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Councilman asks Pomona to stand against federal immigration bill

Monica Rodriguez,Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

POMONA - Councilman Marco Robles this week asked the City Council to consider a resolution opposing a federal bill that calls for greater enforcement and penalties for immigration violations.

Robles' request came Monday after nine people - area residents, local activists and others - called for the city to oppose the bill introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

"This is a response to a community concern and a cry for help," Robles said Tuesday. He expects it to come before the council at the March 6 meeting.

Sensenbrenner's bill, H.R. 4437, which has passed the House and is making its way through the Senate, calls for local police agencies to enforce immigration regulations, takes a strong stance against employers who hire undocumented labor and would make felons out of those who work with or assist undocumented immigrants.

The way Robles sees it, the federal bill is creating an environment that engenders fear among community members creating a place where people won't want to leave their homes.

Robles is also concerned that the bill calls for local police agencies to work with federal immigration authorities.

"That on its own has some serious consequences," he said. "You mobilize an already short-handed police department like ours into other areas."

The city's police department now has a policy under which immigration status by itself "is not a matter for police action." Immigration status becomes a factor when someone is arrested for committing a felony, the policy says.

If H.R. 4437 is approved, "this type of policy would no longer be the norm," he said.

Another area that concerns Robles is that people or organizations that aid undocumented immigrants could be prosecuted as smugglers.

But Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, said that's something federal officials could do now under current regulations.

The chances are slim that federal officials would seek to prosecute a religious organization providing shelter to an undocumented immigrant in the course of helping homeless people, he said.

The intent of that provision is to facilitate prosecuting those who smuggle people across the border, he said.

Nearly 100 people, including some residents of the city of Maywood, attended Monday's meeting. Maywood residents asked that Pomona follow in the footsteps of their city. Late last month that city's leaders adopted a resolution opposing Sensenbrenner's bill and called for the U.S. Senate to reject it.

Jose Calderon, president of the Inland Valley and San Gabriel Valley Latino and Latino Roundtable, said the organization would like the council to formally oppose the bill and declare the city a "sanctuary" for undocumented immigrants.

By sanctuary, Calderon means "not supporting the criminalization of immigrants and their families" and instead working with state and federal officials to find a different approach to address the nation's immigration situation, he said.

Calderon said that since Sept. 11 immigrants are increasingly lumped in with terrorists and drug smugglers and are being labeled as the cause of the nation's economic woes.

Residents are worried they will be targeted based on their immigrations status or their ethnicity as has happened before, Calderon said.

He cited the incident in 1993 when then-Mayor Eddie Cortez was pulled over by immigration authorities on Mission Boulevard.

Pomona resident Brian Jaramillo was one of two people who spoke in opposition to the possible action.

Jaramillo said Tuesday that his main concern is the nation's security.

"My big thing is security (because) 9/11 is still fresh on my mind," Jaramillo said.

The country needs to have control over its borders, Jaramillo said.

Many immigrants are hard-working people, he said, but he is also concerned about other things.

"If you're here illegally, that just tells me maybe you're going to do something else (that's) illegal," Jaramillo said.

If the council was to approve becoming a sanctuary city, "I think it's sending the wrong message," he said.

On one hand the city wants residents to follow laws, but on the other, the city could find itself breaking laws should the bill be approved, he said.


Monica Rodriguez can be reached by e-mail at m_rodriguezor by phone at (909) 483-9336.