initiative to keep us safe from undocumented field workers. The city
council here just voted to refuse to comply. There is no evidence of
udocumented field hands posing a terrorist threat.
Dana
----- Original Message -----
From: Doug White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 12:58:14 -0500
Subject: Report rips immigration policies
To: CF-Community <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA071004.1B.lulacimmigration.25fb595d.html
Calling the U.S. immigration system "badly broken," a national coalition of
Hispanic civil rights and advocacy groups blasted "post-9-11" immigration
policies and strategies Friday as harmful to the nation's Latinos.
According to a report released by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda,
immigration enforcement has changed dramatically since the terror attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, with the government now viewing immigration "through an
antiterrorism lens."
"Since Sept. 11, the federal government has enacted at least 100 anti-immigrant
measures in the name of national security, with grave results for immigrants and
immigrant communities, like the Latino community," said Katherine Culliton, a
senior attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"However, an incredibly low number of the thousands and thousands of immigrants
investigated under such measures have actually been charged with terrorism,"
said Culliton, part of a panel discussion on the issue at the 75th national
convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
The report, which charges that racial profiling against Latinos has increased
since 9-11, is based on numerical data and other information from the U.S.
Census Bureau, the Justice Department, the American Civil Liberties Union,
MALDEF and numerous other government agencies and advocacy groups.
"In case after case, Latino citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented people
have been stopped and their immigration papers demanded solely on the basis of
race, ethnicity, national origin, language or accent," the report stated.
But Joe Cepeda, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Antonio who represented the
government on Friday's panel, said he was not aware that racial profiling was
occurring.
"If it is, it's not coming to my attention," Cepeda said.
"A police officer or a Border Patrol agent, anybody, cannot pull you over just
because you look Hispanic," he said.
Culliton also charged that stepped-up immigration enforcement has resulted in
blanket sweeps and raids targeting Latino communities.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rumaldo Armijo of New Mexico, who also was on the panel,
said he didn't know of any sweeps in New Mexico.
"If someone's rights are violated, an investigation will be done," he said.
While the report notes that the most visible impact of post-9-11 strategies has
been on the Muslim, Arab and Sikh communities, it contends Latinos are also
significantly affected because they are the largest immigrant group.
The Census Bureau says Hispanics are the nation's largest overall minority
group, with a population of nearly 40 million. The NHLA report says 40 percent
of Latinos are foreign-born.
"We must ensure that our immigration policies will help instead of hurt the
millions of immigrants who have been contributing to our economy, have
established families and roots in our communities, and who will continue to be a
significant part of the U.S. labor force well into the future," Manuel Mirabal,
president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition and past NHLA chairman, said.
The NHLA is a nonpartisan coalition of 40 Hispanic groups, including LULAC.
The coalition called for "long overdue changes" to the current immigration
system.
"We are recommending that Congress and the administration take specific actions
now to address these very serious issues affecting immigrants, the Hispanic
community and all Americans," Mirabal said.________________________________
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