LA's Office of Immigrant Affairs..West Coast Ellis Island?
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/001035.html#001035
From: Lonewacko Non-"liberal" coverage of immigration, Iraq, terrorism, multiculturalism, Los Angeles, California, privacy, and occasionally celebrities and wacky humor.
March 03, 2004
"Los Angeles is the Ellis Island of the West Coast"
Los Angeles has a new Office of Immigrant Affairs:
The [Los Angeles] City Council voted unanimously to create the [Office of Immigrant Affairs] under Mayor James Hahn's jurisdiction. The office will be staffed with two employees who will help put immigrants in contact with existing community service and support organizations.
The $125,000 cost to operate the office will be covered by federal grants during the first year and included as part of the mayor's operating budget in future years.
"This is not an office that is designed to encourage people to break the law by moving here illegally," Hahn said at a City Hall news conference. "What we are doing is recognizing the needs of the immigrant community that make this city so great."
...Rick Oltman, western director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, questioned the need for the office.
"It's not the money they're spending, it's the symbolism," Oltman said. "Those immigrants who are in the country legally don't seem to have a problem getting along. I'm not sure if this is just another government entity looking to help promote illegal immigration."
Look, it's being paid for by a federal grant, so it's not like it's going to cost money or anything, right?
What's interesting - and uncovered by the media - is how this idea is spreading like wildfire. Houston, NYC, and Chicago already have offices like this. Philadelphia is considering creating one:
Recruiting applicants for specific jobs requiring foreign-language skill, including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian. As of last week, the city has gotten almost 500 applications from people recruited by immigrant groups, including 115 who are bilingual or multilingual.
So is Denver:
[An activist coalition is asking Denver Mayor] Hickenlooper to create a city Office of Immigrant Affairs, to reaffirm a city policy recognizing consular identification cards and to appoint more Latinos to city boards and commissions.
I somehow don't think this is all a coinkydink. Someone or some group must be pushing this. What exactly is this federal grant for? Is it the feds pushing the creation of these similarly named offices, or is it activist groups, or immigration lawyers, or perhaps the Mexican government? It's probably not the current residents of these cities.
Back to L.A.: despite Hahn's comments, this office will most likely be used as yet another front in the war of the multiculturalists against the traditional melting pot concept. I'm sure that some of the information they provide will be specifically tailored for illegal immigrants.
I also wonder how they're going to communicate in all those languages with only a couple of new civil servants. How are they going to translate information? Aren't they going to have to requisition translation services from some other city agency? Won't this end up costing more than just $125,000 per year? Won't it just add more bureaucracy and another multiculturalist power center?
For even more fun speculation, consider the L.A. Times version of this story. First of all, unlike the Daily News version it doesn't include any dissenting voices. Second, it includes this wacky quote:
Immigrant-rights advocates joined Hahn and Garcetti at a chilly morning news conference on the steps of City Hall... "Los Angeles is the Ellis Island of the West Coast," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
First, I think Angelica Salas needs to read up on Ellis Island; there are huge differences between then and now. Here's a discussion of just a few of those differences.
Secondly, is Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights one of those "Immigrant-rights advocates" the Times mentions? Or, are they just on the LAT's to-call list?
In either case, consider this allegation:
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) has close ties with the Mexican government.
For example, on March 7, 1995, CHIRLA meeting was held at 1521 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. It was was attended by three men from the Mexican consulate. Discussions were held on how to emasculate Proposition 187. At the meeting, the representatives of the Mexican consulate announced that it was providing CHIRLA with computers to track so-called "hate crimes. " They said they wanted to look at CHIRLA's "data base" and to "every three or four weeks to come and copy some of your files..."
If that's accurate, I'd be very concerned if they've got Hahn's ear, or even if they're just on the LAT's to-call list.
UPDATE: A reliable source informs me that CHIRLA was indeed at the event.
UPDATE 2: This story just keeps getting worse and worse. See the update here.
Posted by The Lonewacko Blog to Immigration at March 03, 2004 10:28 PM
LA's Office of Immigrant Affairs..West Coast Ellis Island?
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/001035.html#001035
From: Lonewacko Non-"liberal" coverage of immigration, Iraq, terrorism, multiculturalism, Los Angeles, California, privacy, and occasionally celebrities and wacky humor.
March 03, 2004
"Los Angeles is the Ellis Island of the West Coast"
Los Angeles has a new Office of Immigrant Affairs:
The [Los Angeles] City Council voted unanimously to create the [Office of Immigrant Affairs] under Mayor James Hahn's jurisdiction. The office will be staffed with two employees who will help put immigrants in contact with existing community service and support organizations.
The $125,000 cost to operate the office will be covered by federal grants during the first year and included as part of the mayor's operating budget in future years.
"This is not an office that is designed to encourage people to break the law by moving here illegally," Hahn said at a City Hall news conference. "What we are doing is recognizing the needs of the immigrant community that make this city so great."
...Rick Oltman, western director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, questioned the need for the office.
"It's not the money they're spending, it's the symbolism," Oltman said. "Those immigrants who are in the country legally don't seem to have a problem getting along. I'm not sure if this is just another government entity looking to help promote illegal immigration."
Look, it's being paid for by a federal grant, so it's not like it's going to cost money or anything, right?
What's interesting - and uncovered by the media - is how this idea is spreading like wildfire. Houston, NYC, and Chicago already have offices like this. Philadelphia is considering creating one:
Recruiting applicants for specific jobs requiring foreign-language skill, including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian. As of last week, the city has gotten almost 500 applications from people recruited by immigrant groups, including 115 who are bilingual or multilingual.
So is Denver:
[An activist coalition is asking Denver Mayor] Hickenlooper to create a city Office of Immigrant Affairs, to reaffirm a city policy recognizing consular identification cards and to appoint more Latinos to city boards and commissions.
I somehow don't think this is all a coinkydink. Someone or some group must be pushing this. What exactly is this federal grant for? Is it the feds pushing the creation of these similarly named offices, or is it activist groups, or immigration lawyers, or perhaps the Mexican government? It's probably not the current residents of these cities.
Back to L.A.: despite Hahn's comments, this office will most likely be used as yet another front in the war of the multiculturalists against the traditional melting pot concept. I'm sure that some of the information they provide will be specifically tailored for illegal immigrants.
I also wonder how they're going to communicate in all those languages with only a couple of new civil servants. How are they going to translate information? Aren't they going to have to requisition translation services from some other city agency? Won't this end up costing more than just $125,000 per year? Won't it just add more bureaucracy and another multiculturalist power center?
For even more fun speculation, consider the L.A. Times version of this story. First of all, unlike the Daily News version it doesn't include any dissenting voices. Second, it includes this wacky quote:
Immigrant-rights advocates joined Hahn and Garcetti at a chilly morning news conference on the steps of City Hall... "Los Angeles is the Ellis Island of the West Coast," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
First, I think Angelica Salas needs to read up on Ellis Island; there are huge differences between then and now. Here's a discussion of just a few of those differences.
Secondly, is Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights one of those "Immigrant-rights advocates" the Times mentions? Or, are they just on the LAT's to-call list?
In either case, consider this allegation:
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) has close ties with the Mexican government.
For example, on March 7, 1995, CHIRLA meeting was held at 1521 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. It was was attended by three men from the Mexican consulate. Discussions were held on how to emasculate Proposition 187. At the meeting, the representatives of the Mexican consulate announced that it was providing CHIRLA with computers to track so-called "hate crimes. " They said they wanted to look at CHIRLA's "data base" and to "every three or four weeks to come and copy some of your files..."
If that's accurate, I'd be very concerned if they've got Hahn's ear, or even if they're just on the LAT's to-call list.
UPDATE: A reliable source informs me that CHIRLA was indeed at the event.
UPDATE 2: This story just keeps getting worse and worse. See the update here.
Posted by The Lonewacko Blog to Immigration at March 03, 2004 10:28 PM
