Pictured: Angelica Salas of CHIRLA
Founded in response to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act to address the exploitation of and discrimination against immigrants, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles has grown into one of the major regional immigrant rights groups in the country.
Today, under the leadership of Executive Director Angelica Salas, CHIRLA works to build the power of immigrant communities through organizing, education, and advocacy, winning crucial struggles.
Among its many accomplishments is the nationally recognized Ya Es Hora Campaign, which helped more than one million people apply for citizenship in 2007. In 2006, CHIRLA helped mobilize one million people to protest for immigration reform in Los Angeles in the largest march in California History. Its worker outreach program has to date collected $6 million in back wages for immigrant workers, and CHIRLA conducts 300 trainings and presentations on worker rights each year.
CHIRLA has built and participates in many local, regional, state, and national coalitions, including the California Immigrant Policy Center and the California Dream Network, which organizes immigrant student organizations at dozens of campuses statewide, and more.
Since 1994, the Rosenberg Foundation has provided nearly $600,000 in support to CHIRLA.