ALIPAC Town Hall in Greenville, NC
It went great folks. We had over 60 people present, and I personally think that William could still be talking if the restaurant hadn't had to close for the night. Lots of new members and volunteers joined up. Such enthusiasm, it was Great!
We also had a great response form the Media tonight. In fact, I just got done watching the coverage on the local CBS Station. We were the top story. I am posting below the transcript and link to the coverage.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them up here. I will be up another hour or so, and will be online tomorrow morning also. I will take the place of William in the Q&A tonight, since he is still on the road probably.
LINK
Illegal Immigrants Paying In-State Tuition
Apr 26, 2005
Carley Wegner
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"Not everyone gets to go to college!" William Gheen is the president of Americans For Legal Immigration he says he is appalled by the proposed bill. "The problem with the HB 1183 is that it would replace our legal children in college or legal Americans in the limited seats available at tax payers expense." Javier Castillo chairman of the Pitt county Republican party is in favor of the bill. "Are we going to penalize the kids for the sins committed by the parents? It's like if I shoot my brother, are you going to put my son in jail? That is the situation and I have to say it bluntly." Gheen says, "The people to blame for the children are the parents of those children not the state, not the tax payer and not the generous people of North Carolina."
Castillo believes the problem goes far beyond the state. He says getting legal immigration status is tough to get in the first place. He also says it's not fair for the federal government to mandate that the children of illegal immigrants go to school from k-12th grade but then make them pay extra - like out of state students - once they get into college. But Gheen says that doesn't matter. "These countries do have universities and many children who are illegal aliens do return to their home countries to attend college." Gheen also say this bill would encourage more illegal immigration but Castillo says that wouldn't happen because there would still be restrictions in place.
The Americans for Legal Imigration will be meeting Rocky Mount April 28th at the Braswell Memorial Library at 7:15
April 30th they will be in Monroe at the Quincy's Family Steak House at 7pm.
More Coverage of the meeting last night
State's tuition measure debated
By Paul Dunn, The Daily Reflector
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
William Gheen complained of a sore throat just before the start of his presentation Tuesday night on illegal immigration, but the rasp in his voice did little to dampen his enthusiasm.
Gheen, president of the Raleigh-based political action committee Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC), spoke before about 45 people at Ryan's Family Steak House in Greenville. Audience members included Pitt County Commissioners Glenn Bowen and Tom Coulson, Maj. Timothy Copeland of the Pitt County Sheriff's Office and former state Sen. Tony Moore.
Tuesday night, Gheen used North Carolina House Bill 1183, which would allow in-state tuition to some illegal immigrants as a stepping stone to a broad discussion on illegal immigration in North Carolina and elsewhere. Water glass in hand, Gheen spent most of his 45-minute presentation striding back and forth in front of his audience, exhorting them to lobby against HB 1183 and any other measures that would allow continued illegal immigration into the United States.
The effort would take more than signatures on a petition, he said.
"We have to take this to another level," he urged. "It's going to take money and lobbying."
Gheen, 36, opposes the tuition bill because he said it "takes the limited seats in North Carolina colleges away from legal Americans."
"Some people would have the citizens believe that a taxpayer-subsidized college education is unattractive to others, when we know that people from other states want to come here to go to school," he said.
Gheen's presentation prompted a few questions from the audience, but little opposition to his proposals. But then, Javier Castillo wasn't present.
Castillo, chairman of the Pitt County Republican Party, supports HB 1183 and argues that it's wrong to penalize college-bound children for the mistakes made by their parents.
"It's not the kids' fault to be here," Castillo said. "They will have to compete to get into school just like anybody else, and they have the same rights because their parents are paying the same taxes as everybody else."
Despite high emotions, Gheen figures the fight over HB 1183 has run its course.
"This bill is a dead political duck," he said. "It won't see the light. It's gone."
The bill has served as a lightning rod for a highly charged debate between Gheen and Castillo. Castillo says Gheen is creating more enemies and hurting the Republican Party.
"They (ALIPAC) are trying to make noise and hiding themselves in the conservative coat," Castillo said Monday afternoon. "They call themselves Christian conservatives, but if you call yourself a Christian, how can you punish the kids for the sins of the father?"
Though Castillo is against illegal immigration and favors an overhaul of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, he's not above helping local employers find workers when they need them.
"I'm not for illegal immigration, but when employers need employees, they contact me," he said. "I don't ask them (potential employes) if they are legal."
When told of the statement, Gheen said: "Javier Castillo should focus more on issues important to law-abiding legal citizens rather than speaking for illegal aliens that have shown no respect for American laws."
Gheen offered listeners Tuesday a four-point solution to illegal immigration: Secure America's borders; remove incentives and rewards for illegal immigrants like in-state tuition, driver's licenses and welfare; crack down on business owners who intentionally hire illegal labor, and deport illegal aliens convicted of crimes.
Paul Dunn can be reached at
pdunn@coxnews.com or 329-9566.
Re: More Coverage of the meeting last night
Javier Costillo is listed as a MEMBER of the Advocacy Initiative Advisory Committee of El Pueblo, Inc. (initiator of the legislation). El Pueblo, Inc. is one of 300 "Proud Affiliates" of the National Council of La Raza
Quote:
Though Castillo is against illegal immigration and favors an overhaul of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, he's not above helping local employers find workers when they need them.
"I'm not for illegal immigration, but when employers need employees, they contact me," he said. "I don't ask them (potential employes) if they are legal."
pdunn@coxnews.com or 329-9566.
Now, one of the things we've been trying to figure out here is:
HOW DO THESE PEOPLE FIND THEIR ILLEGAL JOBS WITH ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS? In otherwords, "who" are the people who provide the illegal networks to run these workers into our system?
Well.....why would employers contact Javier Costillo about needing workers when there is over 200,000 unemployed Americans such that if you'll read my article I placed entitled "PAINFUL YEAR FOR UNEMPLOYED IN NC" you'll learn that the unemployment situation is so severe that a study was commissed by the Rural Development Center of NC to present "OPTIONS" to the General Assembly of North Carolina that included new appropriations to the Unemployment Trust Fund (which is paid by workers and their employers) because it's EMPTY...another Option was to go to Congress and see if they had any money to throw our way down here to help these unemployed Americans.
BUT, according to Javier Costillo, employers needing workers are contacting HIM? Why wouldn't they contact their local North Carolina Unemployment Security Commission fully staffed with immediate computer records of available workers complete with skill and education information, name, address, social security number, desired wage range, and ALL the possible information and workers any LEGAL EMPLOYER could hope to find.....johnny on the spot.
Why would they be contacting Javier Costillo, an advisor to El Pueblo, an affiliate of the National Council of La Raza?
Why would EMPLOYERS IN NORTH CAROLINA be doing that?
WHO IS JAVIER COSTILLO and WHAT IS HE UP TO?
Mamie--you may want to post your finding on the law of aiding and abetting illegal immigration into the United States. I think Javier Costillo has some "legal" catching up to do!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that FIVE YEARS IMPRISONMENT for each and every alien assisted?
Now, if I were Javier, and the feds came looking into my activities regarding matching employers with employees---I'd be keeping a list of all those I "aided" just in case.....it might help reduce that sentence which added up will probaby be a term in substantial excess of his anticipated life expectancy!!
Oh, don't you just LOVE public confessions!!
HooooooRa!![/quote]
