Thread: Welcome to Maywood, Where Roads Open Up for Immigrants

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... -headlines


Welcome to Maywood, Where Roads Open Up for Immigrants
The mostly Latino city's council wants it to be a sanctuary. Some warn about 'testing the limits.'
By Hector Becerra
Times Staff Writer

March 21, 2006

At a time when communities across the nation are considering efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, one small city south of downtown Los Angeles is charting a different course.

In Maywood, where 96% of the residents are Latino, and more than half are foreign-born, the City Council has vowed to make the municipality a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants, and over the last few months it has set out to prove it.

First, the city eliminated the Police Department's traffic division after complaints that officers unfairly targeted illegal immigrants. Then it made it much more difficult for police to tow cars whose owners didn't have driver's licenses, a practice that affected mostly undocumented people who could not obtain licenses.

In January, the City Council passed a resolution opposing a proposed federal law that would criminalize illegal immigration and make local police departments enforce immigration law. Now, some in the community are pushing to rename one of the city's elementary schools after former Mexican President Benito Juarez and debating measures to improve the lives of illegal immigrants.

Maywood leaders say they hope their actions will serve as a counterpoint to other cities, such as Costa Mesa in Orange County, that have moved forward with crackdowns on illegal immigrants and groups like the Minutemen border patrols.

"You just couldn't keep quiet. I think we needed to amplify the debate by saying that no human being is illegal," said Councilman Felipe Aguirre, 53. "These people are here … making your clothes, shining your shoes and taking care of your kids. And now you want to develop this hypocritical policy?"

But Maywood's actions have made the town a lightning rod for criticism on conservative radio shows and websites. On KFI's "John and Ken Show," the host blasted Mayor Thomas Martin for making the city a "magnet for illegal immigration."

Even within the city, the stance is controversial. Longtime residents believe the City Council has gone too far and is embracing lawlessness. They also question whether Maywood can handle more illegal immigrants.

"I'm afraid we're testing the limits of the law, and that's dangerous," said longtime resident J. Luis Ceballos, 52. "I think there is a danger of people thinking that they can do whatever they want."

Maywood is an unlikely city to be a political trailblazer. With a population pegged officially at about 29,000 — but actually closer to 45,000 when illegal residents are factored in, according to city officials — Maywood is a compact 1.2 square miles of tightly packed homes and apartments, strip malls and mom-and-pop shops amid the factories and industrial businesses that dot southeast Los Angeles County.

The city was developed in the 1920s and '30s as a working-class bedroom community for factory workers of L.A.'s industrial belt. But like the neighboring cities of Bell Gardens and Huntington Park, Maywood saw an influx of immigration as the area's factories began to close in the 1970s.

The campaign for immigrant rights has its roots in a long-brewing political divide between newer immigrants and older immigrants, who consider themselves more "Americanized," said Ceballos, who came to the United States as an illegal immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico, 37 years ago and is a longtime Maywood political observer.

"Many people who came here a long time ago feel that they had to sacrifice a lot more and do with a lot less than people who come to the country now," Ceballos said.

This discord was evident at a recent City Council meeting. On one side sat a group of newer immigrants who addressed the council in Spanish. On the other side sat a few of the city's longtime Anglo residents and Latinos who spoke in English.

At one point, when Anglo resident Kathleen Larsen spoke out angrily against naming an elementary school after Juarez, the audience members sitting behind her applauded. Most of them were Latino, and many were immigrants.

Then Oscar Corona stood up and asked why the person who usually translates the meeting into Spanish wasn't there. He accused Councilman Sam Peña of laughing at him and demanded that he speak to him in Spanish.

"Speak to me in Spanish, please," the 44-year-old forklift operator said, his voice rising. "Speak to me in Spanish, Mr. Peña. You know how to speak it."

Peña was part of the old guard who ran Maywood until last November's election swept in the pro-immigrant-rights slate. Now he is in a minority of two on the five-member council.

For years under the previous majority, the city's police set up sobriety checkpoints that began in the afternoon. But the roundups also nabbed many drivers who simply didn't have licenses, most of them illegal immigrants.

The city had a 30-day car impound period, which resulted in large fines for the immigrants. The city stopped the checkpoints amid complaints, but many illegal immigrants were still being stopped and having their cars impounded because they had driven without licenses.

In many cities that might have been seen as normal, even expected. But in a city where so many residents were undocumented, the practice was controversial.

Aguirre, who runs immigration service center Comite Pro-Uno, became a major critic of the city. Activist groups and the St. Rose of Lima Church joined him in the fight.

Together they led opposition to the towing, saying that the city's real motive was to raise money on the backs of its large illegal immigrant population.

"People felt like they were being persecuted," said Father David Velazquez of St. Rose. "Hundreds of cars were being taken away."

A coalition formed that essentially supported a slate of candidates, including Aguirre. They won in the November election, in which the city's treatment of immigrants was a major issue.

"They said, 'Sam is anti-immigrant, he's not with our people,' " Peña said. "My parents are immigrants…. So I sympathize."

The election had a record turnout: more than 3,500 out of 5,800 registered voters.

After taking office at the end of last year, the new council quickly dismantled the city's traffic department. They stopped towing. They allowed people without driver's licenses — mostly undocumented workers — to get permits for overnight parking.

The council also rescinded a law that prohibited residents from erecting shade canopies at their homes. The law, passed by the old council, was seen as a slap at undocumented residents who used the canopies to create more usable living space.

The actions have been met with cheers by some of the city's illegal immigrants.

Martha Montiel lives with five family members in a two-bedroom dwelling after moving from Mexico three years ago. Her family members have twice seen their cars impounded because they didn't have licenses. Once, they lost a car because a police officer pulled them over for having a large air freshener hanging in a window. Each time, it cost $1,800 to get the car back — a sum that took weeks to raise.

Montiel is pleased that the city is trying to help illegal immigrants. "It's good because people try to drive respectfully, even if they don't have licenses," Montiel said as she gathered jugs of water from a Maywood shop.

Montiel, who works at a clothing factory, said she is so grateful for the City Council's action that she plans to put the freshener back in her car.

But other residents are worried about the direction Maywood is taking — and where it might end up.

"If you don't have a driver's license, you shouldn't drive," said Enrique Curiel, 51, who has picketed against the church's involvement in the matter.

But Maywood's actions are being closely followed by others, including predominantly Latino immigrant communities. Several — including Pomona, Huntington Park and Bell Gardens — followed Maywood's lead by opposing a bill in Congress that would make it a crime for organizations or agencies to assist illegal immigrants. Aguirre and the council majority vowed to defy the rules if they become federal law.

"My hat's off to them," said Pomona Councilman Marcos Robles. "Maywood took the lead, which was very progressive on their part."

Aguirre knows the spotlight isn't about to move off his town.

"I spoke at a meeting of the League of California Cities," he said. "And this is all anyone wanted to talk to me about. I guess it sort of had an impact."


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Times staff writer Kelly-Anne Suarez contributed to this report.

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Am I reading this correctly has Mexico actually taken over one of our American cities folks?

What’s next, make the cities recognized language Spanish?
Start profiling gringos and arresting them for not speaking Spanish?

Originally Posted by sd_hog

Am I reading this correctly has Mexico actually taken over one of our American cities folks?

What’s next, make the cities recognized language Spanish?
Start profiling gringos and arresting them for not speaking Spanish?

You would be surprised, that's about the extent of it.
When it comes to some cities in So. Calif. your comments are correct.
I managed a billing office for a medical group a short distance from Maywood, and you won't believe the amount of calls that I would get in Spanish. They wouldn't even ask if I you spoke Spanish, they just started talking as if it was expected.
And you have no idea how many times I wished I could had said
"No, I don't speak Spanish, you need to learn English"
I remember a lady who called in English and asked to speak to somebody who spoke Spanish; I told her she spoke very good English, and her answer to that was "Thank you, but I feel more comfortable talking in Spanish"

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/114321277232314.html

Friday, March 24, 2006

COMMENTARY: California city turns immigration law on its head
Some conservative talk-show hosts and pundits have been accused of going over the top when framing the debate on illegal immigration. For a time, I too thought that some on the right were taking to hysterics for no reason. I was wrong. Illegal immigration is a frontal assault on America. We are under complete and consistent attack by neo-Marxists who support open borders and the end of the American way of life as we know it.

These are not statements that I make lightly, nor are they statements that I make without foundation. The city of Maywood, just south of Los Angeles, is the epicenter of a struggle between the law and the lawless. Illegal immigration, no matter how the open-borders crowd attempts to spin it, is against the law. It is an illegal act and those who sneak to the United States illegally are criminals. That's a fact.

Illegal immigrants in Maywood are not content with the criminal act of being in the United States, they are working actively to tear down law and order within that city. Since the act of being here is a crime that no one will punish, then logic seems to follow that no inconvenience should be wrought by the law. Illegals who cannot obtain driver's licenses were inconvenienced, for example, when the police stopped them and impounded their cars.

When the enforcement of the law got in between the illegal residents and their pursuit of happiness, the City Council dissolved the city's traffic department. They did away with the policy of impounding cars that people had no legal right to drive anyway. The new council went so far in their coddling of law-breakers that they have granted overnight parking permits to people without licenses. The Los Angeles Times, in a clear display of their own editorial position, referred to these people as "undocumented workers." That is a code word for criminal in the new world order.

The extent to which criminals running freely about the United States, and specifically Southern California, expect the law to be suspended for their own benefit is shocking to me. Sobriety checkpoints in Maywood got in the way of their pursuits, so they stacked the council with people who banned the checkpoints, with no regard for public safety.

Ordinances regarding the erection of shade canopies at private homes were inconvenient for people trying to artificially create usable living space because of the many illegal immigrants in their homes were inconvenient. They too were struck down. The entire city government in Maywood has been stacked simply to make life easier on illegal immigrants, which account for nearly half of the people in the city.

There is a casual pursuit of this lawlessness that seems so harmless. The Los Angeles Times has a very liberal editorial viewpoint, but even their reporting on the situation in Maywood was shocking to me. Their March 21 article ("Welcome to Maywood, where roads open up for immigrants") includes the story of Martha Montiel. She and her family had their cars impounded on numerous occasions, because they drive without licenses.

The Times, in a moment of stark intellectual dishonesty described Montiel as having "lost a car because a police officer pulled them over for having a large air freshener hanging in a window. Each time, it cost $1,800 to get the car back... ." The story would lead you to believe that Montiel's car was impounded because of an air freshener. In reality, she was on the road illegally, dangerously, and it wasn't a first offense. People used to need a license to drive, but not in the new world order.

The police in Maywood have been neutered to accommodate ever-increasing lawlessness, and the message is being clearly received by the criminals. Hector Becerra's Times' article even goes on to say that "Montiel is so grateful for the City Council's action that she plans to put the air freshener back in her car." Tell me she is not emboldened by the city's new government.

Are you as shocked as I am by this? The Los Angeles Times has effectively laid out the road map to illegal immigration nirvana. For a long time I have figured that the jingoistic conservatives were beating a drum that did not really matter. The law, up until recently, has been on our side. The law, up until recently, has stood up to the assault. The Times has reported that the lawless have won a major battle.

The suicidal fringe has indeed taken over Maywood. The state and federal governments should immediately rescind any and all funding for the renegade government. The county should take over law enforcement, and the state should take over the schools. To sit by and allow this frontal assault on the city sends a distinct signal to the advocates of lawlessness that they can win simply by stacking local governments in small elections, probably with a lot of illegal votes. Although the illegal immigration advocates paint new and developing freedoms for illegals as harmless, they each add to the wave of lawlessness that washes over us all. Let them drive. Let them vote. Force the city government to speak in tongues, and pretty soon you have Maywood, a city within the United States that refuses to acknowledge the laws upon which our freedoms are actually built. Pretty soon you'll have complete anarchy.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Barry Gadbois has been employed behind the scenes with several news organizations, and is a former employee of the National Training Center, Fort Irwin. He is presently employed by a Boston-based news network, and resides part time in Barstow. He can be contacted at talkback@gadbois.us.