"Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 4/29/'06 7:30PM
"Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 4/29/'06 7:30PM
4/29/'06 - The following article(s) were found in the media. Several stories are provided ... with links to the original sources ... for your convenience:
- Immigration protesters expected in Atlanta (Washington Times) (Daily India) (Political Gateway) (UPI)
- Update 1: Homeowners Top Employers of Day Laborers (Forbes)
- Northeast Georgia Newsmakers: Immigration Reform (WNEG)
- Hispanic Boycott Planned Monday (WXIA)
- Immigrant workers fear raids, stay home (CNN)
- Immigrants Panicked by Rumors of Raid (New York Times)
- Immigration Issue Hits Campus (El Vaquero)
- Authorities preparing for large rally at state Capitol (AJC) & (WTVM)
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http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20060429-063831-1063r.htm
http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/10247
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/21643.php/Immigration-protesters-expected-in-Atlanta
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060429-063831-1063r
Immigration protesters expected in Atlanta
Apr. 29, 2006 at 6:47PM
Police are preparing for up to 100,000 protesters in Atlanta Monday as part of a nationwide response to proposed government crackdowns on illegal immigrants.
The debate over illegal immigration is most prominent at the federal level, as Congress considers several approaches to tackling the issue, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The Georgia Legislature has already taken on illegal immigration, passing a law earlier this year aimed at cracking down on undocumented workers and those who hire them.
Capitol Police in Atlanta were initially told as many as 65,000 people might show up at the Capitol Monday for the noon rally. They later revised the figure to 100,000.
A rally organizer said attendance could be as low as 2,000. Latino radio stations are not promoting Monday's event as a rally, said Gina Leyva, program director at Viva 105.7, one of the stations that talked up the April march.
Latino leaders are emphasizing a work stoppage for people who will not risk losing their jobs, and encouraging people not to spend money on May 1.
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http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/04/29/ap2708386.html
Update 1: Homeowners Top Employers of Day Laborers
Chris James needed help moving a piano and three dozen boxes of records from his music studio, but instead of corralling some buddies he rented a truck and hired day laborers outside the local Home Depot.
The two Guatemalan men finished the job in an hour and a half, hauling a piano and wedging a sofa into his condo, then stacking the boxes in a back room, for less than $40.
It was first time James hired day laborers but it won't be his last.
"Absolutely satisfied," said James, 31.
The No. 1 employers of day laborers, many of whom are illegal immigrants, are homeowners - not construction contractors, not professional landscapers.
"Day labor is not a niche market," said Abel Valenzuela, a UCLA professor and one of three authors of the first national day labor study, which was released in January. "It's now entering different aspects of the national mainstream economy."
Forty-nine percent of day labor employers are homeowners, according to 2,660 laborers interviewed for the study. Contractors were second, at 43 percent. The study also found that three quarters of day laborers were illegal immigrants and most were from Latin America.
Homeowners like the men who call themselves "jornaleros" because they make up a flexible labor pool with no red tape and no overhead. And they'll do backbreaking jobs much cheaper than regular contractors.
Day laborers like homeowners, too. Shady contractors routinely stiff them. Not homeowners - the workers know where they live.
"And in houses, they give us food, water and soda," said Herminio Velazquez, 48, one of the men who worked at James's condo.
While some homeowners are uncomfortable hiring people who likely have no work documents, they often don't believe they are doing wrong.
That position is rejected by anti-illegal immigration activists.
"They know they are hiring illegal aliens and breaking the law," said Joseph Turner, who is trying to force San Bernardino to outlaw taxpayer-funded day labor centers. "They are contributing to the illegal immigration problem."
Agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement occasionally arrest day laborers, but they almost never go after homeowner employers. Their priorities are national security work sites such as seaports and the networks that smuggle illegal immigrants into the country.
"We need to stop unlawful employment," said agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice. "But working day laborers sites is not an efficient way to use finite resources."
The federal debate on immigration reform has been on either criminalizing illegal immigrants - a proposal that has stirred widespread protest demonstrations - or giving them temporary work visas that might eventually lead to citizenship. Though Senate leaders promise progress, legislation may not pass in this election year.
David Peters, a 37-year-old salesman, is bothered by illegal immigration and believes he's part of the problem, but he says it isn't always possible to hire people with work papers.
He hired day laborers over several months while remodeling his Hermosa Beach house. One man tiled a floor and installed a granite countertop for $1,000, jobs that Peters estimated would cost $5,000 if he used the Yellow Pages.
"I know if they didn't have a job, they wouldn't be here," said Peters. "But we all shop at Target and Wal-Mart, and all their stuff is made overseas with cheap labor."
Maxine Colby started hiring day laborers after her husband died six years ago because she needed somebody to clear brush, pull weeds, trim trees and wash windows. She pays them $11 an hour and serves them a hot lunch.
"They have been fantastic," said the 78-year-old Malibu resident. "I speak a little Spanish, and they speak a little English, and we have a good time."
She doesn't ask about immigration status or worry about breaking the law.
"This is a system that works for most people," she said. "If lawmakers can't figure out how to fix it, I certainly can't."
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http://www.wneg32.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNEG/MGArticle/NEG_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835659522&path=
New legislation is changing the way immigrants are treated in Georgia. Debate on immigration reform continues in the US congress as well.
The debate has spawned protests and boycotts right here in Georgia, and an uncertainty about the future of the nation's workforce. In this month's edition of Northeast Georgia Newsmakers, Scott Myrick talks with Bryan Tolar of the Georgia Agribusiness Council about how Georgia's immigration reforms could affect Georgia's farms.
With those immigrant workers, moving through Georgia and the need for their presence here in Georgia at those critical times, if they have a feeling that they're not welcome in Georgia, then they may not come. If they don't come, then we've got a real problem," Tolar says.
For more on the issue of immigration reform, join us this Sunday morning 11:00 for Northeast Georgia Newsmakers on NewsChannel 32.
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http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/georgia/news-article_wxia.aspx?storyid=79208
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=79208
On Monday, the restaurant will be closed along with thousands across the state of Georgia and the U.S. Owners say they want to send a message to lawmakers.
Hispanic leaders who oppose crackdowns on illegal immigration say legislators are ignoring the economic windfall brought in by Mexican immigrants. They cited studies by the National Research Council.
"There is a net gain for each illegal immigrant in this country who is working of $1,800," said Adelina Nichols. She is one of the boycott's local organizers.
At a news conference on Friday, former Mexican consul general Teodoro Maus said much of the reason Atlanta's Latino population has swelled is because Mexican laborers were welcomed in 1994, when Atlanta was scrambling to build Olympic venues.
"It's no secret there was no enforcement from 1994 to 1996 because our workers were needed to build the stadiums and the venues," Maus said.
The leaders are urging Hispanic residents to join a national boycott, to skip work Monday and to spend no money. The Adobe's owner, Maritza Alfaro, says she's on board.
"This is our day to show we are in unit," Alfaro said.
Maritza Alfaro says closing will be a financial hardship. But she says its a price she's willing to pay to help Latinos find their voice, and use it.
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http://www.11alive.com/news/usnews_article.aspx?storyid=79227
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/29/immigration.fears.ap/index.html
Immigrant workers fear raids, stay home
'This is costing millions of dollars a day'
RELATED
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Thousands of illegal immigrants stayed home this week amid rumors of immigration roundups that federal officials say were unfounded, leaving some industries scrambling for workers.
Len Mills, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of South Florida, estimated at least 50 percent of workers on construction jobs in the region had not shown up for work.
"This is costing millions of dollars a day, and I don't know who is going to pay for it," he said.
Rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast Friday, prompting many immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church. Their absences added to immigrants' fears, as some thought their friends and co-workers had been arrested.
Mills said he believed even some legal workers were afraid.
"Everybody's edgy," said Chris Ruske, owner of a southern New Jersey nursery. "There's an awful lot of rhetoric, and you wonder what's true. You wonder if the immigration Gestapo are coming to get you."
Construction and agriculture were among the industries most affected.
Katie A. Edwards, executive director of Florida's Dade County Farm Bureau, said nearly a third of farmworkers did not come to the fields this week.
Mari Ramos, a Peruvian nanny whose tourist visa ran out in 2003, listened when friends warned her not to take public transportation or risk arrest.
"That's when I became nervous. I stopped going to my night job," the 36-year-old Miami woman said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency has received hundreds of calls about immigration raids in recent days. Such rumors are typical after a raid like the one last week in which more than 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide, he said.
"However, we don't conduct random sweeps," he said. "All our arrests are the result of investigations, evidence and intelligence."
ICE officials acknowledged they have stepped up arrests under their "Operation Phoenix," an existing program to find and deport fugitive illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
Many wondered whether the rumors would deter people from national immigration protests planned for Monday.
The National Immigration Law Center called on organizations nationwide to sign a petition urging ICE to assure the public it won't make any immigration arrests during the protests.
The agency said its policy is not to discuss potential operations. "ICE will continue to operate as it does every day of the year," Boyd said.
'The ugliest of rumors'
The rumors affected a wide variety of businesses. In New Jersey and New York, day-laborer gathering sites drew only a trickle of workers.
"It is the ugliest of rumors because it has intimidated people who are already afraid. They are living in the shadows of society, wondering who is going to knock on the door," said the Rev. Allan Ramirez, pastor of the Brookville Dutch Reform Church in Long Island, New York.
Elias Bermudez, an activist and talk show host for a Spanish-language radio station in Phoenix, said many believe they are being punished for participating in recent protests in favor of legalizing the status of many illegal immigrants.
In the rural town of Homestead, Florida, more than a dozen parents lined up early to take their kids out of Redondo Elementary School on Wednesday for fear of a raid, said activist Jonathan Fried, who heads the nonprofit "We Count!"
"It's caused tremendous fear in our community, like I've never seen before," Fried said.
On Friday, ICE announced the arrests of 106 illegal immigrant fugitives and 19 immigration status violators throughout the Midwest over the last 10 days. Of those, 46 had criminal records, according to the department. Earlier this week, ICE announced the arrest of 183 fugitives in Florida alone.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association said Friday it believes some of the concerns may have been fueled by confusion over a widespread fugitive roundup by the U.S. Marshals Service.
That roundup led to more than 9,000 arrests of people wanted for a number of crimes,
and ICE assisted in the effort, but it said most of those detained were U.S. citizens.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/29/nyregion/29fear.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 Immigrants Panicked by Rumors of Raids
False rumors of random federal immigration raids have sent panic through immigrant communities around the country this week, emptying classrooms, work sites and shopping areas and sending thousands of people into hiding.
Towns in New Jersey and on Long Island have been among those most affected by the snowballing fear, say immigrant advocates and public officials, who described terrified mothers pulling their children from a Head Start program in Freehold, N.J., and deserted streets in usually bustling areas of West Hempstead, N.Y.
But the pattern of rumor and panic has played out nationwide. It was apparently set off by last week's announcement by Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, that the arrest of more than 1,180 employees of IFCO Systems of North America in 26 states was the start of a new crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants.
Spanish-language television and radio accounts of rumored raids may have lent credence to people's fears, as did a bulletin the American Immigration Lawyers Association sent to its members, citing the reports of raids as consistent with the federal agency's new direction.
Whatever their source or intent, the rumors have given an unintended jump-start to a nationwide boycott many groups have planned for Monday — a day on which immigrants are being urged to stay away from work and to refrain from shopping to protest legislation that would make it a felony to stay in the United States without proper papers. At the same time, some immigrant advocates fear that the scare will keep people away from public demonstrations called as an alternative to the boycott. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices have been deluged with inquiries about reports of random raids, from pizza parlors to construction sites, said Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman. Many denials, she said, have failed to stem the rumors.
"We just don't go out and randomly stop and arrest people," she said.
An agency statement added: "ICE's enforcement actions are carefully planned operations that result from investigative leads and intelligence, with priority given to violations involving national security and criminal activity."
In Madison, Wis., where fears spiked on Monday, one-third to one-half of Latino pupils stayed home, school officials estimated, and groundless accounts that federal authorities had demanded workers' identification at local businesses, including Wal-Marts, kept many adults at home. In South Florida, construction sites emptied by midweek, and a high-risk pregnancy clinic found its immigrant patients canceling appointments in droves.
"It's happening all over the country," said Partha Banerjee, director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, whose advocates were overwhelmed with vivid and detailed reports of immigration round-ups that, after hours of inquiry, proved to be baseless.
Luis Montes, chief of staff for Philip Ramos, a Democratic state assemblyman who represents Central Islip, on Long Island, said that on Tuesday afternoon he dashed from one reported site of a federal raid to the next, from the ADP packaging factory in Edgewood to a 7-Eleven, a drugstore, construction sites and several restaurants in Brentwood where Latino immigrants typically gather. All of the reports proved unfounded.
"When rumors start spreading, people who are undocumented, they just flee the site; they go and hide," Mr. Montes said. "Then because others don't see anyone there, they think the place was raided."
At some point, advocates began to suspect a campaign to frighten demonstrators away from the protest rallies planned for Monday. They even worried that vigilantes could be impersonating federal immigration agents. But after days of tracking down rumors, Mr. Banerjee, Rich Cunningham of the advocacy group New Labor, and Chung Wha-Hong, director of the New York Immigration Coalition, found little more of substance than a single traffic stop by the police and van inspections by state transportation officials.
Freehold was a special case. Hundreds of state, county and local law enforcement agents gathered there for an evacuation drill at the Monmouth County Jail early Wednesday morning, sending already skittish immigrants into a paroxysm of fear. Helicopters hovered overhead, the highway was blockaded, and at the bus stop, a man wearing a black shirt that said "Security" checked I.D.'s and turned away people who had only foreign documents, according to Rita Dentino, a volunteer on the steering committee of Casa Freehold, an advocacy center.
Ms. Dentino learned only later that the whole operation was an elaborate drill for an evacuation of prisoners in case of a jail fire, and had been announced in advance in a brief news item in the local newspaper. By then, she said, parents had rushed to the Head Start group in a Baptist church, not only to scoop up their children and flee, but also to erase their names from the cubbies and walls out of fear that immigration agents would track them home.
"You have this town of roughly 13,000 people that became a ghost town within a matter of a couple of hours," Ms. Dentino said. "The whole town was terrorized. Nobody was on the street. It was a day without immigrants in Freehold, without it being planned as such."
Crystal Williams, deputy director of programs for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said its bulletin about reported raids was never meant as confirmation.
"We did not intend to feed the rumor mill," she said. "Our intent was to find out what was really going on." Because of Mr. Chertoff's announcement, she said: "Everyone is highly sensitized and looking out for this kind of thing now. Now the agency is telling us that what he meant was criminal prosecutions and not raids."
Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami, is still looking into rumors. "The community is paralyzed," she said. "I haven't seen this kind of fear in the immigrant community ever. Immigrants are afraid of going to work, of taking their kids to school, of leaving the home. People are not going to important medical appointments. There are pregnant women canceling their prenatal care appointments because they feel immigration will be waiting for them there."Some immigrant advocates see an eerie reversal of the groundswell that emboldened tens of thousands to take to the streets in protest last month, and a frightening glimpse of the future if Congress enacts pending measures that would require the local police to enforce federal immigration law and add criminal penalties to what are now civil violations.
"That is my fear," Mr. Banerjee said. "That if these laws pass in Congress, that is going to be tomorrow's America."
Supporters of the measures say that illegal immigrants should feel fearful. "People should feel uncomfortable about breaking the law," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, which advocates sharp restrictions on immigration. "If we have a policy that is demonstrated to be consistent, many people will get the message and decide that remaining here in the United States illegally isn't worth the price that they have to pay."
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http://www.elvaq.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/28/44526d67f180f
News
Immigration Issue Hits Campus
By CARLOS VILLAREAL
El Vaquero Staff Writer
April 28, 2006
Photo by Carlos Villarreal
Ethnic Studies Professor Fabiola Torres believes that immigration, not abortion, will be the issue that splits the Republican vote.With the debates heated and opinions given out like kittens, politicians on both sides of the immigration issue are trying to reach a compromise on a bipartisan immigration bill while striving to not alienate their constituencies, many of which could be recent immigrants or rabidly anti-immigration activists.
"Politicians are now seeing Latinos as voters," said Fabiola Torres, an Ethnic Studies professor at GCC and CSUN. "These politicians have to appease their constituencies, which are becoming largely Latino in the U.S."
Torres and other pro-immigration activists have all rallied behind the Latino community in the face of the proposed anti-immigration legislation.
The debate has created social and political divides; at the heart of the matter are people whose only real crime was being born on foreign soil.
As waves of protests make front-page news, the American public cannot help but face the reality of the immigration issue.
On May 1 pro-immigrant activists in the U.S. and Mexico will be hosting a nation-wide boycott, asking all of Hispanic ethnicity to boycott American goods and businesses in aims to put pressure on U.S. law makers.
Organizers of "The Great American Boycott" are urging immigrants in the U.S. to skip work and avoid purchasing any items in order to demonstrate the economic power immigrants contribute to the U.S. South of the border, activists are urging Mexicans to boycott American owned businesses such as Wal-Mart, which is Mexico's largest retailer.
Some Mexican Government officials are also lending support to the protest, "We want to show the power we have as Mexicans," said Carlos Chavez y Pacho, vice president of the chamber of commerce in Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas.
The debate over if this political move will help or discredit the immigrant movement is causing a divide in the Hispanic community. Some organizers of the mass-march protests are now having second thoughts on a nation-wide boycott.
Some strong risks may apply to those who take part in the boycott; individuals who miss work that day could possibly lose their jobs. Other activists are saying the boycott could send the wrong message, that immigrants are anti-American.
Some backlash has already been seen on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight as Dobbs read a viewer's letter that stated, "A day without Mexicans is a fabulous idea, I wonder what we can do get them to extend it to a year."
L.A. Union leaders, community leaders and Cardinal Roger Mahony are asking immigrants to attend peaceful protests after work and school, according to National Pubic Radio's Mandalit del Barco. No mater the approach, immigration activists are still staying focused on their main objective, helping the over 12 million undocumented people in the U.S. obtain their legal status.
April 10 added to a second week of nationwide protests among U.S. cities. Los Angeles, New York, Washington and Dallas once again held pro-immigration demonstrations, drawing hundreds of thousands in support.
Counter demonstrations were also held; anti-immigration activists protested in front of the Mexican consulate in Phoenix, Ariz., where they burned the Mexican flag.
"These anti-immigration groups can take their message too far, becoming militant, alienating politicians or any form of support," said Torres. "Who wants to be affiliated with these groups when they are seen as racist or perhaps even terrorists by the public?"
Some see the proposed anti-immigration legislation recently surfacing as a sign of prejudice.
"Many have the common perception that all illegal immigrants are Mexican," said Torres. "As where many are saying immigrants are a threat to the U.S, all the terrorists in the 9/11 attack had visas and were in the country legally and now day-laborers are being labeled terrorists."
Chris Kocharians, 18, a GCC biology major, felt that anti-immigration legislation would target people unfairly. "I know a lot of people who would be affected by this kind of legislation. It almost seems racist."
Juan Guillen, 20, a sociology major, felt that law makers could protect the U.S and Mexican border and not have to punish undocumented immigrants, "I feel the idea behind the proposed law is wrong; it will affect 12 million people who are so-called living here illegally. The borders could be protected and not have to target these people."
While others feel that stricter legislation is needed, Arsineh Avakian, 20, a political-science major said, "I am completely for the laws, plus stricter regulations and restrictions on illegal aliens."
If a compromise is met that allows immigrants to attain legal status, some anti-immigration activist rather have the welcoming gates locked, Avakian adds, "I believe the laws should not be encouraging illegals [immigrants] by rewarding them with receiving amnesty."
On April 5, the Senate leaders of both parties came to an agreement on a bill that will allow illegal immigrants who've been in the U.S. for five years to apply for citizenship, only to have the bill come to a stand-still on April 6.
The bill was drafted by Republican Senators Mel Martinez of Florida and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., called it an "enormous improvement" over Wisconsin's Republican Congressman James F. Sensenbrenner's bill.
The Sensenbrenner bill would have called for all undocumented people in the country to be deported and not given the chance for citizenship. The bill met large-scale protests nationwide.
The debate over the Sensenbrenner bill had drawn a line between Conservative and Liberal Republicans, such as Specter and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who apposed the bill.
"I never thought the issue that would split the Republican vote would be immigration, rather than abortion," said Torres.
If new immigration legislation is passed, that would include a guest worker program and amnesty, "it would recognize the extraordinary contributions and the incredible exploitation of immigrants over the decades," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy said the bill of that sort would teach a lesson, "You're welcome here, if you work hard, you're devoted to your family, you play the rules and pay your taxes."
Under a recent tax law, undocumented people can still pay taxes. They may file for a federal tax ID number and pay federal taxes; many do by the tune of $16-billion in 2002 according to The Center for Immigration Studies.
Torres said this sends a mix message to the public, "that immigrants are not welcome but their hard earned money is." The earth could have stood still on March 25 as 500,000 bodies dotted downtown Los Angeles as part of the nation-wide protest against the anti-immigration bill, HR4437 (Sensenbrenner).
What many are calling an historic event; one of the nation's largest immigration protests ever. The immigrant-led march through 26 blocks of downtown L.A. showcased to the world what the L.A. Weekly dubbed, "The Sleeping Giant." Half a million men, women, and children al
l marched peacefully arm in arm together from Adams Blvd. along Spring Street and Broadway to City Hall wearing white t-shirts, waving American flags and chanting, "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!).
The high point of the gathering came when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed the mass crowd from a podium outside City Hall, "We came together to say that we are workers, not criminals, that we work hard, we pay our taxes, we live by the rules and want this great America to take us into account."
Protesters cheered when Mexican radio host, Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, a former illegal immigrant himself announced from the podium that "the march was the start of a new era."
Many credit Sotelo as being the sole reason the protest drew the numbers that it did, the week before he urged other fellow Mexican radio hostd to help promote the march and unite anyone who would lend a ear.
Other American cities also were host to protests, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee and a march in Phoenix was the biggest demonstration in city history.
Following the mass protest March 25, students from across the city held high school walk-outs on March 28 bringing further attention to what the Hispanic community was calling "an injustice."
The HR4437 bill was the brainchild of Sensenbrenner, the bill was passed by the House of Representatives in Dec of 2005 with a vote of 239 to 182. It was later dropped by the Senate in early April. The bill was summarized as the border protection, anti-terrorism and illegal immigration control act of 2005.
The bill contained three main points to suppress the flow of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. by severely punishing anyone without legal status, erecting a 700-mile fence on the southern border and prosecuting anyone caught helping and abetting an illegal immigrant.
Under the proposed legislation, any undocumented immigrant living in the U.S. would fall under "unlawful presence" and be considered a felon and subject to jail time, be barred from future legal status and re-entry into the country.
Immigrants, including asylum-seekers, victims of human trafficking, victims of domestic abuse and children apprehended along an international border would also fall victim to the proposed law.
The used of expedited removal would be permitted, where boarder agents may remove a person seeking potential asylum without providing a trial before an immigration judge or qualified adjudicator.
The Department of Homeland Security would be required to build a 700-mile stretch of fence among the Mexican border, at points with the highest number of immigrant deaths contributed to entering the country illegally; the arid deserts of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.
The third part of the law would target anyone or organization who assists an undocumented individual in residing or remaining in the U.S. knowingly or with reckless disregard to the individual's legal status. This could include aid workers, such as church personnel who provide shelter or other basic needs to undocumented people.
Sensenbrenner defined the legislation, saying he is trying to stop people from exploiting illegal immigrants for cheap labor, drug trafficking and prostitution according to an article recently published by the Associated Press.
Many are saying that without the cheap labor immigrants provide, the U.S. economy will take a huge hit, "It has always been normal for capitalism to thrive on cheap labor," said Torres. If immigration is restricted, who will take the jobs traditionally filled by immigrants, dish washers, bus boys, car wash attendants, landscapers, and restaurant workers to name a few.
"Big business does not want to give up immigration; immigrants fill those jobs that Americans refuse to do because of the low wages," adds Torres.
Would high school or college graduates be willing to wash dishes, bus tables or wash cars for $6.75 or less an hour?
If a compromise is not met on immigration reform, it is uncertain who will be the greater victim, immigrants or the U.S.
A nation founded on immigration, a once fundamental American value, immigrants are now once again being cast as the scapegoat, such as the Irish and Jewish were in the early 1900's. Now both Irish and Jewish communities are staples in American culture.
Perhaps the famous Ellis Island greeting, "Give me your tired, your poor…," should be revised to something more modern, "sorry, we're full, turn the boat around."
"But perhaps the greatest victim could be Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he loses his maid," said Torres.http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/14460459.htm
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/hall/newfullstory.asp?ID=103411
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=74648
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/14460459.htm
Authorities preparing for large rally at state Capitol
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Authorities are preparing for as many as 100,000 immigration demonstrators to gather at the state Capitol on Monday as part of a nationwide protest.
But a rally organizer says the number of people who will show up will be much smaller.
Tony Barroso of Duluth, who is married to a Brazilian immigrant, said he attended a similar rally in DeKalb County on April 10 that drew 30,000 to 60,000 people. Barroso said he wanted to hold a march closer to decision makers.
"If we want to be heard, we have to go where people can be seen and heard, like the Capitol," Barroso said.
The debate over illegal immigration has heated up as Congress considers several approaches to the issue. The Georgia Legislature has already taken on illegal immigration, recently passing a law that cracks down on undocumented workers and those who hire them.
Barroso and his wife own a Brazilian-language newspaper and radio station, he said. Spanish-language media, particularly radio stations, played an important role in spreading the word about the April 10 march. But Barroso said Latino organizers are not helping organize the Monday rally, so he expects a lower turnout.
"We are not, as an organization, supporting the march, but we applaud anyone who feels they want to protest peacefully," said Teodoro Maus, former Mexican consul and an organizer of the April 10 march.
Maus and other Hispanic leaders are calling for a work stoppage for people who will not risk losing their jobs, and encouraging people to not spend any money on Monday. The march at the Capitol "takes away from the impact" of those actions, Maus said.
Still, Georgia Building Authority officials sent out an e-mail to state workers letting them know about the possibility of large crowds, traffic problems and street closings in downtown Atlanta.
The Capitol Police Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety is advising drivers who normally travel near the state Capitol to use another route Monday. Streets near the Capitol will be closed starting around 10:30 a.m.
Authorities are also encouraging those who will attend the rally to use MARTA to get to and from the Capitol.
Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com
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http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=4836071&nav=8fap
Authorities preparing for large rally at state Capitol
ATLANTA Authorities in Atlanta are preparing for as many as 100-thousand immigration demonstrators to gather at the state Capitol on Monday as part of a nationwide protest.
But a rally organizer says the number of people who will show up will be much smaller.Tony Barroso of Duluth says he attended a similar rally in DeKalb County on April 10th that drew 30-thousand to 60-thousand people. Barroso says he wants to hold a march closer to decision makers.The debate over illegal immigration has heated up as Congress considers several approaches to the issue. The Georgia Legislature has already taken on illegal immigration, recently passing a law that cracks down on undocumented workers and those who hire them.Barroso says Spanish-language media, particularly radio stations, played an important role in spreading the word about the April 10th march. But Barroso says Latino organizers are not helping organize the Monday rally, so he expects a lower turnout.Still, Georgia Building Authority officials sent out an e-mail to state workers letting them know about the possibility of large crowds, traffic problems and street closings in downtown Atlanta.The Capitol Police Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety is advising drivers who normally travel near the state Capitol to use another route Monday. Streets near the Capitol will be closed starting around 10:30 a-m.----------------------------------------
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Erik Voss
erik@ICAtlanta.org
404-457-5901 Direct
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