Crackdown on illegals takes toll in Pennsylvania town

CNN.com

HAZLETON, Pennsylvania (AP) — Elvis Soto’s variety store used to make money. But few customers have been walking through his door lately, and his merchandise — calling cards, cell phones, car stereos, clothing — is collecting dust on the shelves.

With bills mounting, Soto might have to take another job to stay afloat financially, and may even close the store.

On Wednesday, a tough, first-of-its-kind law targeting illegal immigrants goes into effect in this small hillside city in northeastern Pennsylvania. But the evidence suggests many Hispanics — illegal or otherwise — have already left. [ Note from D.A: why would someone who is in the U.S. legally fear law enforcement?…nice try guys]

That, in turn, has hobbled the city’s Hispanic business district, where some shops have closed and others are struggling to stay open.

“Before, it was a nice place,” said Soto, 27, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic a decade ago. “Now, we have a war against us. I am legal but I feel the pressure also.”

The ordinance, approved by City Council in September, imposes fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denies business permits to companies that give them jobs. The law empowers the city to investigate written complaints about a person’s immigration status, using a federal database.

Mayor Lou Barletta, chief proponent of the new law, contends illegal immigrants have brought drugs, crime and gangs, overwhelming police and municipal budgets. He announced the crackdown in June, a month after two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged in a fatal shooting.

More here…

I had a letter to the editor published in the Gainesville [Georgia] Times today and wanted to share it with the readers here to illustrate how important it is to send letters to editors of your local newspapers.

On September 17, the Gainesville Times ran a very long [yawn] guest column written by a Gainesville area immigration lawyer – David Kennedy – in which he goes through the all too usual motions of trying to smear anyone who stands up against illegal immigration as somehow un-American…or worse.

Kennedy’s effort at continued income and clients can be read here.

In reply, a week later I wrote a guest column which the Gainesville Times was kind enough to publish addressing Kennedy’s mindless smearing – which can be read here.

On October 25, 2006, the Gainesville Times published a letter from a Gainesville rocket scientist named Dave Anderson, who continued the immigration lawyer’s attempts to silence anyone – myself included – who opposes illegal immigration and employment as being involved in a “hate group”.

Anderson’s letter can be read here.

Anderson used that all American luminary…Morris Dees as a reference and authority. Dees runs the SPLC, a far left money machine in Alabama disguised as a law center. See here. He also noted that state Senator Sam Zamarippa is not running for re-election.

Happy dance here.

We do make the observation that Zamarripa is still a founding partner of United Americas Bank , aka “BANCO UNIDO”, which is making mortgage loans to illegals and that he marched to the Georgia Capitol recently along with about 2000 illegals demanding that existing law not be enforced.

Looks like Zamarripa has picked a side…ehh?

I want it very clear here: I go to www.AmericanPatrol.com several times a day to read news and opinion on the crisis created by the fact that President Bush refuses to secure our borders or enforce our immigration and employment laws. I recommend that you do as well.

No one can “contribute” columns to American Patrol, as it is nothing more than a daily roundup and compilation of news items on the illegal immigration issue. The horror!

It is not known yet if lawyer Kennedy helped letter writer Dave Anderson with his letter, but I will debate both of these characters at their convienence. Anytime guys.

Anyway, the editors at the Gainesville Times were professional enough to allow to me to reply to Comrade Anderson in their paper today…the complete letter is below, and can be found here. We thank the editors at the Gainesville Times for the space.

From here, I truly hope that Anderson and lawyer Kennedy donate their money to Morris Dees…they deserve it.

Illegal immigration foes are not necessarily ‘hate groups’

LETTER

The Southern Poverty Law Center, run by Morris Dees in Montgomery, Ala., lists many Web sites that are successful in drawing attention to the crime of illegal immigration and employment as “hate sites.” Dees has personally made millions in donations doing so from the far, far left.

A telling quote from Millard Farmer, a renowned anti-death penalty attorney and former partner of Dees, in the November 2000 issue of Harper’s Magazine: “He is the Jim and Tammy Faye Baker of the civil rights movement.”

Farmer went on to apologize to Jim and Tammy Faye.

The letter writer attempting to marginalize my efforts to stop illegal immigration and employment, and Times readers, may want to read a federal commission report and the Charlotte Observer’s conclusion that in 1996 the SPLC had “misinformed the media” and fabricated stories. USA Today verified the Charlotte Observer story, commenting further that the SPLC purposefully hid facts that did not support its position. Stephen Bright of the “Southern Center for Human Rights” declared that Dees “is a fraud who has milked a lot of very wonderful well-intentioned people. If it’s got headlines, Morris is there.”

Many of us anxiously await Dees and SPLC to label the entire U.S. Border Patrol as a “hate group” as a result of its enforcement actions and removal of illegal aliens. The 11,000 brave Border Patrol agents who risk their lives to secure our borders are 60 percent Latino. Likely a bunch of “haters,” right?

The Mexican government uses troops to secure its borders and deports more people annually than does the United States. “Racists” and “white supremacists,” right?

I will pass on Dave Anderson’s mindless accusations to the Latino and black Americans who sit on the advisory board of the Dustin Inman Society, a coalition of Americans opposed to illegal immigration here in Georgia.

I am president and founder of the society. The fact is that he, like most who defend illegal immigration, really can’t justify it. So they must resort to name-calling. That is what I wrote in the column to which he replies.

I thank him for making my point.

I am proud to have paid 14 homeless American day laborers to hold signs at the Capitol; they were hungry and, like most Georgians, angry about illegal immigration. Likely racists, too, eh?

D.A. King

Marietta
Originally published Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Sending letters to your editor has an effect!

Texas Congressman Ron Paul:

“By now many Texans have heard about the proposed ‘NAFTA Superhighway,’ which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor,” he said in a statement. “What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention.”

Haven’t heard a peep from your Congressman, your U.S. Senators or most of the media about turning North American into an EU-like market place yet?

To the people who really run what remains of our country, borders are merely barriers to more profit.

More from World Net Daily on Congressman Paul’s objection to doing so…

Congressmen: Superhighway
about North American Union
Paul says goal is common currency,
borderless travel, bigger bureaucracy

“The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,’ or SPP,” he explains. “The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco.”

No treaties were involved, and Congress was not included in discussions or plans, he says.

“Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments,” according to Paul. “One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don’t be fooled: The superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically connected interests.”

Paul says, however, the real issue raised by the superhighway plan and the SPP is national sovereignty.

You can read the rest here. AND…you can read what I have written in the AJC here about it here./a>.

Please do…then ask your Congressman and our Senators if they are going to pick a side on the planned North American Community. Most Americans who are allowed to get information on this sell-out of American sovereignty have.

I always am fascinated that more people don’t ask themselves why the President refuses to secure American borders…

Slide show on what life is like in Cochise County Arizona. Click here to watch…about 6 minutes long.

The slide show is of the consequences of our unsecured borders and illegal immigration. One of the themes is that illegals are hiding all over the Arizona county.

When I go to Cochise County, Arizona, what I tell the Americans there is that here in Georgia, the illegals don’t hide.

They march down the street and at the state Capitol demanding the rights of citizens and the right to vote…led by a Mexican citizen here on a visa and by Jerry Gonzalez and MALDEF leaders…all of whom profit from the organized crime of illegal immigration.

There is no place to go folks, we either force our goverment to enforce the laws and secure our borders – or we lose our nation.

Click here for a handy voter guide from the AJC.

U.S. Promotes Food Stamps For Illegals

The United States Department of Agriculture is spending taxpayer money to run Spanish-language television ads encouraging illegal immigrants to apply for government-financed food stamps.

The federal agency, which claims to provide leadership on food, agriculture and natural resources based on sound public policy, is working to promote its food stamp program in the Latino communities with a costly series of ads on the nation’s largest Spanish-language network, Los Angeles-based Univision.

A few years ago the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food and Nutrition Service made a deal with the Mexican Embassy to jointly distribute informative brochures and create public service announcement informing Mexican migrants of the free food program for the poor.

Mexican Consul Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro even starred in some of the U.S. Government-financed television commercials, which explain the program and provide a phone number to apply. In the widely viewed commercial, Ortiz Haro assures that receiving food stamps “won’t affect your immigration status.”

Dear readers – this is not me saying this. It is Judicial Watch, a non-partisan educational foundation which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

They have some wild idea that “no one is above the law”. Even illegal aliens and elected officials. Yikes.

You can read the rest here. Then, call your Congressman…he is up for that pesky re-election you know.

Immigration Is No Joke
By John Fonte
National Review online

In 2006 something extraordinary happened in immigration politics. As Al Gore might put it, the people defeated the powerful. The much-maligned Republican 109th Congress passed immigration-enforcement legislation to build a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, without including an amnesty for illegal immigrants. President Bush has declared he will sign the bill today. How did this happen?

One year ago elites had crafted a much different scenario. It was going to be amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants, a massive increase in legal (and low-skilled) immigration accompanied by tepid and cosmetic “enforcement” measures.

It appeared to be a very uneven contest. On the “comprehensive” reform (i.e., amnesty) side were the mainstays of power, money, and polite society: Big Media (the major TV networks, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal), Big Business (Chamber of Commerce, leading corporations), Big Labor (AFL-CIO), Big Religion (the mainstream Protestant and Catholic hierarchies), and Big Politics (Bush administration, Senator McCain, the Senate leadership, Senator Kennedy, and the Democratic leaders in both houses).

On the other side of this strange, but real and inverted, class war were radio talk-show hosts; individual business people; most rank and file union workers; most average church parishioners (in high-church as well as low-church congregations); the majority of House Republicans (92 percent), and the majority of Senate Republicans (59 percent). But, most significantly, the anti-amnesty side also included the vast majority of the American people. According to Rasmussen, 67 percent preferred enforcing existing law and controlling the border “before new reforms are considered,” and Zogby reported that 64 percent preferred the House bill over the Senate bill.

In December 2005 the House passed the Sensenbrenner-King “enforcement first” bill that provided for a 700 mile border fence, allowed local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and rejected amnesty. In June 2006 the Senate passed legislation (supported by McCain, Kennedy, Reed, and Hagel) that would give amnesty to most illegal immigrants, vastly increase legal immigration for low-skilled workers, and, incredibly, restrict local police from working with federal immigration agents to stop terrorism.

For example, under the Senate bill local police could not check the immigration status of a potential terrorist who was stopped for speeding. Four of the 9/11 terrorists who were in the U.S. illegally were stopped for speeding, but their immigration status was never checked and reported to federal agents. To their credit, most Senate Republicans opposed the Senate bill. These Republicans include many up for reelection this year: Santorum (Pa.), Talent (Mo.), Allen (Va.), Burns (Mont.), Ensign (Nev.), and Kyl, (Ariz.).

You can read the rest here.

To get an idea of what may happen if th eelection turns out much of the media wants…see how Harry Reid, the Dem leader in the U.S. Senate thinks:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said on the Senate floor last week that an amendment to make English the national language of the United States was “mean-spirited,” “divisive” and worse.

“I really believe this amendment is racist,” said Reid. “I think it is directed basically to people who speak Spanish.”

Click here for photos of Tuesday’s rally in Cobb County…and thanks again to all who helped make a difference.

Immigration pact to speed ID of illegals

By Amanda Casciaro
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA – Officials expect to identify more illegal aliens once Cobb cements an agreement with the federal government to access its national database to screen jail inmates, but that’s as far as the county can push to fight illegal immigration.

The database tells officers if an inmate is illegally in the country, but the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has final say in who stays and who gets deported.

The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office has turned 53 inmates over to immigration and customs officials in the past six months, and about 73 inmates have “holds,” most of which cite Mexico as their country of origin, Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren said.

“Sheriff’s Office personnel will screen inmates coming into the jail to determine whether they are in the country illegally,” Warren said. “If it is determined that the inmate is an illegal alien, paperwork will be processed to begin the hearing and deportation process.

The agreement approved Tuesday simply gives Cobb deputies access to a federal database, which takes advantage of a rarely used section of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act. Cobb’s approval makes it one of seven governments in the country and the first in Georgia to take action.

Every misdemeanor or felony offender who enters the Cobb County Jail will be subject to review, once the program is given federal approval. If offenders are found guilty of their charges, deportation proceedings won’t begin until they satisfy their sentence in Georgia.

If acquitted, offenders’ information still will be handed over to federal officials.

“Once all local charges are disposed of – dismissal, acquittal, serving a sentence, etc. – the inmate will be turned over to ICE for deportation,” Warren said.

A slow-moving federal system means Cobb taxpayers will pay to house felony offenders – before and after their conviction – until federal agents pick them up.

“We may encounter an individual at the Cobb County Jail, and let’s say they’re arrested on a serious offense and ultimately serve their sentence in the state system, said Ken Smith, special agent in-charge of the Atlanta regional ICE office.

“We also work with the state of Georgia for the intake of all state inmates. We’ll identify them on whatever level they’re on and place a (detainment order) on that individual. Eventually, they’ll rotate into ICE custody for removal.”

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department in Charlotte, N.C., began using the database in April.

The rest here…

Lou Dobbs does a nightly show on CNN…watch it, tape it, TEVO it…but don’t miss it.

The country has a long and honorable tradition of welcoming legal immigrants to this nation, but in recent years there’s been a huge influx of illegal aliens. By some estimates as many as 20 million live in the United States right now. Those illegal aliens are, among other things, depressing wages for U.S. citizens and draining local and state and federal budgets of much-needed funds for the education and the healthcare and social services of and for Americans.

“The tab is growing. California spends half a billion dollars a year on illegal alien healthcare, only 11 percent is reimbursed by the federal government. Forty-four of California hospitals have closed since 2000. Education for the children of illegal alien costs the state $6 billion a year, California’s public school system ranked 29th nationally in 2002. It’s now 47th”.

Even New York spends $5 billion a year on education, healthcare and incarceration of illegal aliens. There are also human costs. A growing number of groups are protesting the deaths of American citizens and law enforcement officers at the hands of criminal illegal aliens. The federal government is either unwilling or unable to deport.

(on camera): But there’s strong evidence illegal immigration is turning the United States into an hour glass society. Big business and the wealthy who benefit from cheap labor are the top. Illegal aliens and the American workers they’ve displaced are the bottom and the middle class continues to disappear.

Casey Wian, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Read the entire transcript here.