Immigrants' Rights Push in Lexington

As part of a process of the Lexington Fayette Urban-County Government (LFUCG) to address immigration issues in the city, a forum was held last Thursday to get public input from the community.

As anti-immigrant forces, largely mobilized by conservative talk-radio in Lexington, were likely to come out in force, KCIRR, the Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, along with KFTC and other groups mobilized our own people to push for a sane policy with respect to immigrants that respects their humanity and works with them to make our community a better place.

There were approximately 160 people attending the forum, and for the first portion of the meeting, the room was packed full, with extra people listening in downstairs. The speakers were limited to three minutes each, and there were five committee members present to listen to the concerns of the community.

Overwhelmingly, the audience members were in support of the immigrant and refugee community. Approximately 70% of the audience wore KCIRR stickers, white shirts, and "Si, Se Puede" shirts to show solidarity. The speakers also followed suit, with the majority of speakers focusing on positive solutions to helping immigrants (legal or otherwise) integrate successfully into the community.

KFTC Members Janet Tucker, Beth Rosdatter, Susan Williams, Freddy Peralta, and were amongst the people who testified to the committee.

Some of the solutions that were presented to the committee included local IDs that would allow Lexington residents to access services in the community and allow them to do things such as purchase homes and get bank accounts. Increased offerings of ESL courses, reducing housing discrimination based on country-of-origin, and an increase in bilingual workers for hospitals and other basic public services were also discussed.

Some of the issues that were raised were the inability of illegal immigrants to gain drivers licenses, as well as whether or not Lexington should fight a national  bill which would require police officers to look into the legal status of people under arrest for crimes, and engage in the necessary steps to deport them.

"It was a really neat event," said KFTC member Susan Williams.  "Immigrants Rights supporters outnumbered opponents by a lot and KFTC made a big impact on that.  It's great to support the immigrant community like this."