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  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    U.S. Sen. Menendez, U.S. Rep. Sires to attend Elizabeth immi

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    U.S. Sen. Menendez, U.S. Rep. Sires to attend Elizabeth immigration discussion

    Posted by ksantiag April 23, 2009 17:57PM

    Menendez is expected to attend a discussion on Saturday in Elizabeth on immigration reform.
    Undocumented immigrant families hope on to speak to members of Congress Saturday at a community gathering to promote immigration reform in Elizabeth.
    U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13th District) and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said they plan to attend the event, which is co-sponsored by The Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey (LLANJ) and the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC).

    The gathering, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iglesia Jesucristo es el Senor, is part of a national effort to bring attention to the importance of immigration reform and highlight some of the hardships brought about by what they call a broken system, said organizers.

    It involves prayer vigils and town hall meetings in cities like Atlanta, Albuquerque, N.M., San Francisco, Dallas and Miami. At each event, U.S. citizens share testimony as to how their families have been, or risk being, torn apart by a broken immigration system, they said.

    "We want the public to hear testimonials from American citizens whose lives have been ripped apart by the raids and deportations that have been a cornerstone of federal immigration policy for the last few years," said Martin Perez, president of the Alliance. "A lot of cases they deport the mother to Guatemala or Mexico and the father is an American citizen, or they send both parents back so those children have two choices -- go with parents to Mexico or whatever, or stay here with a neighbor or somebody."

    "They're American. They don't even speak Spanish well," he said. "You are depriving American citizens the right to live in their country."

    Paola Leiva's family has had to face this issue. In January, immigration officials banged on the door of her Union City apartment and arrested Leiva. She was placed on a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. home curfew; she has to wear an electronic ankle bracelet that monitors her movements, and every day, for three hours, she sits connected to a power outlet while the monitoring device recharges.

    Leiva, 32, who crossed the border to the United States from Honduras in 2004, said she was nearly deported this month, but authorities have agreed to reopen her case after an advocacy group came to her defense. She said she does not want to return home to San Pedro, where crime is rampant, and said her two small children are American-born and deserve protection under the Constitution.

    "What future can my kids have there (in Honduras)?" asked Leiva.

    Oswaldo Cabrera, executive director of the Latin American Coalition, whose group is assisting Leiva, said five million children in the United States are in danger of being separated from their families. The children are U.S. citizens, and parents who are deported have to make an impossible choice between taking them out of their country, or leaving them behind with friends or neighbors.

    "These kids are from the U.S.," Cabrera said. "This is psychological torture for the kids."

    But Gayle Kesselman, co-chair of the New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control, said her group would like immigration reform that secures our borders and enforces laws that already exist, she said. If that had been done the last few years, we wouldn't have a problem with families being divided, she said.

    "I don't think children of illegal immigrants who happened to be born in the U.S. should be considered U.S. citizens," said Kesselman. "It's based on an amendment passed to apply to the freed slaves following the Civil War. That's what it was originally intended to apply to. I don't think it should apply to people who sneak across the border and very conveniently have a child here which supposedly is an 'anchor baby' who then can grow up and get citizenship for his parents and dozens of other relatives."

    Currently, an illegal alien who has been in the U.S. for at least 10 years and who has a U.S.-born child or close relative may apply for a waiver (pardon) and must prove that family members would suffer extreme and unusual hardships should they be left behind, according to Newark immigration attorney Moises Apsan.

    "If the child is very young, the courts say that is not enough hardship because a child can easily adapt," he said.

    The only hope for illegal aliens in this situation is to prolong their cases with the promise that a comprehensive immigration reform program will solve their problem, he said.

    Apsan said he is confident this matter will be addressed in the coming months.

    President Barack Obama has said he will deal with immigration reform this year; U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set a September date for working on a comprehensive reform bill, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called "un-American" what is happening to families, Aspan said.

    "I can't even face these families who come in my office," Apsan said.

    The Rev. Miguel Rivera, head of CONLAMIC, said he hopes members of Congress will be moved by the testimony of families who have been separated because of deportation orders and will commit themselves to push for comprehensive reform. He said 78 percent of the Latino vote in New Jersey went for Obama, and he hopes the president keeps the promise he made during his campaign.

    "We have a moral right and duty to demand from the president to come back with comprehensive immigration reform," Rivera said.

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  2. #2
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    How much do you want to bet the only ones they are speaking too are illegal aliens!
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  3. #3
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    May I ask, what kind of future your kids will have with you sitting in jail?
    There really needs to be a Supreme Court decision on the 14th Amendment, because popping out a baby on US soil or an airplane cruising over US airspace should not guarantee citizenship.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member Ratbstard's Avatar
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    He said 78 percent of the Latino vote in New Jersey went for Obama
    If he means Legal Latinos that 78% is still a SMALL number. Sadly, I believe even IAs are voting in NJ as well as NY.
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  5. #5
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    None of us have the right to choose our parents. But we are born with the right to pursue happiness. Dporting parents infringes upon that right. It destabalizes a child's emotional development. Leave the parents alone if the kids are born here. Why not allow them to stay and continue paying their taxes and contribute to SS that they will never be eligible for? Let them raise their USC kids?

  6. #6
    Senior Member butterbean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blancadog
    None of us have the right to choose our parents. But we are born with the right to pursue happiness. Dporting parents infringes upon that right. It destabalizes a child's emotional development. Leave the parents alone if the kids are born here. Why not allow them to stay and continue paying their taxes and contribute to SS that they will never be eligible for? Let them raise their USC kids?
    Because they are illegal aliens. Our country, LIKE ALL OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, has laws against illegal immigration. The kids born here are not Americans and they are free to go with their parents back to their country.
    RIP Butterbean! We miss you and hope you are well in heaven.-- Your ALIPAC friends

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  7. #7
    Blancadog's Avatar
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    The kids are U.S. citizens because they are born here. Hey...I didn't make the rules. I think they are pretty absurd. I'm just saying, until that law is changed, the kids born are just as entitled to the same things you and I are. But this isn't my big issue.

    My big issue is why aren't we doing something to make it easier for all the people who are doing everything all the right way and waiting for YEARS?? Why can't we make it easier for them? I know plenty of people who have been waiting for years, doing the right thing. Why don't we hear about reforming legal immigration for employment based petitions?

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