Thread: How to demand Free education for Illegal Aliens

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http://www.atlantalatino.com/detail.php?id=3775&vo=92

Leaders worried about passive community

By Yolanda DeLong
ydelong@atlantalatino.com

03/24/2005

In light of the growing demand for immigration reform and a rise in anti-immigration legislative proposals, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and other organizations hosted a discussion last Saturday in Gainesville to explore issues such as education, civil rights, and civic involvement.

Community leaders, human rights activists, parents and religious leaders presented an analysis of the immigrant situation in Georgia.

“We need parents to be more active,� Shawn Arevalo McCollough, principal of Gainesville Elementary School.

Many teachers and principals want to set our Hispanic kids aside and put them in special classes because they believe they can’t perform in regular classes, and we’ve seen that this is not the case.

Parents have the right to tell their principals, “I don’t want my child to be in that classroom, I don’t want him to be held back, suspended or failed for another year.�

Today, the only way for kids to be successful in the U.S. is to attend school every single day. On a certain level, schools are at the service of the entire community, and it doesn’t matter what language the students speak, each child has the right to attend school and be treated fairly.

We need parents to be more active, even though we know that sometimes it’s discouraging and intimidating to show up at a school where they don’t speak Spanish. Many of our families don’t feel very welcome because of this.

Also, whether schools have bilingual staff or not, every individual should be treated respectfully. Congress has mandated that every child should attend school regardless of where they come from and whether they have documentation, but parents also must be strong and courageous enough to make sure that teachers respect the rights of their children.

Their children need them to come to school when they aren’t satisfied with their teachers. As a school principal everyday, I see that our Mexican families stay home when they should go talk to the teachers to demand fairer treatment of their children.

These children, who have crossed the border, have demonstrated to all that if we support our Hispanic kids, we will be successful.

Teachers and principals can’t look at them and say that these children aren’t smart enough because they don’t know English, or that they aren’t going to be successful.

There is nothing in federal laws that says you have to prove you are a U.S. citizen to attend a public school.

“What I’ve seen in the school system pains me
to discuss,� Carmen Allen, mother.

We Latinos are together but not united. We have to help each other to consolidate ourselves as one voice.

As a mother and volunteer, I’ve seen a lot of cases of discrimination in the schools. We aren’t going to resolve anything just by talking, if we don’t also act to prevent further abuse of children in the schools.

The school system doesn’t have strong channels of communication with the parents. They can’t participate in something they don’t have any information on. In the case of public meetings, they may be “public,� but most people don’t know when they will be held.

I am an activist for all kids, Americans as well as Latinos, I don’t discriminate. I have a list that I want to present to the lawyers here that contains information on disciplinary actions referred by the school system, and information on the kids who have been disciplined.

What I’ve seen in the school system pains me to discuss, being an American citizen myself. I thought that discrimination ended years ago.


“Organizing ourselves as civic-minded communities,� Fr. Victor Reyes, pastor of San Miguel Catholic Church.

The situation in the community is that every day the number of immigrants is growing, while at the same time there is a lack of vision for the future.

If we ask ourselves what’s going to happen in five or ten years, nobody would have a sure answer. If we say we are going to go forth and multiply, that’s a vision for us. We have to do greater deeds. With meetings like these, little by little we can work on creating a broader vision.

St. John says that we have to respect the dignity of all human life, and we must put this into practice.

We all have the same rights, and what we have to remember is that it doesn’t matter what an individual’s circumstances may be, there are inviolable rights such as the right to health and education.

It’s very important for us to learn about our human rights and organize ourselves as civic-minded communities, since we are responsible to our children. I want to remind you all to take advantage of opportunities to know your rights as human beings.

“This is a bad time to be an immigrant," Debbie Seagraves, executive director, ACLU in Georgia.

With regard to certain legislatures that are interfering with human rights, I think that we aren’t always getting the rights we must have, so I think that this is a bad time to be an immigrant, especially after 9/11, now that so many laws have changed and the public sentiment in this country has changed as well.

There is a broad range of people in Atlanta getting involved with what’s going on. I think that outside the Atlanta area the Latino community is feeling isolated and unprotected, which makes it more difficult to provide assistance and the complete civic involvement that a lot of people want.

We know that if we provide a space and get people together to discuss the topic, people will come up with solutions with just a little support.

Therefore, our message is the promise that the Constitution isn’t just for citizens, but for everybody, even though we know it won’t be upheld for all.

Also, we hope to have more and more meetings outside the Atlanta area, throughout the rest of the state so that people can congregate, not only to listen to us but to listen to one another and gain more autonomy. There are already a lot of groups out there that are working hard for immigrants.

“Hispanics need to get more involved in the political process,� Joel Alvarado, political analyst, MALDEF.

Politically speaking this is an important time for Latinos, because their ability to make a difference politically is being recognized and they need to get involved in the political process.

The final component of community development is political involvement like what we’re seeing today. I’ve seen more and more Latinos get involved with school boards, city councils, state legislatures, and more.

HR 256 and other bills

HR 256, which would prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing state-funded social services, has been shelved for the moment and will not be passed into law anytime in 2005.

According to Democratic State House Rep. Pedro Marin in an interview with Atlanta Latino last Monday, “thanks to the work of Democratic Sen. Sam Zamarripa, myself and of course, that of the community, this bill has been rejected. However, it will come up again for debate next year and the fight will continue. The media should keep distributing information on this bills, and the community has to keep sending e-mails and demonstrating against it.�

From another perspective, representatives like Republican State House Rep. Chip Rogers have presented other bills in the Georgia Assembly over the past few months that would affect undocumented immigrants in Georgia.

SB 169 - Contracts for public works: includes a provision to prohibit retaliation.

Would prohibit any Georgia department, agency, institution, or political subdivision from entering into a contract for the performance of services unless the contract states that only persons who are U.S. citizens may perform the services.

SB 170 - Department of Motor Vehicles; legal residence; valid identification; create procedure
Would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to verify the legal address or residence of state residents, and would also prevent acceptance of driver’s licenses from other states without proof of legal residence in the United States.

SB 171 - University System of Georgia; prevent unauthorized non-citizens from enrollment.

SB 172 - Drivers’ licenses; all applicants to present valid documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship/legal immigrant status.

Oh this makes me so mad. Who do these people think they are? These people and these ethnic groups should all be thrown in jail for aiding and abetting an invasion. The ACLU and Maldef should be shut down under RICO.

Many teachers and principals want to set our Hispanic kids aside and put them in special classes because they believe they can’t perform in regular classes, and we’ve seen that this is not the case.

Parents have the right to tell their principals, “I don’t want my child to be in that classroom, I don’t want him to be held back, suspended or failed for another year.�

Because you know, god forbid that the children need to be held back because they lack the knowledge and skills necessary to advance to the next level, but we need to advance them to the next level anyway regardless of how the students perform because we don't want to hurt their f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s any. We need to be s-e-n-s-i-t-i-v-e to their plight. Rubbish, this is nothing short of rewarding lazy, bad behavior. I'm in the military and I run across high school graduates all the time who can't even get a 10 on their ASVAB test. In my opinion those types should have been held back 10 years, let alone one. Maybe if you lazy bums would take the time to learn the l-a-n-g-u-a-g-e and a-s-s-i-m-u-l-a-t-e into our society then maybe your kids wouldn't need special classes or be held back. It's amazing you people feel like you have the need to come here illegally to search for a better life, but you want to live exactly how you lived in your country of origin. Well if that's how you all feel then go back to where you came from.

Today, the only way for kids to be successful in the U.S. is to attend school every single day. On a certain level, schools are at the service of the entire community, and it doesn’t matter what language the students speak, each child has the right to attend school and be treated fairly.

God forbid that the kids would learn the lanuage that everyone else speaks so everyone can communicate and be on the same page. Do you think if I went to another country and made all of these outrageous demands for all of these benefits and demanded that everyone speak english that the country I went to would accomodate me on that request? Do I even need to ask that question? Yet they feel the need to come here, invade our turf and demand that we cave in to their outrageous demands in the name of fairness. It's downright insulting. People in this country need to stop being lazy (bleeping) pansies and demand that these immigrants learn english and assimulate or get out and demand that all illegals be deported. Stop coddling to these lazy bums. This garbage would not happen in any other country.

We need parents to be more active, even though we know that sometimes it’s discouraging and intimidating to show up at a school where they don’t speak Spanish. Many of our families don’t feel very welcome because of this.

BOO HOO HOO. That's just too dang bad. Cry me a (bleeping) river. Of course your families don't feel welcome because your families (probably mostly illegal) are trying to force your language and your culture down our throats and we are getting sick and tired of it. Many a immigrant has come here legally and has adapted, learned the language and became productive members of society. Nobody felt sorry for them. So what makes you illegal alien invaders so special that the rules don't apply to you? Learn the language, it's not that hard. If toddlers can do it then you all can to. Stop pushing your language and culture down our throats and you'll get better results that way. If I went to Mexico to live (I wouldn't actually, but) I would be expected to learn Spanish and rightfully so. I wouldn't expect them to learn english for my sake.

Also, whether schools have bilingual staff or not, every individual should be treated respectfully. Congress has mandated that every child should attend school regardless of where they come from and whether they have documentation, but parents also must be strong and courageous enough to make sure that teachers respect the rights of their children.

Another lie. It wasn't Congress that mandated that every child be educated regardless of immigration status. That was ruled upon by a radical leftist activist judge back in the early 80's which goes against our very own constitution btw. Just the fact that we bother to educate your illegal behinds at all should be respect enough. This is outrageous. How many more giveaways do we need to give illegals to prove ourselves worthy of their appreciation? Maybe instead of whining about it, a simple thank you would do that we actually take the time to try to educate your ungrateful kind.

Their children need them to come to school when they aren’t satisfied with their teachers. As a school principal everyday, I see that our Mexican families stay home when they should go talk to the teachers to demand fairer treatment of their children.

These children, who have crossed the border, have demonstrated to all that if we support our Hispanic kids, we will be successful.

No the Mexican families should stay home as in stay in their own country until they learn how to respect our laws so they can come here legally and become Mexican Americans. Maybe you all can stay in Mexico and do the right thing and demand these same benefits you all demand from us, only you need to demand them from Vicente Fox who he and his government have been shafting you all since day one. Imagine that, make your own country a better place to live instead of trying to destroy ours.

Teachers and principals can’t look at them and say that these children aren’t smart enough because they don’t know English, or that they aren’t going to be successful.

No your wrong. That's exactly what a teacher should do. If a student isn't performing, he/she should be held back. They shouldn't advance to the next level if they aren't worthy enough to. I would say that since we live in an english speaking country that learning english should be a prerequistite for advancing to the next grade. But then again some of these kids are so dumb that they can't even read and write in their own language, let alone english so that's a double whammy in my book. Hey you don't know enough so you need to be held back, not oh your not very smart, but we are going to pass you anyway because we don't want to hurt your feelings. To me that is not only a slap in the face to those who try to get good grades and make something of themselves, but it's a disservice to the kid who needs to be held back and taught a lesson because maybe, just maybe the kids need to learn something other than how to do menial low end jobs or how to procreate or how to deal drugs and join gangs.

There is nothing in federal laws that says you have to prove you are a U.S. citizen to attend a public school.

No thanks to a radical judge who back in the early 80's legislated from the bench and a no guts Congress and President who doesn't have the political will to do something about this.

“What I’ve seen in the school system pains me
to discuss,� Carmen Allen, mother.

We Latinos are together but not united. We have to help each other to consolidate ourselves as one voice.

It's all about the race isn't it? I myself would think it would be better to learn the language and assimulate into our society (haven't I said this enough already) so that we the people regardless of race can all be united as one people, not divided among different races. These ethnic groups make me want to vomit. They scream racism and demand equal rights, but yet what they really want to do is divide and conquer. They want special rights and special status. They are the real racists.

As a mother and volunteer, I’ve seen a lot of cases of discrimination in the schools. We aren’t going to resolve anything just by talking, if we don’t also act to prevent further abuse of children in the schools.

BS. Lady your child being lazy and unproductive is not the teachers fault. It's your fault for not being a real mother to your kids and making sure that your kid gets the real education he/she needs and to make sure that your kid is making an effort to learn and to assimulate. Don't blame the teachers and yell discrimination for doing their jobs, blame yourself for being a deadbeat parent.

The school system doesn’t have strong channels of communication with the parents. They can’t participate in something they don’t have any information on. In the case of public meetings, they may be “public,� but most people don’t know when they will be held.

Well gee whiz maybe if you weren't trying to communicate to these parents in SPANISH then maybe they would be able to understand you better. They can't participate in something when they don't know what the sam heck your talking about because your speaking a language that's foreign to them. (beats head repeatly against the wall)

I am an activist for all kids, Americans as well as Latinos, I don’t discriminate. I have a list that I want to present to the lawyers here that contains information on disciplinary actions referred by the school system, and information on the kids who have been disciplined.

What I’ve seen in the school system pains me to discuss, being an American citizen myself. I thought that discrimination ended years ago.

Figures. When you can't get your way by throwing a tantrum, go get a Red Diaper Doper Baby lawyer to sue. It pains me to see that these illegals who have no legal right to even be in this country have access to our courts in order to sue when there is a federal law that states aiding and abetting illegals is a crime. These lawyers and judges who do this should all be disbarred and thrown in jail for their treachery and have all of their assets ceased.

The situation in the community is that every day the number of immigrants is growing, while at the same time there is a lack of vision for the future.

If we ask ourselves what’s going to happen in five or ten years, nobody would have a sure answer. If we say we are going to go forth and multiply, that’s a vision for us. We have to do greater deeds. With meetings like these, little by little we can work on creating a broader vision.

A broader vision for what? To successfully turn America from the only superpower into a third world nation like Mexico. Yeah go forth, multiply, have ten more kids per mother out of wedlock that you all can't afford so you all can be a bigger burden to our welfare system and then cry about how evil white America discriminates and keeps you all down. Oh the evil white man, if only he didn't exist America would be a better place.

St. John says that we have to respect the dignity of all human life, and we must put this into practice.

We all have the same rights, and what we have to remember is that it doesn’t matter what an individual’s circumstances may be, there are inviolable rights such as the right to health and education.

Illegals have no rights other than to be deported. Go ask Vicente Fox for some health care and education you parasite. America doesn't owe you squat for your lawbreaking.

t’s very important for us to learn about our human rights and organize ourselves as civic-minded communities, since we are responsible to our children. I want to remind you all to take advantage of opportunities to know your rights as human beings.

In other words learn all that you can on how to suck the American taxpayers dry. It's amazing to me that we cater to these criminals the way we do and yet they act like they are the victims. PPLLUUUHHHEEEAAZZEEE!!!!

“This is a bad time to be an immigrant," Debbie Seagraves, executive director, ACLU in Georgia.

Yeah only if your an invader.

With regard to certain legislatures that are interfering with human rights, I think that we aren’t always getting the rights we must have, so I think that this is a bad time to be an immigrant, especially after 9/11, now that so many laws have changed and the public sentiment in this country has changed as well.

Exactly what human rights are we violating here? What laws have changed? What proof does this bozo have of this? Typical ACLU. If we don't have any facts lets just make them up as we go.

There is a broad range of people in Atlanta getting involved with what’s going on. I think that outside the Atlanta area the Latino community is feeling isolated and unprotected, which makes it more difficult to provide assistance and the complete civic involvement that a lot of people want.

This is totally laughable. Legal Latinos have nothing to fear if they obey the law. Illegal aliens are criminals and they should feel isolated and unprotected. That's how it should be when your a lawbreaker. Lawbreakers should be in the shadows where they belong. It's amazing these arrogant leeches want protection from the same laws they hold in contempt everyday they live here illegally. Astounishing.

We know that if we provide a space and get people together to discuss the topic, people will come up with solutions with just a little support.

Hint, the barnacles want more amnesty and more freebies for their lawlessness, if that wasn't blatantly obvious.

Therefore, our message is the promise that the Constitution isn’t just for citizens, but for everybody, even though we know it won’t be upheld for all.

That made absolutely no sense at all. Can somebody please dicipher what this mental midget is talking about? You sir wouldn't know what the constitution is if it smacked you upside your stupid melon. You probably couldn't articulate one amendment from it. Lets just become the United States of the World. What an idiot.

Also, we hope to have more and more meetings outside the Atlanta area, throughout the rest of the state so that people can congregate, not only to listen to us but to listen to one another and gain more autonomy. There are already a lot of groups out there that are working hard for immigrants.

More like working hard at working the system for invaders. If these clowns have their way we will be a third world nation in no time.

Politically speaking this is an important time for Latinos, because their ability to make a difference politically is being recognized and they need to get involved in the political process.

That's amazing. Then how do you explain why 47 percent of hispanics in Arizona voted for Prop 200. Maybe because they realize that invaders hurt them just as badly as they do everyone else and they are fed up too. Why don't we hear more about them? Oh because if legal Hispanics don't support open borders then they are looked upon as their version of uncle Tom's who should be smacked down for daring to leave the plantation so they wouldn't be exploited as slave labor for the elities. Now I get it.

According to Democratic State House Rep. Pedro Marin in an interview with Atlanta Latino last Monday, “thanks to the work of Democratic Sen. Sam Zamarripa, myself and of course, that of the community, this bill has been rejected. However, it will come up again for debate next year and the fight will continue. The media should keep distributing information on this bills, and the community has to keep sending e-mails and demonstrating against it.�

Pedro Marin and Sam Zamarripa are underlins for the Mexican government. They should be impeached and thrown in prision if the feds had the guts. Chip Rogers who's mentioned below should be thanked by Georgia constituents. He's a real hero and I wish more politicans were like him.

Sorry for the long rant, but I felt it was needed for this article.

Excellent rant.
You took the words right out of my mouth.

The nerve. Come here illegally and complain.
It makes me so mad, I am speechless.

I did send Ms. DeLong a nice note. The last line was:
"In a way, I am glad to read this type of article. You don't realize it, but your main accomplishment is to further anger the majority of the American public by your arrogance.
I honestly believe that the pro-illegals are seriously undermining their
cause with their entitlement attitude (gee, I wonder where they got that from?)

My letter to this sorry rag. I of course scaled down my anger a bit :

Leaders worried about passive community 03/24/05

After reading your article concerning the plight of the Latino community and I was doing alot of thinking and I came up with an idea that just might work for the Latino community. I remember growing up and going to school on how I read about many immigrants from many nations around our planet came into this country through the legal process and had to learn how to read and write in the English language and went on to become very productive members of society. They didn't whine and cry about how hard it was because nobody spoke in their foreign tongue. They didn't arrogantly demand access to free health care and education or countless other entitlement programs like the government owed them something for migrating into this country. No they did none of that, they came to this country the right way, sucked it up, learned the language and assimulated into our society and contributed.

Another thing I would suggest to the Latino community, instead of trying to unit the Latino community and further divide this country among racial lines, maybe you all should concentrate more on again learning the language, assimulating into our society and uniting among your peers in America. That's the reason why racism is live and well in America. Instead of uniting this country as one people, one language and one culture among many races, we are told to accept multiculturalism and that being divided among many different cultures, races, and languages is a great thing. Well I tell you it's not a great thing and it's destroying this country and we have groups like MALDEF, LA RAZA, LULAC and the ACLU that give the rest of the Latino community a bad name. They make it sound like they all speak for the Latino community as a whole when the reason why the Latino community as a whole are passive is because they probably don't want to be associated with the ethnic hustlers and pimps in the various pressure groups who only think of their own race instead of their own country as a whole that preach amnesty and free taxpayer give aways to illegal aliens who have to lie, cheat, steal and arrogantly whine their way toward the American dream.

However instead of encouraging the Latino community to learn the language, assimulate into our society, work hard, get an education and contribute to society and denounce illegal immigration your newspaper encourages mass illegal immigration and for Latinos in general to lie, cheat, steal and whine their way toward the American dream and to not make an effort learning the language and assimulating into society so they can make a positive contribution toward this country. Instead you preach that the government owes the Latinos for migrating into this country either legally or illegally. Shame on you.

Name and Location withheld