Friday, May 13, 2011
Rally Sunday on Maui for immigration reform and family preservation
by Larry Geller
Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), Hawaii’s largest interfaith community organizing coalition, will host a Rally for Immigration Reform and Family Preservation on Sunday, May 15, 2011, from 2:30-3:45 p.m., at Ala Lani United Methodist Church, 50 S. Papa St., Kahului, Maui. According to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) press release, they will be joined by Cecillia Wang, National Director of the ACLU Immigrants’
Rights Project, who will address immigration issues from a national perspective.
Wang is part of the legal team challenging Arizona’s and Utah’s “Show me your papers” laws. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), responding to recent reform campaign developments from the White House, will join the rally by video from Washington, DC. [See also Rep. Gutierrez’ interview on Democracy Now this morning at the link below or click here]
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claim jurisdiction within 100 miles from the “border,” meaning, in the case of Hawaii, the entire state. Under President Obama, far more people have been detained and deported even than under the Bush administration. Families are broken up. A woman in Maryland was arrested and held for deportation when she called police with a domestic violence complaint. Mothers and fathers who have been in the country for decades are deported. Of the nearly 400,000 people deported under Obama, nearly half have no law enforcement issues at all, and of the others, a traffic stop is enough to put ICE in motion.
New Jersey, American citizen—American citizen—served in Vietnam, marries the love of his life, has three children. And then they deport—they put an order of deportation against his wife while he’s dying of cancer.
[Democracy Now, Rep. Luis Gutierrez: Obama Has Discretionary Authority to Advance DREAM Act, Humane Immigration Reform, 5/12/2011]
According to the ACLU press release, at the rally Filipino, Micronesian, Latino, Tongan and other FACE leaders will tell first-hand of loved ones separated for decades awaiting family visas; of high school graduates whose prospects wither without a path to legal status; and of workers and local businesses penalized by complex regulations. They will relay disturbing accounts of illegal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on people’s homes. Similarly, community members will offer their stories of racial profiling and how they believe local public safety resources have been recruited for federal immigration enforcement – undermining public safety and causing terror and mistrust in the community.
Other FACE allies participating will include the Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Reform, UNITE/HERE, OLAH (Organization of Latin Americans in Hawaii), and the ACLU of Hawaii.
We have already had Immigration reform again and again. The only thing we need is enforcement. If we give amnesty every few years nothing will change. If we allow other law breakers such as forgery, murderers, rapists, highway law breakers the same freedoms will people stop breaking the law? No, that is why we have our police force to hand out tickets and people still break the law. Why would more amnesty stop the flood. Jump the border and go south into Mexico and take a job down there and see how they treat you. People say that they come here to better their financial situation. Well, we(the U.S.) have been sending jobs to Mexico for years.I know because I worked for two, The Gates Rubber Company and Solvay Chemical Company,yet, the flood of illegals keep coming. I have been out of work since June 2010, and stop at companies to look for work and see and hear illegals at every place I apply to. And guess what? Oklahoma passed legislation against illegal immigration but employers still hire them. even the state of Oklahoma hires them to do all their construction and just turns their head the other way.They have children here and they are now American, and they draw WIC and welfare for those children as well as taking our jobs. They even drive around with Cherokee car tags on their vehicles, which are usally #50,000.00 SUV's. I have Cherokee blood in my veins and cannot even get a Cherokee tag! My forefathers were in Georgia long before the Spanish and the white men came here. The foreigners are the only people living the American dream. I cannot even get unemployment or free food to help me while I'm unemployed.
: May 17, 2011 at 3:06:00 AM HST << Home
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