Thanks to the Senate Budget Committee’s approval of $50 billion over five years for new funding for children’s health, we have taken a step closer to achieving health care for all children. Learn more about what it has taken to get here and how PICO will continue to fight for kids by watching the video below.
[youtube nyRcbGME2Xs Community leaders push for kid’s health coverage]

LA Voice has recently teamed up with Univisión and other immigrant rights’ advocates from across the region for the ¡Ya Es Hora! (Now is the Time) citizenship campaign. The goal of this campaign is simple: urge the 1,000,000 eligible legal permanent residents in the Southern California region to become citizens and vote.

Just last week, the LA Voice organizing committee at San Francisco Catholic Church held a registration event for parishioners looking to start the process. Over 100 people attended. They are eager to become citizens and active, engaged members of their community. Click here to learn more about the ¡Ya Es Hora! campaign.

[youtube 6Krxaeo80Vc Univision’s video in Spanish]

Four PICO affiliates, UIA, CBC, CCISCO, and PIA launched a joint clergy statement asking the Department of Homeland Security to halt controversial immigration raids that have been taking place in communities across the country. These PICO affiliates have invited concerned clergy throughout the nation to join their call for a moratorium on I.C.E. raids. On May 17th representatives of this campaign will travel to Washington, DC to deliver this letter. Clergy can sign on by visiting http://ga3.org/campaign/stoptheraids

Text of the clergy letter:

As clergy in cities impacted by I.C.E. raids, we object to federal government action that has broken up families, left children abandoned, and traumatized whole communities. Our congregations are committed to protecting those in need, but we should not need to shelter young children asking “Where is my mother? Where is my father?”

While there are different perspectives on how to fix our immigration system, we can all agree that the recent mass raids harmed the stability of our communities and families. This is the wrong way to enforce immigration rules. Those who have been detained and those left behind are mothers, fathers, children, wives, husbands, and others responsible for holding families together. Nearly two-thirds of all undocumented families have children who are U.S. citizens by birth, including many of the children left behind after the recent raids. Our shared respect for humanity and our faith in the promise of a better future calls us to do better.

Faith leaders call for:
1) President Bush to direct the Department Homeland Security to halt the raids immediately and to reunite families; & 2) Congress to hold hearings to investigate I.C.E. behavior.

Let’s honor God’s call to protect children and not make them victims in the fight over immigration policy. If we work together as faith communities we can help find common ground that honors our nation’s commitment to fairness and family.

Clergy, click here to sign on to this letter
Click here to read more about how the I.C.E. raids have affected our communities.

Media Coverage
Religious Leaders Oppose Raids
A Wrenching Choice
California Report - I.C.E. Raid Audio