El Dia News: ICIRR Rejects Illinois GOP Anti-Muslim Hysteria

Yesterday, the Illinois Republican Party put out a statement in which it calls on the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to cut ties with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago Chapter for CAIR’s “reported ties with Hamas terrorist supporters”. The following is a statement by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR): The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights joins our nation in grieving for the victims of the tragic events at Fort Hood, Texas. But the acts of a lone deranged gunman should not give permission for a descent into anti-Muslim hysteria by the Illinois GOP.

CAIR-Chicago has been a member organization of ICIRR since 2005, is widely respected for its work on civil rights, and is unequivocal in its condemnation of anti-Semitism and terrorist violence. The Illinois Republican Party statement preys upon anti-Muslim fears at a time when we are all grieving over the recent tragic events at Fort Hood, Texas. The Party is playing guilt by association, pretending total ignorance of all the work that CAIR-Chicago has done denouncing anti-Semitism, terrorism, and violence.

ICIRR invites the Illinois GOP to join us in denouncing anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant hatred. ICIRR includes in its membership organizations serving the Muslim, Latino, Asian, Jewish, African, and European immigrants to Illinois. We believe that we are all God’s children, and that all immigrants deserve to be full participants, actively engaged in our democracy.

Instead of issuing divisive attacks against organizations like ICIRR that fight for the rights of vulnerable immigrants, the Illinois Republican Party should join us in developing solutions for our badly broken immigration system.

ICIRR calls on the Illinois Republican Party to support just and humane immigration reform rather than leading the descent into the scape-goating, hatred, and fear directed at the Muslim community.