Thread: Council hears more concerns over immigration operation

Council hears more concerns over immigration operation

Editor
8.22.15 closure notice

City of Corsicana image - An immigration march planned for Aug. 22 has resulted in a plan to close several downtown streets from 10 a.m. to noon that day.

Posted: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 4:06 pm | Updated: 10:54 am, Thu Aug 13, 2015.
By Bob Belcher, Daily Sun

A Dallas man organizing an immigration rights march in Corsicana later this month was among several people who spoke to the Corsicana City Council Monday.

It was the second consecutive meeting that the council has heard concerns during the public forum over a recent operation by the Immigration and Custom Enforcement office in Dallas, that resulted in the arrest of 26 individuals in Navarro County and one in Dallas County identified as “criminal aliens” by immigration officials.

Jose Santoyo, who told the council he grew up and went to school in Corsicana, said he believes the community needs a “healthy dialogue” on immigration issues, and renewed his call for the City of Corsicana to become a “sanctuary city.”
“Our tax dollars should not be supporting ICE operations,” Santoyo said.

Santoyo was one of five people who addressed council members, repeating their opposition to the city and county cooperating with immigration officials.

“If you cared (about us) you wouldn’t allow ICE to come here and take our parents,” said Rubi Ibarra. Ibarra said the operation resulted in a lack of trust of police in the city.

Jessica Rodgers asked if city funds were spent in the operation, wanted to know what actions officers took in the operation, and when Navarro County Sheriff Elmer Tanner would “sit down and discuss concerns” with them.

Ismael Huerta of Corsicana said he believed some of the actions of the immigration officials could be called “racial profiling” and that people who did not have warrants were taken in the operation.

He said he has “lived in fear” since the operation ended, as have others in the community.

“These are good-hearted people who shouldn’t have to live in fear,” Huerta said.

Paz Moctezuma, who said she was speaking on behalf of the Corsicana Immigration Rights Group, said immigration officers acted in an “unfair

and inhumane way” and that many of those taken in the raid had already paid fees, fines and completed probation time.
“It was unfair for them to be punished,” Moctezuma added.

Council members or city staffers commonly do not respond to questions and comments made during the public forum to avoid running afoul of the agenda requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Mayor Chuck McClanahan, who was not in attendance at the meeting but observed via Skype, agreed to meet with Santoyo and 10 members of the community to discuss their concerns further.

Santoyo said he is organizing a peaceful march on Aug. 22 in Corsicana to bring attention to the immigration concerns of the community.

“It’s because of the recent events we’ve seen happen here, with all the raids and all the injustice that’s happened here,” Santoyo said.

The march is expected to start at 10 a.m. on Aug. 22, and will begin at Third and Beaton Street, head south of Beaton to Fifth Avenue, and west on Fifth Avenue to the Corsicana Government Center. A rally will take place at the Government Center with a variety of speakers, Santoyo said. He said some of the speakers were “pending” for the rally, but hoped that U.S. Rep. Joe Barton and State Rep. Byron Cook would agree to appear.

“We’re not doing it for political reasons, we’re doing it because the community cares and we want to see a change,” Santoyo said.

Santoyo said he has not approached the Navarro County Commissioners Court in the same fashion as he has the Corsicana City Council because many of the individuals he said were affected by the immigration operation lived in the city limits.

“If we can’t see a change in the city of Corsicana, how are we going to see a change all over the county?” he said.

The council handled a brief business agenda following the public forum, conducting a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant, a resolution to begin the process of setting the tax rate at .6272 per $100 taxable valuation, nominated McClanahan to the Navarro Central Appraisal District Board, amended a contract for sewer line work, and after closed sessions to discuss legal matters and real estate, authorized the city manager to negotiate for the purchase of two parcels of land on East Eighth Avenue.

http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/new...69a6ffdbb.html

Jose Santoyo is nothing but an outside agitator. JMO

“If we can’t see a change in the city of Corsicana, how are we going to see a change all over the county?” he said.

The illegals are the only people that gain by "change" in our country. How many of those marching will have an Obamaphone and an EBT card?

No sympathy here.

I hope Corsicana doesn't fall for this baloney.