From the AJC on Cobb County stepping up to help ICE enforce that pesky law…“Jerry Gonzalez, a member of the Cobb Latino initiative and executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials said the controversy “has set us back tremendously.”

We don’t think these folks regard the recent success in Cobb County as a big win for Americans

Hispanic group: We feel slighted

By SHELIA M. POOLE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/02/06

Some advocates for Cobb County’s fast-growing Latino population are upset that county authorities did not consult them about a plan to let the sheriff speed up the deportation of certain illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

Members of the Cobb Hispanic/Latino Initiative said they learned only from news reports that the county commissioners planned to vote on the deportation plan. The committee was created in 2004 by Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, and Georgia Power Region Manager David Connell, who was then incoming chairman of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s like we don’t count,” said Patricia Henao, director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s community outreach center in Cobb. “You guys ignored us. That’s how I feel.”

Zayra Alicia Fosse, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, also took issue with the commissioners during an initiative meeting Monday.”To see us completely ignored … this is mind-boggling,” she said.

The county commissioners endorsed a plan Oct. 24 that would let the sheriff’s department work more closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The plan would help sheriff’s deputies identify illegal immigrants in the county jail who have committed crimes. Immigration authorities would deport an immigrant after a federal court authorizes the removal and after the immigrant completes his or her local sentence.

More on this “mind boggling”, but very funny story here.

Maybe they should have a rally to protest law enforcement in the U.S.? Again. Hmmm…maybe if MALDEF and these folks think Cobb using available federal tools to discourage illegal immigration and employment is a bad thing …we shouldn’t do it?