"We Are America" debates in Chicago/Socialist Worker/Sam Jordan/[[June 9, 2006]]/ link

Describes a [[June 4, 2006]] meeting of that the We Are America Alliance in Chicago.

Reports that those attending included:

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
• Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
• National Association for Latin and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)
• National Day Laborers Organizing Network
• New York Immigration Coalition
• ACORN
• Jobs With Justice
• March 10th Movement (Chicago)
• Chicagoland Student Network for Immigrant Rights
• UNITE HERE
• Service Employees International Union
• United Farm Workers
• Laborers International Union of North America
• National Immigration Law Center

People mentioned as attending are:

• Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum
• Oscar Chacon of the National Association for Latin and Caribbean Communities

The conference was split between those who want to improve the Senate amnesty and those who reject that bill entirely, with the national organizations apparently in the first camp and the smaller grassroots groups in the second.

The Alliance did agree to launch "Democracy Summer," a voter registration drive aimed at signing up a million immigrants by the November 2006 mid-term elections, and to support regional demonstrations in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles on Labor Day (September 4, 2006).

...The conference voted to approve several actions, including a June 25 legislative day directed at Congress and the Labor Day regional demonstrations.