Wednesday: Wisconsin Lobbies & Rallies Against Anti-Immigrant Legislation

Who: Voces de la Frontera, hundreds of immigrant workers and families, dairy farmers, religious leaders, students, supporters

What: Lobby Day and Protest to Stop AB190, a bill to have local law enforcement act like Immigration agents

When: Wednesday, June 28th. Press conference at 12:30pm

Where: Wisconsin State Capitol, Press conference on the State Street steps at 12:30pm. In event of rain, press conference will be in the Capitol rotunda at 12:30.

Press availability at the departure points for buses in 6 cities across the state; locations and press availability times as follows:

  • Appleton: St. Teresa Catholic Church, 213 E. Wisconsin Ave. 8:30am
  • Beloit: St. Jude Catholic Church, 737 Hackett St. 9:30am.
  • Green Bay: 2280 E. Mason St. 8:30am
  • Manitowoc: Park and Ride in front of Perkins, corner of Frontage Rd and S 44th St. 7:30am
  • Milwaukee:1027 S 5th St. 8:30am
  • Racine: Racine Labor Center, 2100 Layard Ave. 8am

MADISON, WI – On Wednesday, June 28th, hundreds of immigrant workers and their families will join supporters in a day of lobbying and protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol to oppose AB190/SB275, a bill to have local law enforcement act like immigration agents. Wisconsin Republicans have introduced the bills, which are a copycat of Texas’ new anti-immigrant law SB4, and very similar to AB450, which was defeated last February through the Day without Latinxs & Immigrants general strike of February 2016.

Community members plan to visit every legislator’s office and give them a milk carton that says “Got Milk? Not without Immigrants / Keep Families Together / No AB190.” The group will hold a press conference and rally at 12:30pm on the State Street steps of the Capitol featuring immigrant workers and families, dairy farmers, religious leaders, advocates for domestic violence survivors, civil rights advocates, and more. Speakers will urge legislators to stop AB190 and instead return driver’s licenses to immigrants, which would lessen discrimination and racial profiling and help workers the economy depends on get to their jobs safely.

“We are already seeing a shortage of workers in the dairy industry as workers and their families leave because of hostility they feel under the Trump Administration,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. “If AB190/SB275 is signed into law, it will cause more workers and their famlilies to leave and potentially cause the collapse of Wisconsin’s signature industry. We have seen the consequences of these anti-immigrant bills in other states like Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia, where crops rotted in the fields after workers left. One in ten Wisconsin jobs depends on dairy, so the bill would create a domino effect in other parts of the economy. AB190 goes against Wisconsin values that honor hard work and dedication to familiy. We need to pass laws that better integrate immigrants into our economy and society, like returning driver’s cards to immigrants, which would make Wisconsin a more welcoming state.”

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