Novato anti-illegal immigration advocate and Canal Alliance chief lock horns

Rob Rogers
Marin Independent Journal

Posted: 04/06/2011 05:19:20 PM PDT


Tempers flared Wednesday as speakers on both sides of the immigration debate made their cases before members of the Marin Coalition.

Anti-illegal immigrant activist Jerome Ghigliotti of Novato and Tom Wilson, president of San Rafael's Canal Alliance, found little to agree on during an often heated discussion of illegal immigration — including the question of whether undocumented immigrants should be considered "illegal" at all.

"To bear the name 'illegal alien' for the rest of your life because you committed a misdemeanor seems pretty harsh," said Wilson, whose Canal Alliance provides support for Marin County's low-income immigrant population.

"'Illegal' is said in the same way that dehumanizing terms are used to describe people during war," Wilson said. "It makes it easier to turn a blind eye to human suffering when you don't call someone a human being."

Ghigliotti disagreed.

"When I drive while leaving my driver's license at home, I'm undocumented. 'Illegal' means I've broken the law," said Ghigliotti, who has spearheaded an effort to require all outside contractors hired by the city of Novato to verify the immigration status of their employees through the use of a federal database.

The two speakers also disagreed on the role immigrants play in Marin County's economy. To Ghigliotti, Novato's undocumented aliens are at best a drain on the city's resources. At worst, he said, many of them are dangerous criminals.

"People keep saying to me, 'Why are you doing this? These immigrants are nice people who have just come here to make a living,'" Ghigliotti told the crowd of about 27 people at San Rafael's Chalet Basque restaurant. "Then I started looking up the sheriff's log, which lists everybody arrested, incarcerated or awaiting trial. I've done this every month for the past 10 months, and there were consistently 67 illegal aliens awaiting trial for felonies or multiple misdemeanors."

Wilson, by contrast, argued that it has been the hard work of immigrants — legal and otherwise — that has built this nation, and that many of Marin's aging residents might soon find themselves supported by the labor of immigrant workers.

"If we don't have an active working force to support those of us who are aging, we won't be able to fund Social Security. And that young workforce is our immigrant community," Wilson said.

He added that many undocumented immigrants are economic refugees fleeing the effects of globalization in their home countries — the same economic forces that have cost many American workers their jobs.

"It's not immigrants, but multinational corporations who are taking our jobs," Wilson said. "U.S. companies sent 406,000 American jobs overseas this year alone. "The worldwide system of globalization allows them to take those jobs to countries where they can exploit the workers by paying them the cheapest wage they can possibly pay."

Ghigliotti countered that economic hardship was no excuse for anyone to break the law.

"People who advocate for illegal immigrants say they're just here to better themselves. Well, why can't they better themselves in the country where they were born?" Ghigliotti asked.

Both speakers found themselves heckled by opponents during the course of their presentations, which sparked a lively debate among members of the Marin Coalition, a group dedicated to reviewing all sides of controversial issues during its monthly forums. Previous topics have included affordable housing, school district consolidation and the installation of SmartMeters by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Angelica Randolph, who emigrated legally from Germany, said she was incensed by the undocumented workers she sees as flouting the system — and forcing herself and her fellow taxpayers to pay for their abuses.

"I have friends who wanted to start a gardening business, but were constantly underbid by businesses that employ illegal aliens," Randolph said. "And our Marin General Hospital is all but going under because it is servicing so many illegal aliens who don't have insurance."

Yet member Esther Blau, a nurse at Marin General Hospital for more than 25 years, disputed Randolph's assertion.

"As a nurse, and as a (former) director of the healthcare district board, I am not aware of the situation Angelica describes in our emergency room," Blau said.

Wilson summed up his remarks to the coalition by calling for a reform of U.S. immigration policy — and a reminder to American citizens of the nation's historic ideals.

"The American Dream is an immigrant dream, and has been for generations," Wilson said. "Working families come to this country every day because they are oppressed by poverty. The promise engraved on the Statue of Liberty welcomes those 'huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'"

That argument failed to impress Ghigliotti.

"The Statue of Liberty and its promises were put there by the French, not by Americans," said Ghigliotti, who used Wednesday's meeting to fire yet another salvo at the Novato City Council.

That body has refused to submit Ghigliotti's immigration status verification plan to a popular vote, even after Ghigliotti gathered more than 3,500 signatures in a petition drive to place the item on the ballot. Ghigliotti recently filed suit against the city, with his case expected to appear in Marin Superior Court on May 15.

"The basis for the council's actions was that they thought our measure might be illegal," Ghigliotti said. "However, in the past election, there were two initiatives — Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage, and Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana — which both had the significant possibility of being found unconstitutional or unlawful. And yet nobody in California believed they had the authority not to put those measures on the ballot."

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_17787167