How Immigration Reform Sustains a Progressive Majority
Reacting to draconian immigration laws proposed in 2006, Latinos and immigrants increased their political power by organizing, marching, becoming citizens in record numbers and voting for progressive candidates who promised to reform our broken immigration laws. Latino voters were credited with flipping four states for Obama in 2008. With this in mind, how do we sustain a progressive majority in 2010 and beyond? This session will examine the opportunities, demographics and political power of the Latino and immigrant vote and what is needed to sustain a progressive majority.
As Director of Online Communications for America’s Voice, Jackie incubates online strategy to rally support for real immigration reform in the blogosphere and beyond. Jackie works with bloggers and advocates to build support for immigration reform as a key progressive priority. Prior to joining America’s Voice, Jackie was the Online Manager for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). During her time at ICIRR, Jackie overhauled the organization’s Web presence, managed online campaigns, and forged partnerships with both local and national bloggers to bring a humane, pro-immigrant voice to the immigration debate. Jackie received her BA from Brown University.
Over the past 40 years, Raúl has built an exceptional record of public service. He began his public career when he joined with other advocates to encourage local governments to invest in older and minority neighborhoods in Southern Arizona. Raúl served on the Tucson Unified School District Board from 1974 to 1986 and the Pima County Board of Supervisors from 1989 to 2002. While on the Board of Supervisors, he worked to improve domestic partner benefits, labor rights, and transparency in government. His environmental leadership led to the creation of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, one of the most successful and innovative conservation systems in the country.
Since his election to Congress in 2002, education, employee rights and the environment have been among Raúl’s top policy concerns. He has played an active role in oil drilling oversight since before the Deepwater Horizon disaster and led the progressive effort to improve the Affordable Care Act. His tenure as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus has seen major successes for the progressive movement, including the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and many of the provisions in the recently enacted Wall Street reform law. Raúl has a long history of both grassroots action and effective Congressional leadership, and he looks forward to continuing his work with outside groups to achieve the best policy outcomes and make government responsive to the people once again.
Markos Moulitsas Zúniga is founder and publisher of Daily Kos, the largest progressive community blog in the United States. Named "the single most successful entrepreneur of the progressive movement" by NY Times magazine writer and author Matt Bai, Moulitsas is also co-author of the critically acclaimed book Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics, author of Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era, a contributing columnist to Newsweek Magazine and a weekly columnist at The Hill newspaper. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the world by People en Español, clocked in at third in Forbe's Web Celeb 25 rankings, and was listed 26th in PC World's list of the "Most Important People on the Web."
Joshua Hoyt has been the director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights since May of 2002. During that time the Coalition has fought vigorously for citizenship for the undocumented, to protect civil liberties in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and for a full integration of immigrants into community life in the U.S. The Coalition has helped to make Illinois one of the most immigrant friendly states in the U.S.
Joaquin Guerra is a New Media Campaign Manger for Service Employees International Union where he leads SEIU’s online campaign for immigration reform and member to member political engagement. He previously served as the Deputy New Media Director for the Richardson for President Campaign and Director of New Media for Governor Richardson's successful 2006 re-election. He has over 11 years of field and political experience at the local, state and national levels, as well as working in the Texas Legislature and doing community organizing.
