Thread: Groups demand Perdue retract immigration statements

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_ne ... p?ID=80535

Groups demand Perdue retract immigration statements

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

Hispanic and black leaders on Monday called for Gov. Sonny Perdue to retract statements about immigrants made last week during the announcement of a statewide crackdown on false documentation.

Gathered underneath the rotunda at the state Capitol, labor advocates and civil rights leaders said the governor and other lawmakers are unfairly targeting immigrants as a ploy to get re-elected.

During a news conference last week, Gov. Perdue said, "It is simply unacceptable for people to sneak into this country illegally on Thursday, obtain a government-issued ID on Friday, head for the welfare office on Monday and cast a vote on Tuesday," according to a transcript provided by Perdue's press office.

The Coordinating Council of Community Leaders, who organized the rally at the Capitol, delivered to the governor's office Monday a letter blasting Perdue's comments.

"We are distraught that ... statements made last week will only increase the climate of suspicion around Latino immigrants and increase racial profiling," says the letter, signed by council members Teodoro Maus and Adelina Nicholls.

Perdue said he has no plan to apologize for criticizing illegal immigration.

"I won't apologize for criminal activity," Perdue said Monday after a news conference at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation headquarters.

He also denied that the effort to get tough on illegal immigration is an election-year stunt.

During Monday's rally, speakers drew parallels between the struggle of blacks during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the state's campaign against illegal immigration.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the United States needs immigration reform rather than the "demeaning and dehumanizing of our brothers and sisters" from other countries. The SCLC is the Atlanta-based civil rights organization that Martin Luther King Jr. helped found in 1957 to fight segregation.

Lowery, who headed the SCLC from 1977 to 1997, called for "black and brown" teamwork to ensure civil rights for the country's two largest minority groups.

D.A. King, founder of the Marietta-based American Resistance Foundation, which opposes illegal immigration, called Monday's rally a protest of "the U.S. government enforcing existing laws."

Maus offered King a chance to speak at the rally but King declined.

Immigration has become a central theme in Perdue's bid for re-election this fall. Earlier this year he signed into law one of the toughest immigration bills in the country. The new law, which takes effect next year, requires proof that adults must prove they are in the country legally when they seek many state-administered benefits.

It also penalizes companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants and mandates that employers with state contracts check the immigration status of employees.

Perdue has criticized federal lawmakers, who are still debating national immigration reform, for forcing states to address the issue themselves.

As a Black person myself I'd really like to comment on this one, but will refrain from doing so, other than to say reading this article calling for Brow/Black unity really sickends and angers me

Every Black American needs to join ALIPAC to learn who is actually responsible for the hardships they are facing and dealing with; who is stealing their jobs; who is taking benefits and programs away from them that were intended for them; who is pushing wages down and housing prices up; who is stealing their educational opportnities; and who is actually responsible for their hardships.

The people behind illegal immigration and the illegal aliens themselves are responsible.

Black Americans need to form solidarity with ALIPAC and all the organizations trying to stop the ravages of illegal immigration.

Oh, and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, SONNY PERDUE!!

You have set a shining example for other states to follow.

That took guts; courage; and the American Ideal held tight in your soul.

GO SONNY!!

And best of luck with your re-election.

Originally Posted by ConcernedCitizen

As a Black person myself I'd really like to comment on this one, but will refrain from doing so, other than to say reading this article calling for Brow/Black unity really sickends and angers me

Ditto. In light of the fact that most latinos (especially Mexicans) hate Black people, find the LaRaza/Black unity thing more than nauseating.

During Monday's rally, speakers drew parallels between the struggle of blacks during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the state's campaign against illegal immigration.

There are NO parallels! Zip, zero, zilch. No one esposing this blasphemey is worthy of being deemed a Black leader.

The Right Rev Joe Lowry has forgotten it was called
the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. It wasn't called the
save mexico's bacon drive.

Originally Posted by dem4labor

The Right Rev Joe Lowry has forgotten it was called the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. It wasn't called the
save mexico's bacon drive.

GOOD ONE!!

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/09 ... 7222.shtml

Activists seek Perdue's apology
Governor has no plans to retract comments on illegal immigration
By Vicky Eckenrode | Morris News Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 ATLANTA - Latino and black civil rights activists came together Monday to chastise Gov. Sonny Perdue and call for an apology for recent statements the governor made regarding a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the state.

The coalition of grass-roots leaders, labor union representatives and Democratic lawmakers took exception to Mr. Perdue's comments last week while introducing an initiative targeting people who use fake documents to get driver's licenses or state identification cards.

"It is simply unacceptable for people to sneak into this country illegally on Thursday, obtain a government-issued ID on Friday, head for the welfare office on Monday and cast a vote on Tuesday," Mr. Perdue stated at the time, while pointing out other get-tough measures the state has attempted to address illegal immigrants.

Teodoro Maus, the former Mexican consul general in Atlanta who has organized immigrants' rights marches this year, said Mr. Perdue should not be politicizing illegal immigration as part of election-year campaigning.

"It is a message of untruths and presents a false, deformed picture of the immigration issue," Mr. Maus read from an open letter he and other groups presented to Mr. Perdue's office. "This is a situation being exploited to generate fear and hatred towards the Latino and immigrant community by candidates who hope to use hard-working, God-fearing, honest, but vulnerable persons as scapegoats ... to ride to electoral victory."

Speakers said they are organizing a protest march for Sept. 30.

Mr. Perdue, speaking at a news conference later in the day, said he would not take back any of his recent statements.

"I won't apologize for criminal activity," he said. "We just cannot condone those coming illegally."

The debate has been fodder for national politicians as well, though it appears more uncertain Congress will pass any reform bill before the November elections.

Civil rights activists who met Monday inside the state Capitol also called for federal agents to stop conducting any more sweeps of undocumented workers in the state until a national reform measure is passed.

News accounts of more than 100 illegal workers being taken into custody and rumors of more checks have spread among immigrant communities, said Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director for the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.

"The word-of-mouth out there is that Georgia is not a welcoming state," he said.

Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed an illegal-immigration bill to make it tougher for employers to hire undocumented workers and for illegal immigrants to get most state-funded benefits.

When the bill started being debated, anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King criticized Mr. Perdue for not taking more of a public stance on the issue.

On Monday, Mr. King, who watched the news conference at the state Capitol, came to Mr. Perdue's defense, however.

"Those of us who study this issue (think) that the root problem is fraudulent documents," said Mr. King, the president of The Dustin Inman Society. "The governor has simply shown the courage and the great leadership to attack the problem at its base. This group of very far-left, very open-borders, race-baiters here should be ashamed of themselves for attacking anybody who is simply trying to enforce the law."

http://gov.state.ga.us/contact_dom.shtml

To send Perdue a "thank you"