Immigrant groups tout election triumphs

Rep. Villa replaces Oberweis in state Senate; Avelar first former undocumented immigrant to be seated in General Assembly

ICIRR head Lawrence Benito and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx discuss the recent election results on an online news conference Tuesday. (Facebook Live)

By Ted Cox

Immigrant groups and newly elected officials held what they called a “virtual celebration” Tuesday, touting their triumphs in the general election.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights played host to a news conference on Facebook featuring state Rep. Karina Villa, who won election to replace Jim Oberweis in the Senate, and state Rep.-elect Dagmara Avelar, a former ICIRR staffer who is set to become the first immigrant to represent her district and the first former undocumented person to be seated in the General Assembly.

“When we organize, we win,” said Lawrence Benito, head of ICIRR and its political arm, ICIRR Action. “We know that immigrant communities are supportive of a pro-immigrant ballot that shows that Black Lives Matter, ICE must be abolished, tax the rich, health care for all, and that all workers are essential.”

Benito said the causes of immigrants and the Black Lives Matter movement are aligned, and that also contributed to the reelection of Kim Foxx as Cook County state’s attorney.

Foxx agreed, drawing parallels between immigrant and African American areas as “marginalized communities,” playing right into her commitment to criminal-justice reforms and restorative justice. “It’s not just about crime and punishment,” Foxx said. “It’s about making sure that our communities as a whole are safe. … This work that we’ve been doing in the State’s Attorney’s Office has been rooted in equity.”

While both immigrant communities and African American neighborhoods are typically labeled “vulnerable,” she added, they’re actually quite strong, just prone to being vulnerable to fearmongering and false promises by politicians. She too praised the groups and the Democracy Project for putting her over the top in her race for reelection.

Won Joon “Kevin” Lee of the HANA Center said that ICIRR’s Democracy Project had registered 265,000 voters since 2004, and was currently helping to organize 650,000 immigrant voters. Benito said the project was responsible for making 1.5 million calls to prospective voters this election cycle, and Javier Cruz of ICIRR Action added that 550,000 of those calls were made to voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, helping to tip both states to President-elect Joe Biden and reversing the 2016 results that went to President Trump.

Calling Tuesday’s event a “virtual celebration,” Villa credited the Democracy Project’s outreach for her victory, by a margin of just over 1.5 percent of the almost 117,000 votes cast in the west-suburban 25th Senate District. Currently a state representative from West Chicago in the former Republican bastion of DuPage County, Villa moved up to replace Jim Oberweis in the Senate as the dairy magnate ran unsuccessfully for the congressional seat occupied by Lauren Underwood. Villa said Oberweis “basically does everything the opposite from what I stand for,” but “changing demographics … push us over the edge where votes matter most.”

According to Villa, the Democracy Project was critical to getting out Hispanics and other immigrant voters who are sometimes reluctant to get involved politically. “All of that political engagement really mattered,” she said. “We stood on the right side of issues, and we said we did not want a person who was going to be divisive and hateful in this seat. And we got our voices heard.”

“We stood on the right side of issues, and we said we did not want a person who was going to be divisive and hateful in this seat. And we got our voices heard.”

State Rep. Karina Villa (Facebook Live)

“When you invest in immigrant communities, when you actually reach out, talk to them, tell them about the importance of voting, they come out,” Benito said. “And we delivered this election cycle. And we certainly believe the work done in West Chicago made a difference.”

“We want to build power,” Avelar said. “We want to build power in our communities. We no longer want to be bargaining chips.”

Her victory in a House district including her home in Bolingbrook, a village that spans DuPage and Will counties, was especially gratifying for ICIRR, as she’s a former staffer at the organization.

Foxx said the support of the immigrant groups and their voters had given her the “courage” to take on a “xenophobic and racist president” over the last four years.

Benito, however, drew attention to how Trump has still not conceded the presidential election, and he called for the Illinois congressional delegation to take a stand and demand that as a first step toward the transition to a Biden administration. Benito said he trusted Biden’s campaign platform stating that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program scuttled by Trump is “going to be addressed on Day One” by President-elect Biden when he takes office in January. Immigrant voters played a key part in his victory, Benito added, “and we’re going to hold the president accountable.”