CHIRLA history

Setting a nationwide legal precedent, CHIRLA defeats a 1994 Los Angeles County ordinance punishing day labor solicitation on county streets and protects the first amendment rights of day laborers making themselves available to work.

WiseUp! members campaign to repeal the bar on higher education benefits for undocumented students that were part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA)

Alma Salazar, a high-raking employee of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, is chairperson of the board of directors at CHIRLA. The organization’s day-to-day operations are overseen Angelica Salas, the executive director of CHIRLA since 1999.

CHIRLA and the CA Dream Network’s campaign for education access and equity, in partnership with California Senator Gil Cedillo, win California DREAM Act and Governor Jerry Brown signs it into law on October 8, 2011

As a response, CHIRLA began to take initiative to inform and make undocumented immigrants aware of the program and its consequences through factsheets and other resources. As a result of consistent activism from multiple groups including CHIRLA, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in 2013 announced that his agency would limit their participation in Secure Communities, and would not send fingerprints to ICE for low tier cases.

During calendar year 2016, CHIRLA collected $6,375,058 in total revenue.

Since 2017, the LAJF has donated millions to left-wing groups that help illegal immigrants avoid deportation.

Accessed May 22, 2019. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/04/Restore-Public-Trust-Open-Letter-Asylum-04.2019.pdf. ^