CAUSA is Oregon’s statewide, grassroots immigrant rights coalition. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies.
CAUSA organizes, educates, and mobilizes to build power in the immigrant community. Through networking with immigrant, religious, labor, youth, and ally organizations, we work to create a society that recognizes the contributions of immigrants and upholds the values of equality and respect.
We believe that our immigration system is broken and that a just, workable system is possible. We advocate for Comprehensive Immigration Reform that fulfills our principles:
- Reunites families and reduces backlogs
- Provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people currently in the country
- Protects workers
- Protects our civil rights and civil liberties
We reject "enforcement only" and "enforcement first" proposals, as well as proposals without a clear path to citizenship. These proposals will do nothing to fix our broken system, but will only cause more deaths on the border, tear more families apart, and force more immigrants to live in the shadows.
Vision
CAUSA has broadened its vision to include long-term programs that:
(1) build immigrant leadership, (2) increase immigrant civic participation and awareness of legal and civil rights, (3) contribute to expanding collaboration and coordination among organizations serving immigrants and with allies of immigrant communities, (4) counter scapegoating by promoting public awareness of immigrants' contributions to society, (5) document discrimination and abuses against immigrants in Oregon, and (6) respond to legislative attacks on immigrants' rights and benefits.
