Thread: Pro-immigrant resolution fails

Pro-immigrant resolution fails

May 2, 2007
By Jonathan Lipman Staff writer
The Cook County Board rejected Tuesday an attempt to make the county an immigrant-friendly government by forbidding its employees from investigating or asking about anyone’s immigration status.

Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, who has championed the resolution for more than a year, looked visibly upset after the resolution failed on a tie vote with three abstentions.

“I’m not going to give up,” Maldonado (D-Chicago) said. “I’m going to bring it back. ... When we fought for civil rights legislation, it did not happen overnight.”

The bill, similar to one that passed Chicago City Council last year, would have forbidden county sheriff’s police and other officials from inquiring about anyone’s immigration status unless it was connected to an investigation into other criminal wrongdoing. County services could not be withheld based on immigration status.

Along with four of the board’s five Republicans, the board’s five black Democrats and Commissioner John Daley voted to oppose or abstain on the bill. Republican Tony Peraica supported it.

“There is a big disconnect between the African-American community and the ... Latino community when it comes to this issue,” Maldonado said.

“There is a distorted perception out there ... that immigrants ... agree to work for lower wages than the African-American community would be willing to do,” Maldonado said. “It’s absolutely untrue. We take the jobs that nobody else wants.”

Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-Chicago) said she abstained because she didn’t think the resolution, which was changed from the original, stronger proposal, really accomplished anything.

“You want to put some meat on this,” Sims said. “Bring it back to us.”

West Side Commissioner Earlean Collins (D-Chicago) said she was worried the resolution would encourage more patients to use the over-burdened county health system.

Board President Todd Stroger, who joined Maldonado at a news conference to support the measure Monday, declined Tuesday to cast a tie-breaking vote that would have won passage. Stroger said critics have questioned his legal right to cast a vote since he is not a commissioner, and he didn’t think the issue was worth the inevitable protracted legal battle.

Jonathan Lipman may be reached at jlipman@dailysouthtown.com or (312) 782-1286.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/3663 ... 02.article

May this be the tide turning in Illinois. May the driver's certificate for illegals get tossed out. May Waukegan no longer be a sanctuary city.

I could go on forever.

Just read that more Waukegan monolingual teachers are losing their jobs or being transfered because -you guessed it- they don't speak another language.

“There is a big disconnect between the African-American community and the ... Latino community when it comes to this issue,” Maldonado said.

Well gee why do you think this is maldonado? Do you think the black community may be just a little upset that latino gangs are targeting the black community? And the fact that illegals are stealing jobs away from all Americans?
Didn't think about that one now did ya...

FEDUPINWAUKEGAN -

CAN YOU GIVE ME A LINK TO THE STORY ABOUT THE TEACHERS LOSING THEIR JOBS BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT BILINGUAL?

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

May this be the tide turning in Illinois. May the driver's certificate for illegals get tossed out. May Waukegan no longer be a sanctuary city.

I could go on forever.

Just read that more Waukegan monolingual teachers are losing their jobs or being transfered because -you guessed it- they don't speak another language.

You would think by now that the media would bring up the subject of RACISM on the part of the majority of illegal alien/amnesty supporters. The PC is killing me. It's always okay to point out the races of AMERICANS opposed to illegals and box us into the xenophobe category yet they never emphasize the fact that the majority of HISPANICS in GOVERNMENT ARE pushing amnesty based on race/ethnicity.

As for the bilingual issue, have you heard anything further regarding the Black principal in Chicago despite her stellar performance for being booted out because those on the board wanted a latino to replace her?

Originally Posted by Faye

FEDUPINWAUKEGAN -

CAN YOU GIVE ME A LINK TO THE STORY ABOUT THE TEACHERS LOSING THEIR JOBS BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT BILINGUAL?

School Council Votes To Keep Principal Out
Critics Say Jerryelyn Jones Was Fired For Her Race
SLIDESHOW: See The Week’s News In Photos
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(CBS) CHICAGO The firing of a high school principal last month has triggered a grass roots campaign on the city's Southwest Side, but on Saturday morning, the school's council voted against reconsidering her dismissal.

As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, the local school council at Curie High School, at 4959 S. Archer Ave., voted 5-4 not to reconsider the dismissal of Jerryelyn Jones as principal. On Feb. 10, they voted 6-2 not to renew her contract.

After the meeting Saturday, three council members walked out of the open forum.

Under Jones, the school's graduation and test rates went up. Mayor Daley called her dismissal a "national disgrace."

Since Jones was fired, the power of local school councils to fire and hire principals has been under fire.

"We need checks and balances. They shouldn't have the power to railroad excellent principals based on color," said parent Chris Tyson, "and even if that's not actually what happened, that's the message that's been sent out, and that's the wrong message for our children."
Those who have fought the firing accuse local school council president Tom Ramos of arranging the departure of Jones, who is African-American, to replace her with a Latino principal. Sixty-five percent of the students enrolled in the high school are Hispanic.

Ramos said on Thursday that Jones' firing warranted reexamination.

"I don't feel I made a mistake, first of all. I feel like we should look at this again," Ramos said. "I think we should look at the council. I can't make the decision for the other counselors who did not vote for her contract."

There have been protests from parents and students alike, especially given the increase in graduation and test rates during her tenure.

"I want her to stay here," said student Mayra Vega. "I think she's a good principal. I see her in the hallways all the time. I don't see a reason why she should be leaving."

"I really want her to come back, because she's really done a lot of good for us," said student Alina Montes. "I hear she lowered the dropout rate. I think that’s good."

Mayor Daley said last month there was no valid justification to fire "one of the super-star principals" of a high school where assistance and academic performance have notably improved.

The antecedents to this controversial dismissal include an accusation against Ramos for bribery reported to the Inspector General by Jones, who later denied funds to Ramos to assist an educational conference in Washington.

Jones had worked at the school for 25 years, first as a teacher, then as an assistant principal, and for the last eight years as principal.

CBS 2's Rafael Romo and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Faye here's one that may be of interest to you.

Jerryelyn Jones should call ICE on that school board. all 'undocumented' (illegals) board members need to be deported then retake that vote. i bet Ms Jones would be retained.

Yes, WhatMattersMost. This is exactly what I'm interested in. This Ramos guy was under investigation for bribery which makes me even more interested. Can you give me a link. I remember seeing pictures of the principal. I saw artcles on it a while back but didn't pull it over because illegals were not involved and was too sick at the time to put forth the effort in saving it. I've googled it but what I saw isn't coming up.

I've been seeing stuff like this happening a while but I guess it wasn't soaking in other than just becoming angry. It appears hispanics are moving into positions of authority, supervisory positions, whatever and they are driving everyone but hispanics out. I started noticing last year when I ran across an article on 3 Dallas principals being given 3 years to learn Spanish... or else. Since then, we had 6 teachers either fired or transferred because they weren't bilingual here. Then it was hushed up real quick and the teachers I was talking to quit talking. I've had several black nursing assistants come up and ask me if I knew of any jobs open and discuss the problems they are having because either they've been run out of jobs by the hispanics or because they don't get hired because they're not bilingual. Same with dietary services and housekeeping at the hospitals. I had one master's degree special ed teacher tell me she couldn't get a job because she's not bilingual.

Illegality isn't the question here and I'm not sure how to handle it. But it appears it's becoming a problem that needs to be dealt with so I thought I might start gathering stories.