Thread: Local group seeks to link up with Minuteman Project

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/ ... 9232c.html

Local group seeks to link up with Minuteman Project

BY NOAH HAGLUND
AND TIM DONNELLY, The Island Packet
Published Tuesday, May 31st, 2005

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The Minuteman Project gained international attention for mounting citizen patrols on the U.S.-Mexico border, but could the group be coming to the Lowcountry?

Local residents who have voiced public concern over illegal immigrants on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton say they have been in contact with the Minuteman Project about joining forces.
The national group mobilized hundreds of citizen volunteers to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border in April, a move that met with strong approval from some advocates of stricter immigration controls, but with harsh criticism from many quarters. National members of the Minuteman Project could not be reached for comment.

A local effort would not necessarily involve such patrols. The idea would be to focus on businesses thought to be hiring illegal workers, according to Ebba

Gamer, president of the anti-

illegal immigration group Citizens for a Better Community. Gamer said the group is helping to start a statewide chapter of the Minuteman Project.

"We're basically going to go after the businesses," she said.

Citizens for a Better Community will be dropping its name and joining with other groups around the state to become a statewide chapter of the Minuteman Project, she said. Over Memorial Day weekend, she said, she will be meeting with potential partners in the region.

Gamer said she'd had a lot of people in the community approach her and say they

support the idea.

"We're very serious about this," she said, and compared illegal immigration to a "fungus.

"It starts off small, you ignore it, it gets bigger and bigger," she said. "It's affecting everyone. This is not a racial thing. It's a legal thing."

Though no local patrols are envisioned, she said, some local group members are volunteering to go down to the Mexican border.

One looming question is what kind of action could be taken against businesses. Gamer declined to divulge details until they

formally set up the chapter.

The Minuteman Project Web site advertises an effort to target businesses hiring undocumented

workers called "Operation Spotlight" and says that more information will be available after this weekend.

One suggestion is that groups could get some businesses to sign a pledge not to hire illegal workers. The groups could then advertise lists of those businesses who sign the pledge and those

that refuse.

But a local lawyer who is concerned about illegal immigration said he discouraged that approach. John Levy said it is hard to know which businesses are

hiring undocumented workers without enforcement statistics from federal authorities.

A better approach might be taking down license plates of employers who hire day laborers thought to be in the country illegally,

Levy said.

"The suspicion is that a lot of workers at Fairfield Square are illegal," he said. "I think you can legally collect that information and turn it over to authorities."

Janeth Miller, president of the Hilton Head-based Latin American Council of South Carolina, said that while the local Hispanic outreach group may facilitate jobs for job seekers near its offices in Fairfield Square, it is up to the employers to make sure the

workers are legal.

"We don't ask anyone, 'Are you legal?'<2009>" Miller said.

Another possible approach, Levy said, would be to publish

information after federal authorities have cited businesses. If no Lowcountry businesses have been cited, the groups could put pressure on authorities to pay closer attention to the area.

"I think we have been betrayed by our government," he said. "I think it's been deliberately not enforcing the law."

Levy said that the government's "total neglect" on the issue had compelled citizens to take actions they should not have to take in the first place.

"You have millions of people, mainly from Latin America, who flout the law, and it's just a terrible injustice," he said. "I'm just kind of outraged because I used to do immigration law and legal immigrants go through hll."

Contact Tim Donnelly at 706-8145 or tdonnelly@islandpacket.com. Contact Noah Haglund at 706-8138 or nhaglund@islandpacket.com.

This story was on the third page of Google news after older news. Those of you looking at the AP and such, be sure to dig deep for the stories. For the life of me I can’t figure out why some of the better stories seem to get buried.

Taking down license plates of those individuals picking up day laborers is spitting in a 10 gallon bucket. The problem lies with businesses and corporations as we all know.

RR

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

Taking down license plates of those individuals picking up day laborers is spitting in a 10 gallon bucket. The problem lies with businesses and corporations as we all know.

RR

Hmm, it was suggested by a lawyer…

PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT!!

If this little Island gets their MMP chapter off the ground it will resound in a big way!!

btw, lots of lawyers down in Hilton Head & surrounding area. But the area is too small to have it "messed up" w/day laborers, garbage and 80 people living in 2 bedrooms. Lots of money moved down there to get away from this phenomena.

Ive never been, but any place with illegals in this country is wrong. I see this MM project taken on speed. The founders ought to be proud.