Thread: Protests continue in Squan vs. illegal aliens

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Sunday, July 23, 2006 01:29 AM Site last updated: 07/20/06 at 01:27 PM
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Protests continue in Squan vs. illegal aliens
By Nora Walsh


MANASQUAN — This past May, 1 million immigrants took to the streets throughout the United States to protest a bill that was passed by the House of Representatives, and is currently under consideration in the Senate, that would make it a felony to be an undocumented worker in the United States and would criminalize any aid given to illegal aliens.

However, illegal immigrants are not the only group mobilizing in the streets to make a statement.

Main Street, here, has become a rallying point for protesters from the organizations United Patriots of America and Minutemen in an effort to stir local residents to take a stand on illegal immigrants working freely in the area. The groups are attempting to dissuade employers and townspeople from utilizing illegal labor. Armed with signs, flyers and cameras, the protesters have gathered on the sidewalks in front of Borough Hall and the Acme supermarket for the past four Saturday mornings to garner support for their cause.

The location where they gather is a regular muster zone for illegal immigrants seeking day laborer jobs. Often, there are up to 50 men hanging around the area of the Acme and the 7-Eleven early in the morning, hoping a local contractor, builder or painter will pick them up for a day of work.

Ron Bass, of Linden, is the founder of the United Patriots of America, an organization whose mission is to have the immigration laws of the United States enforced and to secure the country’s borders from illegal trespassers. He has been an organizer for the protests in Manasquan.

“I want to send a message to citizens that we can no longer accept non-enforcement. The laws are enforced against the citizens of Manasquan but not against immigrants who have broken the law by entering our country illegally. Unequal enforcement is tyranny and against our civil rights,” he said.

Mr. Bass held a poster board stenciled in red and blue block letters reading “Secure Our Border.” He feels that President George Bush has sent the National Guard to the Mexican border in an effort to appease the American public, but said that rotating troops on two-week stints along the 2,000-mile frontier is not an effective measure to secure the porous border. Also, the “catch and release” policy for illegal aliens is not enough of a deterrent to keep them from attempting to cross the border or try again and again once they have been caught.

He also stated that when the president called for the guest worker program, there was a 40 percent increase of illegal aliens trying to cross the border, and for every 1,000

illegal aliens the border agents detained, an estimated 3,500 successfully entered the United States.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that illegal immigration increases the U.S. population by 1 million each year. Furthermore, most immigrants coming into the United States are poor and low-skilled workers that are twice as likely to be on welfare as natives and receive and estimated $75 billion dollars a year in public benefits. This leaves taxpayers with a net cost that runs from $30 to $50 billion. FAIR’s web site (www.fairus.org) also cites that immigration contributes to the poverty that breeds crime and argues that mass immigration puts a strain on the country’s resources and causes higher levels of pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat destruction and soil erosion.

Pat Defilippis, of Lakewood, a member of Minutemen who was at a recent protest in Manasquan, handed out “FED UP” flyers encouraging area residents to contact their senators and congressman to put pressure on them to secure the borders, deny amnesty, and fine employers who hire illegal aliens. The flyer also provided contact information of a myriad of organizations that are combating illegal immigration.

Ms. Defilippis owns a home improvement company in Lakewood and refuses to use illegal labor. Ms. Defilippis said that she pays her fair share of business and income taxes to the state and federal government and that she is upset that there is a double standard because illegal immigrants are not being held responsible to pay taxes, yet receive entitlements paid for by American citizens.

“They may be hardworking people, but I’m trying to make a better life for my family, as well. My tax money is spent in the U.S., it is not sent back to Mexico,” she said.

She also complained about woman having “anchor babies” in the United States. According to the 14th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution as a part of post Civil War reforms aimed at addressing injustices to African Americans, any individual born in the United States is granted citizenship. As a result, the children of illegal immigrants automatically become U.S. citizens and qualify for a number of federal, state, and local benefit programs. In addition, the child, when they reach the age of 21, can petition for a parent to gain citizenship.

“We limit our families to what we can afford, they don’t have to because they are not paying anything to have them,” she stated, referring to the $200 million a year spent on uninsured immigrants which comes straight from taxpayers’ pockets. Statistics state that the cost of educating anchor babies in New Jersey drains approximately $1.5 billion from the budget, as well as overcrowds schools.

Diane Reaves, a paralegal from Lakewood and an active member of Minutemen who was also in Manasquan recently, began homeschooling her children seven years ago.

“We’ve lost so many good teachers because they are sick of overcrowded classrooms and frustrated with having to teach English to immigrants. It’s difficult to teach a kindergarten class when there are 11-year-old immigrants who can’t speak the language,” she said.

Mrs. Reaves is trying to incite Manasquan residents to take a stand in their town the way that she has. Known throughout Lakewood for her active role in combating illegal aliens, Mrs. Reaves has successfully closed down an overcrowded home used as a day care center for children of illegal aliens. She has also filed a federal lawsuit against the mayor of Lakewood who wants to make an official muster zone for illegal aliens looking for work. She is going after “slumlords” who are allowing illegal aliens to occupy their properties in unsafe numbers. Mrs. Reaves has also been taking pictures of business owners picking up illegal day laborers and submitting their license plate numbers to the Department of Labor, the IRS, Homeland Security and the FBI. Employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens are subject to a $10,000 fine for the first offense, a $50,000 fine for the second offense and a possibility of incarceration for a third offense.

“I want to know who is coming into our country. Some of these illegal aliens are criminals, some are bringing third-world diseases into our country, and we have no way of knowing. I want the government to take action and make some decisions,” Mrs. Reaves said.

Mrs. Reaves also noted that she has witnessed the exodus of her neighbors due to the decline in quality of life caused by illegal aliens. Overcrowded, dilapidated homes, noise, garbage, public urination and defecation and crime have pushed people out of the area. The presence of cheap labor has also made it harder for lower-income families to survive in the area.

A large influx of illegal workers in the labor market has depressed wages and working conditions for native, low-skilled workers, widening the gap between the rich and poor and increasing businesses dependency on cheap labor, she believes.

“They need to fix their home country, not come here. If we try and fix the whole world we won’t have anything left,” she said.

Ted Mechnick, a contractor from Wall Township who was recently at a Manasquan protest, waved signs reading “Save American Jobs” and “Don’t hire illegals.”

“People pass by and give us the thumbs up. We want to educate the people that our political system is failing us,” he said.

While some people might be giving the protesters a pat on the back, a recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll found that 65 percent of New Jersey adults said illegal immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for at least two years ought to be allowed to keep their jobs and eventually apply for legal status.

Some residents expressed their disdain for the Manasquan protesters while passing by.

“They build our roads,” shouted a man from his mini-van. “Get a life,” yelled a Hispanic woman as she drove past in her car.

“The Klu Klux Klan hides behind the flag just like you do,” said another man walking through the Acme parking lot.

At a recent town council meeting, several Manasquan citizens expressed their concerns over the illegal alien issue plaguing their community.

Joan Harriman of Manasquan feels that the immigration laws should be amended and is opposed to giving illegal immigrants amnesty.

“They should change the rules on the requirements for a visa. We want field workers. They should change the visiting worker program to get the kind of workers we want and need,” she said.

Mrs. Harriman also expressed concern over the safety of the residents. “We don’t have a record of these people. They should have documentation and be fingerprinted for their own protection and ours.”

Phil Tischio of Manasquan said that illegal immigration is a very complex issue and while he feels that they are good people, he thinks that the illegal aliens are manipulating the American system.

“We need to secure the border, change birthright laws and send those home that can be sent home before we deal with the 11 million immigrants that are here illegally,” he said.

The protesters stress that they don’t have anything against legal immigrants; it is illegal immigration they are trying to rectify.

Mr. Bass wants to educate the citizens of Manasquan that in 1996 Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 297(g) which grants state and local law enforcement officers the legal authority to investigate, detain, and arrest illegal immigrants on civil and criminal grounds once they have been trained by Immigration and Customs enforcement. It costs less than $3,500 to train an officer; however, Congress has only appropriated $5 million dollars to the program. Representative Ted Poe (R-Texas) has proposed an amendment to the House Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that calls for $41 million to be added to the program budget in an effort to provide the necessary resources for training local law enforcement officers.

Manasquan Mayor Richard Dunne said he was unaware of any such law. “To my knowledge we can’t just arrest people for being in the country illegally. We can’t incarcerate illegal aliens without just cause. Immigration laws are federal laws, not Manasquan laws,” he said.

Manasquan Police Chief Dan Scimeca said that in the past he has picked up illegal immigrants for minor offenses but the INS instructed him to release them.

“Our jurisdiction on enforcing immigration law is in question. When we have direction from a higher authority we will take action accordingly,” Chief Scimeca said.

Ignacio Roa is an immigrant from Hidalgo Mexico who commutes from Avon to Manasquan every day looking for work. He has a university degree in political science from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico but had to come to the United States to earn enough money to feed his family.

Mr. Roa is frustrated that neither the U.S. or Mexico make it easy for hard working immigrants to enter the United States. “The Mexican Consulate charges us [Mexicans] $1,000 for an interview and when they deny our application they don’t even give us our money back. They are so rude to us and treat us like animals,” he said.

He also stated that in order to obtain a visa he would be required to have $30,000 in the bank, six years of stable employment and be a landowner. “If I had all those things I would not have to come to the United States to feed my children,” he said.

Visa requirements are based on a preference system with unskilled labor falling at the bottom of the list. The three-step application process can take several years even after the petition for a immigrant visa number is approved.

Mr. Roa agrees that immigrants should be documented but doesn’t feel the requirements to come work in the United States should be so stringent.

“We make $4.50 a day at home for 12 hours of work. We are hungry. I would ask Americans to put their hand on their hearts and think of us as human beings before they think of us as illegal aliens.”



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ALL NEW JERSEYITES

Grab your keys and throw on your driving shoes.......
Here's where we need to be! Down the shore to help grow the group

This is exciting. Headstand and flip.

NEW JERSEY finally has a starting point with which to begin making our voices heard It's not that far a distance from any given point in the state. And it's SO CLOSE TO TRENTON & CORZINE
MENENDEZ & comatose LAUTENBERG need a boot in the ass too.

Let's contact these guys and find out their schedule. I've no doubt that they'd be pleased as punch to have us add our voices to theirs.