"House of Labor" Helps Immigrants Apply for Citizenship
Sunday, June 29, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The “House of Labor”
threw its doors open to immigrants last
Saturday. As the Brazil-Chile World Cup match
played on a large-screen TV, the local labor
movement collaborated with CASA de Maryland and
United We Dream to help green-card holders
complete the lengthy and complex application
for U.S. citizenship at the AFL-CIO's
headquarters on 16th Street. Assistance was
also provided for youth renewing or applying
for the first time for Differed Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Emphasizing that the
labor movement “has a stake in aiding our
fellow workers complete the steps towards
citizenship,” Presidents Jos Williams
(Metropolitan Washington Council) and Dan
Duncan (NOVA Labor Council) welcomed the large
number of volunteers at the start of the day.
“Many of us, or our parents and grandparents,
followed this path,” said Williams. The union
volunteers had attended a training session to
prepare them to give assistance, and volunteer lawyers were on
hand to review completed applications and
answer questions, while AFL-CIO staff handled
logistics to ensure that the applicants and
volunteers enjoyed a smooth, well-run
operation. Applicants commented that they were
impressed with how well the clinic was run,
were appreciative of labor’s efforts, and
were gratified by the respect shown them by the
volunteers. By the end of the day, over a
hundred applicants had been served.
“Thirty-seven DACA renewals and 12 first time
DACA applicants were able to complete their
forms,” said David Chung of United We Dream.
“These are very good numbers.” According to
Kelly Rodriguez, AFL-CIO Assistant to Executive
Vice-President Tefere Gebre, there were 58
citizenship applicants processed by the end of
Saturday’s clinic, and, she wrote in a
post-event email to the volunteers, “There
will be future workshops.”
- report/photos by Bruce Wolf, OPEIU Local 2 Social Justice Committee; top: citizen application review; bottom: DACA final review in the John L. Lewis Room