Ball visits migrants,
assails illegals policy

By Leah Rae
The Journal News • March 24, 2009


Seven homeless men remained in the Putnam County jail on trespass charges yesterday, three days after a state assemblyman led a tour of their wooded encampment and used the event to promote his proposals to fight illegal immigration.

The men were taken into custody by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office on Friday morning, shortly after the tour involving Assemblyman Greg Ball and Southeast town officials. The men, six from Guatemala and one from Ecuador, were arraigned later Friday and were being held on $100 bail, police said.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement questioned them about their immigration status and has placed a hold, or detainer, on the men pending the local proceedings.

In a press release, Ball, R-Patterson, decried the exploitation of day laborers and announced what he said were "legislative remedies." They include bills that would deny SUNY admission to undocumented students, set aside $1 million to train police in immigration enforcement, and delay bail hearings for those suspected of being illegal immigrants. Other bills would bar state contractors that hire illegal workers and target the misclassification of laborers as "independent contractors."

Immigrant advocates were not impressed.

"Assemblyman Ball's so-called solutions are to treat immigrants as subhuman, harass them, and throw them in jail rather than seeking serious reform," said Betsy Palmieri, executive director of the Hudson Valley Community Coalition. "The legislation he touts makes it harder for immigrants to better themselves and does absolutely nothing to help day laborers to find places to live."

Pat Young, a coalition member who writes a blog about immigration, wrote that "Assemblyman Ball's purpose is not to help the downtrodden, but to join in their exploitation, not for financial gain but for political advantage."

The encampment tour was joined by Southeast Supervisor Michael Rights and Councilman Dwight Yee, whose campaigns claimed that illegal immigration had brought crime to the area.

Members of the media were invited, but The Journal News did not participate.

The press release from Ball's office included links to photos that appeared to be from the tour, but they were actually taken earlier. Ball said some were taken from a similar encampment in the fall, and Yee said he took some of them Thursday, two days after reporting the encampment to police.

Two deaths from exposure, as well as a homicide by drowning, have been reported near the encampments, which have been discovered around town in recent years. Tents have been found before on the same 17-acre parcel off Argonne and Starr Ridge roads.

Ball said his position on immigration has been misunderstood. Now exploring a run for Congress, he struck a different chord in discussing the national issues, saying he favored a comprehensive overhaul that would include legalization for undocumented residents.

"We absolutely need to secure the border, but we can contemporaneously open our doors to legal immigrants while cracking down on the black-market economy and inviting those illegal aliens who are currently within our borders to become American citizens, pay taxes and learn the language," he said. "All that can and should be done as a national priority, immediately."

He said he did not support the two comprehensive bills that were considered by Congress because they did not go far enough to secure the northern and southern borders. He was critical of backlogs in the immigration system and post-Sept. 11, 2001, policies that kept out foreign students.

"In order to renew and reclaim our promise to immigrants, to make a currently patently unfair immigration policy fair, we have to embrace a comprehensive solution that includes securing the border," he said.

Reach Leah Rae at lrae@lohud.com or 914-694-3526.
http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903240362