It’s been one year since the Homeowners Bill of Rights in California was implemented and we couldn’t be prouder of the work we and our Affiliates did to make this dream a reality.
NCLR and our Affiliate Network in California worked hard to stop the practice of dual tracking, where banks moved a homeowner through the foreclosure and loan modification processes simultaneously. But, how did we do it? Watch the video to find out!
Week Ending July 26
This week in immigration reform: Latino leaders call for immigration reform as a political, moral, and economic necessity at NCLR’s 2013 Annual Conference in New Orleans; House committees hold hearings on DREAMers and on border security; and NCLR Affiliates continue contacting their members of Congress, urging members to step up and lead on comprehensive reform that includes a road to citizenship. NCLR staff kept the community informed in a slew of news pieces this week, with staff quoted in stories in The New York Times, CBS News, the Associated Press, Telemundo 51-Miami, VOXXI, El Diario, MSN Latino, the Bayou Buzz, Terra.com, Ahora Sí, The Huffington Post, and 1200 News Radio WOAI.
By Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
Of course Representative Steve King (R–Iowa) doubled down on the anti-DREAMer remarks he made in a radio interview last week. This is to be expected when an unreconstructed bigot who craves attention just happens to be a member of Congress. And, of course, his belief that “there are 100 Mexican immigrants, with calves the size of cantaloupes, smuggling drugs for every DREAMer valedictorian” is wildly offensive, derogatory, and hateful. This is the same man who believes he can spot an undocumented immigrant by his or her shoes.
An equally important problem, though, with these remarks is not just that they are asinine and wrong, but that he completely made them up. This man—who hundreds of media outlets have quoted or hosted as an “immigration expert”—simply has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s the equivalent of having someone who contends that the sun revolves around the earth on a show discussing the future of NASA’s space program. Our beef has always been more with the media who continue to use King in “debates” about immigration.
The final event of the 2013 NCLR Annual Conference was our Awards Gala, held in the Grand Ballroom of the New Orleans Marriott. The gala is always a highlight of the Conference as attendees put on their best and enjoy hearing from some of our community’s most ardent leaders.
The fourth and final day of the 2013 NCLR Annual Conference came to a close today with a keynote address from the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.
The 2013 NCLR Annual Conference is almost over, but attendees are still going strong. Below are highlights from our annual conference in New Orleans.
Every year, there are more than four million incidents of housing discrimination that occur in the United States. Yet these incidents are tremendously underreported, particularly within the Latino community. A new NCLR and Equal Rights Center (ERC) report, “Puertas Cerradas: Housing Barriers for Hispanics,” takes a closer look at the housing experience of Hispanics in three Southern cities: Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and San Antonio, Texas. Although the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on national origin, our investigation reveals that Latinos continue to face adverse or differential treatment when trying to buy or rent a home.
The federal government’s failure to pass any kind of meaningful immigration reform has encouraged states and municipalities to act as immigration regulators and craft their own misguided anti-immigrant policies. State laws such as Arizona’s infamous SB 1070 and Alabama’s even more egregious H.B. 87—both of which effectively codify racial profiling—have stoked a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that affects all Latinos regardless of citizenship status. As a result, all aspects of life have been affected by this increasingly hostile environment, in particular Latino families’ equal access to housing.