Posted on 06/17/2005 9:18:36 PM PDT by bayourod
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Immigrants won a handful of protections from the 2005 Nevada Legislature, including measures that preserve their access to college scholarships, aim to improve their health and target human traffickers.
Advocates point to the battle over cutting back the cash-strapped Millennium Scholarship program as the most visible win for immigrants.
Republicans in the Senate had backed a plan that would have prohibited students without Social Security numbers from receiving the $10,000 college tuition awards. Late-night, hot-tempered negotiations blew up when Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, asked Democrats if they wanted the money to go to "illegal aliens."
Although the issue - along with new grade point average requirements and semester credit limits - forced lawmakers into a special session, the compromise deal removed the Social Security provision and was approved unanimously in the Senate and by a large majority in the Assembly.
"These are children who've gone through the public school system and their parents are paying taxes," said Jan Gilbert of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. "We believe they deserve (the scholarship) like other students."
A bill that tries to reduce harassment and discrimination in schools ranks high on American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist Laura Mijanovich's list of victories for immigrants. Mijanovich said immigrant children, particularly Muslim girls who wear headscarves, are often bullied, and school employees don't always deal with the complaints.
AB202 requires schools to have a uniform system of reporting harassment or bullying, and mandates staff training.
"They need to understand there's a lot of bias and stereotypes that need to be broken, and I believe this bill will help them deal with it in a more positive way," she said.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval introduced two bills aimed at protecting recent arrivals to the state, including SB456, which cracks down on human trafficking, slavery and forced labor.
Migrant workers in the construction and agricultural industries, and young men and women caught in the sex trade are the most common victims in Nevada, Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said.
The bill rewrites a Nevada law on involuntary servitude to include enslaving someone by confiscating their passport or threatening them with deportation.
"It gives us a far stronger tool to prosecute those trafficking in human slavery by allowing us to get them for physical and nonphysical threats," Gardner said. "It also helps us target the middle men, those who do the recruiting and harboring of trafficking victims."
Sandoval's other effort, which would have regulated businesses that advertise translation services but often dispense specious legal advice on naturalization, died in an Assembly committee.
AB490 ran into opposition from legal experts who argued the businesses were illegally practicing law and should be shut down, not regulated.
Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas was more successful with his proposal to bar notaries public from advertising with the Spanish translation "notario publico" - a common term for "lawyer" in some countries.
Lawmakers also created and funded an Office of Minority Health to coordinate programs to try to improve minorities' access to affordable health care.
Advocates were less successful in pushing a bill that would have required construction companies that have contracts with the state to recruit more minorities and women. Faced with industry opposition, the bill was rewritten as a resolution encouraging women and minorities to take advantage of opportunities in the field.
And intelligent people with good verbal skills discuss those important purposes, they don't simply say "the law is the law is the law, what don't you understand about illegal."
Most people like President Bush who have delt with the problems and "important purpose behind" the immigration laws for years have concluded that the immigration laws are not working correctly and need to be reformed to reflect reality.
The laws are going to be changed. When they are will you still say "the law is the law" and support the new laws as fully as you support the current ones? You can't have it both ways if you are a strict legalist.
Amen...it was clear at the time what was intended and it is clear now...irrespective of activist Judges or others who push what was not intended upon us all.
Courts will call lawyers down for trying to quote authors of bills as to what they intend the meaning of the bill to be.
That's because each person who votes on a bill (or Constitutional Amendment) has his own reasons and interpretations of the bill.
"Original intent" has to be divined from the circumstances surrounding the enactment, not what people said the intent was at the time.
Like taxes, the draft is not voluntary.
Further these people are not subject to our jurisdiction. Mexico is calling the shots. They are given a free pass on many things we would get busted for.
I believe some legislation making the plain intent of the 14th evident to the truth impaired is coming. It wouldn't happen at all, except for the massive flood of people. They're killing the golden goose.
Funny how the edicts of unelected liberal Federal judges are hailed by their acolytes as "democratic victories."
The truly constitutional remedy, in the form of a amendment, scares the hell out of them and is to be resisted at all costs.
This from the people who are always screaming about the virtues of "democracy."
So what? The 14th Amendment permits Congress to provide the legislation and they have. The courts are going by statute, not by the 14th Amendment. As I said in my earlier post - one bit of legislation -or- a Supreme Court case.
Please, no more strawmen. They burn so quickly.
Bienvenidos a Amexica, parte del Union de Norteamerica. Oprima el numero dos para Ingles.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
Yes, that is their goal and exactly what the Founders rejected.
Which is why they're relying on their buddies in the Federal courts to morph things every so slowly so that the thing is accomplished in deed.
NOw that's packing them in...looks like something right out of Pakistan or somewhere. That's where it leads.
As immigration has increased our economy has improved. Immigrants aren't killing the golden goose, they are the golden goose.
The subsidies will stop.
Including the illegals? Or just the legal immigrants?
And we could accomplish the very same thing with 100% legal immigration and 0% illegal immigration. And yet you continue to support illegal immigration.
Sure, as long as the new immigration laws don't include giving amnesty to illegal alien lawbreakers. If they do, Americans will protest against those laws, like they do against any law they dislike or that they feel is unfair, unethical, or immoral in some way.
Although the meaning of what I wrote as applied to illegal aliens was clear enough let me rephrase. "I'm sure they'd stay in the country if drafted."
Have you formally registered as a foreign agent of Mexico? If not, why not?
I didn't say that the only reason I dislike bank robbers is because bank robbery is illegal, whereas the anti-illegals are constantly saying that they like legal immigrants and only dislike illegal ones. The only difference is their legal status. In fact a person who is legal today may become illegal tomorrow when his visa expires.
When questioned further on why they dislike only the illegals ones they site reasons that apply equally to legal immigrants. For example the antis will say they dislike illegals because they speak Spanish. But legal immigrants speak Spanish also. So explain why you like legals but hate illegals?
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