Hey PLANistas, what are you thankful for?

For the remainder of November, PLAN staff will use this blog space to talk about what we're thankful for. The end of the year is a time to reflect on past victories, defeats and growth, and we want to share our thoughts with the people we are most thankful for, our supporters!

Mario Delarosa, our immigration rights activst, says he's thankful for:

“I am thankful we, progressives, were able to defeat all anti-immigrant bills this year!”

During the 2011 legislative session, Progressive helped defeat two anti-immigrant bills: AB252, the "e-verify" bill and AB430 that would require law enforcement to ask for the immigration status of anyone detained or arressted.

Mario will be on a panel at UNLV this Saturday, November 19th, to talk about the intersectionality of immigration and human rights. Below is information on the forum, we hope you can attend!

Saving Lives in the Arizona Desert

A First Step in Immigration Reform

2,287 Bodies Recovered since 2000.

While Congress ponders immigration reform, volunteers from communities and campuses around the country join Arizona citizens who trek into the desert to rescue lost border crossers and demand accountability from the U.S. Border Patrol.

No More Deaths (NMD) is a volunteer organization in Arizona that assists undocumented immigrants crossing the US border with basic needs. Everyone has their position on immigration, and NMD believes everyone is allowed basic human rights.

Join No More Deaths, PLAN, Culinary Union 226, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Las Vegas and UNLV's MEChA to discuss the intersection of human rights and immigration.

Introduction to borderlands history by Dr. Maria Casas, UNLV History Department

Analysis of immigration proposals in Nevada by Mario DelaRosa of PLAN

Retired Presbyterian minister and co-founder of NMD, Gene Lefebvre

One of the "nuts and bolts" people who are key to running NMD, Jim Marx

There will be two presentations Saturday, November 19th, 2011

1 PM UNLV Classroom Building Complex, Room A112

4:30 PM Culinary Union Building, Dispatch Room, 1st Floor. 630 South Commerce St. (free parking in lot between New York and Wyoming)

Reverend Lefebvre and Jim Marx also will be speaking at the Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday, November 20th at 10:30 AM.  3616 E. Lake Mead Blvd (one block east of Pecos).
These events are free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Culinary Union 226, the UNLV MEChA student group, and the Social Justice Council of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Las Vegas, For more information call 878-0443.

About No More Deaths:

No More Deaths (NMD) volunteers conduct foot patrols on paths used by border crossers, offering water, food, and first aid to those in distress. NMD also has a first aid station in the desert south of Tucson. The group believes that, whatever your views on immigration issues, migrants have basic human rights and should not be mistreated by U.S. employees patrolling the border. Volunteers at NMD’s field station on the Mexican side of the Nogales border, interview deportees as they cross back into Mexico. (See their report at www.cultureofcruelty.org). Their website is www.nomoredeaths.org.