives and have been involved in pro-illegal immigration marches. They're also linked into leftwing blogs: this and this. They sued Arizona over an attempt to stop fraudulent wire transfers that were sent via Western Union. The ICIRR had received grants from that company and admitted that some of the information used in their suit came from that company, but they said it was a "completely independent action by the ICIRR".

Among the organizers of May 1 Chicago march and various other marches and events. Member of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement. Appointed to the Illinois state New Americans Immigrant Policy Council by governor Rod Blagojevich in 2005.

Executive director is Josh Hoyt (aka Joshua Hoyt).

President is Juan Salgado, who spoke at Los Pinos (the Mexican White House) after the March 10 Chicago march. He's a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad advisory committee to Mexico's president. See also the Juan Salgado letter to Vicente Fox.

Involved in a smear against Illinois Republican senatorial and gubanatorial contender Jim Oberweis [1] [2].

Sued Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard in a class action that would redound to the benefit of Western Union and other companies that profit when illegal aliens send remittances home. ICIRR acknowledged that they had received grants from Western Union in the past.

[[Rights group sues Ariz. to stop wire-transfer seizures]]

Suit filed over wire transfers

ICIRR First Draft of Batavia September 1 march press release

Endorser of the Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 from Barack Obama [4].

Involved in the Illinois Is Home program (Chicago immigration activists ready Washington push)

Last modified Sep 7, 2014
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

ICIRR, Mexican consulate launch hotline for illegal aliens being deported (Catholic Church, Adler School, NIJC, Raymond Crossman) - 09/19/11

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has yet another link to the Mexican government: they and a series of other organizations are sponsoring a hotline that illegal aliens who are being deported can call (link).

DHS makes Secure Communities nationwide, no opt-out (so far). Lofgren, ACLU, NAKASEC, FIRM, CHIRLA, ICIRR, MIRA, Frank Sharry, NIF outraged. - 08/08/11

From this comes some good news for a change: The Department of Homeland Security notified 39 governors Friday that the fingerprint-sharing program did not need their approval to operate in their states, and said it had voided agreements they had signed to authorize their states' participation, according to a copy of the letter.

Palatine Teaparty opposes Illinois DREAM Act (for completely wrong reasons) - 05/09/11

Illinois' state Senate recently passed a state version of the DREAM Act; the bill is designed to make it easier for illegal aliens to attend college (and, it's not the same as the national bill; see [1]). One Tea Parties group in that state is opposing it, but for the completely wrong reasons; see below.

Illinois Business Immigration Coalition: Republican gov. Jim Edgar joins with Mexico-linked ICIRR - 04/09/10

Former Illinois governor Jim Edgar - a Republican - has joined with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights - a group whose president is linked to the Mexican government - to form the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition [1] [2]. The links between the two groups are close: if you visit icirr.org/Business you'll be redirected to illinoisbic.biz/get_involved.html, and in the videos below you'll note the ICIRR background. And: [The IBIC is] an iniative [sic] spearheaded by the Illinois Coailition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The coalition includes over 200 businesses...

RNC's Michael Steele supports amnesty at meeting with far-left, Mexico-linked groups - 04/01/10

Two days ago I posted a notice that Michael Steele of the RNC was going to meet with extremist and Mexico-linked illegal immigration supporters and urged others to contact him suggesting that he handle the meeting in the correct way [1]. Not surprisingly, Steele handled the meeting in the completely incorrect way (link): According to a news release put out by the activists [2], he said he would try and recruit Republican support for comprehensive immigration legislation. The RNC says he made no such commitment. The immigration activist who led the meeting said he did, but then [Steele]...

Michael Steele, extremist and Mexico-linked illegal immigration supporters to meet March 31 (after sit-in) - 03/30/10

RNC chairman Michael Steele will be meeting with a group of far-left illegal immigration supporters on March 31, 2010; the details on who's involved and the backstory is below. Most importantly of all, please take a few moments and try to contact him, his staff, or someone who can get a message to him and suggest that he handles this meeting in the right way. Note: the only two contacts I've found are info *at* gop.com and on Twitter: @ChairmanMSteele but I don't know if the second is really his. The wrong way, of course, would be for the chairman of the Republican Party to agree with far-...

March for America: illegal immigration rally, March 21, 2010 Washington DC - 02/12/10

On March 21, 2010, yet another pro-illegal immigration march will be held in Washington DC, this sponsored ultimately by the far-left National Council of Churches [1]. The next day they'll apparently be conducting a lobbying effort, sending attendees to speak to their representatives (presumably illegal aliens will take a pass on that event). The march is associated with Ecumenical Advocacy Days, a mini-convention focusing this year on the topic of "Migration". One of the speakers will be Frank Sharry. More on EAD at advocacydays.org/about, and more on the march as it develops. Other groups...

Tides Foundation awards three advocates for illegal immigration; two links to the Mexican government - 09/01/09

The Tides Foundation has announced the recipients of their "Jane Bagley Lehman Awards for Excellence in Public Advocacy"; see the press release here. Each of the three winners will get $7500; one of them is linked to the Mexican government and another's organization allegedly has collaborated with that government:

Joshua Hoyt of ICIRR misleads about healthcare for illegal aliens (Mark Kirk) - 08/31/09

Josh Hoyt - director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights whose president is linked to the Mexican government - offers "Congressman Kirk's Immigrant Blind Spot May Cost Him Dearly" (huffingtonpost.com/joshua-hoyt/congressman-kirks-immigra_b_272713.html). He's very "concerned" (as in the type of troll) about Rep. Mark Kirk's stance on immigration-related matters. Unfortunately, "concerns" such as he has strike a chord with certain Republicans who then - instead of doing the smart thing and trying to take power away from people like Hoyt - give in to their far-left...

"Reform Immigration For America": business, labor, CAP, NCLR, CHIRLA begin new push; summit, townhall meeting; John Quigley - 06/01/09

A new group called "Reform Immigration For America" recently launched in order to push for comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty. They're a coalition of business, labor, and far-left/racial power groups; see their slick site here: reformimmigrationforamerica.org.

Mexico-linked ICIRR claims citizenship, registration drive cost Waukegan mayor his job (maybe not) - 04/08/09

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights - whose president sits on an advisory board to the Mexican government - is trying to claim (icirr.org/en/node/3698) that a citizenship and voter registration drive that was conducted in Waukegan, Illinois was the decisive factor in that city's mayor recently being voted out of office. That city is part of the 287g program, and they try to claim that objections to that were partly responsible: Today the Latino voters turned out in force and turned Mayor Hyde out of office in a shocking upset. In the 9 precincts with the highest density of...

Joshua Hoyt challenges Rosanna Pulido petition signatures; now he supports our laws - 01/28/09

Rosanna Pulido of the Illinois Minuteman Project is trying to get into a special election being held to find a replacement for Rahm Emanuel; her site is here. As could be expected, the local machinery that supports illegal immigration opposes her, with Josh Hoyt from the Mexico-linked Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights now saying (link): "We are a nation of laws... and certainly our election processes should be a place where the rules are respected. If Ms. Pulido cannot follow our election laws and collect even 319 valid signatures then she should not be allowed to be on the...

"Latino Voting in the 2008 Election: Part of a Broader Electoral Movement" - 01/28/09

The Center for Immigration Studies has released a new report on the so-called Hispanic vote in the 2008 elections (link). A few key points: * The drop in support among Latinos for Republicans between 2004 and 2008 was part of a broad-based electoral movement away from the GOP, and was hardly specific to that demographic group. McCain received only 57 percent of the white male vote, compared with 62 percent for Bush in 2004, and McCain’s 55 percent of regular churchgoers was significantly lower than Bush's 61 percent. * Credible surveys indicate that the major policy concerns of Latinos were...

Rights Working Group wants immigration enforcement moratorium and much more (ACLU, NCLR, 248 others) - 01/09/09

The Asian American Justice Center runs the Rights Working Group, a coalition of over 250 leftwing groups, and they have a petition calling on Barack Obama to in effect not do immigration enforcement. They want a "moratorium" while the subject of raids and the like is "studied", but everyone knows what that means.

Mexico-linked ICIRR conducting voter drive in Chicago - 10/09/08

From this: During the next four weeks, Immigration activists plan to swarm through nearly 700 Chicago-area neighborhoods, visiting some homes several times in a $1 million effort to pull at least 140,000 voters into the polls for the Nov. 4 elections, organizers announced Tuesday. The campaign, involving about 2,500 volunteers, is part of an aggressive last push across the country to sway the result of the presidential race and several congressional contests in the direction of Immigration reforms. "This is a serious campaign," said Juan Salgado, president of the Illinois Coalition for...

Chicago City Council passes pro-illegal immigration resolution - 10/09/08

Back in June we offered Chicago Aldmn Cardenas, Flores introduce anti-"hate speech" resolution; Mexico-linked ICIRR cheers. The usual suspects are back: Chicago lawmakers added their [unanimous] voices Wednesday to the call for a moratorium on raids and deportations, an action they hope will lead to comprehensive immigration reform. ..."Immigrants are being uprooted, they are being persecuted.

Nicole Gaouette/LAT: leftwing groups on the "lookout for immigration raids" - 09/14/08

Criminal enterprises that have fixed locations usually employ lookouts in the neighborhood where they operate who warn them of impending police raids and they frequently pay off local officials or cops. There's (perhaps) only one form of illegal activity for which the Los Angeles Times would consider that acceptable: illegal immigration, of course.

Immigration march organizers have foreign links - 08/15/08

1. One of the organizers of the March 24 Georgia boycott was Teodoro Maus, a former Mexican consul general. He was also one of the organizers of the October 7 Atlanta march. That march was led by GA state Senator Sam Zamarripa and GA state representative Pedro Marin, both members of the Democratic Party.

DailyKos' Netroots Nation has Mexican government-linked group - 07/15/08

All rightthinking comrades will be in Austin, Texas this weekend for DailyKos' Netroots Nation, a convention formerly known as YearlyKos. A search of the site shows just one session relating to immigration, called nutrootsily enough "How to Win the Immigration Debate and Beat Back ICE's Emerging Police State" (netrootsnation.org/node/864). Put on your diving cap and try to follow their logic: With Congress held hostage to a vocal minority of hard-line immigration restrictionists stirred up by right-wing websites and talk-radio, the Bush administration has launched a series of showy "crack-...

Chicago Aldmn Cardenas, Flores introduce anti-"hate speech" resolution; Mexico-linked ICIRR cheers - 06/25/08

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is linked to the Mexican government, and they have some involvement in a resolution introduced today by two Chicago aldermen (George Cardenas and Manny Flores) condemning "hate speech" (i.e, the facts) supposedly directed at "immigrants" (i.e., illegal aliens) [1]. The resolution also comes out in favor of legalizations of illegal aliens.

Agriprocessors meat packing raid, Postville, Iowa (kosher, UFCW) - 05/12/08

Somewhere from a few hundred to 700 or more persons were arrested in Postville, Iowa earlier today as part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid of the Agriprocessors meat packing plant in the town. That plant produces kosher meat and is owned by the Rubashkin family, Hasidic Jews from New York; this page has more details on the culture clash after the bought the plant and seem to have gained a great deal of power in the town.

Felipe Calderon to meet with IME advisory board in Dallas (+Alfredo Corchado's pro-Mexico spin) - 04/21/08

On Tuesday, Felipe Calderon will be attending a meeting of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad/Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior advisory board to the Mexican government (www.ime.gob.mx). The board has about 125 members, some of whom are U.S. citizens, all of whom have divided loyalties, and some or most of whom have some influence on U.S. politics. One member is even an Illinois state senator, Martin Sandoval.

Did someone try (and fail) to setup Lou Dobbs? (ICIRR, Citizen Orange) - 03/19/08

Back on November 28, 2007 Lou Dobbs spoke at the Barnes & Noble in Chicago, and one of the audience members interrupted his speech with what could have been a semi-deranged outburst. Or, it could have been a braindead attempt by an illegal immigration supporter to provoke Dobbs, thinking he - or the audience - would say something noteworthy. If it was the latter, the provocateur failed.

Henry Fernandez lies about Jim Oberweis to support illegal immigration (libel?) - 03/10/08

Henry Fernandez - a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund who's also part of the Mexican government's "extended network" - offers "Anti-Immigrant Zealots Lose Hastert's Seat For Conservatives" (thinkprogress.org/2008/03/10/oberweis-immigration) about the recent Illinois House race in which Jim Oberweis lost to Bill Foster. The article contains this paragraph that strongly appears to libel both Oberweis and Mitt Romney: Oberweis, a wealthy owner of dairy stores, was targeted by grassroots supporters of comprehensive immigration reform. They found he had the same problem...

Bill Foster beats Jim Oberweis for Hastert seat (smear by Mexico-linked ICIRR helped) - 03/09/08

Democrat Bill Foster beat Republican Jim Oberweis 53% to 47% in a special election for Dennis Hastert's former House seat in Illinois (link). Foster will only serve until the end of the year; a new election will take place in November for the full term.

United Nations "Committee on the Elimination of Racism" chides U.S. over treatment of immigrants - 02/24/08

From their safe Geneva home, on Friday United Nations bureaucrats from the "Committee on the Elimination of Racism" (part of the U.N. "Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights") chided U.S. government representatives for a variety of alleged issues ranging from extraordinary rendition to police brutality to race-based disparities in sentencing to the treatment of legal and illegal immigrants and refugees (www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds72.htm). The end of this leaps out: The U.N. panel discussed a broad range of other questions with the U.S. delegation, including police...

Mark Pera: help from Mexico-linked ICIRR, money from immigration lawyers (Illinois) - 01/30/08

Mark Pera is trying to unseat incumbent and fellow Democrat Rep. Dan Lipinski (link) (D-IL) in Illinois' 3rd district. I strongly urge voting for anyone other than Pera, due to his links to a few interesting groups. While Lipinski might have his problems (link), I doubt whether they rise to Pera's issues. Those include receiving help from a Mexico-linked group, receiving money from immigration lawyers, and receiving the endorsement of a racist linked to the Mexican government. I'm going to send an email to Pera asking him whether he's going to reject the support of these groups, but I suspect...

Flor Crisostomo: the new Elvira Arellano (sanctuary at Adalberto United Methodist Church) - 01/27/08

Via this we learn that Reverend Walter "Slim" Coleman's Adalberto United Methodist Church continues the struggle for in effect open borders with the announcement that they'll be giving "sanctuary" to another illegal alien, Flor Crisostomo. That church grabbed headlines recently for hosting Elvira Arellano, before she was arrested and deported to Mexico, where she remains. Crisostomo's statement says in part: "I am taking a stand of civil disobedience... I believe with all my heart that the United States and Mexico must end the system of undocumented labor." Obviously, "civil disobedience"...

Western Union store owner indicted on money laundering (human smuggling) - 01/23/08

From this: A Scottsdale man who ran four Western Union stores in Phoenix and Mesa was indicted Tuesday on 80 counts of money laundering and other crimes that are suspected of financing human smugglers and drug dealers [in a] ...four-year-old, $56.8 million money-laundering scheme...

Felipe Calderon explicitly wants Mexican consuls to meddle in U.S. immigration debate (non-profits) - 12/07/07

The only thing shocking about this is that he'd openly admit it: [Today, Mexican president Felipe Calderon] asked his diplomatic representatives in the U.S. to participate in the public debate on immigration by appearing at public events, talking more to the media and working with nonprofit groups to promote Mexican immigrants' role in supporting the U.S. economy. "The key is to neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination that forms part of U.S. society's mistaken perception, and be able to newly focus arguments on the complimentary aspects of our economies," he said [to...

NYT almost follows the money on Western Union (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ken Salazar) - 11/24/07

Jason DeParle of the New York Times almost follows the money on Western Union, a company that makes almost a billion dollars per year off legal and illegal immigrants sending money home ("remittances"): lin

Nutroots: Blue America PAC joins with Mexico-linked group to support illegal immigration (anti-Rahm Emanuel) - 11/14/07

The Blue America PAC - a nutroots/netroots group composed of Firedoglake, Down with Tyranny (run by Howie Klein), Crooks and Liars, and Digby - has apparently decided to make Rahm Emanuel look mainstream by comparison. They're launching a campaign to "fight for the soul of the Democratic Party on immigration issue", i.e., to support massive illegal immigration and an amnesty [1]. Their first ad accuses Emanuel of "betraying" "immigrants" by not opposing the deportation of someone. While her case isn't explained - they usually aren't, at least factually - it sounds like she entered the U.S....

Howie Klein/FireDogLake promotes Josh Hoyt/ICIRR - 11/10/07

Howie Klein at FireDogLake is welcoming Josh Hoyt (aka Joshua Hoyt), executive director of the ICIRR (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights) to discuss matters with their visitors [1]. That group is a virulent supporter of illegal immigration, and they and their president Juan Salgado helped organize the major Chicago illegal immigration marches last year. Salgado also serves on an advisory committee to Mexico's president, and wrote this letter to Vicente Fox. By promoting him, the FireDogLake crew are in effect being useful idiots for the Mexican government. However, things...

March 10 Committee - 10/30/07

Also known as the March 10 Movement, March 10 Coalition, Diez de Marzo Committee. Home page at movimiento10demarzo.org At their site, they declare their unconditional support for Elvira Arellano as well as all other "immigrants" who are in the process of being deported. They also call on all those immigrants who are being deported to apply for asylum and to seek asylum in local churches. They also oppose employer sanctions and programs to check the SSNs of employees.

Everything Ready For the March for the Millions of Undocumented Foreigners - 10/11/07

[[March 10, 2006]]/[[Ana Maria u. Montes de Oca]]/Editor of [[El Dia News]]/ link

First Data Immigration Reform panel - 10/03/07

First Data Corporation - the current or former parent company of Western Union - conducted several immigration "reform" panels around the country in 2004. The [[July 22, 2004]] version was held in Denver and is described here. That page describes how a fight broke out, which appears to have been initiated by an illegal immigration supporter. And:

The Flake-Gutierrez STRIVE Act amnesty returns... - 09/06/07

The Flake-Gutierrez STRIVE Act - a House amnesty scheme - was discussed at hearings of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law today (chaired by former immigration lawyer Zoe Lofgren).

Immigrant rights activists gather in Chicago - 08/17/07

Socialist Worker/Lee Sustar/[[August 25, 2006]]/ link

Esther J. Cepeda: towns enforcing immigration laws could lead to "neighborhood lynchings" - 07/05/07

The column here ("Beginning of the end?/Towns across America are taking illegal immigration control into their own hands a

Progressives: urge Clinton, Obama, Richardson, Edwards to support Elvira Arellano's "campaign of resistance" - 07/02/07

Dear fellow progressives: Elvira Arellano - the undocumented person from Mexico currently seeking sanctuary in The Right Rev. Walter "Slim" Coleman's church in Chicago to avoid being deported and separated from her U.S.-born son - has issued a call to a "campaign of resistance". I urge all fellow progressives to not only heed the call, but to encourage the Democratic candidates to join with her in her struggle. Please go to campaign appearances by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and John Edwards and urge them to at least support Arellano, and perhaps even her "campaign of...

Pages