On October 9, NAKASEC joined other immigrant and labor organizations at the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, to hand over approximately 1 million signed postcards showing support for the legalization of undocumented immigrants to the Congressional Representatives. NAKASEC and its affiliates have been carrying out the national post card campaign for over five months, and the affiliates in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle were able to collect approximately 12,000 postcards.
The postcards show support for the immigrant policies that give tax-paying immigrants who have lived in the United States for certain number of years, the opportunity to earn legal status.The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spearheaded this post card campaign, with the help of various immigrant and labor organizations throughout US.
House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt and AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney were some of the prominent figures to give speech at the rally of more than 2,000 attendees at the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC.Congressman Gephardt announced in his speech, the coming introduction of a new legislation that will give legal status to undocumented immigrants who have lived in US for 5 years, and have paid tax for 2 years.The Executive Director of NAKASEC, Sungkyu Yun, also spoke at this rally.
NAKASEC and its affiliate, the Young Korean American Service and Education Center (YKASEC), along with representatives of other community organizations based in the New York area, also visited the offices of the legislators at the Congressional Office Buildings to voice their concerns and to bring attention to the various problems and fears faced by the immigrant communities.Some of the issues addressed were, the DREAM and Student Adjustment Acts, mass detentions and deportations, address change requirements, and the proposed transfer of INS to Department of Homeland Security.
