http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 30376/1075

Groups take on businesses
Avon's initiative spurs local action

By Erin Gillespie
egillespie@news-press.com
Originally posted on August 03, 2006

Across the state in Palm Bay today, city leaders will discuss whether to begin cracking down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Last week, Avon Park's City Council voted down a stronger measure that also would have declared English the Central Florida town's official language and penalized anyone who housed an undocumented immigrant.

As cities across the nation work on new immigration ordinances, at least two groups in Lee County are looking for more ways to fight what they say is a wave of immigrants taking over the country.

Mary Ann Redmon and Tony Maida of Cape Coral founded Americans Standing Tall to help local businesses whose employees protested during a national Hispanic work stoppage May 1. The group said it had 200 volunteers ready to work the jobs they left vacant.

Now the group is asking citizens to sign petitions requesting local governments to pass an ordinance similar to the one that Avon Park struck down. The petition supports measures that would hinder illegal immigrants from finding housing, jobs and health care services unless it's an emergency.


Bonita Springs Mayor Jay Arend said local governments can't do much.

"We don't have the authority to go after illegal aliens," he said. "We also don't have the staff."

Arend said the city has passed ordinances to combat slumlords and overcrowded homes where illegal immigrants tend to live.

Fort Myers Mayor Jim Humphrey also agreed with Arend. Immigration is a federal, not local, issue, he said.

Cape Coral Mayor Eric Feichthaler would not comment.

Juan Romero, founder of Casa Mexico, a Hispanic advocacy group in Bonita Springs, said small groups of people are trying to make life here difficult for illegal immigrants.

"(Immigrants) are just looking for a place to work," Romero said. "They are not stealing anything. We need them, and they need work."

Standing tall

Maida, Redmon and about five other members held their first meeting last week in the couple's Cape Coral home, which is decorated with American flags and a sign that reads "Stop Funding Illegal Aliens."

Linda Johnson-Jones said the economy would be fine without the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"Before illegals were picking oranges, someone did it," she said. "Some of them have small businesses going. Some of them are productive and contributing, but the majority are not."

Redmon said "good old-fashioned American ingenuity" would take care of the diminished work force.

Johnson-Jones said she didn't think much about protesting until she heard "The Star-Spangled Banner" was going to be translated into Spanish.

She started researching local blogs and learned what people think about the issue. She and her husband, Danny Jones, also joined the Minuteman Project, a group of volunteers who patrol the border with Mexico to stop illegal immigrants from crossing.

Johnson-Jones has become more involved because she fears her grandchildren are growing up in a different world.

"The people come, and they expect you to speak Spanish," she said. "If you want to come to this country, that's fine. Come legally, assimilate, don't bring your old way of life with you. If you want that, stay home."

Redmon, a retired lawyer, said she has always believed there was a problem with illegal immigrants in the United States.

"We want people who believe in America — the way it has been in the past and the way it can be again — to speak up," Redmond said.

The three said the federal government is not doing enough, so a grass-roots effort might make a difference.

"People in this city have a decision to make: Do we want to keep them here and bear the brunt of the cost?" Maida asked. "Or do we send them back and let them do it the right way?"

Protest of their own

In April, at least 75,000 people marched in support of illegal immigrants and immigration reform. Three months later on July 1, Harold Poole and his group, Citizens Against Illegal Aliens, organized a protest of their own. More than 60 people gathered at Fort Myers City Hall to rally against illegal immigrants and proposed amnesty measures.

The group meets every week. Nine people attended last week's gathering.

It has another rally planned for October at Centennial Park. Starting this week, the group plans to have online petitions asking for border security now, said group member Russ Landry. They hope to get 100,000 signatures statewide to send to U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, who represents Southwest Florida. Mack couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

On his Web site, Mack says, "We are a nation of laws, and those who come to America need to do so legally. That's why I oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants and why I support efforts to reduce and eliminate illegal immigration."

Hopes for Palm Bay

Wearing shirts with bald eagles and American flags flying, the Citizens Against Illegal Aliens group talks of the disappointment at Avon Park and the hope for Palm Bay.

Jennifer Poulos, who said the group is made of educators, not activists, said her family emigrated from Greece. She wants every immigrant to go through the process legally.

"To learn that there are people who are not willing to go through the steps that my ancestors and your ancestor did, well, not on my watch," she said.

At last week's meeting, the group's first newsletter was passed out. One section reads: "Just how much of our American culture are we willing to give up to have our tomatoes picked?"

Members Ray Mankowich and Brenda Martin have gone to local migrant pickup sites and photographed company trucks that collect workers.

The group then posts the photos on its Web site and e-mails the images to members, stating the company has picked up "undocumented day laborers." In one case, the license plate number also is listed.

"All we want to do is take pictures and contact the people and say, 'Hey, we've seen some of your trucks and you might have some people working for you who are of Hispanic descent and might be illegals,' " Mankowich said. "We want to keep it civil."

Romero questioned that kind of approach.

"I don't even understand why they would take pictures of people. How about if they say they are not illegal?" he asked.

"They might be regular workers or citizens, but they are pictured as illegals," he said. "... It's not always the truth."