Joins Prominent Immigrant Rights Groups to Advocate for Smart, Pragmatic Reform

Washington, DC--Today the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), America's Voice Educational Fund, Center for New Community, and the Campaign for Community Change launched a print ad denouncing known hate group, FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) for poisoning the healthcare and immigration debates with bigoted, xenophobic hate speech. In support of the ad, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement:

"It's time that everyone learns who FAIR's founders, leaders and followers truly are. They are not reformers, but a group of extremists whose leaders are fostering a bigoted, anti-immigrant, anti-American agenda that we must stop."

"We will not allow such a raging extremist group to hide behind this false veil of reform. By continuing to fan the flames of hate and fear, FAIR has contributed to rising levels of hate crimes and discrimination that we are seeing in immigrant communities across the country. There is no place for such fanatical hate speech anywhere in America today--especially not in the halls of Congress."

"It's time to stop the hate. Americans know that hate speech can't raise wages and living standards for workers, provide affordable healthcare, fix our economy or solve immigration. America doesn't need zealots; we need smart, pragmatic reformers who bring communities together to solve our nation's most critical challenges.

"Crude attempts to shut down our border and round up anyone who looks a certain way do not begin to solve our broken immigration system. Instead, we need to go after the bad-acting employers who exploit workers, and find a fair, practical way to get undocumented immigrants out of the underground economy, into the system and under the rule of law."

Click here to see a copy of the print ad that rain in Roll Call today.

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With 2.1 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare, and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers, not just corporations and CEOs, benefit from today's global economy.

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