THE RULE OF RADICAL PROGRESSIVES

Asheville Action

February 2010


Working to Keep Asheville Real!


In This Issue:

City business

Living Wages for service workers

Civil Liberties Resolution

Learning curve

Volunteers Needed!

Boards and Commissions

CITY OF ASHEVILLE CIVIL LIBERTIES RESOLUTION

City business





With a few formal meetings and more than a dozen board and commission meetings under my belt now, I've begun to advance some of the issues I raised during the election campaign. The first two that I'll be bringing to Council involve a Living Wage provision for City contract service workers (janitorial and lawn maintenance) and a Civil Liberties Resolution (discussion below).



Meanwhile, Brownie Newman brought forward a plan he's been working on for some time, now called the Asheville Energy Independence Initiative, which is modeled on the Retrofit Loan programs I touted last year, and I'm pleases to support Brownie's effort. We approved it in theory and it's moving forward with the City Staff now.



Gordon Smith will bring Domestic Partner Benefits to the Council this coming Tuesday, Feb. 9. His plan would extend City benefits to same-sex partners of city employees who meet certain criteria. (In most such plans there are requirements of joint property ownership or banking, or joint custody of children ... legal obligations that indicate a meaningful partnership. Those rules would have to be worked out.)



Although some other North Carolina cities have created such plans, I can't see how such a plan would stand up to legal challenge. I would think that the same rules would have to apply to all domestic partners regardless of sexual orientation, and I am seeking legal clarification from the NC School of Government.



We've begun work on the Downtown Master Plan, as well. Each piece of that proposed set of rules will have to be examined, codified and approved over the next few months.



To send an e-mail to all Council members about any issue, click here.

Living Wages for service workers

Asheville is a certified Living Wage employer. All full time workers receive a combination of wages and benefits that qualify under the stipulations of Just Economics, the local living wage certification organization. However, the people who clean the toilets, sweep the floors, tote the garbage and cut the lawns are not included because they are contract workers.



I am advancing a plan that would require service contractors to pay all of their employees on city jobs a living wage, beginning with the next contract bids. Studies have shown that Living Wage requirements adopted by other governments have had a very small effect on costs (1 percent), and it seems unreasonable to me for our tax money to bid down the value of labor in Asheville. That hurts everyone.



By the way, I'm also part of a group, the Asheville Ethical Society, which has launched a BUYcott campaign. We encourage people to preferentially patronize Living Wage certified businesses, and to make it clear to those businesses that we are directing our money to them for that reason. As this grows, we'll reach out to other employers to encourage them to join the movement.

Civil Liberties Resolution

The language of the proposed resolution (posted at the bottom of this newsletter) is largely self-explanatory. It reflects a broader view than my previous suggestion that Asheville join the Sanctuary City movement. I've been helped by a number of citizens and lawyers in framing this proposal, and it is still subject to change.



The provision concerning immigrants is urgent. A study by the Police Foundation has shown that cities where local police do not enforce federal immigration law are safer because immigrants trust the police. Police chiefs from Raleigh and Cary, North Carolina have publicly endorsed this idea, as has the recently retired chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. In addition, use of local police to enforce federal law is an unfunded mandate. It's better for us to use our resources on local public safety than to address a problem that is international in scope.



I am on the City Council Public Safety Committee and will introduce this measure there soon. In addition I will present it to the Police Committee of the Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council (to which I am Council liaison).

Learning curve

Even after 28 years in Buncombe County there's a lot I don't know, and being on Council is a great way to learn fast. I'm getting to as many meetings as I can fit into my schedule and have read a mountain of paperwork.



Probably the single most amazing fact I've been exposed to so far came in the white paper prepared for Council by City Manger Gary Jackson and Staff. Asheville has the largest percentage daily population change of any large city in North Carolina. Something like 40,000 to 45,000 people commute into the city every day. Our resident population is around 75,000. That means that city taxpayers are providing services and infrastructure to a huge pool of non-taxpayers.



It also means that the "parking problem" we hear about constantly is really a commuter parking problem, not a shopper problem or a resident problem. To my way of thinking this underscores the need for satellite parking lots and improved transit service. Gas prices are already climing again, faster than the economy is recovering. We will almost certainly see $3.50 per gallon by the end of 2010 (unless the economy crashes again). That's the price level at which people shift their driving habits and I believe demand for transit will go up and demand for downtown parking will go down. We can't run buses to every neighborhood in the surrounding counties, but we can create satellite lots, hopefully with cooperation from the County government.



In a related matter, I've learned that despite the offer of free transit, not many City employees are using the system. I hope to get buy-in from other Council members and Staff on my proposal to purchase loaner cars so that employees who opt for transit will know they have a vehicle available if a child is sick at school or for other urgent errands. (We already have a guaranteed ride program that will pay for cab service if workers miss their bus - though that back-up is almost never used.)

Volunteers Needed!

Do you knit? Can you do taxes? Are you a counselor? Can you teach GED classes? Are you a crafter? Can you help someone learn how to apply for a job? How to dress for success?



Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry is about to help fill a big gap in services for the homeless in Asheville. While we have pretty adequate night shelters there have been no day programs available. ABCCM is readying the launch of a women's and a men's day shelter program with classes and counseling to provide significant help for folks who are struggling to get back on their feet.



Meredith Hammond, program coordinator for the women's program, told me they will need about 40 volunteers (total for both programs), each putting in an hour or two every week. Click on her name to e-mail her for more info. Jimmy Vestal, chaplain of the Veterans Restoration Quarters, can tell you more about the men's program.

Boards and Commissions

FYI: I'm on two Council sub-committees, the Finance Committee (which evaluates all proposals which will have a significant effect on budget matters) and Public Safety (which oversees Police, Fire and Emergency Services).



I am Council liaison to the Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council, the Fair Housing Authority, the Regional Air Quality Board, the Tree Commission, the Recreation Board, and the Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment (SACEE). Events

CITY OF ASHEVILLE CIVIL LIBERTIES RESOLUTION

WHEREAS: The City of Asheville affirms its strong support for the fundamental constitutional rights of every person and recognizes that the preservation of civil liberties is essential to the well-being of a democratic society; and the City of Asheville is proud of its long and distinguished tradition of protecting the civil liberties and affording equal protection of the law to all persons in the City, who include a diverse population of many races, religions, and national and ethnic origins, including immigrants, tourists and students, whose contributions to the community’s economy, culture and civic character are vast and important;



WHEREAS: The City of Asheville opposes measures that single out individuals for legal scrutiny or enforcement activity based on their race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious or political opinion or activity, or immigration status.



WHEREAS: The City of Asheville opposes any efforts to transfer federal immigration responsibility to state and local officials, since these proposals tax our already overburdened police department and damage relationships with immigrant communities; criminalizing U.S. citizens, those who work with and for immigrants and immigrants themselves, is not a viable long-term solution to concerns over immigration and will continue separating families while preventing civic participation by all persons;



WHEREAS: The City of Asheville believes that there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation of liberty but that Americans can be both safe and free;



WHEREAS: The City of Asheville wishes to play a leading role in the protection of civil liberties and to consistently promote tolerance and respect for all persons, immigrants, visitors, students, and citizens alike, and recognizes that a number of other jurisdictions in North Carolina and in the United States have enacted policies or laws to protect the civil liberties of all persons regardless of race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious or political opinion or activity, or immigration status.



THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE that:



Section 1. The City of Asheville upholds the constitutional rights and civil liberties of any and all persons and it is the policy of the City of Asheville to protect against discrimination on the basis of race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious or political opinion or activity, or immigration status.



Section 2. City of Asheville officers and employees shall refrain from racial profiling, or using race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious or political opinion or activity, or immigration status as a factor in selecting individuals, check points or areas of town to subject to investigatory activities;



Section 3. City of Asheville officers and employees shall refrain from engaging in the videotaping or other surveillance of individuals or groups based on their participation in protected activities such as the practice of religion or political advocacy;



Section 4. City of Asheville officers and employees shall refrain from collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious or social views, associations or activities of any individual, association, organization, corporation, business or partnership unless said information is directly related to an investigation of criminal conduct that is based on reasonable suspicion.



Section 5. City of Asheville officers and employees shall refrain from participating in the enforcement of federal immigration laws or initiatives such as the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS), that encourage members of the general public to spy on their neighbors, colleagues and customers, or the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that drive a wedge between the immigrant community and the local police who need to protect the welfare of all our residents; no department, agency, commission, officer or employee of the City of Asheville shall use City funds or resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, or to gather, use or disseminate the immigration status information of individuals in the City of Asheville.



BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the provisions of this Resolution shall be severable, and if any provision of this Resolution is declared unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the validity of the remainder shall not be affected.



BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall be forwarded to all City of Asheville law enforcement agencies and to every department, agency, commission, officer and employee of the City of Asheville and to our local, state and federal legislative delegations on behalf of the residents of the City of Asheville.

CHECKS LINK BLACK TO DECKER'S LEGAL BILL

Checks link Black to Decker's legal bill

The Associated PressAugust 27, 2006CHARLOTTE - State House Speaker Jim Black's campaign paid $10,000 to the Winston-Salem law firm that represented a political ally who pleaded guilty this month to campaign finance violations, according to records reported Saturday by The Charlotte Observer...http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/479431.html

Texas Sheriffs Say Terrorists Entering US from Mexico

Texas Sheriffs Say Terrorists Entering US from Mexico
By Kevin MooneyCNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 21, 2006(CNSNews.com) -

The chief law enforcement officers of several Texas counties along the southern U.S. border warn that Arabic-speaking individuals are learning Spanish and integrating into Mexican culture before paying smugglers to sneak them into the United States. The Texas Sheriffs' Border Coalition believes those individuals are likely terrorists and that drug cartels and some members of the Mexican military are helping them get across the border.Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County, Texas told Cybercast News Service that Iranian currency, military badges in Arabic, jackets and other clothing are among the items that have been discovered along the banks of the Rio Grande River. The sheriff also said there are a substantial number of individuals crossing the southern border into the U.S. who are not Mexican. He described the individuals in question as well-funded and able to pay so-called "coyotes" - human smugglers - large sums of money for help gaining illegal entry into the U.S. Although many of the non-Mexican illegal aliens are fluent in Spanish, Gonzalez said they speak with an accent that is not native. "It's clear these people are coming in for reasons other than employment," Gonzalez said.That sentiment is shared by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.)."For years, Muslims and other 'Special Interest Aliens' from places other than Mexico have been streaming into the U.S. across our porous border," Tancredo told Cybercast News Service. "These people are not paying $50,000 or more a head just to 'take jobs no American will do.'"Terrorists are working round the clock to infiltrate the United States," he added. "Congress and this administration must address this gaping hole in our national security and they must do it now."Some of the more high profile pieces of evidence pointing to terrorist infiltration of the U.S. have been uncovered in Jim Hogg County, Texas, which experiences a high volume of smuggling activity, according to local law enforcement. "We see patches on jackets from countries where we know al Qaeda to be active," Gonzalez explained.The patches appear to be military badges with Arabic lettering. One patch in particular, discovered this past December, caught the attention of federal homeland security officials, according to Gonzalez and local officials familiar with the investigation. Sheriff Wayne Jernigan of Valverde County, Texas, told members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in March about one patch that read "midnight mission" and displayed an airplane flying over a building heading towards a tower. Translators with DHS have said some of the various phrases and slogans on the items could mean "martyr," "way to eternal life," or "way to immortality."Gonzalez told the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation in July that the terrorists are getting smarter."To avoid apprehension, we feel many of these terrorists attempt to blend in with persons of Hispanic origin when entering the country." Gonzalez stated. "We feel that terrorists are already here and continue to enter our country on a daily basis." Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County, Texas, told Cybercast News Service that he believes some Mexican soldiers are operating in concert with the drug cartels to aid the terrorists."There's no doubt in my mind," he said, "although the Mexican government and our government adamantly deny it." Statistics made available through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) show more than 40,000 illegal aliens from countries "Other Than Mexico," designated as OTMs, were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in the period ranging from October 2003 to June 2004, as they attempted to cross the southwestern border. An overview of border security challenges produced through the office of Texas Gov. Rick Perry indicates that almost 120,000 OTMs were apprehended while attempting to cross into the state from January through July 2005. Local authorities are particularly concerned about illegal aliens arriving from Special Interest Countries (SICs) where a radical version of Islam is known to flourish. Perry's office cites Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and Bangladesh among those countries. A Tancredo spokesperson said the list also includes Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.As Cybercast News Service previously reported an internal audit of DHS that combines the number of illegal aliens arriving from SICs with the documented instances of illegal aliens arriving from countries identified as being state sponsors of terrorism (SSTs) yields a grand total of over 90,000 such illegal aliens who have been apprehended during the five year period from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2005.The border security report delivered by Perry's office focuses attention on the "Triborder region" of Latin America, which spans an area between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. "The Triborder Region is a focal point of Islamic extremism," the report states. "Al Qaeda leadership plans to use criminal alien smuggling organizations to bring terrorist operatives across the border into the U.S."Carlos Espinosa, a press spokesman for Tancredo, said his office is aware of a training camp in Brazil that actually teaches people from outside of Latin America how they can assimilate into the Mexican culture. "They come up as illegal aliens and disguise themselves as potential migrant workers," Espinosa said.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=/SpecialReports/archive/200608/SPE20060821a.html

From farm to city, debate roils - Illegal Immigration

August 27. 2006 12:29AM

From farm to city, debate roils

Scott ParrottTimes-News Staff Writer
scott.parrott@hendersonvillenews.com

The short session opens, and state lawmakers gather in Raleigh. Illegal immigration weighs on the minds of legislators who represent the big cities and the rural farmland found along interstates 40 and 85, the communities experiencing the brunt of the Hispanic population boom.In 16 days, lawmakers pitch 12 bills addressing immigration."We've got to have the labor, but the thing we've got to know is who they are, if they have a criminal background and if they have health problems that could jeopardize our population," says N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Laurel Park, who cosponsored four bills. "We've really got to tighten the borders up first and then know who is here and if you violate our laws while here you go home and don't come back."Two hundred fifty miles away, more than 3,000 marchers take to the streets of downtown Asheville for the Day Without Immigrants. They are fathers. They are mothers. They are farmworkers and waiters, painters and teachers. The marchers call for boycotts of work to show the clout immigrants carry in the local economy."We are one America," they chant for nearly an hour.Later, above the city streets, a grassroots political club fed up with illegal immigration collects more than $1,500 and raises two billboards. "Had Enough?" the signs ask, emblazoned by an upside down American flag topped by the Mexican banner -- an image taken from a pro-immigration rally in California."We regard America's humane treatment of immigrants, and America's allure to foreigners, as two of our country's greatest strengths," said the Buncombe County Republican Action Club, which raised the signs and supports immigration when it's done legally. "Few Americans, and certainly not us, seek a departure from that standard. We seek modification of laws only to protect our communities and to ensure respect for the law as the surest way to protect the immigrant's dream of a better life. That's what American voters want, and it's what the political leadership whom those voters elected must deliver."But the billboard on Patton Avenue is removed after vandals strike the sign twice within three weeks, first painting "RACISM" in big block letters and then the name of the restaurant where the club meets each month.Each of these events happened in the last three months, demonstrating the growing weight the debate over immigration carries among mountain residents.North Carolina led the nation in the growth of the foreign-born work force between 1990 and 2000, according to the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.Henderson County, anchored by agriculture and the tourism and service industries, experienced a double-digit percentage increase in the Hispanic population since 2000.As the Hispanic population grows, so does the debate. It crops up in supermarkets and gas stations, restaurant kitchens and farm fields. Even the jargon inspires arguments -- illegal or undocumented?All the while, questions abound, unresolved questions that often pop up at the heart of the debate -- How much are illegal immigrants costing hospitals, schools, prisons, society? How is American society and the nation's economy benefiting?Researchers are starting to take a crack at these questions. But there's one question that remains unresolved. What should the nation do?An answerwith a question markAs the debate rages, researchers are delving into the numbers. Earlier this year, University of North Carolina researchers explored the economic impact the booming Hispanic population carries in the Tar Heel state. Put simply, they delved into the money side of the debate -- the cost, the benefit."Immigrants from Latin America, authorized and unauthorized, are dramatically changing North Carolina's demographic and economic landscape," reported study authors John D. Kasarda and James H. Johnson Jr.The study found North Carolina's rapidly growing Hispanic population contributes more than $9 billion to the state's economy through purchases, taxes and labor. If recent migration trends continue, the total economic impact of Hispanic spending in the state could increase to $18 billion by 2009.On the other hand, the growing population costs the state budget millions of dollars in health care, education and correctional services. Each year, Hispanics contribute about $756 million in taxes, both direct and indirect, to the Tar Heel state. Overall, Hispanics cost the North Carolina budget about $817 million each year. K-12 education racks up the highest price tag, costing $467 million, while health care costs $299 million and corrections $51 million.Take the taxes and subtract the costs, and researchers found the net cost to the state is about $61 million, or $102 per Hispanic resident each year. The study produced no comparable data for other demographic groups.The researchers said the cost must be seen in the broader context of the aggregate benefits Hispanics bring to the state's economy.For example, without Hispanic participation in the construction industry, economic output of this important sector would be much lower and annual labor costs nearly $1 billion higher."Above and beyond their direct and indirect impacts on North Carolina business revenues, Hispanic workers contribute immensely to the state's economic output and cost competitiveness in a number of key industries," they wrote.Among the study's other findings:• Hispanic buying power totaled more than $78 million in Henderson County in 2004, the study found. It reported no specific numbers for Hendersonville, but said Hispanics in the Asheville metropolitan area spent $214.5 million in 2004, creating 2,300 jobs and paying more than $100,000 in state taxes.• North Carolina's Hispanic population totaled 600,913, or 7 percent of the state's total population, in 2004.• Hispanics accounted for 27.5 percent of the state's population growth from 1990 to 2004 and 57 percent of the total enrollment growth in North Carolina Public Schools between the school years of 2000-01 and 2004-05.• Hispanics filled one in three new jobs created in North Carolina between 1995 and 2005, with significant concentrations in the construction industry (29 percent of the labor force).• North Carolina Hispanics' after-tax income totaled an estimated $8.3 billion in 2004. With about 20 percent of that total sent home to Latin America, saved or used for interest payments, the remaining spending had a total economic impact of $9.2 billion on the state. Much of that spending occurs in the major metropolitan areas along the Interstate 40 and Interstate 85 corridor, but it also supports businesses in every part of the state."This is precisely the importance of this document: To provide an overview of the real impact of the Hispanic Population in North Carolina, to attain an objective balance of their contributions and costs of providing social services to them," wrote Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico. "In this way, the debate can shift from the level of emotions and political opinions into the level of plain reality."Even the researchers debateIt could be reality, it could be political opinion. But another argument often popping up in the debate centers around whether immigrants take away jobs from American workers.The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization that does not advocate policy positions, sought to find out.In August, the center released a 56-page study that found big increases in immigration since 1990 have not hurt employment prospects for American workers nationwide.But the study also found the Tar Heel state may be an exception. The study found North Carolina ranked among eight states that had booming growth in the immigrant population and below average employment rates for native workers.The study did not look at whether wages were affected by immigration. Advocates for tighter immigration policies argue that immigrant workers depress wages for American workers, especially those with few skills and little education. Immigration supporters argue that foreign workers often take jobs that Americans don't want and won't take.Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, said his research shows that many young workers with little education are hurt by competition from immigrants."Employment for less educated natives has declined, and their wages have declined," said Camarota, who advocates stricter immigration policies. "There is no shortage of less educated workers in the United States."It's a difficult topic. And the debate surely won't stop -- even among the experts."Do foreign-born workers displace native-born workers and cause them to leave an area?" wrote Rakesh Kochhar, the study author. "A brief survey of the literature reveals considerable disagreement among researchers on this issue."Important in itself, the answer to this question is also critical for those attempting to measure the effect of immigration on the wages of native-born workers."The debate shows no sign of resolution here, either.Back in the mountains, a Henderson County farmer watches his orchard grow and fears apples will go unpicked because he cannot find enough hired hands after the clamp down on the border.Narcotics officers make a major drug bust. The main suspect an illegal immigrant from Mexico. A local business owner from Mexico watches the news and fears people will label the entire immigrant community criminals because of one man.A politician later points toward the bust as prime evidence illegal immigration spurs crime.A preacher pens a letter to the newspaper reminding readers Jesus Christ was an immigrant. Another taxpayer writes a letter calling for the deportation of illegal immigrants, saying they are costing too much -- too much for hospitals, too much for schools, too much for jails. Legal immigration is fine, another writes, but breaking the law is breaking the law.The stories go on and on.And it seems the debate will, too.Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060827/NEWS/608270360/1042/NEWS01

Using locals to stem illegal immigration a stopgap, panel told

By TIM WHITMIRE Associated Press Writer

GASTONIA, N.C. — A federal effort to enlist local law enforcement officers to help identify and deport criminal illegal immigrants is a mere stopgap in the face of a much bigger problem, officials told a congressional panel Friday.

"I and many others strongly disagree with President Bush's policy, or lack of, on illegal immigration," Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph told four House members at a hearing on empowering local law enforcement to combat illegal immigration.

"The Congress of the United States has let us down by the lack of action on the illegal immigration issue for decades," Pendergraph told the panel that included North Carolina Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry and Sue Myrick.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform, also attended the hearing at Myrick's Gastonia office.

Pendergraph's department last winter signed a memorandum of understanding with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agreement allowed 12 deputies to be trained to screen the immigration status of people arrested in Mecklenburg, home to North Carolina's largest city, Charlotte.

The 287(g) program, as it is known, gives local officers access to ICE's database of fingerprints and photographs, which Pendergraph and others say is the only reliable way to identify the immigration status of an arrested person.

Since screening began May 1, Pendergraph said, his department has found that most of the immigrants who pass through his jail are here illegally.

"So many illegal immigrant criminals have been identified through my 287(g) program, it is causing me a jail space problem," Pendergraph said.

Pendergraph's department is one of only seven departments in five states with such agreements and access to ICE's database.

Gaston County Sheriff Alan Cloninger told the panel his department received approval Thursday to join the program, but Pendergraph said many other law enforcement leaders who have tried repeatedly to participate in it tell him they have been turned down or ignored.
An estimated 405,000 illegal immigrants live in North Carolina, McHenry said.

Michael Lands, district attorney for Gaston County, said the federal government doesn't have enough agents to handle an illegal immigrant population of that size.

"Ultimately, and I mean no disrespect, this is a federal government problem that you need to address," he told the panel.

The government's approach to illegal immigrants, Lands said, has been "to wait until they commit a state crime and then determine if it's serious enough to deport them."
Souder responded that federal, state and local governments will have to cooperate to improve the system.

"Somehow we've got to figure out how to do this together," he said.
The mother of a Gaston County teacher who died in a July 2005 hit-and-run crash in Brunswick County caused by an illegal immigrant pleaded with the panel for a solution.

Scott Gardner was on vacation with his family when their car was struck by a truck driven by Ramiro Gallegos, who was intoxicated and had a history of drunken driving arrests.

Wife Tina Gardner remains in a vegetative state at a nursing home, her mother-in-law Emily Moose said Friday. The couple's two young children are effectively orphaned.

"I believe the cost of human life is too high to pay for cheap labor," Moose said, near tears.
Gallegos was sentenced earlier this year to 14 to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.

"If you break the law to get here, you're not going to respect the law once you're here," McHenry said.

That comment, plus a statement by Moose that "millions" of lives have been lost to illegal immigration and a complaint by Foxx that the media obsesses about the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq while saying little "about the people being killed by illegal immigrants every day," appeared to motivate Lands to interject.

"I think it needs to be said — and you all know — illegals aren't the only ones out there committing crime," he said. "There's plenty of crime by American-born citizens."

August 25, 2006 - 3:57 p.m. EDT

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/gen/ap/NC_Immigration_Hearing.html

Firms Who Hire Illegal Immigrants Sued

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_BUSINESS_LAWSUITS?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-08-22-15-53-28

Firms Who Hire Illegal Immigrants Sued
By PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press Writer
Aug 22, 9:11 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Frustrated by lax enforcement of immigration law, businesses are taking their fight against illegal immigration to court, accusing competitors of hiring illegal workers to achieve an unfair advantage.

Businesses and anti-illegal immigration groups said the legal action was an attempt to create an economic deterrent against hiring illegal employees.

"We see the legal profession bringing to this issue the kind of effect it's had on consumer product safety," said Mike Hethmon of the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a Washington D.C.-based group backing the efforts.

In the first of a series of lawsuits, a temporary employment agency that supplies farm workers sued a grower and a two competing companies on Monday.
AP_Tacoda_AMS_DDC_addPair("SECTION", "BUSINESS")
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Similar cases claiming violations of federal anti-racketeering laws have yielded mixed results. The California lawsuit is believed to be the first based on a state's unfair-competition laws, legal experts said.

Santa Monica-based Global Horizons claimed in the lawsuit that Munger Brothers, a grower, hired illegal immigrant workers from Ayala Agricultural Services and J&A Contractors. All the defendants are based in California's farm-rich Central Valley.

The suit alleges that Munger Brothers had a contract with Global Horizons to provide more than 600 blueberry pickers this spring, but nixed the agreement so it could hire illegal immigrants.
"Competitors hiring illegal immigrants is hurting our business badly," Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian said. "It's to the point that doing business legally isn't worth it."Ayala Agricultural Services manager Javier Rodriguez had not seen the suit but said the company does not hire undocumented immigrants.

"If somebody doesn't have a green card or work documents, we don't hire them," he said.
Munger Brothers lawyer Theodore Hoppe said the contract with Global Horizons fell apart because the laborers they provided couldn't pick blueberries at the rate the company had promised. He said Munger Brothers hired workers through temporary agencies, which had the responsibility to hire legal workers.

J&A Contractors did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
With an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, undocumented workers are a large part of the nation's work force.

But immigration law enforcement at work sites is limited. In fiscal year 1999, authorities arrested 2,849 people at work sites compared with 1,145 arrests last year, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

To prove competitors hire illegal immigrants, businesses could use public records involving prior violations, testimony from former employees who have worked alongside illegal immigrants, and recovered W-2 tax forms that show people working under fake names and Social Security numbers, said David Klehm, the lead lawyer for cases in Southern California.

Companies planning to file additional lawsuits include farms and factories that depend heavily on immigrant labor, Klehm said.

Legal experts said the cases could be difficult to win. Under the California statutes, plaintiffs must prove a competitor directly harmed their business.

"Unless you've got smoking gun evidence, it's hard to tie economic loss of one business to another's practices," said Niels Frenzen, a law professor at the University of Southern California.
He believes it is the first time the unfair-competition law has been used to target illegal immigration.

The Global Horizons lawsuit came after a settlement was reached in a Washington state class action suit involving employees of Zirkle Fruit Co. who sued their employer for driving down wages by hiring undocumented workers.

Based on federal anti-racketeering laws, the case was settled for $1.3 million in January after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision to dismiss it.
Howard Foster, the lead plaintiffs' lawyer in the Washington case, said he expects more such suits as business owners learn their competitors hired illegal immigrants.

"So many people talk openly about using false documents to assemble an illegal workforce," Foster said. "And when you have IDs with upside down numbers and backward pictures, you know they are fake."
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_BUSINESS_LAWSUITS?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-08-22-15-53-28
On the Net:


http://www.illegalemployers.org/

Illegal immigration by state...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/immigrants/index.html

BUCHANAN DECLARES: THIRD WORLD CONQUEST OF AMERICA

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN AUG 20, 2006 16:02:35 ET XXXXX

BUCHANAN DECLARES: THIRD WORLD CONQUEST OF AMERICA**Exclusive**“

As Rome passed away, so, the West is passing away, from the same causes and in much the same way. What the Danube and Rhine were to Rome, the Rio Grande and Mediterranean are to America and Europe, the frontiers of a civilization no longer defended.”

So begins a new work of warning from Pat Buchanan.

And this time Buchanan goes all the way.

STATE OF EMERGENCY: THIRD WORLD INVASION AND CONQUEST OF AMERICAstreets this week and it's designed to jolt readers with stats and analysis of illegal immigration gone dangerously wild.

Buchanan warns: “The children born in 2006 will witness in their lifetimes the death of the West."

One in every twelve people breaking into America has a criminal record.

By 2050, there will be 100 million Hispanics concentrated in the U.S. Southwest.Between 10 and 20 percent of all Mexicans, Central Americans and Caribbean people have already moved to the United States.

Every month, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehends more illegal aliens breaking into our country, 150,000, than the number of troops we have in Iraq.

[The book was ranked #571 on AMAZON's sales chart Sunday evening.]

Buchanan slams the president: “Concerned about his legacy, George W. Bush may yet live to see his name entered into the history of his country as the president who lost the American Southwest that James K. Polk won for the United States."

In EMERGENCY, Pat Buchanan charges the Mexican regime with an Aztlan Plot, a conscious campaign to use America as a dumping ground for its poor and unemployed, both to relieve social pressure and effect a cultural re-annexation of the American Southwest. La Reconquista, the reconquest of the lands lost by Mexico in the Mexican-American War, Buchanan charges, is underway.

The Republican Party, a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is in the grip of a cult called “Economism.” It is all about money now. The GOP worships at the “Church of GDP”

• Both parties are paralyzed by guilt over American past racial sins.

• Powerful Mexican and U.S. elites seek to erase America’s borders and merge the United States and Mexico into a “North American Union.”In his controversial final chapter, “Last Chance,” Buchanan lays out a national plan to deal with the State of Emergency, before it makes an end of America:

•An Eisenhower-type deportation program, beginning with all illegal aliens convicted of felonies and every gang member not a U.S. citizen.

•A ten-year moratorium on all legal immigration, at the level JFK favored in 1958 -- 150,000 to 250,000 a year

• A $10-billion, 2000-mile double-line security fence between the United States and Mexico, built with no apologies to Mexico City.

History of the Middle East

Quote:
Why has it gotten so completely out of hand? Why are people in the Middle East trying to destroy the U.S.A.? When you have answers to these questions you can start solving the problem. If you aren't interested in these questions the problem will persist and you better look under your bed every night for a terrorist.

I could probably answer your questions from personal experience and knowledge, but then you probably would not want to hear what I have to say. It is unfortunate thatpeople only look at the past 20 years and not the past 75 plus years (WW1 prior to).

1. ISRAEL BECAME A STATE IN 1312 B.C., TWO MILLENNIA BEFORE ISLAM;

2. ARAB REFUGEES FROM ISRAEL BEGAN CALLING THEMSELVES "PALESTINIANS" IN 1967, TWO DECADES AFTER (MODERN) ISRAELI STATEHOOD;

3. AFTER CONQUERING THE LAND IN 1272 B.C., JEWS RULED IT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS AND MAINTAINED A CONTINUOUS PRESENCE THERE FOR 3,300 YEARS;

4. THE ONLY ARAB RULE FOLLOWING CONQUEST IN 633 B.C. LASTED JUST 22 YEARS;

5. FOR OVER 3,300 YEARS, JERUSALEM WAS THE JEWISH CAPITAL. IT WAS NEVER THE CAPITAL OF ANY ARAB OR MUSLIM ENTITY. EVEN UNDER JORDANIAN RULE, (EAST)JERUSALEM WAS NOT MADE THE CAPITAL, AND NO ARAB LEADER CAME TO VISIT IT;

6. JERUSALEM IS MENTIONED OVER 700 TIMES IN THE BIBLE, BUT NOT ONCE IS IT MENTIONED IN THE QUR'AN;

7. KING DAVID FOUNDED JERUSALEM; MOHAMMED NEVER SET FOOT IN IT;

8. JEWS PRAY FACING JERUSALEM; MUSLIMS FACE MECCA. IF THEY ARE BETWEEN THE TWO CITIES, MUSLIMS PRAY FACING MECCA, WITH THEIR BACKS TO JERUSALEM;

9. IN 1948, ARAB LEADERS URGED THEIR PEOPLE TO LEAVE, PROMISING TO CLEANSE THE LAND OF JEWISH PRESENCE. 68% OF THEM FLED WITHOUT EVER SETTING EYES ON AN ISRAELI SOLDIER;

10. VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE JEWISH POPULATION OF MUSLIM COUNTRIES HAD TO FLEE AS THE RESULT OF VIOLENCE AND POGROMS;

11. SOME 630,000 ARABS LEFT ISRAEL IN 1948, WHILE CLOSE TO A MILLION JEWS WERE FORCED TO LEAVE THE MUSLIM COUNTRIES;

12. IN SPITE OF THE VAST TERRITORIES AT THEIR DISPOSAL, ARAB REFUGESS WERE DELIBERATELY PREVENTED FROM ASSIMILATING INTO THEIR HOST COUNTRIES. OF 100 MILLION REFUGEES FOLLOWING WORLD WAR 2, THEY ARE THE ONLY GROUP TO HAVE NEVER INTEGRATED WITH THEIR CORELIGIONISTS. MOST OF THE JEWISH REFUGEES FROM EUROPE AND ARAB LANDS WERE SETTLED IN ISRAEL , A COUNTRY NO LARGER THAN NEW JERSEY ;

13. THERE ARE 22 MUSLIM COUNTRIES, NOT COUNTING PALESTINE. THERE IS ONLY ONE JEWISH STATE. ARABS STARTED ALL FIVE WARS AGAINST ISRAEL, AND LOST EVERY ONE OF THEM;

14. FATAH AND HAMAS CONSTITUTIONS STILL CALL FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL .ISRAEL CEDED MOST OF THE WEST BANK AND ALL OF GAZA TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, AND EVEN PROVIDED IT WITH ARMS;

15. DURING THE JORDANIAN OCCUPATION, JEWISH HOLY SITES WERE VANDALIZED AND WERE OFF LIMITS TO JEWS. UNDER ISRAELI RULE, ALL MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN HOLY SITES ARE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL FAITHS;

16. OUT OF 175 UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS UP TO 1990, 97 WERE AGAINST ISRAEL; OUT OF 690 GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS, 429 WERE AGAINST ISRAEL ;

18. THE U.N. WAS SILENT WHEN THE JORDANIANS DESTROYED 58 SYNAGOGUES IN THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM . IT REMAINED SILENT WHILE JORDAN SYSTEMATICALLY DESECRATED THE ANCIENT JEWISH CEMETERY ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES , AND IT REMAINED SILENT WHEN JORDAN ENFORCED APARTHEID LAWS PREVENTING JEWS FROM ACCESSING THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND WESTERN WALL.

There are many of these facts that I can personally attest to since I was a witness to them. There are others that I can attest to because of my previous occupation and information garnered from there. The rest are history that anyone can look up going all the way back to before 1313BC. Regardless of what some think, I was not around at that time.

Expert: State Immigrant Laws Might Fail

Expert: State Immigrant Laws Might Fail
Saturday, August 19, 2006 4:46 PM EDT
The Associated PressBy ERIK SCHELZIG
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —

Legislatures around the country are passing state laws to get tough on illegal immigration, but legal experts say many of those laws will turn out to be unconstitutional.

More than 550 bills relating to illegal immigration were introduced in statehouses this year, and at least 77 were enacted, according to a survey presented last week at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

However, NCSL analyst Ann Morse told lawmakers at the conference that a 1986 federal law forbids states from enacting stricter criminal or civil penalties for illegal immigration than those adopted by Congress.

"The federal government decided it was too complicated for the states to enact their own competing laws on this," she said.

So what about the laws passed this year?

"I believe they'll be tested in court," she said.
State bills aimed at illegal immigration this year have included measures on education, employment, driver's licenses, law enforcement, legal services and trafficking.
"Unique among the states, Georgia introduced a bill that addressed all these different policy arenas, and passed it as one bill earlier this spring," Morse said.

Lawmakers like Tennessee state Rep. Gary Moore are frustrated that proposed federal legislation on illegal immigration has stalled in Congress.

"If we could get the federal government to give us a little more leeway, we would see a lot more reforms at the state level," said Moore, a Democrat, who said a survey of his constituents found immigration was a top concern.

It's unlikely the federal government will want to relinquish enforcement of immigration laws to the states, said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute.

"This is a prerogative that the feds really guard, particularly in Congress, with a passion that is probably unlike anything else," he said.

Still, the states are likely to try to acquire as much authority on the subject as they can.
"Because the Congress is unable to act, people at your level — and the local level — are beginning to take things into their own hands," Papademetriou told lawmakers at the conference. "I think we're seeing the beginnings of something that will gradually transfer more power to the states."

Papademetriou was critical of enforcement-only proposals to address illegal immigration. Some other proposals, like increasing the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents by 2,000 each year for the next six years, are unlikely to succeed, he said.

"I venture to say, in my humble option, that there is no way ... you can come close to that number and sustain it," he said.

It would take tens of thousands of applicants to have enough candidates to qualify, to pass training and to become experienced border patrol agents, he said.

"And when they're experienced enough, what's the biggest problem with the Border Patrol? Attrition," Papademetriou said. "Because people are not stupid: If they are well trained, they are going to find a better paying job somewhere, and an easier job."

Arizona state Sen. Jake Flake, a Republican and a cattle rancher, agreed that attempts to seal off the border are not likely to be successful.

"I find that if you put a bunch of steers in a pasture and run out of feed, there isn't a fence good enough to hold them," Flake said. "And I think people are the same: When they're hungry, there's not going to be a fence big enough to hold them.

"I don't think we're ever going to change this unless we help build the economy of Mexico."

Cut their power in Raleigh

Cut their power

To fix the state's political system, your Aug. 13 editorial "Money pit" expressed support for public financing of legislative races. The current system may have serious problems, but at least it's not an attack on the First Amendment and a means to protect incumbents.
North Carolina has a public financing system for judges. While it was supposed to be funded through voluntary means, the legislature has taken taxpayer dollars to fund the campaigns of judges. This fall, if you are a taxpayer, you will be supporting the speech of judges you oppose. You have no choice in the matter.

If this isn't bad enough, taxpayer financing helps to protect incumbents by equalizing funds. Challengers will have even more problems overcoming incumbents' built-in advantages, such as name recognition.

The most obvious solution to fix the system is also the one that is rarely discussed. Reform the legislative rules. Too much power is vested in too few people. The legislature is more of an oligarchy than a legislature. Legislative tricks and behind-the-door decision-making are common. Why change the rules, though, when blaming everyone else seems to work so well?
Daren Bakst

Legal & Regulatory Policy Analyst
John Locke Foundation
Raleigh

BOORTZ - ILLEGAL ALIEN HOLED UP IN CHURCHThis

ILLEGAL ALIEN HOLED UP IN CHURCHThis is one of those stories that is supposed to pull your heart strings. It involves the case of 31-year-old Elvira Arellano, a Chicago woman and illegal immigrant from Mexico. Rather than face deportation, she has decided to seek refuge in a Chicago church...where she's been for a couple days. Evidently her thought process is that the Feds aren't going to march into a place of worship and arrest her. She's probably right.But here's the wrinkle...she has a 7-year-old son...who is a U.S. citizen. So why shouldn't we feel sorry for Ms. Arellano? Well, here's what she did to get on the wrong side of things and face deportation. In 1997, she illegally came to the United States and got deported. She came right back, this time hanging around for several more years before being arrested at O'Hare airport where she worked as a cleaning lady under a false Social Security number. She was ordered to appear at the immigration office in Chicago...and here we are. So what should happen? The Immigration and Customs Enforcement should follow the law. March right up to the door of the church with a warrant for her arrest and take her in. There is a right way to come to the United States.....and this isn't it. If we continue to make exceptions for illegal aliens that are breaking our laws and coming here by the millions, then we'll never get a handle on illegal immigration. But...they're not going to do that. They'll wait her out. The minute she leaves (and she will,) they'll arrest her and ship her back to Mexico where she belongs.
One more thing. We need to change the law that makes children born to illegal aliens automatic U.S. citizens. Few countries follow this example. It makes no sense for us either.

THE NUMBERS ON THE HISPANIC INVASION

THE NUMBERS ON THE HISPANIC INVASION

That's right. The invasion is still underway. Even while the world was pressuring Israel to cave in to Hezbollah. Even while were watching this strange little man confess to a murder he probably did not commit .. the invasion continues.

Here's an interesting website for you.

It's called immigrationCounters.com The #1 Site for Real-Time Immigration Statistics. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information on this site .. but it sure does get your attention. Here are the stats as of about 6:00 this morning:

Illegal Immigrants in Country 20,426,887
Money wired to Mexico $23,575,296,302
Cost of Social Services for Illegal Immigrants $397,469,111,828
Illegals Enrolled in Government Schools K-12 3,749,373
Cost of Illegal Immigrants Enrolled in K-12 $14,489,987,299
Illegal Immigrants Incarcerated 315,460
Cost for Incarcerations of Illegal Immigrants $1,446,245,595
Illegal Immigrant Fugitives 623,761

Here's a statistic from elsewhere, one that I did check out. Out of all of the outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles, 95% of them are for illegal aliens.


One more thing: You do remember that immigration fuss in the Congress some weeks back, don't you? The House had one version that called for the borders to be controlled and contained no guest worker program, the Senate had a bill calling for amnesty and only a token attempt to control the borders. Nothing got done. The Senate bill was written by Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy. It contained a provision for about 370 miles of fencing along the Mexican-U.S. Border. But .. here's what you probably didn't know. That fence can only be built with after consulting Mexico as to its location. Well isn't that special! Mexico gets to decide where we put our border fences!