AL: Crowd at public forum in Hoover tells state panel to cra
Comments are being left after the article.
~~
Crowd at public forum in Hoover tells state panel to crack down on illegal immigration
Posted by Birmingham News staff January 10, 2008 8:54 PM
A state commission formed last year to study immigration heard calls for crackdowns on illegal immigration that drew cheers and loud applause tonight in The Library Theatre at the Hoover Public Library.
About 220 people packed the theater for a public hearing before the Joint Interim Patriotic Immigration Commission. More than two dozen got up to speak, most complaining about lax enforcement of immigration laws.
Steve Sills of Shelby County said an illegal immigrant from Honduras crashed into his car last year and caused back injuries that forced him to miss months of work.
"I think in the state of Alabama we should all follow the laws and have to pay taxes," said Sills, who called for Alabama to pass a law similar to one in Oklahoma aimed at tougher enforcement.
Jane Barton of Jefferson County complained about the difficulties of dealing with non-English-speaking service workers in restaurants and stores and about loud Mexican music blaring from home construction sites.
"I'm beginning to feel like a foreigner in my own hometown," Barton said.
A few of the speakers were more sympathetic to illegal immigrants.
"If you could talk to these people, 95 percent of them would say that if they could support their families and live in Mexico, they would," said Scott Owens, a Birmingham social worker.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/01/cro ... o_cra.html
