PSL candidate Sergio Farias battles City Council over immigrant rights
Monday, September 22, 2008
By: Carlos Alvarez

San Juan Capistrano, Calif., a battleground against racism

Sergio Farias, PSL candidate for San Juan Capistrano City Council, took a strong stand on behalf of undocumented workers during a Sept. 16 council meeting. The meeting was held to discuss the formation of a city council-supported anti-immigrant team.



PSL candidate Sergio Farias
addresses the San Juan Capistrano
City Council, Sept. 16, 2008.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, the Orange County Register, the county’s largest publication, reported that the committee’s purpose was to broaden the criminalization efforts against undocumented workers in the community. At first, the committee said it would focus on Spanish being spoken at local schools. In the days before the meeting, the committee’s façade was dropped. The committee was transformed into a "safety commission."

Branding the committee a "safety commission" has given the local government more room to expand its attacks against Latinos in the city. Under the guise of the "safety commission," the council will discuss such projects as the racist gang injunction, fake sobriety checkpoints that strip immigrant workers of their cars and expanding the reach of the cops and border patrol.

Everyone who is anyone in San Juan Capistrano local politics attended the council meeting, including: Mayor and candidate for city council Joe Soto; pro-gang injunction council member Lon Uso; SJC Chief of Police Mike Detzler; and Orrie Brown, the leader of a local racist organization, "Pro Patria America."

At the meeting, racists were allowed to speak in favor of the commission. One man waved an American flag while calling undocumented workers "illegal aliens" and ranting about the need to speak English.

Sergio Farias called the racists out for what they are. He presented the following statement:

"SJC’s government is going in the direction of a small band of fascists with links to the Minutemen such as Pro Patria America. SJC should be a sanctuary city for immigrants and all workers should have the right to vote regardless of their legal status. Undocumented workers have as much at stake in our society as any other worker. We want full rights for all immigrants.

"My campaign will create a committee to defend immigrant workers against the racist attacks of some of those in this room. Lastly, English-only policies are racist policies. If we would like to understand each other better, let’s welcome free English and Spanish classes for anyone that wishes to learn the languages. But keeping resources out of the hands of workers is unacceptable. Regardless of language everyone in this community deserves housing, healthcare, education, a job and legalization."

Farias’s statement was received with applause from the some in the crowd. His intervention was a breath of fresh air for the Latino community—for the documented and undocumented alike.

San Juan Capistrano is deeply divided city. It is home to $10 million homes in gated communities. Yet over 10 percent of its population lives below the poverty line. According to the 2000 census, over 43 percent of its population is Latino. The city’s schools are segregated. Two elementary schools less than a half-mile away from each other have the following composition: one is 55 percent white. The other is 95 percent Latino.

Sergio Farias’s campaign is speaking to many in the community who are looking for a way out of the apartheid conditions. The PSL is promoting multinational unity to fight against racism and exploitation. The campaign is organizing many activities in the upcoming weeks in San Juan Capistrano.

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServS ... _ctrl=1261