Thread: MALDEF Leader has back-up immigration plan

Leader has back-up immigration plan


By SUZANNE GAMBOA, The Associated Press
2:03 p.m. September 25, 2009

The head of the nation's leading Latino legal advocacy group said if comprehensive immigration legislation seems unlikely in 2010, Congress should make down payments by passing smaller-scale reforms.
In an interview with The Associated Press Friday, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he fully expects work on rewriting immigration law to begin in Congress next year.

But if Democratic leaders delay, because of elections and a hostile political climate for immigrants, Congress should take up the issue gradually and in smaller ways, Saenz said. Lawmakers could address the need for foreign agricultural workers, provide legal status to high school graduates brought to the country illegally as children, and create equity for same sex partners who want to come to the U.S. or get green cards.

"As of right now, I have not been convinced that comprehensive immigration reform cannot move in 2010, so it needs to move. It needs to include all of these elements and many more," Saenz said. "If that is not possible, then I'm interested in discussing this idea of down payments with a commitment to fulfill the obligation through comprehensive immigration reform that is not postponed indefinitely."

Previously, immigration advocates have been reluctant to address immigration reform piecemeal to keep the various interest groups united on difficult issues, such as legalizing millions of people who are in the country illegally.

Saenz acknowledged that immigration reform is meeting fierce opposition. He also agreed that President Barack Obama may face a tougher road trying to tackle it than former President George W. Bush, whose conservative credentials made his stance on the issue more palatable to some. Obama is under pressure from Latinos to succeed, he said.
"Part of President Obama's mandate coming in, particularly in the high levels of support that he received from Latino voters in critical states, I think a significant part of his mandate was about comprehensive immigration reform," Saenz said.

While the politics is playing out, Saenz said the Obama administration can take immediate action on immigration by fixing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, and suspending agreements that allow local and state law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. The agreements have led to civil rights abuses, such as racial profiling, he said.

Saenz, who was general counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for five years, said that like the LA police force of about 15 years ago, ICE's "reputation in the community is deservedly abysmal" because it permits and condones civil rights violations regularly.

"It needs to be fixed," just as LAPD was, Saenz said. That could be done with leadership, transparency, repercussions for civil rights violations and oversight from an outside group, among other things, he said.

Saenz said other priorities for MALDEF are:
– Countering calls by some in the Latino community for Census boycotts as a way to secure immigration reform. Saenz said the idea is a "self-inflicted wound of tremendous damage."
– Protecting Latino's voting rights when legislatures take up redistricting after the Census, probably on an expanded geographic scale than in previous years because of growth of the Latino population.
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On the Net: Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: http://www.maldef.org

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=172271

– Protecting Latino's voting rights when legislatures take up redistricting after the Census, probably on an expanded geographic scale than in previous years because of growth of the Latino population.

So I suppose this means the crafting of solid Latino districts where they can develop special interest pressure groups to control the representative.

MALEDF's "Piecemeal Amnesty". Things we must watch for:

Quotes:

1. "Lawmakers could address the need for foreign agricultural workers, provide legal status to high school graduates brought to the country illegally as children, and create equity for same sex partners who want to come to the U.S. or get green cards."

A. Reintroduction of "AG-Jobs"
B. The DREAM Act
C. Inclusion of the third in "rights for homo and trans-sexuals" legislation.

2. "While the politics is playing out, Saenz said the Obama administration can take immediate action on immigration by fixing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, and suspending agreements that allow local and state law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. The agreements have led to civil rights abuses, such as racial profiling, he said."

A. See below
B. They have already begun this by abruptly "shifting the focus" of the 287(g) cooperative program between ICE and local law enforcement almost exclusively to deportation of violent criminal aliens and by cutting back on the program's funding although there currently is a waiting list of local law enforcement agencies across the country which have applied for training. 287(g) has been highly successful in deporting illegal aliens who commit crimes in local communities, it is popular with "we the people", and that is why they fear and want to cripple it.

I don't know about the status of the "COPS" program which allows for ICE agents to be placed in local jails to screen the immigration status of all those arrested.

3. "Saenz, who was general counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for five years, said that like the LA police force of about 15 years ago, ICE's "reputation in the community is deservedly abysmal" because it permits and condones civil rights violations regularly.

"It needs to be fixed," just as LAPD was, Saenz said."

A. i.e., ICE needs to be "neutered" the way the LAPD was so that their officers are in effect made powerless to enforce our immigration laws.

This is a dangerous man who leads an organization dangerous to the survival of our nation.