A life in the shadows
Sunday, December 7
(updated Monday, December 8, 5:41 am)
By Jason Hardin Staff Writer
How do immigrants come here legally?
About 1 million people a year obtain legal permanent resident status in the United States, far fewer than the number who come here or want to come here.
The vast majority of legal immigrants come through a few set paths. For many people who want to come here, there is no realistic path to immigrate legally.
The most common method is having a relative — a child, parent, spouse, brother or sister — who is a citizen or a legal permanent resident. About 700,000 people qualified in this category in 2007.
Another method is through employment. This requires that the employer request a visa for the immigrant. Only about 160,000 people gained permanent resident status this way in 2007. Priority is given to those with “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics.” For workers classified as unskilled, the chances of getting in this way are poor.
Then there are refugees and asylees. This method is open only to someone “who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” About 135,000 people fit into this category in 2007.
Another method involves granting visas to immigrants to create jobs through investing their own money. This method can require investments of at least $500,000. This group numbered less than 1,000 in 2007.
Finally, there is the “diversity lottery.” This method allows 55,000 people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to receive visas. This excludes immigrants from countries such as Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, the Philippines and Vietnam.
These are not the only methods of legal entry, but other methods are comparatively rare. Often, cases are not clear-cut, and immigration law can be complex.
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Imagine leaving your house in the morning and wondering if you’ll make it back that night.
Imagine living somewhere for as long as you can remember, then suddenly being ripped away from your loved ones without warning.
Imagine being afraid to talk to the police, to go to a health clinic, to make a wrong turn on the way to the grocery store.
Imagine fear.
To be an undocumented immigrant is to live in a constant state of worry. And with high-profile cases of massive stings and longtime residents finding themselves caught up in a crackdown, those fears are legitimate.
The federal government removed more undocumented immigrants in the past year than any in history — nearly 350,000 in the 12 months ending Sept. 30.
And increasingly, the federal effort is being aided by a new program that essentially deputizes local law officers as federal immigration agents.
To be sure, those on the side of getting tough on illegal immigration note that immigrants put themselves in that position. That no one forced them to come here.
But advocates for immigrants say the crackdown is driving immigrants into the shadows, making them a separate community and fostering crime and alienation.
And, they say, they came for a better life, just as the ancestors of current citizens did. If there were any way to come legally, they would.
Regardless of the debate, the reality is that they are here.
Living in fear.
“Most people think about it every single morning,” one immigrant says. “They think, 'Let me come back to my house tonight.’ ”
A family separated
Moises Campos Palencia was on his way to realizing the American dream — a wife, a young daughter, a business he started from scratch.Until it all fell apart at a traffic light in High Point a few months ago. A police officer pulled him over, saying he’d turned left on red. The next thing Palencia knew, he was in a detention center in Georgia, awaiting deportation.
Although he had lived in the United States since he was a boy, brought here by his parents, Palencia hadn’t been able to attain citizenship, despite his efforts. He planned to try again as soon as his wife obtained her citizenship — which she did a few weeks after he was detained.Now their lives are turned upside down. Palencia has been deported.
His wife, Nayelli Rojas Campos, worries whether she’ll be able to keep up the business, a car audio store on High Point Road.Even more, she worries about their daughter.
“She tells me, 'Mommy, I miss my daddy,’” she said.
The family’s story gives nightmares to countless undocumented immigrants across the Triad. The federal government estimated that nearly 400,000 undocumented immigrants were living in North Carolina in 2007.
One such immigrant, Carlos, a man who came here from Mexico and now lives in Greensboro, said that recent events such as the imminent deportation of Marxavi Angel Martinez, an Alamance County librarian discovered after she visited the health department, have cranked up the paranoia.
The librarian’s arrest came on the heels of a much-publicized roadblock Aug. 8 that many worried was meant to snare undocumented immigrants.
“People were scared,” said Carlos, who did not want to reveal his real name. “There was panic within the Hispanic community.”
Many fear losing all they have built here.
Carlos came here more than a decade ago after he lost his job in Mexico and could not find work. Like immigrants from England or Ireland in previous waves of immigration, he saw opportunity in the United States. There was no way to come legally.
“There was only one goal,” he said. “Work.”
At first, life was brutally difficult. He took off one day a month, spent nights sleeping in the back of a restaurant, even in a van, until it grew too cold.
He decided he needed to learn English after being embarrassed at a McDonald’s when he couldn’t order a hamburger without onions, so he taught himself by watching CNN.
He now has built himself a decent life. He lives in a nice house he has gradually furnished. He is respected by co-workers. He loves to read history, he dreams his daughter will go to college, he wonders if he’ll see his dad, who is ailing and still lives in Mexico, again.
And he could lose it all in a moment. He never stops worrying.
“Every day,” he said.
Carlos mentions a man who called a law enforcement agency for help, gave a false name and wound up being deported.
“When people read that, people get scared,” he said. “I’m not going to call the police.”
Right now, the looming issue for Carlos is his driver’s license, which expires this month. The state has made it much more difficult for undocumented immigrants to get licenses, and he is not sure what he will do when it expires.
“If we have to go to work, we have to drive,” he said.
He’s a careful driver, with no accidents. But even getting in a crash that isn’t his fault could be disastrous.
“I’ll be watching my mirrors all the time,” he said.
Living in the shadows
Kathy Hinshaw gets the calls all the time now.
Is it safe to go to Walmart? Is it safe to see a doctor?
Hinshaw, who came here from Peru, works at UNCG’s Center for New North Carolinians, where she helps immigrants trying to make their way in a new country.
Increasingly, she talks with undocumented immigrants who are scared they’ll be rounded up.
“People are calling and saying, 'Is it safe for me?’ And I don’t know,” she said. “Right now, people are living in constant fear. They are driving only to work. And that is no life.”
Ultimately, that fear is driving the immigrant community into the shadows.
“You think about what I’m going to do tonight, what am I going to cook? But they are thinking, 'Are they going to catch me here?’” Hinshaw said. “The more that fear increases, the more the community will withdraw from participating and being part of the society.”
Traditionally, immigrants to the United States have blended into society. That process hasn’t always been smooth or easy, but over time, it has helped an astonishingly diverse population find common ground — if not necessarily the melting pot of myth, at least a tossed salad.
That has helped the United States avoid the dangerous divides found in some other countries, where huge immigrant communities exist almost completely separately from the societies they inhabit.
Problems arise when young people feel alienated, as if they have no options and no respect. And that’s exactly what is happening here now.
“They are receiving the message that you don’t belong here, that you are nothing,” Hinshaw said, adding that such hopelessness can give birth to crime and gang activity.
At the same time, immigrant advocates say, the crackdown is driving a wedge between immigrants and law enforcement.
Many worry that if they interact with an officer, even as a victim or witness of a crime, they could be deported.
That fear makes immigrants easier targets, advocates say, because criminals may reason that they can prey on them without consequence.
At the same time, the possibility of being picked up by authorities creates a heightened sense of anxiety.
Many who want a crackdown on undocumented immigrants employ a strategy to make life as unpleasant as possible, said Mark Sills, executive director of FaithAction International House, a nonprofit that works with immigrants.
Ultimately, that strategy accomplishes little but creating misery, he said. For immigrants fleeing places where they can’t find work, can’t provide for their families, there is little choice but to endure the indignities, Sills said.
Thanks to rich subsidies for American agribusiness, rural farmers in developing countries can’t compete on the global market and find themselves out of work.
“They can’t survive where they are if they’re going to feed their families,” Sills said. “And there’s only one direction. They can’t go west. They can’t go south. They can’t go east. They can only go north.”
Hoping for change
In many ways, the immigration debate in the United States has calcified in recent years. The failure of immigration bills to pass has left both sides in a bitter stalemate.
That might soon change.
With a new president and with changes in Congress, major immigration legislation likely will be debated in the coming months.
While the particulars — amnesty for current residents, a “guest worker” program, more wall-building — will be debated, no one on either side seems happy with the status quo.
Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said the federal government needs to do more. More Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are needed, he said, and we need to do a better job processing those who want to come.
Jeremy McKinney, an attorney who specializes in immigration law, wants to see a major rethinking of immigration policy.
“The government is being asked to enforce a fundamentally flawed set of laws,” he said.
Despite common perception, for many immigrants, there simply is no way to come here legally, he said. Forget waiting in line — for many, there is no line.
The country once had a guest worker program that worked well, McKinney said. Immigrants could come, work, then return home. In the meantime, they didn’t have to live in fear.
Even many law enforcement officers want changes.
Randy Jones, a spokesman for the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department, said he strongly opposes amnesty, but that the citizenship process needs to move faster.
“None of us opposes having an easier path to citizenship,” Jones said. “It needs to be streamlined.”
Regardless, there still will be the issue of what to do with those who currently live here illegally.
Carlos, the longtime resident, remains optimistic that immigration reform will soon come.
“Hopefully, one day, I could become legal. I could become a citizen,” he said. “I’d be ready for it and I’d be proud to fit myself into society.”
In the meantime, he hopes he doesn’t get caught. He wants to stay. And he wants a life free of fear.
This is home.
“I love this country so much. American people are some of the most kind people in the world. Now, I have a lot of friends. American people,” Carlos said. “Good friends, that I really consider as my brothers.”
But there’s always that fear.
“It’s not easy living under the shadows.”
Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jason.hardin@news-record.com
Citizen Orange
Video Clips
Monday, December 8, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
A danger that she grasps
Sheehan: Published: Aug 01, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Aug 01, 2008 05:26 AM
Ruth Sheehan, Staff Writer
One of the last great fictions of the illegal immigration crackdown in North Carolina is this:
Oh, we're not going to start just rounding people up.
Then comes yet another horror story out of Alamance County -- the tale of a library worker who has lived in this country since she was a toddler, arrested at her job, while doing her job.
Suddenly the line between identifying and deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes and simply rounding up people known to be illegal immigrants is beginning to blur.
No one recognizes the line fading more clearly than former state Rep. Ruth Cook.
"We're living in dangerous times," she said.
Cook, the first woman to represent Wake County in the legislature, has been a strong voice for progressive causes since the 1950s. She also knows something about dangerous times.
At age 9, Cook was a passenger on one of the last two "Kindertransport" trains that rescued Jewish children from Nazi Germany.
Unlike millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, Cook's parents got her, and themselves, out of Germany before World War II started.
Because of the United States' strict immigration policy in the late '30s, her parents landed temporarily in Cuba, where they worked on a Quaker farm. They were admitted to the United States in 1941.
Cook and 36 other children from her transport were taken to England and sheltered in a children's home in Cornwall. She was finally reunited with her mother and father in New York in 1943, when she was 14 years old.
For those who justify their view that illegal immigrants deserve whatever they get in this country because they've broken the law by coming here, Cook remembers all too clearly what it meant to be "illegal" in Germany.
Jews were not allowed to go to certain places or do certain things.
Her point: Sometimes there are laws -- but not all laws are just.
The facts that here in North Carolina we prohibit illegal immigrants from being trained and licensed drivers and that we may prohibit their children from attending community college infuriate Cook.
"Some of these people have been here since they were babies," she said. "I think this is a racist issue."
Of course, in Nazi Germany, the xenophobic, anti-Jewish, "master race" sentiment was coming straight from the nation's rulers.
Here, federal immigration laws and enforcement are such a confused mess that the immigration quagmire is being sorted out county by county and community by community.
Hence the situation involving the Alamance County library worker.
"Here's a woman who has lived here all her life, who has done nothing wrong," Cook said. "Her child is an American citizen. We're going to deport her?
"People say, 'Well, that is the law.' But the law in Germany put Jews in the ovens."
To be clear, Cook is not drawing a direct comparison between North Carolina now and Nazi Germany then.
But the stories of mistreatment of "undesirables" do resonate.
She believes, as I do, that people of conscience cannot sit by and let the immigration morass work itself out.
She knows from experience what can happen when they do.
ruth.sheehan@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4828© Copyright 2008, The News & Observer Publishing Company
A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Ruth Sheehan, Staff Writer
One of the last great fictions of the illegal immigration crackdown in North Carolina is this:
Oh, we're not going to start just rounding people up.
Then comes yet another horror story out of Alamance County -- the tale of a library worker who has lived in this country since she was a toddler, arrested at her job, while doing her job.
Suddenly the line between identifying and deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes and simply rounding up people known to be illegal immigrants is beginning to blur.
No one recognizes the line fading more clearly than former state Rep. Ruth Cook.
"We're living in dangerous times," she said.
Cook, the first woman to represent Wake County in the legislature, has been a strong voice for progressive causes since the 1950s. She also knows something about dangerous times.
At age 9, Cook was a passenger on one of the last two "Kindertransport" trains that rescued Jewish children from Nazi Germany.
Unlike millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, Cook's parents got her, and themselves, out of Germany before World War II started.
Because of the United States' strict immigration policy in the late '30s, her parents landed temporarily in Cuba, where they worked on a Quaker farm. They were admitted to the United States in 1941.
Cook and 36 other children from her transport were taken to England and sheltered in a children's home in Cornwall. She was finally reunited with her mother and father in New York in 1943, when she was 14 years old.
For those who justify their view that illegal immigrants deserve whatever they get in this country because they've broken the law by coming here, Cook remembers all too clearly what it meant to be "illegal" in Germany.
Jews were not allowed to go to certain places or do certain things.
Her point: Sometimes there are laws -- but not all laws are just.
The facts that here in North Carolina we prohibit illegal immigrants from being trained and licensed drivers and that we may prohibit their children from attending community college infuriate Cook.
"Some of these people have been here since they were babies," she said. "I think this is a racist issue."
Of course, in Nazi Germany, the xenophobic, anti-Jewish, "master race" sentiment was coming straight from the nation's rulers.
Here, federal immigration laws and enforcement are such a confused mess that the immigration quagmire is being sorted out county by county and community by community.
Hence the situation involving the Alamance County library worker.
"Here's a woman who has lived here all her life, who has done nothing wrong," Cook said. "Her child is an American citizen. We're going to deport her?
"People say, 'Well, that is the law.' But the law in Germany put Jews in the ovens."
To be clear, Cook is not drawing a direct comparison between North Carolina now and Nazi Germany then.
But the stories of mistreatment of "undesirables" do resonate.
She believes, as I do, that people of conscience cannot sit by and let the immigration morass work itself out.
She knows from experience what can happen when they do.
ruth.sheehan@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4828© Copyright 2008, The News & Observer Publishing Company
A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Librarian charged with being illegal alien
Published: July 30, 2008 at 3:36 PM
GRAHAM, N.C., July 30 (UPI) -- A North Carolina librarian who allegedly lived illegally in the United States since she was a toddler has been charged with using a fake Social Security number.
Marxavi Angel Martinez, 23, was arrested at the library in Alamance County, the Raleigh News & Sentinel reports. She faces four federal felony charges.
Sheriff Terry Johnson, who has been aggressively targeting illegal immigrants, has said that the arrest was related to an investigation of the county health department. The state Bureau of Investigation has been looking into allegations that health department employees wrote notes excusing illegal immigrants from work using names different from those on their medical records.
Randy Jones, a spokesman for the sheriff said that Martinez lied on her application to work at the library.
"That is not a situation where you can say, 'We're not going to tell anybody,' " Jones said.
But people who know Martinez say that a young woman in her situation should not be treated like a criminal.
"To go after productive citizens who have been our neighbors and friends for years? It's insane," said Marilyn Tyler, a retired librarian. "We can't just stand by and let this happen."
GRAHAM, N.C., July 30 (UPI) -- A North Carolina librarian who allegedly lived illegally in the United States since she was a toddler has been charged with using a fake Social Security number.
Marxavi Angel Martinez, 23, was arrested at the library in Alamance County, the Raleigh News & Sentinel reports. She faces four federal felony charges.
Sheriff Terry Johnson, who has been aggressively targeting illegal immigrants, has said that the arrest was related to an investigation of the county health department. The state Bureau of Investigation has been looking into allegations that health department employees wrote notes excusing illegal immigrants from work using names different from those on their medical records.
Randy Jones, a spokesman for the sheriff said that Martinez lied on her application to work at the library.
"That is not a situation where you can say, 'We're not going to tell anybody,' " Jones said.
But people who know Martinez say that a young woman in her situation should not be treated like a criminal.
"To go after productive citizens who have been our neighbors and friends for years? It's insane," said Marilyn Tyler, a retired librarian. "We can't just stand by and let this happen."
U.S. to urge 'fugitive aliens' to surrender
Story Highlights
Three-week surrender program offered to immigrants ordered to leave U.S.
Those who surrender would get up to 90 days to leave country, no detention
Program to run in five U.S. cities starting Tuesday
Immigrant advocacy group calls program a "gimmick"
From Mike Ahlers
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. immigration officials, taking a new tack to solve an old, intractable problem, say they will give "fugitive aliens" in certain cities incentives to surrender during a three-week period in August.
The program will give fugitive aliens -- people who have been ordered by immigration courts to leave the United States -- up to 90 days after surrendering to get their affairs in order before departing the country.
For those without sufficient financial means, the program also will make arrangements for them to leave the United States. And the program will allow fugitive aliens to avoid detention pending their removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday.
It will also create a record documenting when they left the country, information that would be necessary should the person ever seek to return legally.
The pilot program, which will start Tuesday and run through August 22 in five U.S. cities, could be expanded to other cities, said Jim Hayes, ICE's acting director for detention and removal.
The participating cities are Santa Ana, California; San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Phoenix, Arizona.
As many as 500,000 fugitive aliens are believed to be in the United States, Hayes said, but he wouldn't guess how many would self-report under the program.
Last year, the government removed about 30,000 fugitive aliens using traditional methods, which include searching for the immigrants and following up on chance encounters they have with police.
One immigrant advocacy group called the program a "gimmick" Wednesday and said it is unlikely many people will enroll.
"I don't see the advantage," said Douglas Rivlin of the National Immigration Forum. "If you're really thinking about leaving the country anyway, I don't see the advantage of stopping into your local ICE office on your way to the airport."
He said many fugitive aliens do not even know they are under a deportation order.
"Hearings are held in absentia. [The government] is just notoriously bad in having the wrong name and address for people. So it's not quite as neat and clean as they say," he said. "It's possible that some folks who are on the verge of [deportation] will come forward, but I find it really unlikely."
Hayes said the program is in response to complaints from community groups and immigrant advocacy groups that ICE has been heavy-handed in its treatment of illegal immigrants during recent crackdowns and about conditions at detention facilities.
Some of the groups have said immigrants would leave the country willingly if given the chance, Hayes said.
Under the program, ICE will publicize a toll-free telephone number that fugitive aliens can call to arrange appointments with ICE case officers. ICE officers will meet with the aliens and determine on a case-by-case basis how long the person can remain in the United States.
ICE will gather biographic information and fingerprints from the aliens and, for those who are not criminals or deemed to be threats to the community, will give them up to 90 days to leave the country, depending upon how long each person needs to get their affairs in order, Hayes said.
A case officer will verify the person's departure at the airport or land port of entry, he said.
The toll-free phone number will be announced next week after it is operational, he said.
"We're excited. We're hopeful this is going to be a successful operation," Hayes said.
He said ICE will continue its regular enforcement actions.
"This is not something that we're doing in lieu of regularly scheduled or other [operations]," Hayes said.
The program does not apply to other illegal immigrants, those who have not been ordered removed by a court.
"We are not going to turn away any individual," Hayes said, but non-fugitive immigrants may or may not be detained, depending on "their particular history and particular immigration history."
All AboutU.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement • Immigration
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/30/ice.fugitive.alien/?iref=hpmostpop
� 2008 Cable News Network
Three-week surrender program offered to immigrants ordered to leave U.S.
Those who surrender would get up to 90 days to leave country, no detention
Program to run in five U.S. cities starting Tuesday
Immigrant advocacy group calls program a "gimmick"
From Mike Ahlers
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. immigration officials, taking a new tack to solve an old, intractable problem, say they will give "fugitive aliens" in certain cities incentives to surrender during a three-week period in August.
The program will give fugitive aliens -- people who have been ordered by immigration courts to leave the United States -- up to 90 days after surrendering to get their affairs in order before departing the country.
For those without sufficient financial means, the program also will make arrangements for them to leave the United States. And the program will allow fugitive aliens to avoid detention pending their removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday.
It will also create a record documenting when they left the country, information that would be necessary should the person ever seek to return legally.
The pilot program, which will start Tuesday and run through August 22 in five U.S. cities, could be expanded to other cities, said Jim Hayes, ICE's acting director for detention and removal.
The participating cities are Santa Ana, California; San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Phoenix, Arizona.
As many as 500,000 fugitive aliens are believed to be in the United States, Hayes said, but he wouldn't guess how many would self-report under the program.
Last year, the government removed about 30,000 fugitive aliens using traditional methods, which include searching for the immigrants and following up on chance encounters they have with police.
One immigrant advocacy group called the program a "gimmick" Wednesday and said it is unlikely many people will enroll.
"I don't see the advantage," said Douglas Rivlin of the National Immigration Forum. "If you're really thinking about leaving the country anyway, I don't see the advantage of stopping into your local ICE office on your way to the airport."
He said many fugitive aliens do not even know they are under a deportation order.
"Hearings are held in absentia. [The government] is just notoriously bad in having the wrong name and address for people. So it's not quite as neat and clean as they say," he said. "It's possible that some folks who are on the verge of [deportation] will come forward, but I find it really unlikely."
Hayes said the program is in response to complaints from community groups and immigrant advocacy groups that ICE has been heavy-handed in its treatment of illegal immigrants during recent crackdowns and about conditions at detention facilities.
Some of the groups have said immigrants would leave the country willingly if given the chance, Hayes said.
Under the program, ICE will publicize a toll-free telephone number that fugitive aliens can call to arrange appointments with ICE case officers. ICE officers will meet with the aliens and determine on a case-by-case basis how long the person can remain in the United States.
ICE will gather biographic information and fingerprints from the aliens and, for those who are not criminals or deemed to be threats to the community, will give them up to 90 days to leave the country, depending upon how long each person needs to get their affairs in order, Hayes said.
A case officer will verify the person's departure at the airport or land port of entry, he said.
The toll-free phone number will be announced next week after it is operational, he said.
"We're excited. We're hopeful this is going to be a successful operation," Hayes said.
He said ICE will continue its regular enforcement actions.
"This is not something that we're doing in lieu of regularly scheduled or other [operations]," Hayes said.
The program does not apply to other illegal immigrants, those who have not been ordered removed by a court.
"We are not going to turn away any individual," Hayes said, but non-fugitive immigrants may or may not be detained, depending on "their particular history and particular immigration history."
All AboutU.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement • Immigration
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/30/ice.fugitive.alien/?iref=hpmostpop
� 2008 Cable News Network
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Immigration Discussion at UU Congregation on 27th
Our national immigration policy and system is broken and few if any steps are being taken to fix it. As a result, states, counties and even towns are taking things in their own hands and making regulations that impact undocumented workers. This Sunday, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, at 10:30 am., Nancy Proctor will facilitate a discussion on the issues of immigration in North Carolina, and local counties and towns. We won’t be talking about what should be in a national immigration policy but how the lack of a federal policy and the implementation of state and county regulations intersect with Unitarian Universalist values of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice, compassion, and our interdependence with each other. In preparation you might want to read UU Social Witness Statements, North Carolina Religious Coalition Statements, and the National League of Women Voters Statement. You can visit the blog of local information at American United.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
House Rebuffs REAL ID
House rebuffs REAL ID law
Rules not funded by Congress
The state House voted Wednesday to rebuff a congressional mandate that the state make its driver's licenses more secure, because the federal government did not provide money to enact the changes.
The measure, tentatively approved 72-43 after a heated debate, effectively says North Carolina will not comply with the REAL ID Act without federal funding.
The congressional plan was approved after officials learned that some Sept. 11 terrorists held driver's licenses.
Proponents of the federal law say the stringent security checks it mandates will keep government-issued identification cards out of the wallets of terrorists and illegal immigrants.
But state taxpayers would have to pay $21 million each year through 2017 to comply, in addition to a $20 million software upgrade, said bill sponsor Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat. He criticized the federal government for requiring states to implement the security checks -- some of which he called a "tremendous burden" -- without offering to foot the bill.
"Without the necessary appropriations and the passing-through of funds to us to make it happen, we cannot do it," Cole said while urging House members to approve the plan.
North Carolina has already spent $4.1 million on implementing some changes from the REAL ID Act, Cole said.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law, Cole's plan would forbid the state from putting more resources into complying with the congressional measure.
But North Carolina would still be allowed to apply for and receive federal grants which could be used to bring the state into compliance. The state has applied for some grants but has yet to receive them, Cole has said.
Rep. Joe Boylan, a Pinehurst Republican, said residents' lives would be greatly interrupted should North Carolina not comply with the REAL ID Act.
For example, if the federal government does not recognize North Carolina identification cards as valid, lawyers won't be able to enter federal courthouses, Boylan said.
"This has much farther implications than just thumbing our nose at Washington, D.C.," Boylan said.
To date, 10 states have officially "opted-out" of the federal plan, by passing laws saying that their agencies will not comply with the law, according to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Others have passed ceremonial resolutions criticizing the program.
With legislators rushing toward adjournment, it's unclear whether the General Assembly has enough time to pass the bill and send it to Gov. Mike Easley.
The bill awaits a final vote in the House; approval would send it to the Senate for consideration.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.
Rules not funded by Congress
The state House voted Wednesday to rebuff a congressional mandate that the state make its driver's licenses more secure, because the federal government did not provide money to enact the changes.
The measure, tentatively approved 72-43 after a heated debate, effectively says North Carolina will not comply with the REAL ID Act without federal funding.
The congressional plan was approved after officials learned that some Sept. 11 terrorists held driver's licenses.
Proponents of the federal law say the stringent security checks it mandates will keep government-issued identification cards out of the wallets of terrorists and illegal immigrants.
But state taxpayers would have to pay $21 million each year through 2017 to comply, in addition to a $20 million software upgrade, said bill sponsor Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat. He criticized the federal government for requiring states to implement the security checks -- some of which he called a "tremendous burden" -- without offering to foot the bill.
"Without the necessary appropriations and the passing-through of funds to us to make it happen, we cannot do it," Cole said while urging House members to approve the plan.
North Carolina has already spent $4.1 million on implementing some changes from the REAL ID Act, Cole said.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law, Cole's plan would forbid the state from putting more resources into complying with the congressional measure.
But North Carolina would still be allowed to apply for and receive federal grants which could be used to bring the state into compliance. The state has applied for some grants but has yet to receive them, Cole has said.
Rep. Joe Boylan, a Pinehurst Republican, said residents' lives would be greatly interrupted should North Carolina not comply with the REAL ID Act.
For example, if the federal government does not recognize North Carolina identification cards as valid, lawyers won't be able to enter federal courthouses, Boylan said.
"This has much farther implications than just thumbing our nose at Washington, D.C.," Boylan said.
To date, 10 states have officially "opted-out" of the federal plan, by passing laws saying that their agencies will not comply with the law, according to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Others have passed ceremonial resolutions criticizing the program.
With legislators rushing toward adjournment, it's unclear whether the General Assembly has enough time to pass the bill and send it to Gov. Mike Easley.
The bill awaits a final vote in the House; approval would send it to the Senate for consideration.
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Death Threats
Published: Jul 19, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Jul 19, 2008 03:57 AM
Hispanic leaders fear for safety
Ugly side of debate emerges in threats
Hispanic leaders fear for safety
Ugly side of debate emerges in threats
Kristin Collins, Staff WriterComment on this story For North Carolina's Hispanic leaders, the biggest hazards of the job were once long hours. Now, they include death threats.
A pair of the state's most prominent advocates, Andrea Bazán and Tony Asion, say that for the past several months, each time they have spoken publicly, they have gotten a raft of profanity-laced messages, some of them exhorting them to return to their home countries and others denigrating Hispanics. Several legislators say they have also gotten messages recently that cross the line into racism, and one got a menacing voice mail.
Threats of violence are becoming common enough that Bazán, president of the philanthropic Triangle Community Foundation, has requested protection at some public appearances. Asion, director of the Raleigh Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo and a former police officer, said he has received two handwritten death threats at his office since May.
"This is not about immigration," Bazán said. "This is not about debating policy. This has moved on to another sphere. This is hate."
Bazán and others say they've gotten disturbing hate mail before. A 2005 effort to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants brought reams of it, but that furor died down fairly quickly. Now, they say, threats and racist messages are becoming routine.
State legislators who supported a bill this year that would have guaranteed illegal immigrants the right to attend state colleges got a raft of messages, some of which smeared immigrants.
Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat who sponsored the bill, said she received one phone message warning that "my days are numbered." She said the message, which included profane insults, felt like a threat.
"I have not seen anything like what illegal immigration elicits," Harrison said. "It's revealing a very ugly side of humanity that I've never seen before."
Beyond the crackdown
Immigration has become an especially controversial subject in North Carolina and across the nation, fueled by the failure of a federal immigration reform bill last year.
Since then, sheriff's departments have started enforcing immigration law, the state's community colleges have barred admission to illegal immigrants, grassroots groups opposing illegal immigration have grown and some politicians have made an immigration crackdown the centerpiece of their campaigns.
Even those who have advocated a crackdown say they don't condone hate mail or threats.
"Certainly, any kind of threatening or antagonistic tone to any debate is unwarranted," said Brian Nick, spokesman for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who has joined with sheriffs to push for the deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
But some say anti-illegal immigration activists have given the impression that Hispanics are to blame for all of society's ills, including crime, illness and unemployment.
Deborah Lauter, director of civil rights for the Anti-Defamation League, a New York group founded in 1913 to combat prejudice against Jews, said the ideas and language that have come to define the debate could fuel fringe groups.
"When you describe immigrants as Third World invaders or murderers, or say that they are swarming or coming in hordes, this is dehumanizing language," Lauter said. "That kind of rhetoric inspires others who might act out on hate."
William Gheen, a Raleigh man who has built a grassroots organization to oppose illegal immigration, often accuses Hispanic immigrants of carrying deadly diseases, raping and murdering Americans, plotting to merge the American and Mexican economies, or even reconquer parts of the Southwest for Mexico. He organizes e-mail campaigns against those he doesn't agree with.
Gheen said he does not condone violence or racism and has never made threats, and he dismissed claims that groups such as his could spark threats. "The only violence I'm seeing are the dead, maimed and raped Americans ... that are victims of illegal aliens," Gheen said.
However, other anti-illegal immigration activists say the movement has developed an ugly side.
"Something has gotten distorted, and it's creating a lot of hate," said Jim Gilchrist, the Southern California founder of the Minuteman Project, which organizes citizen patrols of the Mexican border.
Gilchrist said there are extremists on both sides of the issue and that he has received threatening messages from people on the pro-immigrant side of the debate. But lately, he said, he gets more hate mail from people on his side of the issue. He said groups are now fighting among themselves, and some have adopted messages that he considers racist.
Gilchrist said one California Minuteman chapter made a fake video depicting its members shooting a Mexican crossing the border illegally.
Blogs as soapboxes
Bazán said that in the past few months, she has gotten several nasty calls at home and has been the subject of violent talk on blogs, where she was referred to as a target.
The talk frightened her enough that she sent her children to stay with her ex-husband and stayed away from home for several days in June, when it was announced that she was the new board chairwoman of the well-known Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza.
On the day of the announcement, a person commenting on one blog about her new post commanded others to "buy guns" and referred to Hispanic immigrants as "monkeys." "The time is coming to fight back and yes many will die in this fight," the comment read.
Bazán said she has met with Durham police to make them aware of the threats.
When she speaks publicly, a guard often protects her. She had a full-time private guard last week at a La Raza convention in San Diego.
Bazán, along with some other Hispanic advocates, said they have begun reporting messages they consider hateful to the state Human Relations Commission.
G.I. Allison, director of the commission, which was formed to ensure equal opportunity in housing and other areas, said he receives regular complaints of hate messages and threats against Hispanics. The commission recorded 38 hate incidents in the first half of this year, but it doesn't track how many are against Hispanics.
Asion said he frequently receives messages that he considers racist, but the recent death threats were the most troubling.
The author claims to be watching Asion, threatens bombings and dismemberment, invokes the Ku Klux Klan and commands Asion to "go home Mexico."
Asion said he hasn't gone to police because there is little they can do. But he said he now fears for his staff members.
"I tell my folks, if you get a box and it doesn't have a return address, you don't know where it's from, don't open it," Asion said. "These are the times that we're living through."
<>
kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or (919)
Modified: Jul 19, 2008 03:57 AM
Hispanic leaders fear for safety
Ugly side of debate emerges in threats
Hispanic leaders fear for safety
Ugly side of debate emerges in threats
Kristin Collins, Staff WriterComment on this story For North Carolina's Hispanic leaders, the biggest hazards of the job were once long hours. Now, they include death threats.
A pair of the state's most prominent advocates, Andrea Bazán and Tony Asion, say that for the past several months, each time they have spoken publicly, they have gotten a raft of profanity-laced messages, some of them exhorting them to return to their home countries and others denigrating Hispanics. Several legislators say they have also gotten messages recently that cross the line into racism, and one got a menacing voice mail.
Threats of violence are becoming common enough that Bazán, president of the philanthropic Triangle Community Foundation, has requested protection at some public appearances. Asion, director of the Raleigh Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo and a former police officer, said he has received two handwritten death threats at his office since May.
"This is not about immigration," Bazán said. "This is not about debating policy. This has moved on to another sphere. This is hate."
Bazán and others say they've gotten disturbing hate mail before. A 2005 effort to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants brought reams of it, but that furor died down fairly quickly. Now, they say, threats and racist messages are becoming routine.
State legislators who supported a bill this year that would have guaranteed illegal immigrants the right to attend state colleges got a raft of messages, some of which smeared immigrants.
Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat who sponsored the bill, said she received one phone message warning that "my days are numbered." She said the message, which included profane insults, felt like a threat.
"I have not seen anything like what illegal immigration elicits," Harrison said. "It's revealing a very ugly side of humanity that I've never seen before."
Beyond the crackdown
Immigration has become an especially controversial subject in North Carolina and across the nation, fueled by the failure of a federal immigration reform bill last year.
Since then, sheriff's departments have started enforcing immigration law, the state's community colleges have barred admission to illegal immigrants, grassroots groups opposing illegal immigration have grown and some politicians have made an immigration crackdown the centerpiece of their campaigns.
Even those who have advocated a crackdown say they don't condone hate mail or threats.
"Certainly, any kind of threatening or antagonistic tone to any debate is unwarranted," said Brian Nick, spokesman for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who has joined with sheriffs to push for the deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
But some say anti-illegal immigration activists have given the impression that Hispanics are to blame for all of society's ills, including crime, illness and unemployment.
Deborah Lauter, director of civil rights for the Anti-Defamation League, a New York group founded in 1913 to combat prejudice against Jews, said the ideas and language that have come to define the debate could fuel fringe groups.
"When you describe immigrants as Third World invaders or murderers, or say that they are swarming or coming in hordes, this is dehumanizing language," Lauter said. "That kind of rhetoric inspires others who might act out on hate."
William Gheen, a Raleigh man who has built a grassroots organization to oppose illegal immigration, often accuses Hispanic immigrants of carrying deadly diseases, raping and murdering Americans, plotting to merge the American and Mexican economies, or even reconquer parts of the Southwest for Mexico. He organizes e-mail campaigns against those he doesn't agree with.
Gheen said he does not condone violence or racism and has never made threats, and he dismissed claims that groups such as his could spark threats. "The only violence I'm seeing are the dead, maimed and raped Americans ... that are victims of illegal aliens," Gheen said.
However, other anti-illegal immigration activists say the movement has developed an ugly side.
"Something has gotten distorted, and it's creating a lot of hate," said Jim Gilchrist, the Southern California founder of the Minuteman Project, which organizes citizen patrols of the Mexican border.
Gilchrist said there are extremists on both sides of the issue and that he has received threatening messages from people on the pro-immigrant side of the debate. But lately, he said, he gets more hate mail from people on his side of the issue. He said groups are now fighting among themselves, and some have adopted messages that he considers racist.
Gilchrist said one California Minuteman chapter made a fake video depicting its members shooting a Mexican crossing the border illegally.
Blogs as soapboxes
Bazán said that in the past few months, she has gotten several nasty calls at home and has been the subject of violent talk on blogs, where she was referred to as a target.
The talk frightened her enough that she sent her children to stay with her ex-husband and stayed away from home for several days in June, when it was announced that she was the new board chairwoman of the well-known Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza.
On the day of the announcement, a person commenting on one blog about her new post commanded others to "buy guns" and referred to Hispanic immigrants as "monkeys." "The time is coming to fight back and yes many will die in this fight," the comment read.
Bazán said she has met with Durham police to make them aware of the threats.
When she speaks publicly, a guard often protects her. She had a full-time private guard last week at a La Raza convention in San Diego.
Bazán, along with some other Hispanic advocates, said they have begun reporting messages they consider hateful to the state Human Relations Commission.
G.I. Allison, director of the commission, which was formed to ensure equal opportunity in housing and other areas, said he receives regular complaints of hate messages and threats against Hispanics. The commission recorded 38 hate incidents in the first half of this year, but it doesn't track how many are against Hispanics.
Asion said he frequently receives messages that he considers racist, but the recent death threats were the most troubling.
The author claims to be watching Asion, threatens bombings and dismemberment, invokes the Ku Klux Klan and commands Asion to "go home Mexico."
Asion said he hasn't gone to police because there is little they can do. But he said he now fears for his staff members.
"I tell my folks, if you get a box and it doesn't have a return address, you don't know where it's from, don't open it," Asion said. "These are the times that we're living through."
<>
kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or (919)
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