Thursday, 07.01.10

July 1, 2010
Call for Arizona-style law in Florida elicits concern


Undocumented immigrants and activists say they are concerned and angry about the possibility that Florida will enact an Arizona-style immigration-control law.

BY ALFONSO CHARDY


Julio Salgado, an undocumented immigrant worker from Nicaragua, has been questioned by the police in the past after business owners called authorities to complain about the presence of day laborers. But Salgado says that until recently none of the police officers had asked him for immigration papers.

Now Salgado is worried that they may start asking him for papers if the Florida Legislature adopts an immigration-control law similar to the one Arizona lawmakers passed earlier this year.

State Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, said last week that he plans to introduce legislation in November incorporating ``significant components'' from the Arizona law, which is scheduled to take effect July 29. The earliest Snyder expects the Florida Legislature to consider his bill would be during the next regular legislative session in March.

ASKING FOR PROOF

Under Snyder's proposed bill, police officers would be authorized to ask for proof of legal residency from people stopped for suspicious activities. Currently, police departments in Florida are allowed to deal with a suspect's immigration status if his or her name comes up on criminal databases as a fugitive wanted by immigration authorities -- although individual police officers once in a while ask about immigration status of their own volition.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied this week that it plans to suspend deportations for ``the nation's entire illegal immigrant population.'' But the department, in a written statement, did not deny that it could defer the removal of certain deportable immigrants.

The department's statement came in response to a letter from eight Republican senators to President Barack Obama last week asking for clarification about rumors the administration planned to defer the deportations or grant parole to millions of undocumented immigrants.

STATEMENT

``DHS has the authority to grant a deferral of removal action based on the merits of cases while considering humanitarian circumstances and other factors in the interest of the Department's overall law enforcement mission,'' a department statement said.

``However, this discretionary authority is implemented on a case-by-case basis and DHS does not grant deferred action without a review of relevant facts. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action to the nation's entire illegal immigrant population.''

News reports in The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and other news outlets Saturday that Snyder was planning an Arizona-style immigration-control law set off a wave of anger and concern among undocumented immigrants and their advocates in South Florida.

``Immigrant-rich Florida cannot afford a law that will undermine public safety, encourage discrimination, divert needed resources from local law enforcement and cripple our agriculture, tourism and healthcare industries,'' said Cheryl Little, executive director of Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. ``Driving immigrants further underground does nothing to fix our broken immigration system. It only makes matters worse.''

BOYCOTT THREATS

Herman MartÃ*nez of the American Friends Service Committee, an immigrant-rights organization, said immigration activists are preparing to fight the Snyder proposal and that if the Legislature approved such a law many groups in Florida and around the country would call for tourism, convention and business boycotts against Florida.

``We are ready to march night and day, enact boycotts against whatever needs to be boycotted, begin hunger strikes till the ultimate consequences,'' said MartÃ*nez. ``We will not permit more violations of human rights in our state of Florida.''

Foreign day laborers who stand on South Florida street corners awaiting job offers are among the most concerned because they often come in contact with the police.

Interviews this week with six foreign day laborers near the intersection of Southwest Eighth Street and the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade County showed they were aware of Snyder's proposal, and were alarmed.

MIGHT GO HOME

``Such a law would certainly affect me, and people like me,'' said Julio Salgado, a 44-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant who said he was undocumented. ``I would consider returning to my country if such a bill became law in Florida.''

Salgado's concern was echoed by another immigrant worker, Carlos Ruiz, 50, of Nicaragua, who stood nearby.

``If there such a law in Florida, it means that other states may be thinking of doing the same thing and this country may become repressive like Nicaragua used to be under the Communist Sandinistas,'' said Ruiz. ``Then it would be better to leave.''

Arnaldo Contreras, a 52-year-old Honduran at a street corner nearby said contacts with police officer would become more frequent and threatening under such a law.

``As it is, police officers often demand ID, some ask about our immigration status, but most just want ID,'' said Contreras. ``If an Arizona-style law is enacted by Florida, police officers will be asking for immigration papers all the time and calling immigration agents all the time.''
The Miami Herald

www.miamiherald.com