​Civil Rights Forum and Quad Cities Interfaith
ICE Headquarters, Federal Courthouse
Rock Island, IL

We had a good turnout at the rally in support of asylum seekers on Friday, November 30th at 4 pm. We also had great press coverage! Check it out at the following links:

KWQC

WHBF-TV/KGCW-TV/KJLB-TV

WQAD

Read this story at the Dispatch-Argus.

Thanks to all who came to a cold winter rally in support of Central American asylum seekers who were tear-gassed by our government. We are a land of immigrants, and we demand that our government and ICE treat asylum seekers humanely. We further demand that our government and ICE follow our own laws and international laws that give asylum seekers the right to apply for asylum.

We plan to follow up this rally with meetings with our Illinois and Iowa Senators and Representatives and local ICE officials.

The rally was organized by Aaron Wagner of Quad Cities Interfaith.

Join Quad Cities Interfaith (QCI) and allies at a peaceful demonstration at Grassley’s office to tell the Senator to take action to:  “Keep Families Together!”
 
Monday, May 14th, 5:00 p.m., Senator Chuck Grassley’s Davenport office, 201 W 2nd St, Davenport, Iowa (we will rally out front of the building)

• This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced policy that the U.S. government would separate families detained at the U.S./Mexico border.
• On Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) collaborated with local police in a raid that led to the detention of 32 workers at a concrete factory in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.  Children of those detained are being cared for by neighbors; 32 families are without their primary bread winner.  The raid has spread fear among our immigrant neighbors throughout the state, who fear their town could be next.

 
*This rally is held in solidarity with our friends at the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, at Grassley’s Cedar Rapids office, also May 14 at 5:00.  Cedar Rapids is also the location of ICE’s local detention center.  Please join us either in Cedar Rapids or Davenport. 
 
Call QCI Organizer Aaron Wagner at 641-990-4594 with questions.

El tiempo por justicia es ahora (The time for justice is now)

Wednesday, February 21st, 10 am
State Capitol Building Cafeteria, Des Moines, IA (map)

The Iowa Legislature is considering three bills that would ban public school diversity programs, promote deportation of law-abiding immigrants, and encourage businesses to discriminate against LBGT people. Come to a Lobby Day organized by LULAC and supported by PACG, One Human Family, and other progressive groups to oppose these bills.
#HatefulState  #NotIowaValues  #NoHate

Many Quad Citians came out in support of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients on Saturday, September 16 at the Esperanza Center in Moline for the We Are All Dreamers Rally.
 
Television coverage from KWQC can be viewed here.
 
Alta Price spoke on behalf of PACG. Her remarks are below:
 
My name is Alta Price. I am the President of the Board of Directors of Progressive Action for the Common Good. We are also known as PACG, but I am going to use our full name because it explains what we do.
 
Progressive Action for the Common Good. We work for the Common Good of our cities, states, country, and world. The Common Good includes many different things that we work for – access to health care, a clean environment, and civil rights are some of them.
 
Immigration promotes the Common Good. Our country has been enriched by earlier immigrants, just as it is enriched by the Dreamers and other immigrants today.
 
Members of Progressive Action for the Common Good are Dreamers. We dream of social justice and a welcoming community that cares about everyone. But, as in our name, Progressive Action, we know we must take action to make our dreams come true. Dreams are important, but if you don’t take action to make your dreams come true, then I guess you’re just sleeping.
 
You have taken an action by attending this rally. We challenge each one of you to commit to taking three additional actions to help the DACA recipients. Be creative and practical when you choose your actions. And give yourself a deadline – 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months to do all 3 actions. But act soon, as the situation for DACA recipients is dire.
 
Here are 3 suggestions:
 

1. Call your members of Congress, both Senators and your Representative. It is easy to find their phone numbers online. It doesn’t matter if you call their local office or D.C. office. It is very simple. Dial the number. Tell the staff person that answers that you want your member of Congress to vote for the 2017 Dream Act. That’s it. Simple, but extremely effective.
2. After you’ve made your calls, ask your friends and family to call their members of Congress. If millions call, Congress will pass the 2017 Dream Act.
3. Join with others to strategize more actions. It can be a group of your friends, or join one of the organizations here today and help them work on helping DACA recipients and other immigrants. I would invite any of you to join with the Civil Rights Forum of PACG to work on DACA and other civil rights issues. We will be meeting at the Spanish Mennonite Church in Moline (613 3rd St, Moline) on Thursday, Sept 21 at 5 pm to figure out our next steps.

 
We are all Dreamers. But we must all take action if we want our dreams to come true, and if we want to help the Dreamers.
 
September 16, 2017