PWC, A National Model for the Tone of Immigration Reform?

Elena

The Washington Post has a fairly extensive article in the paper today on the journey PWC took regarding our very contentious immigration fight in 2007.

I look back at the time with many different emotions.   We had a unique opportunity when Eric Byler, a Gainesville resident and film maker, was able to take us along, front row seat, on our immigration battle.  There was little room for real discussion and debate.  Instead, we had outside influences like FAIR pushing their agenda with the help of eager politicians like Corey to mis-use this community issue.  The videos were like a diary, no filters- -they were real time events we could all observe.

Are there lessons for the Federal Government to learn from the struggles of Prince William County?  Yes, don’t do what we did.  In the end, there was no real solution to the problems in the community regarding the influx of new immigrants, whether their status was legal or illegal, the only end result was that during the height of the debate, many left in fear, and others left as a result of the economic downturn.

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Carlos Martinelly Montano found guilty of felony murder

MoonHowler

I will always be uncomfortable with a murder verdict.  Murder is intentionally killing someone.  Are prosecutors in Virginia ready to charge all drunk drivers who kill someone with murder or was this special charge reserved for Carlos only?  Manslaughter yes, murder no. 

This case is about drunk driving and about being an habitual offender.  It isn’t about illegal immigration.  It was political theater being played out on a stage contrary to the explicit wishes of the Benedictine nuns.  It took tragedy and turned it into political carnage as Corey Stewart appeared again and again on both national and local TV, trumpeting the evils of illegal immigration.  He even had a Rule of Law campaign soliciting money.  The entire affair was unseemly. 

I hope  Stewart is smug and  pleased with himself.  He is who continually waved the bloody shirt and demanded Martinelly’s head on a platter, again, in defiance of the wishes of the Bristow order of nuns whose sisters were victims of this terrible accident. 

Where does this leave us when the next drunk driver isn’t an immigrant? 

Where will this verdict lead us next time?  Beware of unintended consequences.  I expect we have not heard the last of this unusually charged case.

Senator Sessions Belittles DHS Secretary Napolitano

MoonHowler

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was called before the Senate  Judiciary Committee to get dressed down by this esteemed governing body and to answer a few questions about immigration,  TSA,  and other things that fall under the Department of Homeland Security.  Not everyone was on their best behavior.

According to the Washington Times:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano says her department has the resources to deport about 400,000 aliens each year, and the new guidance her department issued will only change the makeup of who gets deported.

“There are 10 million or so illegal immigrants probably in the country and the Congress gives us the resources to remove approximately 400,000 per year,” she said, testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The question is, who are we going to prioritize. And we’re very clear. We want to prioritize those who are convicted criminals. We want to prioritize those who are egregious immigration and repeat violators. We want to prioritize those who are security threats, those who have existing warrants.”

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Churches Sue Alabama

MoonHowler

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Last week the immigration issue kept creeping back into the conversations on here. Well let’s have at it.

Church leaders in Alabama are suing the state over their new bundle of anti-immigration laws.  Why?  The churches say that the laws prevent them from doing what churches do–minister to the poor.  Some religions leaders say, as the law stands, that they could be arrested for feeding an immigrant or helping in times of sickness.  In other words, they feel that the Alabama government in interfering with the separation of church and state.

Alabama has legislated new laws based on the F.A.I.R. model, similar to those first passed in the July 2007 Resolution here in PWC.  These might even be more draconian.

Meanwhile, in Hoover Alabama, tea party forces support the new law:

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Panic! At the Border

MoonHowler

 Guest Post:  Michael Stafford

Entire post copied with permission from  Michael Stafford.

The following is the opinion of the poster and does not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.

M-H

Myths and facts about crime on America’s southern frontier

The rationale for Arizona’s SB 1070, the state immigration enforcement statute passed in 2010 that is now being copied by other states such as Alabama and Georgia and championed as a cause célèbre by many on the Right, was based on a simple premise, namely, that Arizona was experiencing a surge in violent crime fueled by unauthorized immigrants.

Daryl Cagle / msnbc.com (click to view more cartoons by Daryl Cagle)

 

The link between unauthorized immigrants and crime is one of the most persistent myths in the immigration debate. But the facts tell a very different story, even in Arizona and along the Mexican frontier.

Despite all the hype, in reality, crime rates in Arizona, including its border counties, have been falling for years. More broadly, two of our nation’s safest metropolitan areas- San Diego and El Paso, are border cities. Indeed, by any objective measure, the southern border is safer now than it has been in decades. There was no, and there is no, immigrant-fueled crime wave.

The Wild West?

Listening to some politicians and members of the conservative entertainment complex last year, one got the impression that our southern border was descending into a state of near anarchy and chaos. That we were being subjected to a waive of violent crime fueled by unauthorized immigrants. That we were under siege. That we were facing an “invasion.”

For example, conservative radio host Michael Savage informed his listeners that, “[w]e need to get our troops out of Iraq and put them on the streets of America to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they come here to work.”

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“The Utah Way” : Big Love for Immigrants?

MoonHowler

Utah, one of the country’s most conservative states, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-1, has turned its back on those Republicans who advocate deportation in favor of those who want immigration reform.  The bill has passed both houses of the state legislature and the governor is expected to sign it.

What exactly does the  ‘ Utah Way ‘  advocate?  First off, it gives local law enforcement  a provision that they say won’t really matter and it provides for a guest worker program that lawmakers feel will make all the difference in the world.  That last component of the proposed law will grant legal status to undocumented workers.  The legal status isn’t free.  It would provide  work permits to undocumented immigrant workers, and their immediate families, if they  pay a fine, clear a criminal background check and study English.

According to the Washington Post:

Advocates of the compact included the police, some key elected officials and, critically, the Mormon church, whose members include perhaps 90 percent of Utah’s state lawmakers. They understood that the fast-growing Hispanic community, which counts for 13 percent of Utah’s population and may include more than 100,000 undocumented workers, is vital to the state’s tourism, agriculture and construction industries.

The advocates’ genius was to reframe the cause of immigration reform, including the guest-worker program, as fundamentally a conservative project. In the face of sound bites from reform opponents such as “What part of ‘illegal’ don’t you understand?” Utah conservatives shot back with: What part of destroying the economy don’t you understand? And by the way, what part of breaking up families don’t you understand?

 

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Anti-Muslim Backlash in European Countries Worsening

MoonHowler

Today’s Washington Post described the increase in unrest over Muslim immigration in European countries like France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The strong anti-Muslim backlash is influencing elections and putting leaders in a precarious position.

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued her toughest line yet on immigrants. For weeks, Merkel has condemned Thilo Sarrazin, a former Central Bank board member turned folk hero in Germany who penned a shock bestseller arguing that Turkish and Kurdish immigrants are genetically inferior.

But the book also ignited a debate in Germany over the unwillingness of many immigrants – particularly Muslims – to integrate. Merkel on Sunday appeared to side with immigration critics, saying at a party conference that Germany’s experiment to build a “multicultural” nation had “failed, absolutely failed.”

In Scandanavia and Holland, the following is seen:

The long liberal lands of Scandinavia and the Netherlands are also seeing a nationalist party renaissance. Last week, a conservative Dutch government came to power with the support of the anti-Islamic party of Geert Wilders, who is standing trial for inciting racial hatred against Muslims. In exchange for his support, Wilders extracted promises that the new government would take dramatic steps to curb immigration and follow the French in banning full-length Muslim veils.

In recent months, right-wing and nationalist parties have also consolidated or are now poised to expand their power in Denmark, Norway and Finland.

In Italy there is an uprising over a proposed Mosque in Milan. All over Europe, little distinction is made between the debate over Islam and the debate over immigration. Many of the Muslim immigrants are from Somalia, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iraq, and other places in the middle east. Muslims from Malaysia were not mentioned.

Attitudes such as the one below are not unfamiliar:

“It isn’t racist to want to preserve your culture,” said Leif Johansson, a 64-year-old carpenter. “I’m open to immigration, but these people come without a thought to integration, no interest in learning Swedish or being part of Swedish society.”

Sweden, a country that has long prided itself on multiculturalism, is now apparently back-pedaling. 1 in every 9 people in Sweden are Muslim.

Unlike in the United States, where Latinos dominate the immigration debate, European angst is increasingly focused on waves of Muslims – Turks, Iraqis, Somalis and others – who have become the hottest-button issue in recent elections. In Austria this month, the far-right Freedom Party made massive gains in regional elections after an anti-immigrant campaign that included a “Bye Bye Mosque” Internet game. It allowed players to target virtual minarets in elegant Vienna and pastoral Alpine villages with a single word, “stop.”

I am not so sure that people in the United States aren’t every bit as vociferous over Muslims. What saves Muslims in this country, somewhat, is they have to get here by air or water. They can’t drive or swim. There are no common or connecting borders to the home country. However, anti-Muslim sentiments seen very alive here, and on this blog.

Is it possible to discuss this phenomena without sounding like we are European or without going back to the Crusades? Is it possible to discuss the problems without going into what the Koran does and does not say? I don’t believe any of us here are experts on the Koran and I would rather not get in to what it says or doesn’t say. Reason? There is no one really on top of the Koran game who can dispute statements people make.

This thread is not a feel-good thread.  Far from it.  Are Europeans over-reacting?  Do they sound like Americans sound about our illegal immigration?  People seem to be worried/angry over the same thing:  refusal to assimilate, not learning the language, living in ethnic communities, etc.  What advice would you give them?

–How well do you know your European countries?  Click the blue.  Below is your cheat sheet.

Interactive map

Hazleton, PA Immigration Law Struck Down

MoonHowler

A Hazleton, PA law that targeted illegal immigrants was struck down by a federal appeals court today.  The law wass actually passed in 2006 but has been held up in the courts.  The Hazleton, PA law also severed as a model for various laws, ordinances and resolutions around the country.

The Hazleton Law allowed for pulling the business licenses of those who hired illegal aliends.  Additionally, landlords could be fined if they rented to people out of status.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that the law infringed on the federal government’s exclusive power to regulate immigration.  Once again the supremacy clause is the underlying cause for state and local laws to be voided. 

According to the NY Times:

The appeals court in Pennsylvania found that Hazleton had clearly overstepped its bounds.

“It is of course not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted,” the judges wrote. “We are, however, required to intervene when states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress.”

Hazleton “has attempted to usurp authority the Constitution has placed beyond the vicissitudes of local governments,” the panel of three judges concluded unanimously.

Another appeal is planned by the city.

CNN Spotlights PWC, sans Corey Stewart

MoonHowler

Finally, another look at PWC, three years later, without editorializing by Corey Stewart. Hear an immigrant, Latino businessman Carlos Castro, and Chief Deane three years after the Immigration Resolution was first introduced.

While this video shows the Prince William County story from a perspective that doesn’t involve Corey Stewart making a name for himself, we still aren’t seeing the whole story.

What is still missing from the discussion is that the initial Immigration Resolution is NOT in affect and it is NOT the same as sb 1070. Until this fact is brought out, the conversation really goes no where and the story is only half told.

Loudoun Times EDITORIAL: The ‘race’ to be the face of intolerance

MoonHowler

From the Loudoun Times 7/13/10

Are you brown-skinned? Do you speak Spanish outside when walking down the street with friends? Do you wear clothing that has Hispanic styles, themes or lettering?

Let’s say all this applies to you – and you’re an American citizen, born and raised right here in Virginia, as were your parents. You follow the law. You pay your taxes. You’re as much an American by law as any sixth-generation white American. Too bad.

If Corey Stewart has his way in the Old Dominion, you could be a suspected illegal immigrant, detained and thrown in jail. Your crime? The color of your skin. Your ethnicity. The way you talk. The way you look.

Stewart is the chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, with previous and likely future intentions to run for statewide office here. But before he pads his political resume, he wants to complete his mission of making Prince William, and all of Virginia, his personal, political and cultural Petri dish of emotionally toxic wedge issues like immigration.

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Andrew Lubin: Our 234th Birthday

MoonHowler

From The Kitchen Dispatch: (copied in entirety)

Note: Combat correspondent Andrew Lubin just returned from Afghanistan where he was embedded with the US Marines. As the Fourth of July nears, he offers his thoughts.

July 4, 2010

By Andrew Lubin
Following the recent immigration debates arising out of Arizona and in Congress made me step back and think. “What makes someone an American?” Is it an accident of birth? Having a special skill? Or is it an attitude?

My grandparents names are listed at Ellis Island. It’s no big deal, so are the names of dozens of thousands of others. They came over amongst those human waves of Europeans in the late 1800’s who were coming to the New World for a chance for a better life.

My maternal grandmother was Mary Inez Ryan, from Ireland’s County Limerick, and we grew up listening to her stories of wailing banshees and the shrieking tree. She married Joseph Mendell, whose father had changed his name from Mendel when he arrived from Germany the generation prior. My dad’s side was also European: Louis Ljubon from Budapest married Aloysia Woelfl from Bavaria Both families settled in northern New Jersey, learned English, struggled through the Depression, and then both my mom and dad joined the Marines in WW2. Afterwards they were part of the first G.I. Bill class at Montclair State Teachers College and worked hard to give us kids a better life and more opportunities.

America has so many other stories…last month at FOB Dwyer I met Tuan Pham, a Vietnamese refugee whose grandfather and father were killed by the Viet Cong. His mother and sister left Vietnam as ‘boat people,’ and eventually got Pham out when he was 16…now he’s Major Tuan Pham, USMC, who enlisted three years after arriving here. While his is certainly a far more interesting family story than mine, it’s remarkably similar in that it started with folks looking for a better life, making their way to America, working hard, giving back, and helping build that which we call “The American Dream”.

And it’s worth noting the many stories of citizenship that started after 9/11: there have been some 55,000 immigrants who became Americans through their service in the Armed Forces. The ranks of the Marine Corps are filled with young men and women with fascinating accents who are “giving back” to their newly adopted country. Some of them “give back” a lot; think back to Sgt Michael Strank, one of the five Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. He was born Mychal Strenk, in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, and learned English in the tough steel mill of Franklin Borough, Pa. Sgt Strank was killed on Iwo, three days after that famous photograph was taken. Or Mexican-born Marine Sgt Rafael Peralta, whose last act was to roll onto a grenade in Fallujah, sacrificing himself in order to save the lives of the Marines behind him. Other countries should envy immigrants like these two.

Perhaps they’re the strength of this country, this blend of farmers, tool & die makers, steel workers, and shopkeepers who arrived here with little more than an ill-fitting suit and a fierce determination to “do better.”

That’s the unifying feature that built the United States of America; they learned the language; worked their way into the social structure and politics of their new homeland, worked hard, tried to blend in, and in committing themselves to success, they gave this country a mind-set that anything is possible if one works hard.

Another mind-set was that of leaving the old ways behind. The old ways weren’t working; that’s why people came here in the first place. My Grandpa Lubin would never, ever discuss his hometown, or his life before he came here. “It doesn’t matter,” he’d say “I’m an American now, and being an American is all that counts.”

And unlike the faux-patriotism espoused by so many of today’s politicians, the older generations understood that patriotism was something that was to be practiced, as opposed to lectured from the airwaves. On Monday 8 December 1941, most of the men of Harvard and many other colleges were on the recruiting lines, and by 1945 America had 12 million men under arms. Everyone volunteered; in fact my ex-wife’s father forged his father’s name to the paperwork, and joined the Army a year underage – Lewis Nash participated in the invasion of Italy and ended up fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

That’s real patriotism. Everyone served, everyone helped out, and everyone pulled together for the common goal of protecting the American way of life that their parents and grandparents offered them.

That’s what makes the recent immigration debate so frustrating. Most of these 12 million illegals hunker down, work hard, and are taking the dirty jobs that most American citizens won’t. Sure many of them don’t speak English now, but then neither did my Grandfather Ljubon or Mychal Strenk when they arrived. America is still a country of opportunities for those who want to work, and given the opportunity, look at how the Strenks and Peralta’s have become an integral part of America’s history.

Maybe that’s it; being an “American” is as much an attitude as an accident of birth. Since people today aren’t digging the Erie Canal, or building the transcontinental railroad; perhaps today’s settlers are instead cutting lawns in New Jersey or working in an Iowa meat-packing plant. But hard work and attitude never hurt anyone, as Grandpa Lubin used to tell me; and as Grandpa’s Strenk, Peralta, and Pham likely told their boys; with attitude and hard work you can accomplish almost anything.

So let’s raise a glass to our 234th birthday – with more hard work and the same attitude, we’ll be celebrating 234 more.

Happy Independence Day.

Many of us have pontificated but we have never really discussed what is an American. Your thoughts, on our nation’s birthday…what exactly is an American and has that definition changed over time?

Speaking of Immigrants: Springsteen Given Ellis Island Family Heritage Award

MoonHowler

According to USA Today:

Bruce Springsteen surrounded himself with lovely ladies today as his European roots were celebrated at Ellis Island. Joined by his mother Adele, 85 (center),  and aunts Dora Kirby, 90,  (left) and Ida Urbellis, 87, the rocker was given the Ellis Island Family Heritage Award, given to immigrants or their descendants “who have made a major contribution to the American experience.”

Said The Boss, “You can’t really know who you are and where you’re going unless you know where you came from.” His maternal great-grandmother, Raffaela Zerilli, arrived at Ellis Island from Vico Equense, Italy, on Oct. 3, 1900, with five kids in tow. The rest is history.

Springsteen’s mother Adele (see above) who was the granddaughter of Raffaela Zerilli, married an Irish American, Douglas Springsteen.  They had 3 kids who were raised in New Jersey.  When the Boss was 16 his mother borrowed the money to buy him a guitar.  He taught himself to play it and millions of recordings later, he is truly THE BOSS.

Springsteen on immigration:

Across the Border

Lyrics on next page
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Elena and Alanna Thwart Corey Stewart’s Attempt to Rewrite PWC Immigration History

MoonHowler

When Localities Take On Immigration
Click the above to listen to the show.

Elena and Alanna apparently had a good time calling Chairman Stewart out on his “inaccuracies” today on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on NPR (WAMU).   Corey Stewart is STILL trying to spin that the resolution, neutered of the “probable cause” mandate, is tougher than the original resolution.  

I believe I recall a certain Chairman saying “over his dead body” would he allow the probable cause mandate to be stricken from the immigration resolution.  Hmmmmm, well, it WAS stricken and he is clearly still walking around, alive and well.   Why on earth did he fight soooo hard if he didn’t mind the probable cause being taken out.  As I recall, Anti-BVBL, along with many other citizens who had spoken out against the resolution, celebrated when the probable cause mandate was stricken from the enforcement language.

PWC Crime Statistics 2009

Tancredo Opens Up the Tea Party Convention

MoonHowler

 

 

That darling of the nativist crew, Tom Tancredo,  opened the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last weekend with a litany of insults towards President Obama, John McCain, and the culture of multiculturalism (whatever that means).

ABC news reports:

The opening-night speaker at first ever National Tea Party Convention ripped into President Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,” asserting that Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

The speaker, former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., told about 600 delegates in a Nashville, Tenn., ballroom that in the 2008 election, America “put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House … Barack Hussein Obama.”

Tancredo did not stop at the Democratic president — ripping McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, for shaping up to be a repeat of “Bush 1 and Bush 2.”

“Thank God John McCain lost the election,” he said, voicing his belief that McCain would have presided over big budgets and lacked a tough stand against immigration.

Tancredo served 10 years in the House of Representatives and made a name for himself with his ardent opposition to immigration. He believes the 2008 election served to galvanize the right.

“This is our country,” he told the crowd. “Let’s take it back.”

Is anyone else uncomfortable with Tancredo’s words?  Calling the president of the United States a “committed socialist ideologue” is disturbing.   One wonders who he means when he says ‘our.’ 

Tancredo further described the American electorate as “people who cannot even spell the word vote, or say it in English.”  Additionally, he called for a culture war in the name of preserving “Judeo-Christian principles whether people like it or they don’t.”

His rhetoric is unacceptable to many Americans.  Hopefully the Tea Party people or whatever they want to be called will reject this kind of political mentality.  It certainly doesn’t represent MY America.  It is still unclear  exactly who these folks are or what they want.  To the best of our  knowledge, and looking at who seems to identify with them, the Tea Party folks seem to be to the right of Republicans.  Tancredo, Bachmann, Beck  and Palin would fit this description.  However, Scott Brown does not.  It is  expected that  they will kick him to the curb now he is no longer needed to prove a point.  Brown seems far too moderate and more like John McCain or William Weld.

Many of our contributors defend the Tea Party with their last breath.  How do you see the Tea Party?  What is their cause?  Are they simply a grass organization?  If so, why are there so many groups?  Are they a populist group similar to the Perot people?    Is there one definition of this group or does each splinter group have its own persona?

O’Reilly takes on Law and Order over Immigration Episode

MoonHowler

The video speaks for itself.

Isn’t art supposed to imitate life? I watched that episode of Law and Order. The rhetoric sounded to me an ordinary day on at least one local blog. On the other hand, as you saw in the video, O’Reilly was named as one of the haters who stir up people on the right about illegal immigration. I am not so sure O’Reilly is all that vitriolic on this subject. He is actually rather tempered from what I have witnessed. However, his outrage and tantrum over Dick Wolf weakened his case.

The plot can be seen at this site. And to set the record straight, Law and Order SVU has only been on the air for 11 years. The show often incorporates current issues into the plot as the detectives try to solve crimes committed against special victims.