Guest speakers will lend their personal experience and historical understanding to the discussion and offer solutions towards a humane immigration policy during an Immigration Policy Round Table at 4 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Unitarian Church (UUCMP) of the Monterey Peninsula. The event is hosted by the Latin America Solidarity Committee.
Moderator: Senator Bill Monning. Bill and his wife Dr. Dana Kent were co-founders of the Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund with Dr. Charlie Clements in 1981. In the early 1980s, Monning led human rights delegations as a member of the National Lawyers Guild to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador securing the release of political prisoners Ramon Cardona and Ricardo Calderon. In the State Senate, Monning has joined colleagues to protect immigrants and to combat the Administration’s attacks on immigrants including the illegal separation of children from their parents and attempts to eliminate medical parole for patients in the care of US doctors and hospitals. Monning and his wife, Dr. Kent were also active co-founders of the Latin American Solidarity Committee. They were also active in the formation and operations of the Monterey County Sanctuary movement that provided support to Central American refugees who fled violence in the late 1970s and 80s.
Panelists include:
Dr. Charlie Clements—author and former physician in rural territory during the Salvadoran civil war in the early 1980’s,
Zenaida Valesquez–Honduran activist and public speaker
Porfirio Quintano, former Honduran labor leader.
Dr. Chris Haswgawa whose parents were interned during WWII.
Food and beverage will be provided. Donations welcomed.
Mission Statement: “To organize a public educational event in support of advancing the discussion and mobilizing the public on the issues of humane immigration reform including a pathway to citizenship, how accelerated climate change is pushing people from their homelands and how U.S. foreign policy over the last century has created economic migrants and those seeking political asylum from violence and persecution.”
Current Sponsors:
Latin America Solidarity Committee (LASC)
Monterey Peace & Justice Center
LULAC Council—Monterey Peninsula
Monterey Bay Central Labor Council
Women’s Int’l League for Peace and Freedom
People’s Oral History Project
UUCMP Unitarian Social Justice Committee
Immigration Task Force
United Nations Association—Monterey Bay Area
Contact An McDowell at anmcd311@gmail.com or Karen Araujo at karaujo93901@gmail.com
