Thread: MA: City mulls office on immigration

Council proposal on immigrants hit
City mulls office on immigration
By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff | June 17, 2007

A Marlborough City Council proposal to look into opening a federal immigration office in the city drew sharp criticism from an immigrant advocacy group last week.

"We think that the Marlborough council is really choosing to target and scapegoat anyone who looks or sounds like an immigrant," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "The net result of this kind of action -- if it is legal -- is fear within the community and mistrust of police."

The council last week asked Mayor Nancy Stevens to investigate whether the city could fund an office of the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

It wasn't clear if the proposal was realistic; supporters of the idea acknowledged it would be a first in the nation.

Councilor Paul Ferro said at a council meeting that the office is necessary because illegal immigration is a growing problem.

"I think it's time we as local officials try to do something," he said.

Council president Arthur Vigeant, who submitted the proposal with Ferro, said after the meeting that illegal immigrants cost the city a lot of money in services. Having a federal immigration office in the city would discourage illegal immigrants from moving to Marlborough, he said.

"It also would be a resource where legal immigrants could go ask questions and get problems resolved and clarified," said Vigeant. "Most importantly, it will assist our department heads in an area they really tread lightly on."

Police Chief Mark Leonard said it appears that illegal immigration may be causing problems in the city, but there are no firm statistics to prove it.

Leonard said the local police can't enforce immigration law but if they run across people wanted by immigration authorities, they call ICE's Boston office.

Just this past weekend, a man was pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign. He had no driver's license, and a routine check revealed that there was an ICE warrant for deportation against him, so he was turned over to federal authorities, said Leonard.

"If you're a legal immigrant, we want to help you and help you assimilate to our ways," Vigeant said. "If you're an illegal immigrant, you need to go through the legal process."

The number of foreign-born residents living in Marlborough doubled during the 1990s to about 5,800, roughly 16 percent of the city's known population, according to the 2000 Census. There is no reliable estimate of how many illegal immigrants are in the city.

Noorani, the immigrant advocate, said a local ICE office would be a waste of money.

"Frankly I think ICE has a limited set of resources," he said. "And those resources, our tax dollars, should be put toward finding violent criminals and people who are really here to harm us."

Councilor Maura Navin Webster was the only board member to vote against the proposal. After the meeting, she said the mayor has more important things to do, and giving her 90 days, as the council did, to investigate the feasibility of opening such an office is not much time given everything else she is busy with.

"I think it sends an extremely poor message, that all the problems we have in the city are because of illegal immigrants," Webster said of the proposal.

Asked if a local office funded with local dollars is a possibility, a Boston ICE official said she didn't know.

"I can't speculate about it," said Paula Grenier, agency spokeswoman at the Boston office. "I can tell you that we work with our partners and will continue to work with our partners. If they have a specific concern, we'll work with them to address it."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... it?mode=PF

Many of the pro-amnesty groups are saying that by enforcing the laws, we are picking on all poor. this is stupid.

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

Council proposal on immigrants hit
City mulls office on immigration
By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff | June 17, 2007

A Marlborough City Council proposal to look into opening a federal immigration office in the city drew sharp criticism from an immigrant advocacy group last week.

"The council last week asked Mayor Nancy Stevens to investigate whether the city could fund an office of the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

It wasn't clear if the proposal was realistic; supporters of the idea acknowledged it would be a first in the nation.

"Frankly I think ICE has a limited set of resources," he said. "And those resources, our tax dollars, should be put toward finding violent criminals and people who are really here to harm us."

FIRST

THERE IS A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS THE POLICE TO GET TRAINING G287 (I THINK) I CAN'T FIND INFO AT THE MOMENT..IT COST $500.00 EACH COP...THEN THEY CAN DO IMMIGRATION JOB...AND


SECOND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN NJ WITH THIS IMMIGRATION OFFICE....

Partha Banerjee, Ph.D. Marlene Lao-Collins
Executive Director, New Jersey Immigration Policy Network Associate Director for Social Concerns, NJ Catholic Conference
AND HER OPEN BORDER AVOCATES (on behalf of our coalition partners: see enclosed list)SENT GOV. CORZINE PROBABLY THE SAME LETTER ... LA RAZA WAS INVOLVED IN PREPARING POLICIES....

New Jersey's Immigrants Implore You to Address Their Issues and Problems - Creating a Statewide Office of Immigrants' Affairs Would be a Great First Step

New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, the statewide umbrella coalition for immigrant rights and its large, multi-ethnic coalition believe that the State of New Jersey has an undeniable responsibility to address the unique and complex needs and problems facing our immigrant population.
Whether it's health care, housing or human rights, day laborers, driver's license or detentions, immigrants especially the more recent, underprivileged newcomers are struggling to cope with the rapidly emerging social, economic and political scenario.

In light of the above, we propose the following that could be addressed by Governor Corzine in the first 100 days of his administration (details are on following pages of this document):

1)Appoint an advisory committee to explore the establishment of an Office of Immigrant Affairs:

2)Implement In-State College Tuition for children of undocumented immigrant parents

3)Encourage compliance with Title VI requirements for language access to federally funded programs

4)Expand access to adult education (ESL), housing, health care, workers' wages, and driver's license:

5)State of New Jersey Has Its Own Responsibility
o Although the federal government is responsible for Immigration policy, state- and local governments have responsibility for policies for immigrants, i.e. addressing the special needs and concerns of almost 1.5 million foreign-born people living in New Jersey

6)Most such offices in the state government are located with human service departments and are linked together with the federally funded refugee- and asylee assistance departments.
[b]New Jersey Immigration Policy Network supports this concept and would recommend that the State Refugee Program and the newly-formed Office of Immigrant Affairs be grouped together in a larger Bureau of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, where both Offices will have a certain degree of autonomy.[/b] A brief description of the model Illinois immigrant and refugee program can be found at http://www.dhs.state.il.us/ts/FamilySup ... vices/RIS/.

7)o New Jersey must combat the serious threat of anti-immigrant bias and hostility that is prevalent in the state and country due to misinformation and the politics of fear and paranoia. New Jersey will retain its competitive advantage By welcoming and assisting new Americans

The Governor shall appoint a 12-15-person New Immigrant Policy Council comprised of the chairs of the Joint Legislative Immigrant and Refugee Policy Task Force, with the important addition of a representative of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network and other appropriate parties. Representatives from the Governor's office and state agencies may participate on the Council, but they may not constitute a voting majority. HIRE 12-15 PEOPLE
THEY MAKE THE LAWS...AND THEY SPEND THE MONEY...MILLIONS

9). IN NEW JERSEY, STATE AND LOCAL POLICE SHOULD NOT ENFORCE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW
Note: This position has already been taken by some New Jersey cities and their mayors, such as Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton. What are immigration laws? o Immigration laws are contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Every time new immigration laws are passed through Congress, the INA is amended to include new provisions. o Immigration laws are civil laws, they are not criminal laws. o Immigration laws are traditionally enforced by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border and Customs Protection (CBP), both within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). o State and local police do not have a general power to make civil immigration arrests without training in immigration law and without federal supervision.

AND IT GOES ON AND ON...WITH POLICIES TO BE COVERED IN EACH TALKING POINT......THIS IS B.S. AND THEY ARE THE DIRECTORS...SETTING THIS UP FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS...I HAVE THE WHOLE LETTER ON ADOBE...IF ANYONE WANTS IT....THEY ARE TRYING TO GET THIS IN EVERY STATE...FIGHT IT...........