Thread: Tampa area Hispanics asked to rally against Arizona immigrat

Tampa area Hispanics asked to rally against Arizona immigration law

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/27 ... ews-metro/


TAMPA - Local advocacy groups are encouraging Hispanics in the Tampa Bay area to attend rallies this weekend in Miami and Washington, D.C., opposing Arizona's new immigration law.

The Tampa chapter of the Florida Immigrant Coalition is organizing group trips for the rally Saturday in downtown Miami. Meanwhile, the Tampa office of Democracia USA is sending a group for a protest in Washington.

Ernesto Vargas, the regional coordinator of Democracia USA, said Arizona's law is a mistake and contrary to the American ideals of liberty and justice.

"The solution is not to use force and intimidate," Vargas said. "A country that is so diverse is sending out a xenophobic message."

The law, signed Friday by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, will require local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are in this country illegally.

Day laborers can be arrested for soliciting work if they are in the United States illegally, and police departments can be sued if they don't carry out the law. Immigrants who can't produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the United States could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500.

The law will take effect in late July or August.

Matilda Garcia, the district director for the Tampa chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said it is the federal government's job, not local or state law enforcement, to guard U.S. borders.

"I don't think local police can have authority to hold a person because of immigration," she said. "It would be profiling. They could stop anybody and hold them."

Vargas said he would support a reform bill that allows the status of any illegal immigrant to be reviewed without the threat of arrest and a plan that would allow undocumented individuals to stay but pay a fine or taxes.

Vargas said passage of Arizona's law has motivated his organization, along with individuals, to work harder to get immigration reform passed at the federal level.

"It was a call to action," he said. "I don't' think anyone has sat around thinking that we've lost."

The Florida Immigrant Coalition is organizing trips to Miami from Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers and Fort Pierce. The rally begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Third Street in downtown Miami.

"The solution is not to use force and intimidate," Vargas said. "A country that is so diverse is sending out a xenophobic message."

ROLMAO talk about sending out a xenophobic message? Oh and Vargas, using force and intimidation is what pro-illegals do, not law-abiding legal residents do.

Tampa area Hispanics asked to rally against Arizona immigration law

Oh yes, calling on "hispanics" is not xenophobic? Where's the diversity in calling all "hispanics'? I don't recall the word hispanic being in the AZ bill.

The AZ law is not new. This is from the Fair web site in reference to the federal immigration law in existence from the '96 immigration control act. The AZ law is a mirror of federal law, which really puts a cramp in their attempts to rule it unconstitutional or a civil rights violation.

State and local law enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law. There is “no extant federal limitationâ€

I'll bet Jan Brewer is going to lay awake at night, just worrying herself sick about a busload of Mexicans in Florida.