Thread: Immigration debate ramps up as students take over Senate

Immigration debate ramps up as students take over Senate president's office

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 in Tallahassee, Fla.
ByDara Kam
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 9:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Posted: 9:33 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, 2011

TALLAHASSEE — Division over proposed immigration reform ramped up in the Capitol on Wednesday as undocumented students and other immigrants staged a sit-in in Senate President Mike Haridopolos' office and national advocates pushed for a boycott of Florida.

Immigrants chanted, "We are Florida," said the pledge of allegiance and lined the walls outside Haridopolos' office and the entrance to the Senate chambers as students sought in vain to get a pledge from the Republican leader to oppose a proposal by the Florida House to create an Arizona-style law.

The group, led by St. Thomas University student Felipe Matos, was escorted out of Haridopolos' office at 5 p.m.

"He never came out. All we asked was for a response," said Matos, a 25-year-old undocumented immigrant who was born in Brazil and came to the country at the age of 14.
Haridopolos, who met with immigrants from Palm Beach County on Tuesday, refused to concede to the students' demands and instead told reporters the Senate was weighing how far to go with its reform plan.
The Senate is now considering whether to include allowing law enforcement officers to ask for proof of immigration status during routine traffic stops, the most controversial component of the House bill (HB 7089).
"A lot of people are talking aboutwhen would you ask for the status of an individual. Would it be a traffic stop or would it be only under a criminal investigation or actually arrested," Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island said.
Haridopolos said he has now tapped Senate Budget Committee Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, to shepherd the Senate package through a committee meeting Thursday, a sign that the chamber may be taking a harder tack than previously.
Sen. Anitere Flores, a Cuban-American Republican from Miami and sponsor of the Senate bill (SB 2040), had refused to allow the law enforcement component in her proposal.
"Obviously anyone who had the opportunity to meet with some of the individuals who've come to the Capitol are concerned about what's going on," Haridopolos said. "We're just trying to make an informed decision. Everybody doesn't want to hurt agriculture but they want a tough immigration policy. We're trying to thread that needle and it's not an easy one to thread."
Meanwhile, the presence of the undocumented protestors Tuesday prompted Geoff Ross, a former tea party activist, to contact Homeland Security officials. Ross said he was upset that state lawmakers, including Flores and Alexander, met with the undocumented immigrants but did not report them to federal authorities.
Ross, originally British, said he waited five years to gain entry to the United States.
"I followed all the rules and that's what I think these people from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Russia and other countries should do," the Navarre resident said in a telephone interview. "DHS should be detaining and deporting these people if they are here illegally."
Ross' complaint alarmed immigration advocates, who in turn asked federal officials for protection.
"We see the letter from this gentleman as a threat to the constitutional rights of those gathered in Tallahassee and as a clear indication of the culture of xenophobia and racism that is spreading Arizona- copycat legislation slated to destroy Florida's economy and social progress," Florida Immigrant Coalition executive director Maria Rodriguez wrote to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and the White House Wednesday.
Reform Immigration for America sent an e-mail to supporters today asking them to boycott Florida while lawmakers consider the immigration reforms.
Haridopolos said the Senate plan will almost certainly include a requirement that state workforce centers perform E-verify checks on potential workers and that anyone applying for government benefits be screened through the system.
Republican lawmakers are walking a tightrope between appeasing tea party activists, who are demanding that the law require businesses to use the federal E-verify system, and creating a potentially unfriendly environment for tourists.
During his election campaign, Gov. Rick Scott called for an Arizona-like law in Florida, but on Tuesday said he would not sign any bill into law that includes racial profiling.
Within earshot of the "We are Florida" chants, Bill Landes strolled the Senate Office Building handing out letters asking lawmakers to support a measure requiring E-verify.
TALLAHASSEE — Landes, chairman of the Florida Minutemen Organization and a tea party leader from Lake Wales, said he and others want to make sure that when the state economy recovers, "legal citizens are first in line to get those jobs."
Meanwhile, the contentious immigration debate in the Capitol morphed into a civics lesson for the students Wednesday afternoon.
Florida International University law professor Ediberto Roman, an immigration law expert, said the immigration discourse has spawned the birth of the state's "DREAM University," a national movement by the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America. The DREAM Act, which Congress failed to pass, would have allowed undocumented and deportable students to remain in the country if they met certain conditions.
"This is the birth of a civil rights movement," said Roman, who spent the afternoon lecturing students sitting cross-legged on the floor outside the Senate chambers.
Roman said the Florida House plan is a copy-cat of the Arizona bill, components of which were blocked by a federal judge who found them unconstitutional. An appeals court has since upheld that decision.
"It will be struck down," Roman predicted of a similar measure in Florida. "This one's a no-brainer."

Staff writer John Lantigua contributed to this story.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state ... 38839.html

"We are Florida,"

Chanting does not make it so. WHY do Americans have to continually fight for what is fair and honest and belonging only to American citizens? We have to be on guard 24/7 or our government is robbing us blind!

The group, led by St. Thomas University student Felipe Matos, was escorted out of Haridopolos' office at 5 p.m.


"He never came out. All we asked was for a response,"

I don't understand why Illegals are even allowed in our FL. State Capitol Bldg ? Why do they have a right to protest our Legislature ?

Don't you have to have ID to get into government buildings??? How did these aliens get in? Where was ICE?!?!?!

"as undocumented students and other immigrants staged a sit-in in Senate President Mike Haridopolos' office and national advocates pushed for a boycott of Florida."

Ridiculous. Why is this nonsense even allowed these days?