During Latino Heritage Month, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) partnered with California 100 to conduct a survey of CHIRLA Members to capture their perspectives on the future of Latinos, and specifically immigrant Latinos, in California.
The survey results can be found here.
“California’s immigrant community and their perspectives are important to our state’s future,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director of California 100. “This brief survey of CHIRLA members provides interesting insight from this critical demographic and provides a platform to share some of their aspirations.”
“We were proud to partner with California 100 And engage our members to provide their thoughts on what our state can do now to create a future that is inclusive of our immigrant communities.” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director of CHIRLA and Advisory Board Member for California 100. “Immigrant communities face unique challenges to accessing resources and opportunities, even in a state like California. It is important we continue to lead our policy work with immigrant voices at the forefront. The underlying solution to many of these issues is unlocking full citizenship for our communities and investing in immigrant equity and inclusiveness at every turn.”
Participants were asked to imagine “What kind of future do you want to leave for your children, family members or future generations of Californians?” Responses were collected in both English and Spanish. A sample of the responses to this question can be found below:
- “A future where one’s legal [immigration] status does not limit one’s life,
education, or goals in this country. Where [we] will not have fear to persevere,
and discover the possibilities we have to create the change that we want to
create for one another.” – 20 year old respondent
- “I want future generations to have a future that sustains them. I want future
policies to be equitable and fair.”- 20 year old respondent
- “I would love a future were[sic] my kids didn’t have to worry about the cost of
living, didn’t have to worry about their status affecting anything. I would want
them to have a future were[sic] opportunities are equal not based on your
ethnicity or race.”- 25 year old respondent.
- “A future where college and buying a house is attainable and where we trust the
police.”- 40 year old respondent.
- “ I want a future in which my children have the tools to combat climate change and in which we will have a justice labor system where everyone can live comfortably off their wages.” – 25 years old respondent
- “ I want for all our rights as immigrants to be respected, that our voices be heard,
and that we have the protection, opportunity, and benefits. [And] That all abuse,
mistreatment, and discrimination end. I want there to be pathways for everyone
to [receive] legal [immigration status].” – 61 year old respondent
- “The kind of future I would like to leave for my relatives or children would be for
them to learn a good job because the cost of living in California is very high,
apart from climate change is very important among many other things but at the
same time living in California has its good things.”- 22 year old respondent.”
- A state that is ran by clean energy so there aren’t many forest fires for them to
deal with. A California that respects its workers — documented and
undocumented. Most importantly, a California that values the education of its
youth by making its public colleges affordable. Lastly, ensuring that not only those with generational wealth can afford to buy homes.”- 32 year old respondent
About California 100
California 100 is a transformative statewide initiative focused on inspiring a vision and strategy for California’s next century that is innovative, sustainable, and equitable. The initiative is incubated at the University of California and Stanford, and is guided by an expert and intergenerational Commission.
About CHIRLA
CHIRLA was founded in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees. CHIRLA became a place for organizations and people who support human rights to work together for policies that advance justice and full inclusion for all immigrants.