LARRY BIRNS, coha@coha.org, http://coha.org

Birns is director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs based in Washington. He said today: "Immigration is a bilateral issue very much involving Mexico, and must be addressed as such, with comprehensive strategies that treat not just the symptoms (illegal workers in the U.S.) but the illness as well (Latin America's lack of inclusive economic growth)."

FERNANDO RAMIREZ, fernlos@yahoo.com

A migrant rights organizer based in Los Angeles, Ramirez is organizing an immigration forum at East Los Angeles College on Thursday evening.

LILLIAN GALEDO, lgaledo@filipinos4action.org, http://www.filipinos4action.org

Executive director of Filipinos for Affirmative Action, Galedo said today: "Many went to the streets upset by the repressive enforcement provisions of the Sensenbrenner bill, but the closer one looks at the bill coming out of the Senate committee, the more it looks like a massive temporary worker program rather than a real legalization program."

DAVID BACON, dbacon@igc.org, http://dbacon.igc.org/Imgrants/imgrants.htm

Bacon is a labor reporter and has been focusing on immigration issues.

ANDREA BLACK, ablack@detentionwatchnetwork.org, http://detentionwatchnetwork.org

Black is network coordinator for the Detention Watch Network, a coalition of groups working to reform the immigration detention system. She said today: "There are currently 22,000 men, women and children detained on any given day in the U.S. (over 230,000 annually) in a patchwork of over 200 detention facilities across the country." The network's web page features video of people who are being detained.

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