A local Jewish advocacy group, Hineni-CU, will hold a rally outside the Champaign office of Congressman Rodney Davis from 12-1 p.m. on September 20 to present a petition demanding that Davis vote in favor of a “clean” Dream Act of 2017 (HR 3440).
Speakers will include Rabbi Ari Naveh, Imam Ousmane Sawadogo, and Father Tom Royer.
The shofar, a ram’s horn traditionally blown during the Jewish High Holidays, will be blown at this event because of its historical use as a call to justice.
On Bloomington-Normal’s WJBC, Davis claimed he would support a Dream Act but wants to include amendments regarding strict border security. This is playing politics with people’s lives and is unacceptable.
Who: Hineni-CU, a local Jewish advocacy group
What: Rally outside Congressman Rodney Davis’s office to present a petition
When: Wednesday, September 20, 12-1 p.m.
Where: Congressman Davis’s office, 2004 Fox Dr., Champaign
Why: “This is a very personal issue for us,” says Hineni-CU executive director Diane Ore. “For so many of us, our parents or grandparents were brought to this country as young children by their parents as they fled oppression and war. We’re horrified that today’s “Dreamers,” whose stories remind us so much of our own family histories, could be expelled from our country through no fault of their own, even to dangerous, life-threatening conditions. We’ve seen this before.”
The Dream Act of 2017 (HR 3440) would protect from deportation the nearly 800,000 children of undocumented parents currently covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, which the Trump administration plans to cancel in six months. Nearly 41,000 of these children reside in Illinois, many in Davis’s district.
To see the petition, click here.