ICIRR Statement on Commitment to Electoral Integrity

The following is a statement by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR):

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has a long and proud history of empowering immigrant communities to participate in civic engagement throughout the state of Illinois.  We are a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the rights of all immigrants and refugees to participate in the civic, cultural, social and political life our diverse society. 

ICIRR believes that U.S. citizenship and voting are sacred trusts in our democracy and we are passionately committed to encouraging naturalized U.S. citizens to exercise their right and responsibility to vote, and encouraging eligible legal permanent residents to learn English and become U.S. citizens.

In 2004, we launched the New Americans Democracy Project (NADP) to promote civic participation in the immigrant communities of Chicago and surrounding suburbs and counties. NADP serves as a national model for building immigrant power through non-partisan voter registration and mobilization, combined with community organizing and citizenship promotion.  Since 2004, we have registered 103,404 new people to vote and in 2010 alone contacted over 130,000 immigrant voters.  Our commitment this year is to register 26,000 new voters, naturalize more than 10,000 new citizens and contact 159,885 voters in the general election. 

In every election cycle since 2004, ICIRR has worked to register and mobilize immigrant voters in a non-partisan fashion to fully understand the electoral process and make informed decisions about the candidates seeking to represent them. We do not endorse any candidate or party, nor do we tell voters for whom to vote. Rather, we encourage immigrant voters to be civically engaged and to vote based on the issues important to their communities.
 
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of more than 130 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. For more information, visit www.icirr.org.
 
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