http://www.aztlan.net/tale_of_two_cities.htm

ALTA CALIFORNIA: The Tale of Two Cities
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - January 27, 2006 - (ACN) Recent events at two California cities best exemplify what Patrick J. Buchanan wrote in his book "Death of the West". The cities are Maywood in Los Angeles County and Costa Mesa, located about 25 miles southeast, in Orange County .

In Maywood it was just about three years ago that Police Chief Bruce Leflar and his cops would routinely set up rush-hour roadblocks on the city's two main boulevards to check every driver's paperwork. His primary targets were Mexican undocumented immigrants driving without valid licenses

The Maywood police dragnets enabled the city to impound the immigrant's vehicles and then auction them off after 30 days. Police Chief Leflar bragged that in one year his cops had confiscated over 1,800 vehicles and had made about $1, 000,000 dollars for the City of Maywood from their share of the vehicle auctions, fees and fines.

Maywood, a city with about 28,300 inhabitants, was founded in 1912 and up to about 1970 it was almost an exclusively "White Oakie" working class community. The demographics of the city started changing dramatically about twenty years ago and today its population is 96.3% Latino and only about 2.6% White. The 2.6% White population or about 739 people are mostly old folks who live in the city's rest homes.

Soon after the Los Angeles Times ran a story concerning the abuses of Maywood Police Chief Lefler, the Mexicano community started to organized politically and last November it elected three new councilmembers of Mexican descent. The new council wasted no time in making changes in how Maywood treated its immigrants. On Tuesday, the City Council voted unanimously to declare Maywood, an "Immigrant Sanctuary".

Felipe Aguirre, the newly elected Vice-Mayor of Maywood, said in Spanish, “Estamos creando un santuario para los inmigrantes, queremos que vengan. Si en otras partes los atacan, como en Costa Mesa y Cypress Park, queremos decirles que aquí pueden sentirse seguros”. Vice-Mayor Aguirre also pronounced the city's unanimity against HR4437, federal legislation that seeks to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

Costa Mesa, on the other hand, is where Maywood was about 10, years ago. At one time, many of Maywood's "White Oakies" were moving to Costa Mesa and were predominant but today Latinos already comprise about 32% of the city's 108,724 total population.

In a tumultuous City Council meeting on January 3, 2006, the City of Costa Mesa voted to allow its police department to stop Mexican-Americans and other Latinos to ask them for their immigration documents. The City Council voted 3-2 to train approximately 40 Costa Mesa detectives and other police officers to enforce immigration laws, a function that has been the exclusive purview of the federal government.

The Costa Mesa mayor and its police chief, both Whites, were extremely biased while conducting the City Council meeting. They utilized a heavy hand against Mexican-Americans that were present to express their views but not against Whites that included members of the anti-Mexican "Minutemen Vigilantes".

The Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor at one point ordered Police Chief John Hensley to remove the spokesman of the Tonantzin Collective, Coyotl Tezcalipoca, from the city council chambers. Approximately five police officers grabbed the leader of the Tonantzin Collective and dragged him out into the street. Coyotl Tezcalipoca was later charged with a series of felonies.

Mayor Allan Mansoor and Police Chief John Hensley are today attempting to "hold the line" as was attempted in Maywood. It looks like Costa Mesa and other similar cities is where Whites will make their last stand in Alta California. Patrick J. Buchanan wrote with much truth and with great insight in his book "The Death of the West". The chickens are finally coming home to roost . . . for good!