NEWS
BY CORINNE BOYER
SALEM IMMIGRANT RIGHTS RALLY TO
DENOUNCE TRUMP AGENDA
ultiple nonprofits, including unions and immi-
grants rights groups, are traveling to Salem on
Jan. 14 to participate in the United for Immi-
grants Rights Rally. Set a week prior to the Jan.
20 presidential inauguration, the march intends
to address anti-immigration sentiments, and the organiza-
tions are vowing to stand united against President-elect
Trump’s discriminatory agenda.
Phil Carrasco with Grupo Latino de Accíon Directa is or-
chestrating a trip from Eugene to Salem. He says the march
will not only support the Latinx community, but they’ll also
be denouncing any policies that may be created at the fed-
eral, state or city level that target particular groups of people.
“We do believe that a lot of these policies being proposed
are really based in hate and funded by hate groups and xe-
nophobic groups.” And, he says, they also believe that the
right to be in this country and walk freely is an exclusive
privilege.
Carrasco says there’s been a call to repeal the state’s
sanctuary status, which would allow the federal government
to use state resources to enforce immigration policy. He says
M
‘We do believe that
a lot of these policies
being proposed are
really based in hate
and funded by
hate groups and
xenophobic groups.’
— P hil C arrasCo
with
G ruPo l atino
de
a CCíon d ireCta
the effort could possibly show up as a ballot measure.
This is not the first time a state law that affects immi-
grants would be addressed in the form of a ballot measure.
In 2014, Measure 88 failed to garner enough votes to grant
driver cards to all Oregon residents, though the Oregon
Legislature passed Senate Bill 833, which permitted Or-
egonians to apply for driver cards, regardless of their im-
migration status.
Ultimately, SB 833 never went into effect.
Many people who do not have legal status in the U.S.
pay taxes, funding roads, schools and other state resources,
Carrasco says. “It’s important that it’s not just Latino-centric
organizations participating,” he says.
Organizations representing health care, working families
and labor unions are among the participants. Carrasco says
these groups acknowledge that “an injury to one is an injury
to all.”
Around 500 people are expected to attend, with 2,000
interested in the Facebook event. Carrasco invites anyone
interested in attending and carpooling to contact him.
He adds that the event is “part of a national day of ac-
tion to defend immigrant rights and to denounce Trump’s
agenda of hate and exclusion in our state.”
The United for Immigrant Rights Rally is 11:30 am Saturday, Jan. 14, at the
Capitol building in Salem. GLAD is on Facebook at latinocommunityaction-
group. And for carpool information contact Phil Carrasco at 541-337-6391.
• Monday, Jan. 16, is Martin Luther King Jr.
Day. If you haven’t already, take a moment to read
MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” or his “I Have
a Dream” speech and remind yourself of how far we
have come and how very far we still have to go when
it comes to race and racism in this country. The
Eugene-Springfield NAACP says that the 2017 MLK
Jr. March shaping up to be biggest to date, and as
well it should. Black Lives Matter. To march, meet at
the north gate of Autzen Stadium/PK Park (parking
will be available in the Serbu Campus parking lot
directly across the street). The march starts at 9 am
with coffee and at 10 am marchers will head to The
Shedd Institute for a community program. This is the
MLK march’s 30th year in Lane County and it’s more
important than ever.
• Michael Moore promised on national television
that he is going from Michigan to Washington, D.C. to
join the Women’s March on Jan. 21, the day after
Donald Trump is inaugurated. Hopefully, thousands
of men will join him there and thousands more will
march in Eugene, Portland and other American cities
to protest Trump’s betrayal of American values.
• Four unhoused people in Portland have died
as a result of Oregon’s frigid weather. That’s two
people too many. Here in Eugene, the volunteers of
the Egan Warming Center are exhausted after night
after night of activation and we are hearing reports
of homeless people in town requiring amputation
due to frostbite. We need a staffed full-time shelter
— overnight shelter is a start, but it’s not enough.
Just how many people are homeless in Lane
County? In 2016, the annual Point in Time homeless
count found 1,451 unsheltered people. The 2017
10
January 12, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
count will be Jan. 25. The Community Alliance of
Lane County (CALC) is coordinating volunteers to aid
in the count to fill 2-3 hour shifts between 8 am and
8 pm. Volunteers are required to do an online training
or can attend a training 3:30 pm Tuesday, Jan 17, at
the Lane County Health & Human Services building’s
Charnelton Room 258, 151 W. 7th Avenue. For more
info about the trainings contact Michael Carrigan at
CALC at 541-844-4677 or calcpeace@gmail.com. To
volunteer at Egan go to eganwarmingcenter.com.
choices for critical leadership positions, we’re hoping
that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, California Gov. Jerry
Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will form
a fighting bloc out here on the West Coast. Jerry
Brown already has signed on former U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder to help the state attorney
general do whatever it takes to continue California’s
battle against extreme climate change. Kate Brown
tends to be cautious, but Oregon must step up. We
have everything to lose if we don’t.
• With terrifying ignorance of climate change
coming from President-elect Donald Trump and his
• What if Hillary Clinton did run for mayor of New
York City? Would she win?