Thread: Markell disagrees with Arizona, but stops short of action

Markell disagrees with Arizona, but stops short of action
By ESTEBAN PARRA • The News Journal • May 24, 2010


The demand was serious, firm and unexpected.
"I need your green card," 48-year-old Bishop Israel Figueroa was told by a Department of Motor Vehicles employee last month in Georgetown.
Figueroa, pastor of Seaford's Iglesia de Dios Maranatha, explained that he is Puerto Rican, a U.S. citizen and not required to have a green card. The DMV worker eventually backed down, apologized and explained they are required to ask for identification.
But Figueroa believes the employee's automatic request for immigration paperwork illustrates problems with profiling.
"I was bothered a bit because I felt I was being profiled. I felt like I was being discriminated," Figueroa said. "I was born in an American territory, in Puerto Rico, and am a U.S. citizen."
Debate about whether Latinos face unfair treatment has intensified since Arizona last month enacted a law that requires police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally. Several U.S. cities -- including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego and Austin, Texas -- have passed resolutions against the law or urged outright boycotts of Arizona.
Even Cuban lawmakers passed a resolution denouncing Arizona's law as "racist and xenophobic."
Although Gov. Jack Markell disagrees with the law, he is not considering boycotting or having state agencies sever relations with Arizona businesses, his spokesman said.
"The governor believes it's a bad law. He's very clear about that," Markell spokesman Brian Selander said. "He has not asked Delaware businesses fighting their way through these tough times to sever their relationships with any of their clients or suppliers in Arizona."
Despite the backlash, there are almost twice as many people who support the Arizona law as oppose it, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. It found that 42 percent favored it, 24 percent opposed it and another 29 percent were neutral.
Much of the support comes from the belief that the federal government has not done enough about illegal immigration -- even though federal immigration prosecutions rose to record levels during fiscal 2009, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which oversees federal law-enforcement programs.
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"It's obvious that the states do have to take this into their own hands and local jurisdictions," said Elsmere Town Councilman John Jaremchuk, who has tried to get several anti-illegal immigration measures passed, including fines for landlords and businesses that employ or rent to undocumented residents, and allowing police to ticket anyone unable to prove U.S. residency.


"There has to be certain things that take place in order for the officer to detain that person as an illegal alien," he said. "If those steps aren't taken, then you are probably looking at racial profiling."
As many as 17 states are now filing versions of Arizona's immigration law. Delaware -- which has a Hispanic population of about 56,000 -- is not among them, but it could be a matter of time.
"We are looking at some language," said Sen. Bruce Ennis, D-Smyrna, who said state legislators, including himself, have received calls from constituents who are concerned about the impact illegal immigration is having on Delaware's economy, education, health and law enforcement.
"But I certainly couldn't make much comment on the specifics until it's in final form at this point," he said, adding that no action is likely this year. "A number of us are looking at the issue and trying to get some answers."
Caution for states
The Delaware Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic Affairs (GACHA) -- a group that advises the governor on issues impacting the state's Hispanic community -- said immigration is the responsibility of the federal government, not states.
"Any locality or municipality that has waded into this issue has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and millions in lawsuits, not to mention the cost of polarizing and dehumanizing entire communities," said Margaret Reyes, GACHA's social justice committee chair.
The group is concerned that any lawmaker who proposes "copycat legislation" could destroy any trust established between the community and law enforcement.
"Careful consideration must be given to the negative economic impact the boycott is having on the state of Arizona," said Wanda Lopez, the group's executive director.
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As state legislatures across the country work on their own laws, some are concerned it will result in a patchwork of legislation instead of a uniform national approach.


According to the National Conference of State Legislators, more than 1,180 bills and resolutions relating to immigrants and refugees were introduced in state legislatures across the country in the first three months of 2010. Of those bills, 71 laws were enacted and 87 resolutions were adopted in 25 states.
In Delaware, steps were taken to remove criminals who are undocumented immigrants.
Earlier this year, Delaware State Police signed an agreement to participate in the Secure Communities Program, which would check the fingerprints of anyone arrested in the state with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database.
Last year, state Department of Correction officials signed an agreement with ICE to participate in a program known as 287(g), which refers to the part of the immigration code that allows the federal government to delegate certain enforcement powers to local authorities. The department, however, placed the program on hold.
"The commissioner canceled several training sessions because they had been scheduled out of state," said John Painter, correction's spokesman. "Those cancellations put the program on hold. At this time, it does not appear that the agreement will be implemented in the near future at Sussex Correctional Institution or any other DOC facility in the state."
Poll results telling
An Associated Press-Univision Poll found that 61 percent of people overall said Hispanics face significant discrimination, compared with 52 percent who said blacks face it and 50 percent who said women are discriminated against.
The survey also underscored how perceptions of prejudice can vary by ethnicity. While 81 percent of Latinos said Hispanics confront a lot or some discrimination, 59 percent of non-Hispanics said the same thing.
Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, the Latino advocacy organization, said the poll's findings suggest a silver lining in the country's often bitter debate over immigration.
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"For a lot of people, regardless of how they feel about what we should do about immigration, they're recognizing that this community has been singled out and targeted," she said.


Gabriel Pilonieta, publisher of the Newark-based bilingual weekly newspaper El Tiempo Hispano, said Latinos are feeling "impotent."
While saying he has not heard of Hispanics who are opting to stay out of Arizona, he feels in the long run the appearance of this law will impact commerce with that state.
"No one knows where this door that has been opened in Arizona will lead to," he said.
The Mexican government has issued a travel warning for Arizona, out of concern that Mexicans face an adverse political environment there.
Figueroa, the native Puerto Rican who was asked for his green card, said if this was done to him, chances are it will be done to many others.
"I felt bad, because I could have been born here in Delaware with parents from Puerto Rico," he said. "My physical appearance is Hispanic and what intimidates me about all this is that I will be segregated, that I will be made to feel that even though I belong to the United States I am like a distinct citizen -- different."
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http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... n-Delaware

They leave out one piece of important info. Was this the first time he was applying for a license or was it a renewal.

There sure are a lot of naive Americans, because we have been providing documentation for years. We didn't realize that we were being profiled or that this was racist.