Lawyer Hernan responds in Cherokee Tribune
Below is lawyer Hernan’s response to my column in the Cherokee Tribune Sunday, it ran in yesterday’s Tribune.
Fair, humane solution needed for undocumented
“By passing comprehensive immigration reform, we will uphold our laws, meet the needs of our economy, and keep America what she has always been – an open door to the future, a blessed and promised land, one Nation under God.”
– President George W. Bush, Aug. 5, 2006 radio address
When the law firm of Hernan Taylor & Lee represented two hosts of a Spanish-language radio station in their dispute against the hosts of the “Regular Guys” morning show, our firm was targeted by anti-immigrant groups and shocked to receive vulgar, threatening emails that are entirely unfit to publish here. Go figure that when a guest column by D.A. King, “Cherokee should take courage from Hazleton mayor” was published in the Tribune on Sunday, those e-mails began to appear again.
We have no interest in publicizing what we believe are our good works but, after reading King’s column, we feel compelled to defend our integrity.
Prior to forming our firm, my partners and I were attorneys at an international law firm serving Fortune 100 clients and earning six-figure salaries. In 2002, we left that comfortable lifestyle and opened an office in the midst of the Spanish-speaking population of Roswell to serve the Latino community. Our firm has grown since then but we have never abandoned our sense of purpose and dedication to the community we serve.
King challenges our integrity because he does not know our firm or our partners. He does not know that Chris Taylor served as a missionary for two years in Mexico, or that my other partner, Jerome Lee, is a prototypical “Horatio Alger” who graduated with honors from Harvard and Stanford and is a staunch advocate of human and civil rights.
Our firm has proudly served charitable organizations and immigrant rights groups throughout its history. We have spent thousands of hours working with different organizations to provide information about immigration reform and have never charged or received a penny for doing so, and certainly would not charge any client for immigration services unless and until there was a basis under federal law for that client to be eligible to apply.
If any group asks us to come speak to them about immigration reform, we do so without charge in order to spread the message about the importance of the issue. King can make whatever suggestions he wants about our motivations, but if you ask the people who know us and work with us they will have the true answer.
King’s characterization of Cherokee County’s public hearing on the housing ordinance is also inaccurate. Religious leaders, community members and other attorneys spoke out passionately against the ordinance. A significant number of the people speaking out in favor of the ordinance did not even live in Cherokee County.
We are proud we were able to work with the county’s attorneys towards a rational resolution and, while it is clear we disagree with the position of certain members of the Board of Commissioners, both sides were able to work in a non-adversarial and professional manner to attempt to resolve the dispute.
King would like you to think our firm and others advocating for immigrant rights are seeking wide-open borders and lawlessness. Quite the contrary. The federal government must secure the borders of the U.S. so the flow of people into this country is regulated and controlled.
There is more…please read the rest here.