SOUTHEAST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS NETWORK

For Immediate Release April 22nd, 2009

Contact Information:

Tennessee Alabama North Carolina

Elias Feghali Federico G. Barillas Schwank Irene Godínez
Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition ¡HICA! El Pueblo, Inc.
(615) 775-1069 (205) 942-5505 Ext. 104 (919) 835.1525 ext.222
elias@tnimmigrant.org fbarillas@hispanicinterest.org irene@elpueblo.org

--PRESS RELEASE--

Southern Poverty Law Center Releases Report Examining Latino

Discrimination, Abuse in the South

SEIRN endorses survey’s call for immigration reform

Wednesday, April 22nd—Today, the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network (SEIRN) fully endorses the findings of
SPLC’s report, “Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South,” which examines the experience of
Latino immigrants in the South. The report finds that low-income Latinos are routinely the targets of wage theft,
racial profiling and other abuses driven by an anti-immigrant climate that affects all Latinos regardless of
immigration status.

For example, more than half (52%) of survey respondents in North Carolina said there is racism when looking for
a house in the state. In Tennessee, the report found that 73% of Latinos in Nashville would not report crimes in
their neighborhood because they feared the 287(g) program. Further south in New Orleans, 80% of Latinos
interviewed reported that they had not been paid for some work they performed.

According to Stephen Fotopulos with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), the SPLC
report is more indication that the immigration system needs immediate reform. “Until the U.S. Congress creates a
program enabling hardworking immigrant families to come out of the shadows of our communities, many of our
friends and neighbors will continue to be subjected to exploitative, inhumane, and un-American conditions.”

The report is based on a survey of 500 low-income Latinos – including legal residents, undocumented immigrants
and U.S. citizens – at five locations in the South. These locations included Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, rural
southern Georgia and several towns and cities in northern Alabama. It can be accessed on the SPLC website at
http://www.splcenter.org/.

SEIRN is a network of groups dedicated to serving the immigrant population. It is comprised of the following organizations: Tennessee
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, Highlander Research and
Education Center, Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, El Pueblo,
Coalition for New South Carolinians, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, and Coalition of Latino Leaders.

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This is a statement from the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network. It may not reflect the views of its individual member groups.