Georgia bill a wake-up call to migrant community

[Brian503a]

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/a ... unity.html

Georgia bill a wake-up call to migrant community

By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/28/06
Illegal Brazilian workers gathered at a convenience store in Sandy Springs on Friday to discuss a hastily organized Latino boycott. The half-dozen stonemasons, vinyl siding installers and restaurant cleaners had taken the day off from work to prove a point.

"Without immigrants, lots of jobs won't get done," siding installer Emivaldo Coleta de Almeida said.

The men debated driving downtown to a protest at the state Capitol but decided against it for fear there might be repercussions against illegal immigrants.

Among Atlanta's newly arrived and informally organized immigrant community, Friday's demonstration protesting proposed legislation on illegal immigration, was just a whimper compared to the bang of other protests around the country, including a huge rally in Los Angeles on Saturday where more than 500,000 people marched to demand that Congress abandon measures that would make being in the country illegally a felony and erect a 700-mile fence along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Leading up to this week's immigration debate in the U.S. Senate, similar but smaller protests were held in Dallas, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend. On Monday, thousands of demonstrators, many waving U.S. and Mexican flags, marched through Detroit. And hundreds of students walked out of high schools in Dallas, Los Angeles and Huntington Park, Calif.

One reason for Atlanta's relatively muted response is that the city's Latino population is comprised of a fairly new wave of immigrants from many different countries and the community is just starting to find its voice and get organized. A march is planned for April 10, the same day as marches nationwide, but details are still slim.

The immigration bill under debate in Georgia's Legislature, Senate Bill 529, has provided the wake-up call, said Sara Gonzalez, the executive director of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), would prohibit illegal immigrants from getting some public benefits, sanction employers for hiring illegal immigrants and require police to check the immigration status of those arrested for felonies and DUIs, among other provisions.

Until now, Hispanics in Georgia haven't had anything to rally against, said Mexican-born car dealer Lou Sobh, who moved to the area in 1990 and now has one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the state.

"Georgia has always been very welcoming," Sobh said, "until 529."

Yolanda Martinez of Toluca, Mexico, didn't show up for work on Friday at the Mall de las Americas in Marietta. All the other Latin stores at the Marietta shopping strip were closed too. She found about the events of last Friday from fliers that were circulating through her store, but didn't hear anything from Hispanic leaders or organizers about the boycott.

"In Georgia there's not as much communication as there should be," Martinez said in Spanish as she pressed corn tortillas and tended the grill. "I don't think April 10 it's going to be the same as in Chicago or Arizona."

She heard that the march on Friday didn't happen because organizers were unable to get the needed permits.

She says Hispanic immigrants have to be united to fight the legislation. "We must join together," she said. "Whether or not we have papers, we also pay taxes."

On Sunday night, between 200 and 300 Latinos gathered at Plaza Fiesta to listen to an immigration lawyer explain the details of Rogers' bill.

"We got a lot of questions last week," Latin American Association Executive Director Maritza Pichon said. Parents called in asking whether their children would be asked to prove their legality in school.

At Sunday night's forum one child asked the lawyer what would happen to her if her parents were deported, Pichon said.

The Latin American Association is planning another forum at its headquarters Thursday night.

Monday night, the Latino Intercollegiate Consortium planned a candlelight vigil at the Central Presbyterian Church, across the street from the State Capitol, to protest Senate Bill 529. And this morning Gonzalez plans to hold a press conference explaining what the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has done to soften Rogers' bill.

The chamber opposes the whole bill, and Gonzalez sputters when she talks about anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King from Cobb County.

"It amazes me that the Legislature people are paying attention to that man. That is amazing, amazing," she said. "He's full of hate and very xenophobic and trying to coat the pill with half-truths and lies."

Corporate America needs to realize that immigrants are providing a lot of labor and if Georgia does not want them, the workers may go elsewhere, Gonzalez said. Immigrants are spooked, rumors are flying and people are misinformed, she said. "The rumor is, 'Oh, we are not wanted here. Oh, they are going to come and pick us up. Oh, I'm going to take the kids out of school,' " Gonzalez said. "It's panic. A huge can of worms has been opened."

Antonio Hernandez, 40, a Nicaraguan who has been here only 10 months and has a work permit under the Temporary Protective Status program for victims of natural disaster and civil strife, believes both sides in the debate have good points.

"I think those who are from here are correct," he said. "Some migrants do become a burden on society."

Hernandez said he left his country because of bad economic conditions and is glad for the job he found here. He said he realized that legislation pending in the Georgia Legislature and in Congress could make life difficult for him or even force him to leave.

"I believe the time I've been here has been enough for me to feel gratitude toward the people here," he said. "If there was an opportunity for migrants to remain with certain rights, it would be even better."

The huge demonstration in Los Angeles over the weekend gave Arturo Adonay the feeling that history was repeating itself.

The peaceful march reminded him of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Adonay, the general manager of Plaza Fiesta on Buford Highway, sees a racial undertone to laws aimed at illegal immigrants in Georgia and nationally.

"It's sad that this community will be affected, perhaps even in a racist way, by these new laws when really they are here to work," he said of illegal Latin American immigrants.

Adonay came to Atlanta from Mexico legally eight years ago as a student and is now a United States citizen.

Atlanta's Latino community isn't as organized as communities in other cities. He called on all Hispanics who have some level of success and education to unite. "All the people who have some kind of success need to come and join forces and establish some kind of organization," he said. "We need to get more organized."


Staff writers Teresa Borden, Brian Feagans and Aixa Pascual reported for this article. The Associated Press also contributed.

[gofer]

"It amazes me that the Legislature people are paying attention to that man. That is amazing, amazing," she said. "He's full of hate and very xenophobic and trying to coat the pill with half-truths and lies."

Yeah, spew that xenophob garbage when you know you don't have a debate or the intelligence to understand. It enrages me when they try to label us racist. They know they don't have a leg to stand on, so that's ALL they can say. They probably don't even know what it means. I would like to hear somebody ask someone what a xenophob is.