Posted on 07/01/2005 1:41:36 PM PDT by pulaskibush
What LULAC won't do
I was today (6/30/05) a visitor to the League of United Latin American Citizens National Convention in the State Convention Center/Peabody of Little Rock, Arkansas. My mom came from Nicaragua which gives me a permanent tan, so I was able to fit in. Among the many parties, job fairs, and speeches at the convention, there were also several Townhall discussions open to the public. One of these discussions was about the immigration policy of the United States, which I decided to drop in and see. The Moderator for the discussion was Angela Schnuerle, LLM(Legal advisor?) for the Office of Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. The speakers for the discussion were Angelo Amador, US Chamber of Commerce and former MALDEF member and Katherine Culliton, Special Counsel, Immigration law. Roberto Alonso State Rep from Texas and Ben Miranda State Rep from Arizona were supposed to speak, but I never saw them.
Most of the discussion focused on a new Immigration bill being written by US Senator's McCain and Kennedy. The bill deals with several immigration issues from workers getting legalized to employees. Angelo led most of the discussion talking about how immigration advocates need to contact their representatives to support the bill and what the bill does blahblahblah. An important issue they kept mentioning was how most people in America were against illegal immigration for security concerns. Another thing Angelo mentioned was how some members of the US Chamber of Commerce would send hate mail about how the Chamber was embracing illegal immigration. I found it interesting that the US Commerce Chamber was not as united on this issue as I thought. Then it was question time. One question that was raised was whether or not Bush has the ability to pass legistlation that benefited the illegal immigration agenda. The response was that we should try our hardest and communicate with the White House blahblahblah, but it sounded in tone like a no. When asked about the Dream Act, Amador informed the audience that the staff member of Orin Hatch who pushed the Dream Act had left Hatch's office and that the new staff member had no interest in the Dream Act. The Dream Act was basically on the back-burner. Amador also mentioned how the Real ID Act had 3 changes done to it that he said they had pushed for.
***MAIN STORY***
Then it was my turn. My question was the following, "What is the United States and LULAC doing to reform these Latin American Countries so that Hispanics don't have to emigrate to America for a job and basic human rights" I then gave this example,"The former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman was imprisoned on corruption charges after pressure from the US Justice Department.
The first thing that all of the speakers did was deny that there was anyone from LULAC on stage to state their position. Angelo Amador then said we can't comment on what LULAC is doing about government reform. Amador then gave a small speech about economic reform. Katherine provided a more detailed answer even though it was a wrong one.
Katherine gave a long-winded speech about how economic reform was needed by means of financial aid. She even mentioned that of all the continents that receive financial aid, Latin America's aid was the smallest. She also brought up the fact that money that immigrants make that is sent back to their countries is now a major part of their economies. There was also a mention of how the World Bank and other global organizations were taking advantage of immigrant money being sent back. She mentioned that I look up bills being made by Congressman Menendez that basically send more federal aid to Latin American Countries.
I would like to point out to all who read this that my question had very little to do with economic aid. My question dealt with government reform. I even gave an example of government reform that occurred in part by action of the US. Apparently, that was not enough. I realized I had not used the "C" word. After the financial aid speech by Katherine, I then asked bluntly,"But what about the Corruption".
Remember PeeWee's playhouse? Remember the secret word and how when you mentioned the secret word every character would make a noise. Corruption is the LULAC secret word. When I used the "C" word, most of the noises were incoherent. I heard a few "no's" and a few whispered "that's a whole nether issues". What I found interesting is the exact perfectly timed response made by both Katherine and Angelo which is "That's their problem". Immediately a new questioner was summoned and the discussion continued. He also repeated the remark that Corruption was a topic for another townhall meeting. Their question dealt with CAFTA, which unlike Corruption of Latin American Countries, has it's own panel discussion.
What I found most interesting is the reaction after the meeting. Several people who I ran into said I ask very good questions. While I didn't dominate the discussion, I put the idea that these governments are responsible for their people into a lot of heads. The issue of government corruption is an issue that I feel should be used to beat over the head of illegal immigrant agenda. It really puts these people on the defensive and makes them think. They can't hide behind racism/xenophobia etc. Thinking back on the experience, I would have used the "C" word in the first place, leaving no backdoor to whine about federal aid.
These are open townhall meetings, the LULAC website has their schedules. If your brave and professional enough, I would encourage any conservative to enter these townhall meetings and challenge the illegal immigrant agenda on government corruption. You usually get only one question or two at the most. Even though I wanted and was prepared to give more examples and talk more, I had to be courteous to the other audience members.
Anyway, that was my day.
Arkansas Ping
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