CAIR-Chicago hosts MBA Lunch and Learn program

CAIR-Chicago hosted the Muslim Bar Association's October Lunch n Learn program which was held on Tuesday, October 30th. Participants included representatives from non-profit organizations working on multiple issues like legal representation for asylum seekers, Dream Act Relief, poll monitoring, and Know Your Rights training sessions for community members. Fred Tsao of ICIRR spoke on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) relief and poll monitoring for the 11/6/12 election in suburban and city precints to ensure that immigrant voters’ rights are protected. Tsao talked about numerous ongoing projects including working to get state legislation to allow undocumented people to get driver's licenses.

CAIR-Chicago and the MBA presented on the Syrian Asylum Project (in collaboration with CAIR-Michigan; initially to provide legal representation for Syrian asylum seekers, perhaps later also including other Muslim asylum seekers). They also spoke about Know Your Rights training sessions for community members to ensure their rights are protected when approached by the FBI and law enforcement.

Dima Khalidi of the Center for Constitutional Rights discussed a project on providing legal support to Palestinian solidarity activists in the U.S. Khalidi highlighted cases involving students across university campuses whose activism is being challenged and repressed.

Participants concluded by exchanging information and asking one another for resources and volunteers to help with these ongoing projects.

See all the photos on CAIR-Chicago's Flickr page! Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.