Thread: Demonstrators see 'headway' on immigration

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/200609 ... -1358r.htm

Demonstrators see 'headway' on immigration
By Keyonna Summers and Michael Hunsberger
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published September 8, 2006

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Demonstrators from across the East Coast came to Capitol Hill yesterday to urge members of Congress set to resume the debate on immigration to give them legal status and end deportations that split families.

Last spring, numerous press conferences, student walkouts and rallies drew thousands of demonstrators to the District and millions to Los Angeles.

"We are making headway," said Jaime Contreras, chairman of the National Capital Immigration Coalition.

"The problem is not immigrants; the problem is a broken system."

However, protests earlier this week in Chicago, Phoenix and other large U.S. cities attracted smaller crowds.

Demonstrators yesterday chanted and waved signs reading, "No human being is illegal" and "Immigrant workers sustain the U.S."

Organizers said about 10,000 people attended the event, but police officials would not give a crowd estimate.

The turnout here and elsewhere will in part help Congress gauge the amount of public support for immigration reform.

Local immigration advocates this summer began voter-registration drives while House Republicans held nationwide hearings asking how the House and Senate can create a compromise bill that deals with enforcement and illegals already in the country.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, said Wednesday that crafting such a bill before the November elections will be "next to impossible."

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, introduced a bill that called for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Although the bill passed in the Senate, it stalled when chamber leaders met to compromise.

Mr. Kennedy promised demonstrators that he will continue to push for immigration reform.

"We will pass a genuinely fair immigration bill that is worthy of America and worthy of the best of the American dream."

The bill also would increase patrols on the U.S.-Mexico border and add 370 miles of triple-wire fencing along the border.

John Keeley, a spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies, called the rally a "meaningless assembly" that has served only to "steel the resolve" of House leaders who want to take an enforcement-first approach to illegal immigration.

The District-based think tank favors lower immigration levels.

"They bring no new message to these rallies," Mr. Keeley said. "It's the same message from this spring: 'We are here working illegally, accept us and accord us the same rights and privileges that legal immigrants and U.S. citizens have.' That is a message that has fallen on deaf ears for most Republicans in Washington, a handful of Democrats and approximately 75 or 80 percent of the American public as public opinion polls have shown."

Black, Asian and Muslim demonstrators yesterday said they will fight for equal treatment of immigrants, legal and illegal.

Israel Balderas, 36, a Hispanic-American from Falls Church, said it is time for Congress to debate immigration reform.

"Putting off debate is just delaying the inevitable," he said. "We have got 10 to 12 million people who are helping the economy, but we have to figure out how to deal with illegal immigration."

Franklin Radeish, the founder and pastor of Capitol Hill Independent Baptist Ministries, which is supported by 125 independent Baptist churches nationwide, said illegal immigration is an assault on the American way of life.

"They are not invading with guns or tanks, but with numbers," he said. "We are not saying anything cruel about them, except that they are here illegally."

"The problem is not immigrants; the problem is a broken system."

No, the problem is illegal aliens and people like you who support them and undermine our current rule of law.

Demonstrators yesterday chanted and waved signs reading, "No human being is illegal" and "Immigrant workers sustain the U.S."

That's funny, federal law says differently, maybe you ought to look it up. We are a sovereign nation and we have the right to determine who's illegal and who's not. You don't like it then leave. As far as immigrant workers go, illegals aren't immigrants so I don't know what your talking about.

"We will pass a genuinely fair immigration bill that is worthy of America and worthy of the best of the American dream."

Who does this gasbag think he speaks for? Substitute America with Mexico and you'd be about right.

Black, Asian and Muslim demonstrators yesterday said they will fight for equal treatment of immigrants, legal and illegal.

Yeah ok, just sprinkle together a few token blacks, asians and muslims to make it look like everyone is on your side. Notice they didn't have any whites there.

Israel Balderas, 36, a Hispanic-American from Falls Church, said it is time for Congress to debate immigration reform.

"Putting off debate is just delaying the inevitable," he said. "We have got 10 to 12 million people who are helping the economy, but we have to figure out how to deal with illegal immigration."

How about deportation? How does that grab ya?

"The problem is not immigrants; the problem is a broken system."

Once again, make sure to blame everyone and everything but your own illegal actions.

Yeah ok, just sprinkle together a few token blacks, asians and muslims to make it look like everyone is on your side. Notice they didn't have any whites there.

Ya...where's the representation of the illegal Irish and Polish etc.? They're white. Unfortunatly it would their racist lingo if they did that.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Yeah ok, just sprinkle together a few token blacks, asians and muslims to make it look like everyone is on your side. Notice they didn't have any whites there.

Ya...where's the representation of the illegal Irish and Polish etc.? They're white. Unfortunatly it would their racist lingo if they did that.

Yeah, and as a Black person myself, it made my blood boil to see so many Blacks standing up there supporting them

"We have got 10 to 12 million people who are helping the economy, but we have to figure out how to deal with illegal immigration."

Well, you also have over 620,000 in prison and over 550,000 more that they are looking for to add to that total. You also need to count all the thousands in local lock-ups. We don't need your contributions. Just today, it was reported on the news that a Mexican family is going around to convenience stores and running a con game. While a young man distracts the clerk, the rest clean out the cash. Now there is some real family value.

The system is not broken, it has been underutilized by our government.