This organisation was founded in 1998 by Luis Gutierrez who was 24 at the time. He was the son of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in the largest Mexican community in the Midwest, in Chicago.
It has built the largest family based immigration legal services program in Illinois, led by Latinos. As a part of this program, LP has an initiative focused specifically on immigrants that are also victims of domestic violence. This includes free, full-service legal support and educational presentations.
LP also runs the Teatro Americano Ensemble, a theatre ensemble and arts education program which writes and performs the stories of the Latino community of Chicago, while using theatre as a tool to preserve history and culture, and to promote social justice. By telling the stories of these people who have suffered, they provide faces and emotions for the people of America to grab on to and empathise with, creating more of a chance of an increase in support.
LP's values come in the form of three principles;
1 - "An injustice to any community is an injustice to our community. Social justice comes from collaborating around diverse causes, even those that don't directly affect us."
They do not have a narrow-minded view that it is
all about them as Latinos, they recognise that it is not just them who suffer,
and this will garner the support from those wider communities who also suffer.
2 - "Every decision we make must be based on what is best for our communities, not just on what is best for our organization or any one individual."
Again, this supports the idea that it is not
about them, but about every one. They believe in what they are promoting and
this encourages others to believe in it too. They are gaining more public
support by being self-less in their approach and detaching the organisation
from the benefits.
3 - "We do everything the best we can, because helping our communities achieve excellence means using and attentively refining our best practices."
Here we can see that they are considering their
approach and methods in order to get the result that they want, rather than
just forcing their opinion on others. Consideration will attract more
supporters in the long run, furthering their cause.
This organisation defines itself as "an American non-partisan grassroots activist organization with more than a quarter of a million members - citizens of all races, creeds, and colors." By placing emphasis on the number of supporters, it suggests that this is what they believe will gain them even more support.
It was founded in 1983 and is about stopping the "millions of illegal aliens who across our border from Mexico every year." If we compare this language with the overall sentiment of the Latino Progresando organisation, we can see that AIC focuses on dehumanising the people who come across in the belief that they will have a better life. By dehumanising them, they will encourage people to view them as inferior and not worthy of empathising with.
AIC focus on the laws and legislation behind immigration, and also lists congressional endorsements in order to get people to support their cause.
“AIC has earned a reputation among members of Congress as one of the
most active and responsive advocacy groups in the field of immigration reform.
AIC is as feared by the pro-illegal immigration lobby as it is valued as a
resource by those who seek to support and defend our nation’s borders.” — Rep.
Charlie Norwood
The website
provides a detailed, if slightly dramatised, version of the history of
immigration to America and emphasises the opinions of the founding fathers, men
who hold a great deal of influence over the citizens of the US.
AIC focuses on
persuasion by facts, legislation and dehumanising language to gain support and
tackle the issue of illegal immigration, whereas LP emphasises the stories
behind the people, and the idea of family. They persuade people to join their
cause by educating them, instead twisting the history of America to suit their cause,
as the AIC does.
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