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PRESS RELEASE: America Needs Permanent Solutions, Not A Wall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1/19/2019

America Needs Permanent Solutions, Not A Wall

Woodburn, Oregon – As word spreads about plans to put a deal on the table, and President Trump’s so-called immigration compromise, PCUN’s stance continues to stay the same. The President’s offer is expected to include $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for extended protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients.

PCUN’s position stays the same: #Not1Dollar. More money for DHS will allow this already-rogue agency to build more private prisons, hire more ICE agents, carry out more terrorizing raids, further militarize southern border communities and separate more children from their moms and dads.  The House has passed two spending bills to reopen the government, but Senator McConnell has refused to bring them to a vote on the Senate floor. Budgets are moral documents that should reflect the values of our country, not a white nationalist agenda.

The fights for DREAM and TPS are not mutually exclusive fights. PCUN and our national networks are fighting for DREAM and TPS, but also reiterating our long-standing position of not one dollar for this administration’s hateful agenda. More money for DHS means more pain for our families.

PCUN’s Executive Director, Reyna Lopez, says, “ DREAMer’s and TPS holders are not bargaining chips. It’s time for the President and Republicans to stop playing politics with people’s lives. Hundreds of thousands of families are being hurt by this shutdown.  This “deal” exemplifies just how out of touch Trump is with working families in our country. Budgets are moral documents that should reflect the values of our country, not a white nationalist agenda. We call on Republicans to step up and end this shutdown and end this agenda of hate. We need a permanent solution for DACA, and TPS holders that ensure they have a permanent pathway to legalization.”

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Check out highlights from our Annual Cumbia Party!

We had a magical evening on November 8th for PCUN’s Annual Cumbia Party. We raised over $30,000 to continue enhancing PCUN’s community organizing work! This year PCUN is doing a lot – and we’re excited, and over-whelmed with the amount of support that consistently comes from our community.

Thank you to our sponsors, our families, and our supporters across the state and the country. Special thank you to our members, and our staff. We love you! Check out these highlights:

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2018 Mid Term Elections

 

(Our team of organizers, Gail, Nicole, Mario, Martha, Alex, and Enrique)

The 2018 Midterms were a success for PCUN and our partners in the social justice movement. We are proud to say that farm workers, immigrants, and Latinx working families made a huge impact in getting out the vote for progressive issues and candidates this election cycle. Today, I can confidently say we are building and flexing our power in a huge way. This year, PCUN knocked on a total of 27,000 Latinx bilingual, bicultural doors with our team of Latinx organizers. We provided ballot assistance to over 350 Latinx voters. It made a huge difference. But what really made the difference was the unity in the movement – which collectively knocked on over 400,000 doors!

Here are some highlights from the campaigns and on candidates we endorsed:

  • Kate Brown is still our Governor, and PCUN knocked on thousands of Latinx doors to ensure that the Latinx vote came out in full force for our Governor. She has had our backs for years, we are honored to get to return the favor.
  • Representative Teresa Alonso Leon also won her race in House District 22, Oregon’s first majority Latinx district in the state.
  • Representative Paul Evans of House District 20, Independence and West Salem, also won his race, and is continuing to hold up farmworker values in the state legislature.
  • And we’re very proud of Rachel Prusak, the Representative Elect of  HD 37. You can 
  • Anna Williams for HD 52 in Hood River also won her race. Congrats to Anna!
  • Andrea Salinas in HD 38, Lake Oswego, ran unopposed.
  • Eric Swenson is now the Mayor of Woodburn, he is a champion for Woodburn Schools, and a true bridge builder and strong advocate for equity.

On Measure 105… WE DID IT. Defeating this measure truly took a village. With the help of over 500 organizations, PCUN and our sister organizations, labor partners, and more, beat measure 105. Oregonian’s have spoken. We want to be a place that welcomes people, and rejects racial profiling based on our perceived immigration status.

PCUN also said NO to Measure 103, 104, 106, and we said YES on 102. Oregonian’s agreed last night, and voted down 103,104,105, 106, and said Yes to 102. 

La lucha Sigue – the fight continues! We’re proud of the campaigns our candidates put on. And we continue to fight for better representation of our communities.  Here are some of the campaigns we endorsed, that did not win. 

Check out the rest of our positions on the other measures you’ll see on the November ballot:

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Stop the Hate, In Our State – No on Measure 105

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) has been working with immigrant populations in Oregon for over 40 years. As the largest Latino union in the state, many of our members would be impacted if Measure 105 passes.

The group responsible for getting Measure 105 on the ballot, Oregonians for Immigration Reform, has been officially designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC says this about them, “For almost two decades OFIR has demonized immigrants while working closely with nationally recognized anti-immigrant groups and figures.”

One of the reasons we were founded was the stop raids and discrimination in Oregon. We want our families to feel safe, welcomed and not racially-profiled in the state we all call home. We don’t want to go back to the days when law-abiding Oregonians and their kids were dragged out of their homes.

We need to protect Oregon’s values. We need to vote NO on 105 this fall.

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Dia de los Muertos Cumbia Party

PCUN’s ANNUAL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS CUMBIA PARTY

Thursday November 8th, 2018

BUY YOUR TICKET NOW

Big thank you to our growing list of event sponsors, contact us today to become a sponsor:

PCUN’s Annual Event is right around the corner! This event supports our mission, and our ability to  organize, advocate, and reach more than 20,000 Latinx families around the state.

VIP Leaders of Color Pre-Party with Senator Rebeca Saldaña from 5:00-6:00PM – Get your VIP ticket for entrance to the VIP Reception.  There is limited space, but the  focus is on People of Color stepping into elected and other leadership positions, with special Host, Ana Del Rocio, and Color PAC Action. Speaker’s Include Martha Sonato PCUN’s Electoral Politics Director, and Ramon Ramirez, Co-Founder, and President of Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos Del Noroeste. Musical Guest: Tito Amaya.

6:00PM-10:00PM

We get the party started! Special guest DJ and Music
Silent Auction with Local Support, Tamales, Drinks, Dance, with a Basics of Cumbia Lesson with Maria Delgado and Jorge Zepeda at 8:15PM!
Altar remembering activists of the past… Be there or be square.

Our Keynote Speaker

 

Representative Teresa Alonso-Leon

National Speaker and 2018 Recipient of the Hank and Martina Curl Award

Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-37, Washington State

2018 Recipient of the Hank and Martina Curl Award

Linda Herrera, Retired Chief Equity Officer at Chemeketa Community College

 

PCUN’s Annual Party
Thursday, November 8th, from 6-10PM
SEIU 503 Ballroom,
6401 SE Foster Rd
Portland, OR 97206

Special Musical Guests

The Woodburn HS Mariachi

Tito Amaya, Musician, Artist, Activist

 

Chaach NYC, and Tyler Keys

Click here to purchase your General Ticket, or your VIP Ticket to join the Reception. Thank you for supporting our work. We look forward to seeing you!

¡Así se puede!

 

— esp

FIESTA ANUAL DE DIA DE LOS MUERTOS CUMBIA DE PCUN

Jueves 8 de noviembre de 2018

COMPRA TU TICKET AHORA

Muchísimas gracias a nuestra lista de patrocinadores de eventos, contáctenos hoy para convertirse en patrocinador:

¡El evento anual de PCUN está a la vuelta de la esquina! Este evento respalda nuestra misión y nuestra capacidad para organizar, defender y llegar a más de 20,000 familias de Latinx en todo el estado.

Pre-Fiesta VIP de los Líderes de Color con la Senadora Rebeca Saldaña de 5: 00-6: 00 PM – Obtenga su boleto VIP para ingresar a la Recepción VIP. Hay espacio limitado, pero la atención se centra en que People of Color se incorpore a cargos de liderazgo electos y otros, con la Anfitriona especial, Ana Del Rocio y Color PAC Action. El orador incluye a Martha Sonato, directora de política electoral de PCUN, y Ramon Ramírez, cofundador y presidente de Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste. Invitado musical: Tito Amaya.

6:00 PM-10:00PM ¡Empezamos la fiesta! Especial invitado de DJ y música. Subasta silenciosa con apoyo local, tamales, bebidas, baile, con una lección básica sobre cumbia con Maria Delgado y Jorge Zepeda a las 8:15 p.m. Altar recordando a activistas del pasado .

Nuestro orador principal Representante Teresa Alonso León

Orador nacional y ganadora de 2018 del premio Hank and Martina Curl Award Senadora Rebecca Saldaña, D-37, Estado de Washington

Ganadora de 2018 del premio Hank and Martina Curl Award Linda Herrera, Directora de Equidad en Chemeketa Community College

Fiesta Anual de PCUN Jueves 8 de noviembre, de 6 a 10 p. M. Salón de fiestas SEIU 503, 6401 SE Foster Rd Portland, OR 97206

Invitados musicales especiales The Woodburn HS Mariachi Tito Amaya, Músico, Artista, Activista Chaach NYC, y Tyler Keys

Haga clic aquí para comprar su Boleto General o su Boleto VIP para unirse a la Recepción. Gracias por apoyar nuestro trabajo. ¡Esperamos verte! ¡Así se puede! 

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2018 General Election

It’s finally here. Election Season. And PCUN has made its endorsements.

We’ll be knocking 15,000 Latinx voter doors this elections cycle for Kate Brown for Governor, Teresa Alonso-Leon for HD 22, and of course to defeat Measure 105. .

Every vote counts — and this election cycle, Latinx voters can and will make a difference. Click here to join our people-powered effort and sign up to knock doors with our bilingual, bicultural team today.

Below are the candidates we interviewed and endorsed. We make endorsement decisions based on candidates’ stance on issues that affect farmworkers, their pro-immigrant ideals, and their support for Latinx working families in Oregon. We endorsed these candidates based on their commitment to farmworkers, immigrant rights, and Latinx working families, in addition to how strongly their values align with ours — which are “si se puede”, dignity, and respect.

Teresa Alonso Leon for HD 22 (Woodburn/NE Salem)

Shelaswau Crier for Marion County Commissioner position 1

Mike Ellison for HD 19 (SE Salem)

Paul Evans for HD 20 (West Salem, and Independence)

Rachel Prusak for HD 37 (West Linn/Tualatin)

Anna Williams for SD 52 (Hood River)

Andrea Salinas for HD 38 (Lake Oswego)

Kate Brown for Oregon Governor (Statewide)

Charles Gallia for SD 20 (Oregon City)

Check out the rest of our positions on the other measures you’ll see on the November ballot:

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May Day, Stand in solidarity with Immigrant Workers!

Our immigrant community is under attack. We must stand up a fight for what is right. We must stand up for our community. This may day we will be marching for Driver’s Licenses, to defend worker’s rights to organize, and to make it public that we condemn any and all efforts to take Oregon’s sanctuary state status away on the ballot.

Please join us on May 1st from 11:30AM-3:30PM at the Oregon State Capitol on 900 Court Street, Salem, Oregon.

Please contact PCUN if you need transportation from Woodburn to Salem. Click image below to share the May Day bilingual flyers, or use these text links:

May Day 2018 Spanish Language Flyer

May Day 2018 English Language Flyer

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PCUN has a new Executive Director

Dear PCUNista,

We are proud to announce the arrival of our new Executive Director, Reyna Lopez! Reyna is no stranger to the movimiento, having worked in our sister and partner organizations in various leadership positions. She is transitioning to PCUN from Organizing Director at Family Forward Oregon, where she ran the organizing program for Paid Family Medical Leave, and National Campaigns focused on Safety Net Programs and the Federal Budget. Jaime Arredondo our Secretary/Treasure of PCUN, was acting Director of PCUN & APP. He is now the Executive Director at CAPACES Leadership Institute (CLI). Reyna is stepping in with a consolidated title, and to take over many of the roles that he played these last few years. It is an exciting time of reorganization at PCUN. We wish Jaime much success at our sister organization.

Reyna is a leader and proud daughter of immigrants from Mexico, who came to Oregon in the late 80’s to do farmwork in the Marion County area. Reyna grew up in Salem, Oregon and graduated from Willamette University with her BA in Political Science and Sociology. For over 12 years, she has been a fierce leader and advocate for the Latinx community in Oregon, receiving the Immigrant Award from the American Association of Immigration Lawyers of Oregon, and Willamette University’s Young Alumni of the Year Award for her work in social justice causes, campaigns, movement and coalition building.

Reyna’s passion for organizing and community is reflected throughout her career from her position as Civic Engagement Director at Causa, where she lead the Yes on 88 (Safe Roads), Oregon’s first bilingual bicultural ballot measure campaign! She founded the organization’s New American Voter’s Project and worked tirelessly to win Tuition Equity after 13 years of fighting for Oregon’s Dreamer population. In recent years, Reyna was the Outreach Director at Our Oregon, where she led the Fellowship Program and  organization’s base building efforts for the A Better Oregon Campaign, a ballot measure demanding corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

We’re excited to have such passionate and dedicated mujer leading PCUN through the next phases of our movement! Please join us in welcoming Reyna Lopez, PCUN’s New Executive Director for a community gathering on:
Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 from 6:30 PM-8:30 PM:
RSVP here
We will be celebrating with food and music at PCUN 300 Young Street Woodburn Oregon! Thank you for your support throughout the years.

Ramon Ramirez

President of PCUN

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Some things haven’t changed and some have

First off, thank you for your ongoing commitment to our work. 2017 took our movement back to our roots…to 1977—eight years before PCUN was born.  The stratospheric fear of ICE arrest has put resistance at the center of our community organizing once again.

As we look at head to 2018, we are going in with momentum—a strong community response and growing electoral energy.  But they have momentum, too.  Trump’s ICE activity and barrage of policy attacks on our community have them believing 2018 is their moment to roll back progress.  So we’re—again—planning to give our all to re-doubling the community’s resolve and organizing community power to fend off attacks and to make progress, especially on the state and local levels.

A few weeks ago, on November 2nd, PCUNistas gathered at the SEIU Local 503 hall in Portland to celebrate some of our movement’s work’s transformational impacts.  PCUN President Ramón Ramírez related a story that powerfully encapsulated a striking contrast of Woodburn, then and now:

“In 1978, we caught Woodburn Police in the act of leading INS agents to houses on our block.  We later confronted the Police chief; he walked out of meeting when we told him we’d sue if we caught them doing that again.  Fast forward to a few weeks ago.  Plain-clothes ICE agents came to a home in Woodburn with an arrest warrant.  ‘He no longer lives here,’ the residents told them.  ‘Do you have documents?’ the agents asked. One resident called 911. Woodburn officers arrived and asked ICE agents to wait outside while they searched for the individual ICE had come for.  ‘He’s not here,’ a Woodburn offer told ICE. ‘We suggest you leave now.’  The ICE agents drove off.  That day, we saw a fulfillment of Woodburn Chief Jim Ferraris’ commitment to ‘community policing’.

Clearly, 2017 was terrifying.  But here are a few examples of how it was also terrific:

  • With our sister organization, APP, we helped elect a Latin@ majority to the Woodburn School District board—a first for Oregon—including one seat decided by 87 votes out of 1,905!
  • We helped pass several pro-worker pro-immigrant policies including: Cover All Kids, Fair Work Week, Protect Immigrant’s Privacy, End Racial Profiling, Reproductive Health Equity Act, and Ethnic Studies Standards.

In 2018, we will build on these victories.  We’ll campaign all-out, if needed, to defeat a looming anti-immigrant ballot initiative, to help win permanent status for Dreamers and “TPS” holders and to grow the ranks of progressives—especially Latin@s–in public office.

Our movement has always drawn strength from looking ahead.  Our goals and plans in 2018 also include some important shifts to better position us for today and tomorrow.  One of these major shifts is my transition to the CAPACES Leadership Institute as its new Executive Director. The political moment we are living—our electoral victories and resistance of the administration—has invigorated and broaden our base like no other time we’ve experienced. This calls for a greater focus on boosting our leadership development work to maximize our collective impact. Concurrently we are working on restructuring PCUN to more strategically activate our growing base of leaders to continue building real political power that brings justice and equity for our Latino, immigrant, and farmworker community.  Stay tune more on this in the new year.

We deeply appreciate you commitment to our work and we’re hoping we can count on your continued support to sustain the fight, insist on progress, and to draw strength from our shifts.

Adelante!

Jaime Arredondo
PCUN Secretary-Treasurer

PS: Because we are a union, donations to PCUN are not tax-deductible. You can support PCUN’s education, research, and legal-defense work via a tax-deductible contribution to the Willamette Valley Law Project.

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A Night in Solidarity with PCUN featuring Tish Hinojosa..Nov. 20th

November Photos for Thought: A Night in Solidarity with PCUN featuring Tish Hinojosa..Buy tickets here

 

Where? SEIU Ballroom 6401 SE Foster Portland, OR 97206, Admission: $15 donation, Time: 6:30pm

PCUN team at 2017 Annual Celebration: Celebrating 40 years of movement building. Thank you all for coming.

Event at Anahuac Produce farm with representatives from the indigenous communities of Apache, Purepecha, Mixtico and Tarahumara people. Anahuac Produce uses PCUN’s Union Label.

Adelante!
PCUN