http://www.laopinion.com/

Translations:


Undocumented people take precautions by casts

They make factories to educate to workers on his rights and to protect his familie

DODGE CITY, Kansas (AP). - - Frightened by the casts of the year last in six plants of Swift & Co, the undocumented immigrants who work in the empacadora industry of meat are preparing in case of being arrested.

During years, defending groups of the rights of the immigrants had trusted that the enormous empacadoras companies were so powerful that the immigration agents never would smooth them.

But from the casts of the 12 of December in the plants of Swift in six states, those groups have organized factories to teach to the undocumented people to prepare for their possible arrest, being written up legal documents so that somebody becomes position of its children and their financial subjects.

In addition, the union of workers of that industry has printed a bilingual pamphlet that glides to distribute in all the nation in the next weeks. The pamphlet is accompanied by samples of legal documents and letter models.

"We want to make sure that they [ the immigration authorities ] do not take advantage of our people", explains Martín Pink, secretary and treasurer of the union of workers of commercial feeding and in Dodge City.

Between that they are making preparatory since it took care of a factory is the family of a man of 43 years who works protected in a false identity in the plant of National Beef, in Liberal. Two of their four children, of 4 to 18 years, were born in the United States, where it has lived during 21 years.

Her wife, an undocumented immigrant of 39 years, requested not to be identified from fear of which the family was arrested. The family is preparing documents so that his brother, a resident with legal documents, takes the safekeeping from his children if they deport her and to its husband. They have put its little properties to name of another person and are trying to save all the possible money.

"It is the foreseeable answer of terrified people that it must continue working to survive", affirms James Austin, a lawyer of immigration of Kansas City, Missouri, that has distributed those factories in Kansas.

Ed Hayes, director in Kansas of the group Minuteman, an organization antiimmigrant, says, on the other hand, that "that people must be arrested because she helps another people to break the law. We have churches that are helping people to break the law. We have Chambers of Commerce that they want that they do it, politicians who want that they do it. What has happened to our nation of laws "

The press conferences on immigration are not nothing new, according to Austin, but only recently the organizers have begun to distribute and to discuss documents on the transference of legal powers.

It explains that it is the direct answer to the recent casts of immigration, including the arrests the year last of 1.282 employees of Swift in plants in Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Iowa and Minnesota.

"I do not know what to more make than help people to prepare itself in case it happens here", John Fahey said to the catholic priest, of the church of San Antonio in the city of Liberal, in Kansas, where a recent factory attracted 250 workers of empacadoras plants of meat in the southwest of the state.

Methodist the United Hispanic Ministry and groups Liberal United Mexican-American collaborated in the organization of the encounter, remembers Arturo Ponce, ex- worker of a empacadora plant of meat that helped to found Hispanic United of Liberal. Also it is urged to the families of immigrants to open accounts of saving with three thousands to 10 thousand dollars by family to pay to the guarantees and other expenses.

"they are separating a little from money in the measurement that can for this situation", Ponce said. "It is a heavy load, but he is realistic".

Also he advises himself to them not to sign a form of voluntary deportation and to demand the presence of an immigration lawyer, he says Ponce.

Roses explain that the bilingual pamphlet of the union will detail on the rights of the workers and will offer advice practical to fight with the immigration problems. Between documents are letter models that the immigrants can use to respond the questions of the federal government on problems with the numbers of Social Insurance.

"Now the same fear prevails, wherever one goes", it comments Roses.

Detailed the preparatory relatives of the undocumented workers surprised the agents of immigration and customs, like also to the group of the industry, the American Institute of the Meat (American Meat Institute). Both groups said that they were not found out.

"I have not heard which no company is actively dealing with to prepare the workers, because if a company knows that they are undocumented also it knows that it would not have to contract them", thinks Austin.

The employers can face sanctions if they contract undocumented workers knowing full well that are it.

Don Stull, a professor of anthropology in the University of Kansas and expert in the industry, says that a 25% of those who works in the empacadoras plants of meat in EU they are illegally in the country.

In the casts in Swift, the agents arrested a 10% of the labor force.

The industry affirms to be doing all the possible one to make sure not contracting undocumented immigrants.

"To contract illegal workers he is not advisable. The constant renovation of employees has a disturbing effect ", according to Dave Raye, spokesman of the American Institute of the Meat.
-------------------------------

----------------------------------


* Immigrants with legal documents fear to lose benefits

They undergo rejection just as any other group in EU, experts think

Oskar Garci'a
AP

15 of April of 2007


Related articles


* Undocumented people take precautions by casts

OMAHA, Nebraska. - - As undocumented immigration causes a raised national debate, support battalions worry that the immigrants with estatus migratory in order with the law in the United States can be affected.

"At the moment one denigrates to the immigrants: one considers indignos them of any type of right, benefit or consideration ", says Lourdes Gouveia, director of the Office of Latinos/Latinoamericanos Studies in the University of Nebraska, in Omaha. "the atmosphere allows it because they are those that probably have less voice".

The Legislature of Nebraska, for example, considers to retire social benefits -- like the food coupons -- to numerous immigrants with legal documents that are been in the country less than five years.

In October, the court of justice of greater instance of Maryland prevented that the state imposed a law similar to which is in consideration in Nebraska.

The law would have deprived of the insurance of Medicaid health to almost three thousand children and pregnant women. The court accepted a shelter order while a demand is solved because the judges supposed that the immigrants whom they probably demanded to the state would gain their case.

Approximately one week later, the state authorities of health replaced the benefits, and the state settled the demand, terminating the proposal to cancel the benefits, remembers Regan Bailey, lawyer of the Office of Legal Attendance of Maryland of the plaintiffs.

"I do not know if it is stupidity or something more malicious, but they were involved in the greater problem of the illegal immigration, that in this case does not have anything to do", says Bailey. "One can have a position taken on illegal immigration, but he is not excellent here. These are legal immigrants who must have access to that reason why taxes pay ".

The measurement of Nebraska is promoted by republican governor Dave Heineman to reduce taxes in about 2,7 million dollars of approximately 600 million that the state will spend in Medicaid and the other programs in the next fiscal year.

Of being approved, it would be deprived of coupons of foods, Medicaid insurance and programs for old, blind and disabled children and that benefits to hundreds of immigrants with legal documents in the state.

"Whenever one establishes distinctions between different groups, possible constitutional problems are looking for", comments Becky Gould, lawyer of the Legal Center Appleseed de Public Intere's, of Nebraska. "That is something that would have to study if the law is approved".

The plan has revived the provoked debate when Heineman vetoed a law in April that granted the matriculation state to children of undocumented immigrants, a measurement that according to many observers allowed him to gain the republican primary election for the gubernatura, surpassing to the then national representative Tom Osborne, famous ex- trainer of futbol university.

Heineman refused to be interviewed for this article, but it affirmed that there was "absolutely no connection" between I veto of April and his present proposal to cancel services to immigrants with legal documents, according to his spokesman Jen Rae Hein.

"We are in the preliminary stages of our tax efforts, and therefore still they are left ahead many discussions", affirms Hein.

But Gouveia says that the proposal will harm the efforts of the immigrants to assimilate itself to the American culture.

"very worrisome continuous east Is a tendency effort to also exclude the immigrants [ with legal documents ] from the institutions, benefits and system of rights that are granted to all the others", notices Gouveia.

The Law of the Reformation to the Federal System of Social welfare, of 1996, disqualified to many immigrants with legal documents of the federal aid -- like coupons of foods and public attendance -- during the first five years in the country.

The law seted out to promote the self-sufficiency and to discourage at that the foreigners only arrived to collect payments of social welfare and other benefits.

Since then, many states have restored some or all those benefits with state bottoms -- including coupons of foods, Medicaid and other services --, but others they decided not to offer there nothing else of which they demand the federal laws.

According to data of the National Center of Immigratory Right, 21 states and the District of Columbia provide to benefits to some immigrants with legal documents nonplaces setting by the federal law. Thirteen states -- including Nebraska -- have used state bottoms to provide services similar to which was offered to federal level before the 1996 law, according to Tanya Broder, director of policy of benefits public.

"It would say that most of the states that have high population immigrant they have invested in the new population", Broder said. "the tendency is to expand the care of the health for the children and the access to this care for the pregnant women".

New projects presented/displayed in both cameras of the federal Congress could restore the access to the care of the health for some pregnant women and children who are immigrants with legal residence in the country.

In 2001, New York replaced the eliminated federal benefits in 1996 after the Court of Appeals considered that to deny these services he was unconstitutional, violatorio of the state and federal guarantees of equitable protection.

In the Internet: Decision of the Court of Appeals of Maryland: http://tinyurl.com/yv3z9q Legislature of Nebraska: http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov Human Health and Services of Nebraska: http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/