May 12, 2011

Last week the Illinois state legislature passed bills in their Senate and House chambers, moving the state closer toward cutting-edge state-level immigration justice. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) applauds these positive developments and hails the important contributions Muslim Americans have made to these efforts.

On May 4, in a strong bi-partisan vote, 45-11, the Illinois state Senate voted to pass the “Illinois DREAM Act,” which establishes privately-financed and voluntarily administered fund to make scholarships available to undocumented immigrant students. The fund comes at no cost to taxpayers.

Two days later, the Illinois House of Representatives, also in a strong bi-partisan vote, 66-43 (with 17 Republican votes in favor), passed the “Smart Enforcement Act.” The Act ensures that if local and state law enforcement is forced to participating in the Federal government’s Secure Communities program, its police forces will do so in accordance with state laws and values of “accountability, effective law enforcement, due process and respect for families.”

Secure Communities is a federal program that forces local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws. It has been criticized by a number of immigration and faith-based groups, including MPAC, for lacking important data collection safeguards to prevent racial and religious profiling.

MPAC hails these important positive developments as a way of charting a new course in immigration reform and enforcement that enhances both policy effectiveness and safeguards our nation’s values. It also hails the important role Muslim American organizations have been playing in this process.

Speaking to the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), Stephen Smith, organizing director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said:

“You were the first group to add the Illinois DREAM Act to your state agenda, and the first to get press for the bill. You were there on March 3, April 4, 18 and 30, as we fought and fought and fought. The efforts of the Muslim community meant a lot to me, and a lot to the rest of our coalition. Thank you.”

MPAC has a memorandum of understanding with the CIOGC and have frequently partnered together on public policy issues at the national level, including the DREAM Act and immigration reform.

MPAC also released its immigration reform paper in November 2010, “Ineffective and Unjust: Fixing Our Nation’s Broken Immigration System.” In the paper MPAC calls for reforming Secure Communities to protect against racial profiling.

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Alejandro J. Beutel (alejandro@mpac.org)
Government & Policy Analyst