Student group to hold Community Conference on Immigration Saturday, May 8, on campus

The Student Coalition for Immigration Rights will play host to a conference on immigration rights from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 8, in Arntzen Hall Room 100 on the Western Washington University campus. The conference will feature keynote speaker Jorge Alonso Chehade, the University of Washington graduate who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at the U.S.-Canada border. Sen. Maria Cantwell later signed a private bill on his behalf so that he no longer faces deportation.

All conference participants will have the opportunity to attend workshops centered on controversial immigration issues. The three workshops are:

• "Law and Policies," led by Cecily Hazelrigg-Hernandez, an adjunct faculty member at WWU's Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies.
• "The Immigrant in America: Unraveling the myths and facing the truth," led by SCIR members.
• "Detention Center Exposé," led by Community to Community Development in Bellingham.

There is no cost to attend the conference, and lunch is provided. However, space is available for only the first 200 respondents. To reserve a space, anyone who would like to attend should send in his or her name, phone number, e-mail address and whether he or she is a student, faculty memer or community member to sharingthedream09@gmail.com.