From the New Fullerton blog
Radio Bilingüe and KPFK, Pacifica Radio once again join forces to broadcast and webcast a community forum on immigration reform from the 39th congressional district in Orange County, a conservative stronghold where immigration has been a highly contentious issue. The two-hour forum is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, April 24th from 11 AM PST to 1:00 PM PST in Buena Park in the conference hall of UFCW-Local 324, located at 8530 Stanton Avenue, in the heart of congressional district 39.
Representing Southern California’s 39th District, congressman Ed Royce has built a reputation in Congress as an anti-reform advocate and a leading sponsor of border security measures. He has opposed legalization proposals for the millions of undocumented immigrants favoring instead policies of border enforcement and deportations in the U.S. interior. He proposed legislation to take to the national level Arizona’s local police powers over immigration, and opposed the DREAM Act, a proposal to provide relief for young undocumented immigrants.
While in recent weeks we are witnessing a groundswell of pro-reform sentiment in Congress, Rep. Royce has yet to publicly state his position on the current legalization proposals. For Latinos and Asians, who make up about 50% of the district’s population, immigration reform is an issue of the highest interest. In this forum, constituents and members of the public will be able to comment and raise questions to local representatives of Rep. Royce.
Hosting the town hall meeting will be seasoned producers Ruben Tapia, of Enfoque Latino, and Línea Abierta’s Samuel Orozco.
The online audio stream can be heard live in English on www.kpfk.org . Radio Bilingüe’s Línea Abierta will air over its satellite network a Spanish-language version of the forum the next day, Thursday 25th, at 12:00 PM PT. This program will be heard online on www.radiobilingue.org.
Enfoque Latino , is an established Spanish-language weekly radio program. For more than 26 years, this public-affairs program has been serving Latino audiences in the Greater Los Angeles area, including the Inland Empire, Santa Barbara, and southern California, through KPFK-FM, a listener-sponsored station of the Pacifica Radio Network.
Línea Abierta , the first and only Spanish-language news show broadcast nationally over the public radio satellite system, is a service of Radio Bilingüe a national network based in California that owns eleven stations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado and distributes programming to more than 100 affiliate stations nationwide. Radio Bilingüe has a decades-long tradition of providing in-depth coverage to special events involving Latino civic participation.
Key community partners in this town hall meeting include Mi Familia Vota, a non-profit organization that promotes Latino civic participation, SEIU’s United Service Workers West, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324.
Funding for national distribution has been provided in part by The Walter and Evelyn Haas Jr. Fund, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation.
The local radio service is possible thanks to the contribution of listener supporters.
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