The Pink Flamingo :: Immigration Hell Is Coming to a Town Near You

Things are getting nasty out there. The anti-immigration nativists are winning, and are spreading their own little unique brand of unracist racism and hate. The bottom line is fear of anyone different, of anyone who speaks different, looks different, smells different, and has different cultures. It is a theme that has repeated itself time and time again through out history, often with abjectly horrible murderous results. Will it get that bad here? I truly hope not. I only know, when things like what I am detailing below begin to occur in a country, something happens to its soul.

The nastier it gets, the easier it gets for people to be nasty.

Is your soul for sale?

Mine isn’t.

We have always been a nation of individuals, not mass Group Think. The problem is many conservatives have sold their soul and their right to think as an individual. Instead of rational thought that puts the individual and their lot in life ahead of draconian laws, nativists are convincing the rest of the nation that compassion, decency, and the ability to care for the individuality are wrong when it comes to dealing with an illegal alien. I so worry about their souls, don't you?

ARIZONA
Take the story of Miriam Avales-Reyes

“…23-year-old Mexican woman with three American-born children, including one just three weeks old, will return voluntarily to Mexico after what supporters call a harrowing experience with authorities during a traffic stop. Miriam Aviles-Reyes, an illegal immigrant, and the human rights group Derechos Humanos say a Tucson police officer was abusive and called the Border Patrol without necessary cause. Tucson police spokesmen deny the officer did anything wrong and say the officer was following departmental policy…”

CALIFORNIA
They are targeting California school children who attend along the border.

IMMIGRATION HELL IN MARICOPA COUNTY
From the Law Professor Blog
From the Phoenix New Times

“…There's good reason to be afraid. The situation for undocumented immigrants in Maricopa County is arguably the worst in the country, thanks to two men: County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Roberto Reveles, the former president of immigrant rights group Somos America (We Are America), says there is no place in the country worse than Maricopa County. "It's worse because here there is a statewide effort. The state Legislature is involved, the executive branch — the governor — is complicit, and at the local level, the worst in the country has to be the Maricopa County sheriff and county attorney, who are abusing their power to harass, intimidate, and create fear in the hearts of dark-skinned people," he says. In October, when the owners of this newspaper were arrested for releasing information about a grand jury subpoena, no group in Maricopa County watched more closely than the undocumented immigrant community, says Antonio Bustamante, a Phoenix defense lawyer litigating a class-action suit against Arpaio and Thomas. "It was a despicable, cowardly, gutless lack of character thing to do to any human being," he says. "And if they would do that to prominent members of the community — if you're a 'wetback' — you've got no chance." Undocumented immigrants know better than anyone what it's like to be arrested in the middle of the night, to walk around as moving targets, to sit in jail.

In the past year, the fight against immigrants has gotten particularly nasty as violence against immigrants has escalated. But this is a fight that began back in November 2004, when a conservative lawyer named Andrew Thomas ran for office on a get-tough immigration platform. The pundits scoffed, noting that the county attorney technically has very little to do with illegal immigration, a federal issue. But Thomas has delivered on his campaign promises. In doing so, he's become a national spokesman for the anti-immigration movement.

From his attack on the judiciary, to his promise to aggressively enforce a new employer-sanctions law aimed at businesses who hire undocumented workers, to his intense lobbying for a ballot measure that denies bail to illegal immigrants accused of committing felonies, to his campaign against identity theft, almost every political move Thomas makes has anti-immigrant rhetoric at its root….

…• A crackdown by Arpaio's deputies on law-abiding immigrants — including food vendors, college students, and day laborers — has left the community so frightened that many immigrants will not even leave their homes to visit the grocery store or go to church. Even American citizens of Hispanic descent say they are nervous. One citizen New Times spoke with carries his United States passport around to prove he's a citizen.

• A push toward making local law enforcement into immigration officers has had a chilling effect on the undocumented population. In February, 160 county deputies were granted immigration authority. Recently, Phoenix and Mesa have considered allowing police officers to question immigration status (previously, they had to call ICE to verify status). Though Arpaio has arrested only about 1,300 illegal immigrants — a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 300,000 living in Maricopa County — the effort has been felt throughout the undocumented population.

• An increase in immigrant-on-immigrant violence has come, experts say, as a result of the population's inability to call the police in time of need. The fear within the immigrant community of all police has given violent criminals the upper hand — they know their victims can't, or won't, call for help.

Because of the sheriff's reputation for retaliation, all undocumented immigrants New Times interviewed for this story chose to use only their real first names in order to avoid capture and possible deportation. Some even refused to meet with a reporter in person out of fear of being turned over to the police….”

MICHIGAN
The Michigan AG has announced that only non-US Citizens who have Green Cards may be licensed to drive in Michigan. According to Greg Suskind

“…At first I thought that the AG just simply didn't understand immigration law and would include people legally residing in Michigan. But he goes on to specifically mention foreign students as not meeting the definition so it looks like Michigan is about to take away driver's licenses for foreign executives on employment-based non-immigrant visas (Es, H-1Bs, Os, Ls, etc.) as well as individuals in asylum status and those with pending adjustment of status applications waiting on green cards. I think I'd like to be a fly on the wall of the AG when this news starts to circulate around the state of Michigan….”

ARIZONA
The new enforcement laws, co-authored by REPUBLICAN (I am so ashamed of that one) Russell Pearce and his neo-Nazi friends including J. T. Ready go into effect.

“…But in 2006, when Pearce was caught forwarding an anti-Semitic e-mail to his supporters -- an e-mail from the neo-Nazi National Alliance, even Republicans bagged on him. None other than ultra-right Congressman J.D. Hayworth withdrew his support for Pearce's reelection to the State House. Hayworth lost to Democrat Harry Mitchell, and Pearce was reelected, despite the e-mail eff-up and despite his previous endorsement of the Eisenhower administration's "Operation Wetback," a 1954 INS deportation program. The voters in Pearce's State House district apparently had no problem with his views.

But in a higher-profile Congressional race, Pearce will not have it so easy. If Flake's campaign is smart, they will find ways to call attention to Pearce's reactionary views and his white supremacist pals. J.T. Ready could end up being Pearce's Willie Horton. You remember, the furloughed killer Bush, Sr., hung 'round the neck of Democrat Michael Dukakis in the '88 Presidential election. Though Ready did shoot at an illegal in an infamous incident when he was running unsuccessfully for Mesa City Council, he hasn't killed anyone. Still his friendliness with Pearce reveals Pearce's own racism. Why would a potential congressional candidate not disassociate himself from someone as revolting as Ready? It must be because they are in fundamental agreement.

At the time Pearce circulated that neo-Nazi e-mail, he said that a friend had sent it to him and he had not paid close attention to it. Could that friend have been J.T. Ready? Or does Pearce have other neo-Nazi buds we don't know about? I mean, would it surprise you one bit if he did?...”

According to Siskind, it is going to be rather interesting to watch.

“…There are a number of open questions the answers to which will determine the impact of the new laws. Will employers comply with the new laws or ignore them (including taking employees off the books all together)? Will Arizona rigorously enforce the new laws? Will the federal government be able to handle a massive increase in the number of E-Verify inquiries? With the recent Westat report showing that as many as 10% of foreign born US citizens being identified as illegally present in the US, will the federal government be able to handle a sudden surge in requests to correct problems (and will such incorrectly identified workers be compensated by the federal government since they will suddenly be unable to work ANYWHERE in Arizona and may be rendered unemployable for a potentially lengthy period?). Will there be a mass exodus of unauthorized workers from the state and what will the impact be on an economy with only 3% unemployment?...”

Will the new laws torpedo Arizona’s economy?

“…Illegal immigrants have flocked to Arizona for years to fill jobs that native-born people don't want. While the state's unemployment rate remains low, undocumented employees comprise an estimated 9 to 12 percent of the state's 3 million workers. Companies in agriculture, construction and service industries rely heavily on illegal immigrants, and any successful attempt to drive them out will have economic repercussions that may be severe. In construction alone, Judith Gans of the University of Arizona has estimated that a 15 percent cut in the state's immigrant workforce would result in direct losses of about 56,000 jobs and some $6.6 billion in economic output. The direct loss to state tax revenue would be approximately $270 million. The study, and others like it, including in Texas, refute the arguments that illegal immigrants are an overall burden on state economies because of the education, health care and other services they require; in fact they contribute heavily to economic growth….

…There is little clarity about the law itself, which is being challenged in court by major business associations, Hispanic groups and the American Civil Liberties Union. The statute was sloppily drafted, and Ms. Napolitano signed it at least in part because she feared an even more draconian ballot initiative by immigrant-bashers (who are trying to organize one anyway). While Ms. Napolitano believes the law applies only to workers hired after Jan. 1, Andrew Thomas, the Maricopa County (Phoenix) prosecutor whose purview includes most of the state's population and workforce, says it applies to any employee on a firm's payroll, regardless of hiring date….”

According to the CS Monitor, the way to tell what is going to happen in Arizona is to watch the price of lettuce.

“…The law has already withstood an initial legal challenge in federal courts, but a big test is in its effect on the economy. The state's agriculture, service, and construction industries depend greatly on illegal workers as a source of cheap labor. The average household income of illegal immigrants in Arizona is $35,000 per year. For natives, it is $69,000. Will businesses be able to afford higher wages to attract legal workers and still stay in business in the state? One early indicator may be the price of lettuce. About half of US winter lettuce is grown around Yuma, and if higher wages are needed to attract legal lettuce pickers, consumers will see higher prices in their salads. Or lettuce companies may decide to grow elsewhere….”

IOWA
AZ Central

“…Iowa immigration experts say conservative activists have overblown the issue and suggest that the language barrier is the biggest source of friction between newcomers and long-standing residents. "Just fear and the inability to communicate cause a lot of frustrations," said Dan Holub, director of the University of Iowa's Labor Center in Iowa City. "The workers and unions that are dealing with immigration are not nearly as worked up about it as folks who are not affected by it." Miryam Antúnez de Mayolo, a Cedar Falls immigration lawyer, said she noticed Iowan attitudes toward immigrants hardening a couple of years ago. A perception emerged that Spanish-speaking immigrants are criminals or "morally bankrupt" and that the 2006 Marshalltown raid worsened that sentiment, she said. "I've always considered Iowans good-hearted and welcoming, but I'm very sad to say that that has changed," Antúnez de Mayolo said. "It was very easy for Iowans to present this face of being welcoming to immigrants when there were no immigrants or very little immigrants." Huggins, the outgoing Colfax police chief, rejected the notion that illegal-immigration critics have racial or ethnic motivations. He pointed to rising public costs associated with the education, hospitalization and incarceration of illegal immigrants. "I have nothing against any race," he said. "They're criminals the minute they set foot on our land."…”

WISCONSIN
An excellent Milwaukee cop is being deported (or has been) primarily because his family screwed up his papers years ago.

WASHINGTON
This came to me from Sally. It is from the Seattle Times Dec 30.

“…"Dispirited and depressed, Ana Reyes-Velazquez spends her days bouncing between her parents' and brother's homes in Mexico City and a boyfriend's home a few hours away - with no job and no apparent prospects for work. In late June, she was one of seven illegal immigrants rounded up by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement fugitive-operations team in -- accompanied by a Times reporter and photographer - in an early morning raid. It came during a year when immigration again became one of the most heated topics in national and local politics. The raid happened on Reyes-Velazquez's 41st birthday, a day she ha dplanned to spend watching her daughter graduate from elementary school. A week later she was deported to Mexico after 17 years in the United States. The Mexican government paid for her U.S. born daughters- ages 13 and 4 - to fly to Mexico to join her. While living in Burien, Washington, Velazquez had worked as a housekeeper at a South King County hotel and sent money to help her aging parents in Mexico City. Now she depends on them, she says. She said she's too old to find work in Mexico's overpopulated capital. Her teenage daughter has not been going to school because she doesn't speak Spanish and Reyes-Velazquez says there's no money for an English school.The children cry all the time now,she says. "They want to go home."…”

THE LIES CONTINUE

“… Apparently immigrants don't drive welfare caseloads anymore than they drive the U.S. crime rate. The authors go on to note that, "Not only have the numbers of people on welfare plunged, but, in the wake of the 1996 welfare-reform bill, overall poverty, child poverty, black child poverty and child hunger have all decreased, while employment figures for single mothers have risen." For all the talk about the "invasion" of million upon million of job-consuming immigrants, the unemployment rate stands at 4.7%, and job growth continues apace. Immigrants aren't stealing jobs but filling them. The economic activity they create as consumers and entrepreneurs contributes to the overall economic growth...."

NEW JERSEY
The Feds are now cheating to gain admission into a home, business, etc so they can go trolling for illegal immigrants. Evidently when it comes to ‘rounding-up’ the law-breakers the Constitution need not apply.

“…"They're armed agents showing up at 5 a.m., banging on doors, kicking them in, going into people's bedrooms, ripping covers off people in their beds, asking them questions when they're half asleep, and seizing them and taking them away," said Patrick Gennardo of Englewood, one of several area attorneys who have filed suits recently asking that such ICE practices be found unconstitutional. "These aren't fine lines between consent and storming in; these are scary, major violations of the Constitution."…
…Valjbona Hot, a native of the former Yugoslavia who has been living in Fair Lawn for 17 years, has had an electronic monitoring device on her ankle since her home was raided in September. Her husband, Salih, spent about three months in an immigration detention center in Elizabeth.
"We are not criminals," said Salih, the father of three U.S.-born sons who was released after his lawyer requested a stay of deportation pending a motion to reopen the case. "We have not been hiding from them. We have been here, at the same address, the whole time."
'Luis Borges' ruse?
Salih Hot said immigration officers came to his house, asking about a man he didn't know. But Hot said he noticed that the agents carried a file with his photo and information in it. They asked the Hots for ID and proof that they were legal residents. Then they arrested them when they could not produce it.
Brenda Cumsille of Cliffside Park said more than a dozen ICE agents entered her home in April, asking about "Luis Borges." They ended up arresting her husband, who had an outstanding deportation order, and deporting him in May. Cumsille said an unscrupulous "immigration consultant" they hired never told her husband that he faced deportation.
Cumsille believes ICE agents, who she initially thought were local police, used "Luis Borges" as a ruse to gain permission to enter. "It was a lie," said Cumsille, who stayed behind with two U.S.-born daughters. "They didn't come looking for Luis Borges. They were looking for my husband."
In Newark that same month, Susana Vasquez awakened at 4:30 a.m. to find ICE agents in her bedroom. She said they had gained entry into the multifamily home by telling her landlord they were looking for a certain man.
"We didn't know who this was," she said. "It was no one we'd ever seen."
The agents arrested Vasquez and others who couldn't prove legal status. Vasquez said that agents, who she stressed were polite to her, conducted a raid on another site while she and other detainees waited in ICE vehicles.
"The other people they picked up and I talked among ourselves about our arrest, and how ICE had come into our apartments showing photos of people we'd never seen," Vasquez said. "I wasn't worried because I thought they were looking for the man in the photo. I answered their questions because they didn't indicate that they were investigating me and could arrest me."
ICE officials often note that unlike guidelines governing criminal arrests, those for immigration enforcement do not require a judicial warrant to enter a private residence, only a person's consent. They dismiss the assertion that ICE agents use deception in identifying themselves simply as "police" instead of immigration agents. They say they are police -- federal police….”

And this is chilling.

“…Ron Bass, founder of United Patriots of America, based in Linden, assails the lawsuits as preposterous and hypocritical. "If they want to talk about the Constitution, fine," he said. "They should be reminded that the Constitution also says that the president must protect us against invasions. With the millions of people coming into this country illegally, we have an invasion, there are felons and this is a big problem for homeland security. Bass said he would not condone human rights abuses against illegal immigrants, but "why should people who broke into the United States illegally be protected by my Constitution?"…”

ILLINOIS
In Waukegan you’d better not look like you are Hispanic or you will be interrogated, even if you are an American, you see, only AMERICANS belong in AMERICA and if you don’t look AMERICAN you don’t belong here.

“…he anti-immigrant sentiments that percolated out of the debate over immigration have spilled over to U.S. citizens who just happen to look like they're "illegal." A parent trying to register her child at a North Chicago school was allegedly questioned about her immigration status in August before her child was eventually enrolled in the district. Local immigrant groups say one of the few positive things that has come out of the hoopla over immigration reform and local authorities applying for deportation powers, is that it has galvanized the often divided immigrant community to work together.

The Waukegan Leadership Council, a group of church, business and organization leaders which formed in the aftermath of the 287(g) hoopla in Waukegan, has started to register Latino voters in Waukegan. Their goal is to show the voting strength of Lake County's Hispanic community which numbers 133,422, or 19 percent of the county's population, according to 2006 census estimates.

"It's not just getting them to register. It's getting them out to the polls," said attorney Yolanda Torrez of Waukegan, one of the volunteers registering voters on weekends. "Our hope is next year we'll come together as a community where we can all live peaceably."…”