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Courtesy of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights:
Chicago- "Joined by leaders from the immigrant community, Aldermen George Cardenas of the 12th Ward and Manny Flores of the 1st Ward today introduced a resolution for the Chicago City Council that condemns the increasingly venomous tone of the national immigration debate and reaffirms the City's support for sensible solution for the immigration issue.
"Throughout our history, Chicago has welcomed immigrants from around the world, including my own family," said Alderman Cardenas at a City Hall press conference announcing the resolution. "Our city was built by immigrants, and has respected the contributions that immigrants have made and will continue to make. Unfortunately, the overall climate surrounding the immigration issue has turned more and more ugly, fed in particular by cable news. It's time that our city took a stand against the hateful rhetoric."
The media watchdog group Media Matters Action Network recently released "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News," a report documenting how Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck of CNN and Bill O'Reilly of Fox News use vitriol and myths to stoke anti-immigrant hysteria.
"The Media Matters report documents in great detail how Dobbs, O'Reilly, Beck, and others have used distortions and misrepresentations to portray immigrants in a negative light and push an anti-immigrant agenda," said Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "We applaud Aldermen Cardenas and Flores for standing with immigrants and against hate."
While calling for an end to hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric, the resolution reaffirms the City's support for humane, practical solutions to the immigration issue. "Our city has stood by immigrants, and has consistently supported legalization of hardworking undocumented immigrants and other reforms," said Alderman Flores. "We hope that our federal government will hear our message and pass immigration reform soon."
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