WI: Migrant issues are focus of forum

[Nouveauxpoor]

Migrant issues are focus of forum

Panelists discuss how laws affect access into U.S.

Post-Crescent staff writer


MENASHA — A forum Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley will explore the thorny issues surrounding immigration from the perspective of existing laws and migration patterns.


Pockets of northeastern Wisconsin more recently have become site of anti-immigrant legislation. While Wisconsinites' perspective on national issues usually follows that of the rest of the country, on occasion they can break with convention, said Pete Brown, an anthropologist who will be on the forum's panel.


"Most of the people, if you think about it, realize that there are many issues involved, and that these are people just like us with many of the same goals that we have, trying to support a family, educate their children," he said.


Joining Brown on the panel are Edwin Bush II, an immigration attorney; Marcelo Garcia, a Hispanic community leader; and Peter Geniesse, chairman of the justice ministry, Empowerment, Solidarity, Truth, Hope and Reform (ESTHER) of Valley Interfaith Organizing Group.


ESTHER has previously sponsored forums on the topic at St. Therese Catholic Church, Appleton.


The 90-minute event focusing on Latin American immigration is scheduled Monday at noon and is open to the public.


Brown's research on indigenous Mayan communities has taken him to southern Mexico. He teaches at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and serves as coordinator of Latin American studies.


"Our policy toward immigration doesn't exactly make sense from the perspective of the Mexicans who are migrating here," Brown said, "because they know there are jobs here. They know that the employers want to hire them. They know that many people have been hired in the past, and yet for seemingly political reasons the United States throws up all these barriers."


The channels applicants must go through to obtain legal entrance into the country are so rigorous that it leaves some of them with little recourse, said Bush, who devotes a third of his practice to deal with business and spousal cases in the Fox Cities.


The public doesn't "understand that (undocumented immigrants) haven't got visas because there's no way for them to get visas. Many people think you just fill out some forms and they can't figure out why these people haven't done that, and it's because it would be pointless," Bush said. "Of course there's no way for them here."


Garcia, a native of Cuenca, Ecuador, has appeared regularly at past immigration forums. He is president of Appleton's Casa Hispana, a resource center for Latinos in the Fox Valley.

J.E. Espino: 920-993-1000, ext. 426, or jespino@postcrescent.com

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 40577/1979

[WhatMattersMost]

The public doesn't "understand that (undocumented immigrants) haven't got visas because there's no way for them to get visas. Many people think you just fill out some forms and they can't figure out why these people haven't done that, and it's because it would be pointless," Bush said. "Of course there's no way for them here."

If they can't come here legally, then they shouldn't come AT ALL. There's food in my kitchen but it doesn't mean that somebody can kick in my door and come in and help themselves to the food in my kitchen, simply because its there.

Why should the process to enter the US be easy for people who have little to nothing to contribute? We really need to get back to the basics in terms of immigration, if you are an unskilled, uneducated burden and not a benefit then WE DON'T WANT OR NEED YOU. Those who are here illegally have so far proven that they and their burdens far outweigh anything remotely positive or contributory.

Why is it so hard for them to understand that when you don't know any better, you can't do any better? We have millions of people who have come to this country and brought all of their 3rd world customary baggage with them. They are not pulling themselves up they are dragging America and Americans down to their level of poverty, crime, chaos and overpopulation.

The more I read the harder it is for me to ponder whether or not most of these morons believe half of what they say.