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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FUNDS PARTNERSHIPS

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Department of Justice today announced the award of $700, 000 in grants to eleven nonprofit groups serving 15 states to conduct public education programs for workers and employers about immigration-related job discrimination.

Recipients of the grants, ranging from $50,000 to $90,000, will assist discrimination victims; conduct seminars for workers, employers and immigration service providers; distribute educational materials in various languages and publicize information in local communities and media.

"Grants to faith- and community-based organizations enable us to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities under the immigration laws," said John Trasviña, Special Counsel for the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). "Our grantees are known and respected in their communities and will work with OSC to provide assistance to employers to prevent discrimination and to workers to protect them against discrimination."

OSC is the only office in the Federal government whose sole mission is to educate both workers and employers about the antidiscrimination provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act and enforce legal protections against citizenship and national origin discrimination and document abuse in hiring and firing.

Immigration-related job discrimination may occur when employers ask some, but not all, employees for verification of work eligibility or treat workers differently because of appearance, language or accent.

OSC grant recipients are:

• Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC), based in Los Angeles, and in partnership with Asian Law Caucus (ALC) of San Francisco, will educate workers and employers in two of the nation's largest Asian American communities;

• Catholic Charities of Dallas will serve workers and employers in northern Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma;

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) will provide services to employers and immigrant communities in Southern California;

• Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, based in Atlanta, will provide education services to employers and Hispanic workers throughout the state;

• Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota will educate employers and workers in the Bosnian, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, Sudanese, Liberian, Hmong, Cuban and Haitian communities within a 100-mile radius of Minneapolis;

• National Immigration Law Center (NILC), based in Los Angeles, will carry out a national program to educate immigration service providers and pro-bono attorneys through a series of five regional seminars in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, Southeast and West;

• Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, based in Lincoln, will work through the Iowa-Nebraska Immigrant Rights Network and will educate Hispanic, Asian, Eastern European and African workers, as well as immigration service providers in both states;

• New York Association for New Americans (NYANA), will provide multilingual services to immigrants and refugees and asylees from French-and Spanish-speaking countries as well as from Russia, Haiti, China, Vietnam and Korea in New York City and surrounding boroughs and will also train employers;

• Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights will educate Hispanic workers and employers and Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area;.

• United Farm Workers of America (UFW), will educate farm workers and Hispanic business owners throughout California's San Joaquin Valley;

• Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee Justice, based in Seattle, will provide educational services to Hispanic, Asian and East African workers in central and western Washington.

For more information about protections against job discrimination under the immigration laws, call toll-free 1-800-255-7688, or 202-616-5594 or write to:

• Office of Special Counsel for Immigration

• Related Unfair Employment Practices

• Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice

• P.O. Box 27728

• Washington, D.C. 20038-7728

• Email: osc.crt@usdoj.gov

• www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc

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