The hub and spoke of immigrant issues in Illinois operates out of a rehabbed former factory building at the wind-whipped corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Des Plaines Street.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Protection, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has a reach far beyond its humble location above a wholesale fish market.
The non-profit group has emerged as one of the nation’s leading voices on immigrant rights.
“We were sick of the coasts taking the lead on immigration policy,” said Sid Mohn, chief executive officer of the Heartland Alliance and a coalition co-founder.
“The Midwest is more of a microcosm of the United States; we reflect a model of mainstream America where people can live together in a cultural and ethnic mosaic,” Mohn said.
The Heartland Alliance and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, with backing from the Joyce Foundation and the Ford Foundation, provided the initial support to develop the coalition.
The coalition’s Illinois constituency of more than 1.2 million foreign-born is neither small nor monolithic. The three largest immigrant groups come from three different parts of the world, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
The 1990 U.S. Census found that 278,640 Mexicans had emigrated from Mexico to Illinois; 83,130 emigrated from Poland and 48,330 came from the Philippines.
In addition, the state is home to an estimated 50,000 to 75,000 refugees, with the single-largest groups coming from the former Soviet Union, Vietnam and Poland.
The coalition started with one staff member and a budget just under $100,000. Now it has a staff of eight and a budget of $500,000.
Its most significant achievements include:
– In 1994 and 1995, working with Sen. Paul Simon and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the coalition lobbied for a federal appropriation of $6 million to help immigrants obtain citizenship.
– In late 1994, they helped persuade Gov. Jim Edgar to develop a state citizenship program, using federal and state money. As a result, Illinois was the first state to have any state-based program to provide funding for citizenship services. The program was in place in 1995 and 1996, but no funding has been announced for 1997.
– The coalition also has worked with Chicago-area educators and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to streamline the citizenship process.
“The coalition has been effective because it has brought together a diverse membership of church groups, community groups and government agencies to develop creative answers to immigration problems,” said Rob Paral, a senior researcher at the Latino Institute and a coalition board member.
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The coalition will hold its 10th-anniversary fundraiser at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Galleria Marchetti, 825 W. Erie St. For more information, call 312-441-2990.
