Thread: Opposing groups rally in Irving over Criminal Alien Program

Opposing groups rally in Irving over Criminal Alien Program deportations

Group opposed to CAP also expected to gather


04:23 PM CDT on Saturday, October 13, 2007
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
bformby@dallasnews.com

Opposing groups fought to chant over each other Saturday in rallies focusing on the Irving Police Department’s use of a controversial program that turns illegal immigrants who have been arrested over to federal officials for deportation proceedings.

About 500 people protesting the city’s use of the Criminal Alien Program arrived at City Hall mid-afternoon, where about 200 people who support the program had been converged for hours.

People in both groups waved American flags and held signs voicing their opinions.

As the crowd of protesters arrived at City Hall, they chanted in Spanish, “We are America!â€

The mayor was on a radio talk show and their numbers are impressive. For catching criminals that have already been deported for a crimes, dwi's, wanted felons and such. I say it's about time. He isn't backing down according to him. More cities take this stand the ACLU will have their hands full! L.O.L.

Posted on Sat, Oct. 13, 2007
Angry sides of immigration debate face off in Irving



By PATRICK McGEE
pmcgee@star-telegram.com
IRVING -- Feuding sides of the immigration debate tried to out shout over each other at Irving City Hall on Saturday as demonstrators and counter-demonstrators focused on the city's Criminal Alien Program.
The program identifies suspected illegal immigrants among people Irving police arrest and turns them over to federal immigration authorities.

It has resulted in the deportation of more than 1,600 people, mostly Mexicans and Central Americans, in the last 13 months.

About 725 opponents of the program marched to City Hall and chanted slogans in English and Spanish. They were met by about 125 supporters of the program who chanted "Deport! Deport!" and "Go home! Go home!"

One Irving woman said she was there for her children. Another said she was there for her grandchildren. But they were on different sides of the issue.

"I am here for my grandchildren who won't have a country to inherit if we don't enforce our laws,â€

Video of rally at this link:
http://cbs11tv.com/

Another video but sound poor:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/

Video

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/index.h ... 3532&shu=1

Anti-immigration Hispanics speak out
By PATRICK McGEE
Star-Telegram staff writer
LISA NAVARRETE
LISA NAVARRETE
Sara Legvold with her daughter's dogs, Eugene and Leah, at Legvold's home in Keller on Tuesday. Legvold, who moved to the U.S. from Cuba when she was 5, is against illegal immigration.

At an anti-deportation march in Irving on Saturday, one of the leaders told the mostly Hispanic crowd, "We want to send a message that there is no division in our community. We are one."

But some Hispanics were there to undermine that statement and demonstrate a sticking point in the immigration debate: Many Hispanics are among the strongest opponents of illegal immigration.

"We've been here 38 years, and we deserve to be here, not some illegal immigrants," said Eva Hinojosa, whose parents were from Mexico. "They should go back to their own country; they don't belong here."

She and her husband, Enrique Hinojosa, both of Irving, stood with about 125 counterprotesters who support Irving's Criminal Alien Program. The program has led to the deportation of more than 1,600 illegal immigrants in the past 13 months.

"They want to take our country over. We're not going to stand for that," said Enrique Hinojosa, a sixth-generation American.

Both sides of the debate say Hispanics are on their side. Each can point to polls.

A Gallup Poll taken in June, for example, shows that Hispanics have more positive views of immigration than blacks or Anglos, with three-quarters of Hispanics calling immigration a good thing. But more than half of Hispanics say that the United States has too many immigrants from Latin America.

'Not alone'

Sara Legvold, originally from Cuba and now a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Keller, was among the residents who pressed JPS Health Network last month not to allow illegal immigrants into its preventive healthcare program for poor people. The Fort Worth-based county hospital continues to deny access to illegal immigrants.

Sam Aceves of Farmers Branch, whose grandfather was from Mexico, campaigned for the city's ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants. Voters approved the measure in May by a 2-1 ratio, although the ban is now tied up in the courts.

Legvold and Aceves scoffed at any idea that they should be on the other side of the debate.

"They're here as invaders, as illegal aliens, as criminals," Legvold said. "When I see they're being favored over American citizens in every way, yes, I am outraged, and I am not alone."

Aceves described illegal immigrants as criminals and said he drives his daughter to another school so she won't have to go to class in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, which he perceives as overcrowded with illegal immigrants.

These viewpoints have a voice on the national level with You Don't Speak for Me, a Hispanic group appalled at what it calls anti-American acts by the pro-immigration movement.

Al Rodriguez, a retired U.S. Army colonel, said he started the organization in May 2006 when he saw pro-immigrant marchers take down American flags.

"That's what really hurt me, as I'm a military retiree," he said. "I said, 'Well, wait a minute, these folks aren't speaking for us.'"

Rodriguez said his group quickly grew to more than 5,000 members.

'Duped'

Hispanic activists on the other side of the issue downplay the influence of activists such as Rodriguez.

Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the pro-immigrant National Council of La Raza, said Hispanics overwhelmingly favor her group's effort to legalize illegal immigrants.

She said her opponents in the immigration debate cling to groups such as You Don't Speak for Me to hide their anti-Hispanic bias.

"I think it provides an awful lot of cover for the anti-immigration movement ... the same way the conservative movement has raised up a lot of conservative African-Americans," she said.

Brent Wilkes, national executive director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said You Don't Speak for Me is just a "front group" set up by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group that wants to tighten immigration enforcement.

"These Latinos are duped," he said. "When they had slavery, I suppose they were able to find a couple of African-Americans out there who said it was a good thing."

Aceves said he's often called a traitor for his stance.

"I get threatened. I got my house paintballed. I've been called traitor. They got their little kids to call me vicious names," he said.

Rodriguez said he has suffered similar treatment and has been called Tio Taco, a wordplay on Uncle Tom.

Carlos Quintanilla, the activist who organized Saturday's anti-deportation march in Irving, discounted the thicket of news cameras the Hinojosas attracted as they lambasted illegal immigrants.

"In every community, you're going to have difference of opinion," he said. "The media always highlights Hispanics speaking about it, but we received a lot of letters and e-mails from Anglos supporting our position. "

Online: www.dontspeakforme.com; www.nclr.org; www.lulac.org

HISPANICS ON IMMIGRATION

Both sides of the immigration debate say Hispanics are on their side. Gallup Poll results show that 55 percent of Hispanics think there are too many immigrants from Latin America, but their responses to other questions show that they view immigration more positively than Anglos or blacks.

Three-quarters of Hispanics think immigration is good for the U.S., while only 59 percent of Anglos and 55 percent of blacks do.

Only 30 percent of Hispanics think immigration should be reduced, while 46 percent of blacks and 48 percent of Anglos do.

More than half of Anglos (63 percent) and blacks (52 percent) believe that immigration increases crime, but only 41 percent of Hispanics agree.

About half of blacks and Anglos think immigrants are hurting the economy. But 55 percent of Hispanics believe that immigrants are helping the economy.

Source: Gallup Poll data from June 2007

HISPANICS IN THE UNITED STATES

Hispanics' growing numbers give them a powerful voice in the immigration debate.

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that Hispanics' higher birth and immigration rates had made them the largest minority group in the country. They made up nearly 15 percent of the population in 2006.

Latin America is a major source of immigration to the U.S. The federal Homeland Security Department's Office of Immigration Statistics estimates that 57 percent of illegal immigrants in the U.S. come from Mexico. Nearly 84,000 Mexicans became U.S. citizens last year. That was 12 percent of all people who became citizens, a larger proportion than from any other country.
Patrick McGee, 817-685-3806
pmcgee@star-telegram.com

http://www.star-telegram.com/407/story/271924.html