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Emotions run high as Latinos seek support from City Council
By KEVIN COURTNEY, Register Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 1:13 AM PDT
After a week of street protests, Napa's Latino community came in from the cold Tuesday night to offer testimonials to the City Council about the value of their labor.

Before a standing room only crowd, speaker after speaker voiced hurt and outrage over a Congressional proposal that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally and make it a crime to aid illegal immigrants.

Although the House of Representatives bill seems likely to be rejected by the Senate, workers and the children of immigrants asked the council to stand with them.

"We've been singled out because of the color of our skin," said Ben Velazquez, a winery worker who admitted coming to the U.S. illegally in 1974.


Vintage High School senior Lucia Gonzalez wipes away a tear as she recounts her family's story and the potential impact HR 4437 would have on them if it became law. Gonzalez and about 50 other protesters filled the seats of Tuesday night's city council meeting to drop off a resolution calling for the city of Napa to denouce HR 4437. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
"You can help us out. You guys need us," Velazquez said. "We go down into the pit. We get dirty. There are a lot of Americans that don't want to do what I do."

Hernando Fernandez, a student, praised his father for leaving Mexico to make sure his children would have a better life. "I have a kidney problem," he said. "If I lived in Mexico, I would be dead."

A crowd of about 100 protesters gathered outside City Hall before the council's evening session. Some carried signs reading "We are illegal, not criminal" and "If we leave, who is going to pick your crops?"

When the session started, they put away their horns and quietly filed into the council chamber, filing every empty seat and standing along the rear walls. Flags -- mostly American -- were furled.

After listening to a council regular loudly complain about noise from a bakery, the group paraded to the lectern. During the next hour, more than a dozen Latinos spoke, joined by several impromptu non-Latino supporters.

Mayor Jill Techel had been tipped off by an organizer, Laura Lopez, a Vintage High graduate now at UC Santa Cruz, that the protest would be part of the council's agenda. Council members listened intently as speakers spoke politely, angrily, with tears and occasionally with a translator.

"I think you wowed us tonight," Techel said after the last speaker. "It's the stories that have the power."

With the council's concurrence, Techel asked staff to bring back a resolution on April 18 that would put the council on record as opposing major elements of the House bill.

If the council adopted a draft resolution submitted by Lopez, it would oppose having police act as federal immigration agents.

The council would oppose any law that made it a criminal offense for a religious, health care or education worker to provide services to illegal immigrants.

If all illegal residents were returned to their home countries, the economic impact on communities such as Napa would be significant, the proposal states.

Congress would be encouraged to pass reform legislation that allows illegal immigrants to "emerge from the shadows because through their labor they help our communities to develop its diversity, racially and culturally."

Any law should address the "root causes of immigration" and the contributions that immigrants make to their new communities, the draft states.

Federal proposals

Congress is debating competing proposals to deal with the estimated 10 million to 12 million undocumented residents believed to be living in the country.

A proposal that passed the House of Representatives last year would make it a felony to cross into the country illegally and criminalize efforts by humanitarian agencies to provide even basic aid to undocumented workers.

Other proposals, including one supported by President Bush, would create a temporary worker program that would allow hundreds of thousands of workers to cross the border and work in selected industries, like agriculture. A bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee would create an 11-year path to legalization through what's called a "guest worker" program, provided undocumented workers are law-abiding, employed and learning about the American system of government. The judiciary committee eliminated the felony provision from senate proposals.

The bill still has to be voted on by the full Senate. Whatever the Senate passes must be reconciled with the House bill in conference committee in coming months, so it's unclear what the eventual outcome of the debate will be.

Additional support

Councilman Harry Martin said he would support a resolution to the crowd's liking. "My father was an illegal immigrant. He wasn't caught until his 60s," said Martin, who noted that his wife came to the U.S. from England legally.

Techel said she would be talking to Rep. Mike Thompson and the staffs of California's two U.S. senators about Tuesday night's testimonials at City Hall.

For the council, the event was an intimate glimpse at a complicated social issue that rarely shows its face at City Hall. For many in the audience, this was their first close-up experience with city government.

Frances Ortiz-Chavez, a Napa school board member and president of the Napa County Hispanic Network, spoke about how divisive the immigration issue can be, but said she was proud that the Napa community could discuss the issue at City Hall.

When Washington debates immigration reform, the issue quickly becomes personal, Lucia Gonzalez, a Vintage High senior told the council.

"I'm a citizen. I have family members who aren't. I have friends who aren't," said Gonzalez, clasping an American flag. "Personally, it hurts to think I'm looked at differently," she said, breaking into sobs.

As a member of the Air Force, Luis Alvaredo said the political debate in Washington was hurtful to his fellow Mexican-Americans in uniform. "It kills a lot of morale among the troops," he said.

Some testimony was reduced to emotional essences. Translating for her mother, Maria Arroyo said Maria Garcia had but one request of the council: "She would like to ask you guys to touch your hearts."

Techel said she hoped that the audience would return in two weeks when a resolution on immigration is considered.

Many said they would. "A sleeping giant is waking," said one.