Nonprofit Groups to Celebrate State Lawmakers for Assisting Elderly and Disabled Refugees

January 7, 2005

On Friday, January 7, State Representative Rosemary Mulligan (R-Des Plaines) will be honored for her role in sponsoring and assisting with the passage of Public Act 93-741. The event is hosted by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The co-sponsors of the event include thirty nonprofit organizations that work with refugees and asylees. The event will consist of a presentation ceremony followed by lunch.

This legislation, Public Act 93-741 averted a crisis faced by elderly and disabled Illinois residents who had fled persecution in their native lands and some of the most brutal regimes in the world. Elderly and disabled refugees and asylees can now obtain monthly grants through Illinois’ Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled (AABD) program if their federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) grants are suspended. SSI expires for these immigrants after seven years if they do not become U.S. citizens, but bureaucratic red tape often is the only obstacle to their citizenship applications.

The event will also honor the many other state senators and representatives who helped enact the legislation. The event will take place at the Raz Dashen, an Ethiopian restaurant located at 5846 North Broadway in Chicago and it will last from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

State Representative Rosemary Mulligan represents the 65th District which includes all or portions of Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Niles, Norridge and Rosemont.

For more information, please contact Representative Mulligan at (847) 297-6533.