ABOUT US

Immigrant Solidarity DuPage was formed in Glendale Heights in 2007 by members of the Latino community, members and clergy from local houses of worship, labor movement activists, and diverse social justice advocates. The formation of Immigrant Solidarity DuPage reflects the changing demographic and social dynamic of DuPage County, Illinois, a county located west of Chicago.

 

Since the 1990s, DuPage, often perceived as an affluent and homogenous county, has seen substantial growth of the Latino community. The community settled in the county during economic growth, which brought many new jobs in the service sector, material handling, and construction. Such growth coincided with the collapse of the Mexican economy in the 1990s, creating a push-pull dynamic in which thousands of people were pushed out of Latin America and pulled into DuPage County.

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The growth of the Latino community in DuPage is often met with a weak suburban institutional structure. Suburban Latinos usually lack institutional, governmental, political, or economic support structures and representation. As such, the DuPage Latino community has frequently been the target of police racial profiling, labor abuse, housing discrimination, and scapegoating by local elected officials for short-term political gain.

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Immigrant Solidarity DuPage was founded to combat these abuses and empower the Latino community. It initiated an energetic outreach campaign of educational forums, workshops, press conferences, rallies, cultural events, and other mobilizations. The group has also taken many calls from all over Chicagoland, aiding and supporting Latino workers and their families in many personal and collective struggles.