Posted on 09/24/2004 6:51:18 PM PDT by LouAvul
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Angered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto this week of a bill to allow illegal immigrants to drive legally in California, Hispanic leaders and pro-immigrant groups are organizing protests and a national boycott of the state in their campaign to win the licenses.
Supporters of the bill, which was approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, said the Republican governor will pay a political price for reneging on promises to reach a compromise. They charge that Schwarzenegger belatedly added a demand that such licenses be specifically marked to differentiate them from licenses held by U.S. citizens and legal residents, a suggestion many said would encourage discrimination and persecution.
"If this is the posture the governor wants to take, then our community is going to be forced to kick it up a notch," said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association and Hermandad Mexicana, based in Southern California.
Lopez, who led a one-day state boycott in December over the same issue, said he will organize a national boycott to drive convention business away from such popular destinations as San Diego, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Francisco.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I say boycott all you want, just do it in Mexico.
I've been boycotting California for years.
Oh yes, no trip to Baja this year for me either.
Mexicans passing through the State of California can use their Mexican drivers licence for most normal identification needs. There is no reason for a foreign national to have a State identification document.
They're going home and not coming back? I just don't get it - what part of ILLEGAL do they NOT understand? (That goes for our elected officials as well!) I am tired of American citizens being used as patsies.
I hope they do. We'll see, once and for all, if the rhetoric of how much we need them is true.
The Mexican Brotherhood. Sounds like a nice pro American group.
By the way, could you boycott the entire USA while yer at it. This coupled with the massive exodus of libs after Nov. will be welcomed.
Does that mean that illegals will stop coming into CA from Mexico because of the boycott?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Proud Hispanic U.S Citizen, Republican. Got my 1976 Bi-Centennial Citizenship Certificate, U.S. passport, Genuine Flori-Da Broward County Drivers license. Voter's Reg. signed by Miram Oliphant. Ooops! Me and 575 friends put Dubya Over the Top in 2k. Play it again.... I support ID's particularly in California.
Tutski Shitski Pedro.
Don't like it? Then go the hell back to Mexico or whatever third world cesspool you came from. These people have some nerve. Someone needs to explain to them the definition of 'illegal'.
oh no! Then Sears, Burger King and McDonalds will have to take down all their signs and ads in Spanish!
Why worry about an 'illegal constituency'? It is amazing to me why politicians cater to this group.... the only explanation has to be that they are voting illegally.... otherwise legal citizens and their opinions would be the only valid constiuency.
I'm sure the people of California are worried about not getting the Annual Illegal Alien convention.
Sure, we can give each of them a card, with a computer chip in it that will allow us to track them and round them up more quickly and send them back to Mexico.
OMG!!!! Does this mean that illegals will now return to their country of origin???? Say it aint so. What'll we do if we have to pay native born Americans a decent wage in order to get them to do work "nobody wants to do". Oh the humanity!! < /SARCASM>
Maybe all the illegal aliens could move to Massachusetts in protest.
LET’S ROCK!
For at least the third time in a decade, backers of a measure to deny illegal immigrants a range of state benefits have received permission to start collecting the signatures needed to put the issue on a statewide ballot.
If it reaches the ballot, the initiative, which mirrors 1994's controversial Proposition 187, could split a state Republican party that is eager to court Latino voters but hopes to stop the influx of illegal immigrants into California, political observers said.
It also could ignite the same kind of racially charged debate that polarized the state in 1994. Prop. 187 passed by a wide margin but later was largely struck down by federal courts.
"The people are on our side," said proponent Mike Spence who is president of the California Republican Assembly, a volunteer group. "And it's a fantasy that this hurts Republicans. The party is worried about offending Hispanics, but people forget Prop. 187 won support from a lot of Hispanics."
At issue are benefits such as driver's licenses, business licenses and college tuition assistance that are not guaranteed by federal law. The measure is backed by a range of Southern California Republicans.
Groups that opposed Prop. 187 are prepared to fight this newest proposal if it reaches the ballot, said Francisco Estrada, director of public policy for the advocacy group the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
"There are some people who are frightened because of rapid demographic changes in California, and this is their response," Estrada said. "It is a group of folks that would like to recapture a 'golden age,' and in their mind, that's a white California that's never been."
Proponents of the initiative, which would amend the state constitution, must collect 598,105 signatures of registered voters by Feb. 22, 2005, to qualify it for the ballot, according to the Secretary of State's Office.
In addition to Spence, the proposal's proponents are: former Republican state Sen. Richard Mountjoy who helped write Prop. 187; Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Vista; Victor Valenzuela, who is a Republican candidate for the Assembly's 57th District seat in Los Angeles County; and Jeff Evans, who edits the California Republican Assembly newspaper.
The state Republican Party has not endorsed the initiative and is not funding the signature drive, said spokeswoman Karen Hanretty.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the proposal.
Since 1994, Prop. 187 proponent Ron Prince has twice launched petition drives to place similar initiatives before voters. The last attempt launched late last year fizzled for lack of funding and signatures.
"The Republican party was not supportive of my measure," Prince said. "The standard answer from them is, 'This will hurt in our efforts to get the Latino vote.'"
Hanretty denied the party took any stand on Prince's effort.
Spence said his petition drive has enough political support and money behind it to get the measure on the ballot.
Wyland has contributed $40,000 to the signature-gathering effort, and the California Republican Assembly has already collected about $100,000 in donations supporting the ballot measure, Spence said.
Next week, the Assembly will send out 100,000 petitions to people who had supported the group's campaign last year to repeal a state law that would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses, Spence said.
"Logistically, we have the support to do this," Spence said. "This issue is hot, hot, hot, and with paid signature gatherers ready to go, we're going to do it."
In addition to cutting off illegal immigrants from some public benefits, the proposal would hold public officials liable for not enforcing the law.
If passed, the initiative would survive challenges in federal courts because it specifically exempts services such as K-12 education mandated by federal law, Spence said.
Federal judges struck down provisions of Prop. 187 because they conflicted with such mandates.
Maybe if we get them mad enough, they'll leave. Wishful thinking. Felt good for a second.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.