Thread: FL: Collier commissioners’ immigration resolution blasted

Collier commissioners’ immigration resolution blasted
By Larry Hannan

Sunday, March 18, 2007

No one stood up to complain last week when Collier County commissioners demanded the federal government prevent any illegal immigrant from becoming a United States citizen.

But business leaders, Hispanic activists and national civil rights groups contacted afterward blasted the commissioners as stupid.

“The ridiculousness of what the commissioners are doing is just appalling,” said Barbara Mainster, executive director of Redlands Christian Migrant Association in Immokalee. “I’m amazed by the ignorance of it.”

Commissioners have repeatedly complained that the federal government isn’t doing enough to solve the immigration problem. On Tuesday, they passed a resolution demanding the federal government get tougher on the issue.

“We must make it clear that granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants is not the way to go,” said Commissioner Fred Coyle, who has been the most vocal of the commissioners in expressing his displeasure.

Local government has no say over immigration.

But Coyle said Collier commissioners need to speak up on this issue because state and federal leaders aren’t doing enough.

He recently observed that the county spent $50 million building a new jail and 30 percent of the space in the jail is taken up by illegal immigrants.

“I’ve proposed this because the federal government has failed to protect our borders,” Coyle said in explaining the resolution. “Throughout the country, local governments are stepping up because the federal government is not doing its job.”

The other commissioners agreed with Coyle, and expressed hope that their action would encourage the federal government to crack down on illegal immigration.

“I hope we can get a groundswell of support to take back our country,” Commissioner Frank Halas said.

The commission’s resolution also called for the federal government to take immediate action to overhaul and enforce American immigration laws and protect the United States’ borders.

Advocacy groups

Nonprofit groups that work for immigrants’ rights in Immokalee said the commission’s action showed a lack of understanding of how the immigration process works.

The economy in Collier County would screech to a halt if all the undocumented workers were deported, Mainster said.

“Hotels would have no one to clean their rooms. No one would pick up the trash. Construction would stop and crops wouldn’t get picked,” Mainster said. “I think these Naples Republicans are just out of touch with reality.”

On Tuesday, Coyle ridiculed the idea that undocumented workers are necessary for the economy to function.

“I’m tired of hearing about how much we need labor,” Coyle said. “We can get all the labor we need.”

Mainster disputed the idea that undocumented workers are a burden on the American taxpayer.

“Most undocumented workers pay taxes,” Mainster said. “A lot of the taxes they pay, they never get back.”

No one knows exactly how much immigrants contribute to the tax base, but some estimates have it at $500 billion a year, Mainster said.

Gloria Hernandez, community organizer with Inmigrantes Unidos por la Libertad (Immigrants United for Liberty) in Immokalee, said commissioners are hurting undocumented workers and driving them underground.

When local governments take stands like this, it sometimes encourages vigilantes, Hernandez said.

“It’s not unusual for an undocumented worker to be attacked or chased by a truck,” she said.

Mary Bauer, director of the Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said the Collier commission sentiment misses a basic reality.

“Most of the people who are in this country illegally would love to get on a path toward citizenship,” she said. “But they can’t get in line for citizenship when there is no line to get in.”

People don’t understand how the immigration process works, Bauer said.

“For most of these people there is no way they could come here legally,” Bauer said. “The system really encourages them to do this illegally.”

For a poor Mexican person, the only option is to come here illegally because you can make so much more money in America than you ever can in Mexico, Bauer said.

Flavia Jimenez, an immigration policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy organization, said Collier’s resolution was relatively minor compared with some others that have been passed in local communities.

Other ordinances have sought to deny housing and prohibit children of immigrants from going to school, Jimenez said.

“This resolution appears to be rather toothless,” she said. “But it does sound like the goal of the ordinance is to make Collier County unwelcome to immigrants.

“Actions like this can have a chilling effect because it drives immigrants underground,” Jimenez said.

“It can create an us-versus-them mentality in the community,” she said.

While Hispanic civil rights groups are vocal in their opposition, the business community is more circumspect.

Collier Building Industry Association officials don’t come out and say they oppose the commissioners. But they acknowledge supporting legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers.

CBIA has adopted the policy of the Florida Homebuilders Association.

“We believe our borders should be secure,” said Edie Ousley, spokeswoman for the Florida Homebuilders Association. “But we also support a guest worker program.”

That guest worker program would allow undocumented workers the chance to become legal residents in the United States.

This is also the path supported in legislation being pushed by President Bush and United States senators as disparate as John McCain and Ted Kennedy. Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez also support this.

Brenda Talbert, the executive vice president of the Collier Building Industry Association, said the organization discourages its members from hiring illegal immigrants.

“We make it very clear that you are putting yourself in legal jeopardy if you do that,” Talbert said, adding that CBIA has regular workshops to explain the law to its members.

The challenge builders face is that they often struggle to determine if someone’s legal or providing forged documents, Talbert said.

“A lot of companies have to deal with people who have very good-looking documentation that happens to be forged,” she said. “It’s a real struggle for builders in this area who want to follow the law.”

The immigration rules need to be fixed because they’re not working now, Talbert said.

The United States Chamber of Commerce also has supported legislation that would allow a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

Immigration reform

Collier commissioners are taking action at a time of great uncertainty when it comes to immigration.

Estimates on the number of undocumented workers in the country range from 8 million to 25 million. Most agree something needs to be done, but there is enormous disagreement over what that should be.

The Republican Party has split over the issue.

President Bush has said it doesn’t make sense to deport all illegal immigrants.

But conservatives within the Republican Party oppose citizenship for undocumented workers. They pushed legislation last year that would increase border security without allowing a path to citizenship.

Last week while visiting Mexico, Bush expressed hope that legislation creating a path to citizenship for illegals would pass Congress this year. Ironically, Bush has a better chance of getting that legislation passed now that his party has lost majority control of both the House and Senate.

Collier commissioners will be unhappy if that happens. They expressed their opposition to a guest worker program last month during a town hall meeting with U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the Fort Myers Republican who also opposes the guest worker program.

“Politicians think they can buy more votes by letting people stay in the country,” Coyle said Tuesday. “That is why some people don’t want to solve this issue.”

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/mar ... local_news

US verses them. Illegals already this attitude. They want to be able to disobey our laws, carry drugs across the border, steal our IDs, murder Americans, drive drunk, etc. Things that would put Americans in jail but they want their freedom to corrupt our government further than it already is.