N.C.: Rowan town fighting illegal immigration

[Jean]

http://charlotte.com/115/story/41175.html

Posted on Mon, Mar. 05, 2007
Rowan town fighting illegal immigration

SHARIF DURHAMS
The mayor of Landis demanded a crackdown on illegal immigrants and drunken driving Monday in the wake of a February wreck that killed a pregnant mother.
At a town board of aldermen meeting, Mayor Mike Mahaley called for voiding town contracts for any company that employs someone in the U.S. illegally. Mahaley also ordered town police to increase traffic checkpoints from monthly to weekly.

Carlos Alfonso Guillen Martinez was being pursued by an officer from Kannapolis when his sport utility vehicle crashed into Leeanna Newman, 20, of Salisbury. The Feb. 6 wreck killed Newman, who was pregnant.

Guillen Martinez, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant, has been charged with second-degree murder and driving while impaired.

"We cannot continue to let people take our families from us and that's what they are doing," Mahaley said.

Alderman James Furr backed the mayor's plan, saying illegal immigration is Landis' worst problem.

The Rowan County town passed a resolution in October, making English the town's official language. Cabarrus County commissioners passed a similar measure in January.

[Rockfish]

MORE BLOOD ON PRESIDENT TRAITOR BUSH'S HANDS

[jimpasz]

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Town pushes for illegal immigrant crackdown 2:31 PM

02:31 PM EST on Tuesday, March 6, 2007

By WCNC Staff
E-mail Us: 6NEWS@WCNC.com

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LANDIS - The mayor of a Rowan county town said he will ask for a resolution on illegal immigration.

Mike Mahaley, the mayor of Landis, said he wants to require all companies that are hired to do business with the town to guarantee they will not hire employees who are in the country illegally.

The proposal comes less than a month after a fatal crash on Landis’ Main Street which killed Leanna Newman, 20, and her unborn child.

Rigo Martinez, 34, is charged with second degree murder in connection to the wreck. Federal officials have said Martinez is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Reporter Mark Boone spoke with the mayor and members of the Latino community about the proposed resolution. Watch for his report beginning

[had_enuf]

Town pushes for illegal immigrant crackdown 7:23 AM

07:23 AM EST on Wednesday, March 7, 2007

By MARK BOONE / WCNC
E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.COM

LANDIS, N.C. - The mayor of a Rowan County town said he will ask for a resolution on illegal immigration.

Mike Mahaley, the mayor of Landis, said he wants to require all companies that are hired to do business with the town to guarantee they will not hire employees who are in the country illegally.

“I don’t want a contractor doing any work for me or my town that’s the breaking the law to start with,” Mahaley said.

The proposal comes less than a month after a fatal crash on Landis’ Main Street, which killed Leeanna Newman, 20, and her unborn child.

Rigo Martinez, 34, is charged with second degree murder in connection to the wreck. Federal officials have said Martinez is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who had previously been deported twice.

A handmade sign has been placed at the accident site protesting illegal immigration. ‘How many more must die?’ the sign asks.

Mahaley said his office has been flooded with calls from residents in the town of about 3,000 people.

“Just call after call about ‘what are you going to do about this? When are you all going to do something? Are you going to say anything?’ The first kind of statement is ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do.’ That’s really not true,” he said.

The mayor said he is not sure how the town would enforce his proposed policy.

Much of the construction crew currently working to renovate Landis’ town hall are immigrants. Mahaley said he believed everyone hired for the $913,000 project is in the country legally.

“Some people don’t like Hispanics and some people do like (Hispanics)” construction worker Carlos Escobar told WCNC as he hammered nails into a support post on the town hall Tuesday.

Escobar said he came to the U.S. from Honduras 12 years ago and married an American, making him a U.S. citizen.

He told WCNC he suspects other immigrants could be out of jobs if Landis approves a ban on hiring undocumented workers.

“I never go to jail. Do you know why? I don’t drink. I don’t smoke, I live (well), my life is good,” Escobar said, adding some people may have false perceptions about Latino workers.

Jess George, associate director of the Latin American coalition, said town leaders should not target immigrants who are law-abiding citizens.

“North Carolina would not be the prospering state it is if we didn’t have an immigrant workforce doing the jobs that we don’t want to do,” George said.

Mahaley said he expects town leaders to approve the ban on undocumented workers next month. The policy would affect future town projects, including a $6 million water and sewer line extension slated to begin next year.

“When you blatantly know that you are breaking the law, I don’t think we should deal with them,” Mahaley said. “I actually think (companies) need to be punished. If the jobs go away, (illegal immigrants) are going home.”


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