Posted on 03/01/2017 7:18:09 PM PST by nickcarraway
Concerns over deportation threats issued by President Donald Trump were evident at a community conversation on immigration hosted by La Comunidad Hispana on Friday evening.
La Comunidad, a nonprofit agency that offers medical and social services mainly to the largely Hispanic population of southern Chester County, assembled a panel of lawyers and representatives of Philadelphia’s Mexican Consulate to answer questions and give advice to those who feared they and their families would fall victim to widespread roundups and deportations. About 250 people, including many from the non-Latino community, gathered inside the agency’s modest meeting room on the west side of the borough to submit written questions and get answers.
Also present were several social workers, American Mushroom Institute President Chris Alonzo and minister/social activist Carlos Navarro.
It was evident from the content of questions that many of the largely Mexican immigrants had great concerns about their children and family units.
One questioner, who identified herself as undocumented, said her daughter complains of nausea and abdominal pains every day and fears that she will come home from school and find her parents gone. Another said Hispanic children are being bullied at school.
“If your children appear afraid, pay attention. Talk to your kids and take the lead in advising that they speak with safe people at school. If they are being bullied, make sure school officials know,” a panel member answered.
Others asked what would happen if the parents and elder children were deported for being undocumented, but the younger ones born in the United States were not.
A man and his wife who have lived in the area undocumented for 14 years said two of their children were born in Mexico, but the other two were born in the United States. Could they take the younger ones with them to Mexico if they were deported?
Another woman asked how she could document the citizenship of her child if she did not have papers and did not know where the father was.
Some of the scenarios and answers were gut-wrenching.
The answer given was that the two younger ones would be entitled to dual citizenship and could stay with the family during the deportation or remain in the United States.
But the other alternative was more painful.
The parents were advised to designate a U.S. citizen power of attorney who could take responsibility for the children if they were left behind. That way, the U.S. citizen children could not be denied school, doctor care or hospitalization.
One man who identified himself as a U.S. citizen said over more than a decade he had received two DUI charges. Could he be deported inasmuch as the president made reference to deporting “bad guys.”
The answer was this: “If you are a legal resident, (the DUIs) don’t have any effect.”
The speaker added, however, that if the individual is picked up, he should not sign or say anything. “Call a lawyer, and be careful about drinking and driving. Don’t put your life at risk.”
Another questioner asked if the schools were going to ask for the immigration status of their children.
“No. There was a Supreme Court case: All children in the United States have the privilege to go to school. It is against the law to ask the schools (the immigration status of the students).” a panelist replied.
Some of the talk centered around getting caught and/or being assisted by citizens in its avoidance.
First of all, the panelists said, it is a crime to “harbor, shield or conceal” an undocumented individual. So helpers could be arrested as well.
Then it was asked where and how undocumented people are likely to be picked up.
The answer was that no one is really sure where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers (ICE) will operate. “They will be wherever the people they are looking for are. It could be anywhere, even in the grocery store.”
That led to the question of just how ICE agents know who to pick up and who were the priority victims.
The speakers said they were not sure, but as an aside, police officers in Kennett Square and Kennett Township are not sharing records with ICE. These police department will not, however, break the law if they are required to turn over information by ICE.
An employee of a local company said he is undocumented and has been driving without a license for years. Should he stop driving?
The answer was that driving without a license may not result in jail time, but if you don’t have a license and are caught for DUI, you will spend at least a day in jail.
One of the final questions came from a U.S. citizen: “What can Anglos do?”
The answer was stay informed, don’t use the term “illegal,” and if engaged in conversations with racists, don’t be quiet; stand up to them.
Kennett Square resident Alan Somers, who was in the audience with the English-speaking group, said, “It’s important that the Anglo community shows support for our friends. Ultimately, we are all immigrants.”
Alonzo, who represents the mushroom industry, which employs many Mexican immigrants, said if the immigrant work force is depleted, the nation will have to import all of its food, because there would not be sufficient labor to process what is produced here.
He issued this statement on behalf of the American Mushroom Institute:
“The American Mushroom Institute supports legislation to reform our broken immigration system and help build a legal and reliable workforce. Agriculture must have a twofold labor solution — a pathway to legal status for our valued undocumented workers already engaged in agriculture, and a new guest-worker program to bring in skilled agriculture workers to do jobs that Americans are just unwilling to do.
“We will continue to explain to the Administration and Congress that legal status for current farm workers and developing a better guest-worker program — not just tightening the border — needs to be a priority of any immigration reform.
“Most importantly, an enforcement-only or enforcement-first approach, in which the emphasis is on deportations and border security, will cause irreparable damage to our agricultural system.”
Navarro, who heads a Mexican Protestant church in Pike Creek, Delaware, and for years has served as a member of and chaplain for the Kennett Fire Company, said,
“A lot of people are worried. There is fear in the community. We need to have more meetings like this.”
Navarro also chairs The Latino Connection organization in the Kennett area and has engaged in equipment contributions from the Kennett Fire Company to a fire company in Mexico.
The live stream of the meeting and additional material is on the La Comunidad website at lacomunidadhispana.org.
They should have thought about that before sneaking in to another country illegally.
I think it’s terrible that these illegal aliens are living in fear. My recommendation? Go back to your home countries. See? It’s as simple as that. Leave!
Solution: Go home.
Paranoia about prison buses and shackles are just that - paranoia. But if you're in the country illegally you aren't a 'victim'...you're an illegal.
I can understand why. The boyfriend may show up and murder mom so he can have “the children” with him when ICE comes to deport his @$$. Don’t want to separate no “families” don’t ya know.
Go home, this fear you are feeling will pass.
Liberals will play that fear like a fiddle, too.
Gee you break into a country and make yourself at home like a big shot. Maybe you should be afraid. Go home.
F***’em.
“Immigrants” here legally, have nothing to fear.
“Illegal invaders” who are fearful have no one but themselves to blame. If their children are fearful, then the parents should be ashamed for putting their children in such a situation. Self-deportation will solve the “fear” problem, but as long as they stay here & live in fear, it’s self-inflicted.
My sympathy for these illegal invaders is currently non-existent.
If they go back to their own country, they won’t have to worry anymore.
I used to live not far from the place the story is about and there were no Spanish speaking people there.
Immigrate legally, your fears will go away.
Go back to your home countries. See? It’s as simple as that. Leave! That’s right... They need to leave.. Vamanos!!
In other words, they are pretty much ALL illegals.
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