Testimony is expected to begin Thursday afternoon for Jessica Colotl, the Kennesaw State University student whose traffic case sparked a statewide illegal immigration debate.
After Judge Kathryn Tanksley denied a motion to dismiss, jury selection began for the trial on traffic charges of Jessica Colotl, whose arrest and near-deportation prompted a controversy over illegal immigrants attending public colleges in Georgia.
Trial photos KSU student in immigration battle heads to traffic court
Attorneys for Colotl and the Cobb County Solicitor’s Office struck a jury earlier in the day, after meeting privately in the judge’s chambers and deciding to move forward with a trial on the misdemeanor traffic case.
Jerome Lee, Colotl’s attorney, said his client should be found not guilty of driving without a license because she recently obtained a learner’s permit.
Colotl, dressed stylishly in pencil-thin jeans, black high heels and a black pea coat, sat small and silent beside her lawyer while in court. After the hearing, she talked about her situation.
The 22-year-old Kennesaw State University student said that she considers herself and others like her to be “Americans without papers.” Colotl is an illegal immigrant whose parents brought her into the country as a child.
“I have grown up in this country and I’ve adopted all the American values,” Colotl said. “I think I have a right to stay here.”
D.A King, an active proponent of illegal immigration enforcement, attended the hearing. He said he felt sorry for Jessica, but she should not have the right to be in the country, nor to drive.
“If she has been issued a learning permit, that is in error,” King said. “They deferred her deportation, but she still is here illegally.”
Dick Yarbrough: It may take another 9/11 attack to fix our borders
The next time the illegal immigration advocates start whining about the poor Mexican workers coming into the United States to “do jobs we won’t do” and to “make a better life for their families,” please inform them that the porous borders between lawless Mexico and the U.S. are also letting in drugs at a scale almost beyond description and that Atlanta is a major distribution hub for the hombres.
I talked to Justin Farmer, the able young anchor at WSB-TV in Atlanta about the situation there. Farmer, along with Brad Stone, the station’s executive specials producer, and cameraman Oscar Carrillo, returned recently from their second trip to the Arizona-Mexico border to see first-hand what is happening there.
What they saw – and reported – is chilling.
As bad as the drug issue is, the Mexican drug trade is secondary to the threat to our national security. The Mexican drug lords are smuggling terrorists here, too.
When Farmer and crew visited a federal detention center near Tucson, he requested a list of current detainees, including their nation of origin. The list contained the usual suspects from Mexico and surrounding areas. But, there were also some 30 or so names on the list from such places as Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Pakistan.
“I was stunned,” he says.
What are so many bad guys doing in a detention center in Tucson? And just how many of them have we missed that are already in the U.S. and plotting the next 9/11? Digging deeper, Farmer found documents filed in federal court in San Antonio that shows a federal indictment against a known terrorist suspect for allegedly smuggling hundreds of people into the U.S from Brazil through Mexico, including Somalis from the terrorist group Al Shabab, which has participated in terrorist attacks and suicide bombings worldwide. It is thought that at least 300 of those Somalis may still be running loose in the U.S.
Exporting terrorists is a lucrative business for the Mexican drug trade, Farmer says. Terrorists come into Mexico with plenty of money and you can use the same routes whether you are smuggling in cocaine, a chicken plucker or a cuckoo from the Middle East.
Texas Republican Congressman Mike McCaul told him, “The minute another Sept. 11 happens and we find out that they came across the Mexico-US border – unfortunately that may be what it takes to get people’s attention to the issue.”
Of course, the federal government seems unwilling to do anything about the situation except lick the boots of the illegal immigration crowd.
The Homeland Security Department listed among its goals in a recent Government Accounting Office report to “detect and apprehend 30 percent of the major illegal activity and criminals at ports of entry.” Let’s see – that means the other 70 percent can expect to walk right in. Terrific.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also told CNN in an interview that, “crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil.” Excuse me, but even Sheila the Family Wonderdog knows that Title 1325 of the U.S. code says clearly that those who enter the country illegally are committing a crime punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine.
Our government winks at illegal immigrants because they are sources of cheap labor and may even vote one day if the spirit ever moves them to apply for citizenship. But as they pour across our borders, so do people with the intention of doing us great harm.
Justin Farmer has done a terrific reporting job on an issue that is not getting enough debate in the country. We have a major security problem on our borders. Incidentally, since his reports the federal government has become even less willing to discuss what is being done to keep us safe from the bad guys coming in from Mexico. This much I do know. The feds couldn’t catch Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph. It took a rookie policeman in North Carolina who spotted Rudolph in a garbage dump seven years later. Why do we think they can stop a group of terrorists from coming into our country disguised as illegal immigrants?
Write this down: Nothing will be done – nothing – to solve the problem of illegal immigration until we experience another terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11. If this doesn’t scare the hell out of you, then continue to stick your head firmly in the sand – until some terrorist blows it off.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb2400@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Dick Yarbrough It may take another 9 11 attack to fix our borders
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Dick Yarbrough It may take another 9 11 attack to fix our borders
Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh
Posted: 12:05 pm EST November 10, 2010
Updated: 12:20 pm EST November 10, 2010
ATLANTA — Atlanta police have arrested a handful of activists who were protesting the state Board of Regents’ decision to tighten its policies governing illegal immigrant applicants to Georgia colleges and universities.
The protest of about 25 people coincided with a regents’ meeting, and the crowd gathered outside the building where the meeting was held. The protesters marched for about an hour on the sidewalk, calling for equal access and justice and holding signs.
“They come from families that are tax payers also contributing to this economy to this state,” said protester Adelina Nichols.
Shortly after 11 a.m., several protesters, including the Rev. Markel Hutchins, stepped into the intersection of Washington and Trinity streets. Police asked them to clear the street, but they refused, calling the move an act of civil disobedience. Hutchins and three others were arrested.
Georgia’s immigration controversy reaches attorney general | ajc.comJun 10, 2010 … By Ty Tagami. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution … The request originated with Cobb County immigration activist D.A. King. … the university system spokesman, said the Board of Regents is following the law according to … www.ajc.com/…/georgias-immigration-controversy-reaches-546475.html –
AND…..HERE:
Activist blasts Board of Regents
by Kathryn Dobies The Marietta Daily Journal May 26, 2010 12:00 AM | 2376 views | 41 | | 18 | |
MARIETTA – Anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King has asked federal and state law-enforcement agencies to investigate the Georgia Board of Regents, which King insists is violating the law by admitting illegal immigrants and charging them in-state tuition.
King cited state and federal statutes, OCGA 50-36-1 and 8 U.S.C. 1611, 1621 and 1623 that state that illegal immigrants are ineligible for state and local public benefits, which include post-secondary education. King, whose actions were prompted by the case of Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl, sent the requests to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on May 19.
King, the founder of the Dustin Inman Society, wants Regents schools to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement Program to verify the citizenship of students. Designed by the federal government, the SAVE Program checks the immigration status of noncitizens applying for federal, state and local public benefits and licenses. A spokesman for the GBI said Tuesday that under Georgia law, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation could not respond to requests from a citizen to open an investigation. The request, instead, has to come from a public official, like a district attorney, a sheriff, a superior court judge or a governing official. Representatives for ICE did not return phone calls in response to King’s letters on Tuesday. Regents spokesman John Millsaps denied that the Board is breaking the law, and could not confirm whether the board will take up the issue at its next meeting, June 8 and 9.
“Current federal and state law do not preclude an individual from applying to college. Anyone may apply – and if the applicant meets the admissions requirements and is accepted, he or she may enroll,” Millsaps said. “The Board provides in-state tuition only for Georgia residents. Undocumented students may still enroll but, like any other non-Georgian, must pay out-of-state tuition, which can be three times as much as in-state. The out-of-state tuition rate is set at the full cost of instruction.”
That prompted King to ask, “Is the Board of Regents smarter than a fifth grader?”
“I am very, very disappointed as a citizen that I am the one who has to know, understand and take action on this,” King said. “We need to be asking the question, how many real immigrants and American citizens have lost their classroom seats because of the violation in policy by our Board of Regents system?”
King also said he is prepared to file a civil lawsuit in state court against the Board of Regents, asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order halting any admissions until the university system complies with the policy.
Gov. Sonny Perdue weighed in on the controversy Tuesday, supporting the Regents.
“The university’s primary obligation is to educate students,” Perdue said. “To expect them to be the immigration agents or the determinants of whether someone is here legally or illegally is really beyond their scope of work.”
The governor also said he agreed that Colotl should be allowed to finish her studies.
“The balance of a humane society has some compassion element to that,” Perdue said. Allowing Colotl to stay, he said “is not my decision to make, but I would not voice disagreement if that decision were made.”
Colotl, an illegal immigrant, was stopped for a traffic violation on KSU’s campus and arrested on March 30 for failure to provide a valid driver’s license, it was discovered that she had also been paying in-state tuition since she enrolled as a freshman in fall 2006.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Activist blasts Board of Regents
The owner of a Massachusetts flight school and more than 30 of his students have been charged with being in the country illegally.
The owner of the TJ Aviation Flight Academy at Minute Man Air Field in Stow and the students received federal clearance to train as pilots despite strict security controls put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some of the 9-11 terrorists trained in the U.S…
My Fox Boston
Fenway Park food vendor hit with immigration fine
Federal immigration authorities fined Red Sox concessions vendor Aramark $50,000 last year for failing to show that many Aramark’s Fenway Park employees were legally authorized to work in the United States. — While details of the violations are confidential, the fine is by far the biggest levied by the federal government last year against a New England company…
The story so far can be read HERE from an MDJ news item, then a blog from the MDJ OP-ED editor, then one of my guest columns then a letter to the editor from Cobb resident John Litland and blog from another MDJ columnist, Ms. L.B. Armstrong…don’t miss the comments!
I inserted a bunch of educational links. Please feel free to comment on the bottom of the MDJ column…
Alan LeBaron: Immigration conference focused on solutions
by Alan LeBaron
Guest Columnist
The Marietta Daily Journal November 08, 2010
On Oct. 28-30 Kennesaw State University hosted a Conference on Immigration in the Southeast, which some reporters and readers of the MDJ thought slanted toward pro-immigration, and that the conference might be connected in some way to the Kennesaw student who was arrested in March for not having proper immigration documents. I was the main organizer of the conference.
So why did we have the conference? In a nutshell, I wanted an academic conference that would analyze problems associated with legal and illegal immigration, and to propose possible “solutions.” I realize that some people see the problem and solution as rather straightforward, i.e. the problem being illegal immigrants and the solution being deportation.
Many of the problems we should be able to agree on. The conference was to recognize many deep and complex problems associated with “undocumented” or “illegal” immigration, to include the overcrowding of schools, burdens on law enforcement, and the chaos of a broken immigration system that Washington has been afraid to fix. These problems and many others were discussed during the conference, and some conference participants presented research on the human suffering of the immigrants themselves, and on the children of immigrants.
To my knowledge no one at the conference advocated for the deportation of all or even most illegal immigrants. Neither did they advocate for open borders. There would be disagreement as to the details of the various solutions, but a broad agreement held that a “comprehensive” immigration reform is necessary, in other words conference goers generally accepted some kind of amnesty rather than mass deportations.
True, laws must be obeyed, and we must remain “a nation of laws.” But the interests and needs of a nation are not static, and laws need constant review and oftentimes major alteration to maintain national strength and self-interest. The general conclusion among professor-types who study illegal immigration is the belief that a comprehensive or amnesty bill is within the economic interests of the United States, and in keeping with American values and morals.
Erecting a Berlin style “taco wall” or “hamburger wall” followed by mass deportations would create new problems. As the world is now globalized, and the United States increasingly faces fierce competition from China, India, Brazil, and elsewhere, we have to think long and hard about the needs of our nation in the 21st century. No immigration policy should be formed on the basis of local perspectives alone; and certainly not based on the passions and emotions of either the “pro” or “anti.”
No proposal to present research at the conference was rejected for political perspectives. The only criteria was to propose a presentation based on academic data or professional experience. I read all of the proposals and organized the schedule. No one proposed a presentation advocating sealed borders or mass deportation. If someone had, and if the proposal had an academic or professional argument attached, they would have been accepted.
The conference was not a secret; and no effort was made to make it so. Dozens, more like over a hundred, faxes and emails went to departments at universities around the South, and the “call for proposals” went to the national website for academic conferences at the University of Pennsylvania. Some 150 people attended the conference, mostly from Georgia but also from Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, North and South Carolina, California, New York, Alabama, Nigeria, Brazil, and Mexico.
Planning for the conference began over a year ago, and was designed as a follow-up to the immigration conference hosted by Kennesaw in 2006, and the conference held at the University of South Carolina in 2008.
The majority, but not all, of the panels dealt with Hispanic or illegal immigration. One paper focused on Nigeria, one on Afro-Caribbean immigrants, another on Muslims, and several discussed the complex relations between American Black and Hispanics.
Actually most of the conference would have been pretty dry to most people. Imagine yourself sitting in a day long class hearing professors speak on and on about their research, showing slides of charts, graphs, and data.
The role of the university, besides preparing students for the 21st century, is to explore many options, do intense research, and bring the results of best ideas to the public and our students. It is correct to say that the views of most academics who study immigration are not in agreement with the current political trends in immigration policy, but I think, I hope, we have come to these views after honest research and analysis.
Alan LeBaron is Professor of Latin American History at Kennesaw State University. He served in the U.S. Air Force 1966-70 and received a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1988. In 2005 he received KSU’s Distinguished Service Award.
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