Aprenda espanol hoy, evite la prisa manana.
(Oprima el numero dos para ingles.)
Posted on 07/09/2005 1:08:39 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The local Catholic archbishop and immigrant rights activists want to roll up the welcome mat before the Minutemen arrive to patrol for illegal immigrants in Houston.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an organization working to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, announced this week that it would send observers to watch day laborers in Houston beginning in October. Previous plans called for placing patrols only along the Mexican border.
But Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said the Minutemen would not be welcome in Houston.
"We stand against any attempts of outsiders to come into Houston to abuse and intimidate our immigrant communities," Fiorenza said in a statement issued Friday.
Separately, immigrant rights organizations announced that they would fight fire with fire by forming an organization to counteract the Minutemen.
"For every Minuteman patrolling, we will have at least 10 people patrolling them," said Maria Jimenez, a longtime local activist now associated with the Central American Resource Center, or CRECEN.
Jimenez and CRECEN leader Teodoro Aguiluz threatened to file a lawsuit if they observe the Minutemen doing anything illegal.
"We will respond to your organization with our organization," Jimenez said to the Minutemen. "We're not shy about it."
The advocates have called on the city to officially "disinvite" the Minutemen, but city leaders say that is unlikely. The mayor has said he does not see the need to pass an official resolution on the subject, and City Councilman Adrian Garcia said it would be hard to promote such a measure without mayoral support.
Jimenez estimated that there are 50 informal labor markets in Houston where day laborers gather looking for work from contractors. She said pro-immigrant groups would have at least 10 observers at each site.
One of the sites is just down the street from the CRECEN office, at the corner of Bellaire and Hillcroft, where dozens of workers gather every morning looking for work.
A city-funded day labor site is in the area, but the vast majority of workers prefer to seek work in the streets.
Some of those workers said Friday that they worry about the Minutemen.
"It's like racism," said one, who identified himself only as Juan. "All we want is a chance to survive."
Drawing some support
Business owners in the area say they might welcome some effort to get the day laborers off the streets.
"They mess up the surroundings with their trash, and they are very aggressive, which scares the customers," said Mohammed Uddin, an immigrant from Bangladesh who owns the Citgo station at Hillcroft and Bellaire. "It's bad for business."
Some of the immigrants say they worry about the potential for violence. At the CRECEN news conference, representatives noted that many Latin Americans have had bad experiences with vigilantes back home, and they drew direct parallels with the Minutemen.
"In the countries we come from, these groups outside the law are known as death squads" or paramilitaries, Aguiluz said.
But Bill Parmley, who heads the Minutemen in Texas, dismissed the comparison to Central American death squads as absurd.
"The only thing we're going to be carrying is a video camera," Parmley said. "That's the difference between their country and our country."
There were no reports of violence during the initial patrols the Minutemen held in Arizona last April. But some law officials have expressed a concern about the potential for vigilante violence.
The Minutemen in Texas originated out of a series of meetings this year in Goliad County, where landowners have become alarmed by the illegal immigrants being smuggled along the area's rural roads. Ranchers and other owners began holding meetings, and area law officers attended.
Bee County Sheriff Carlos Carrizales said he attended the first two meetings but stopped going after becoming concerned by the tone.
"During the second meeting, someone in the back shouted: 'Can't we just shoot 'em,' " in reference to illegal immigrants, Carrizales recalls. "Then others started to feed on that."
Checking backgrounds
Parmley concedes that the statement was made, but he disputes the sheriff's contention that others joined in. The Minuteman leader said those who want to join his organization must go through an extensive background check, which includes looking not only for criminal history but also for things like white-supremacist tendencies.
Parmley is the official Texas leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the group that was formed in Arizona. He said the campaign in Houston will be led by volunteers who live in Houston.
A separate group, which calls itself the Texas Minutemen, has been formed out of the Dallas area and plans to patrol near El Paso in October.
edward.hegstrom@chron.com
Aprenda espanol hoy, evite la prisa manana.
(Oprima el numero dos para ingles.)
It's not as if you are really opposed to lawlessness and racism when you post a racist graphic displaying the demographics of Hispanics in the U.S., the vast majority of which are law-abiding citizens.
I got a fine example of yer law-abiding citizens right here CJ......
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123010970
Undocumented workers at Seymour Johnson apprehended
7/8/2005 - SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) -- Forty-nine undocumented workers were apprehended here July 6 by base, local and federal officials.
After being notified about undocumented workers here, Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents detained them in a successful operation. Working with OSI were the Defense Criminal Investigation Service, Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Social Security Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, local police and the 4th Security Forces Squadron.
The workers were hired under local contracting agreements to provide construction services.
Officials are currently investigating the situation.
Trav that graphic ain't even close.
The Carolinas are full and so are many other states.
You might check to see if there is an updated version.
Sick and sad it truly is.
Prove it.
I see that CJ called the police on you. It would have done well in NAZI Germany. They loved informers and useful idiots.
They killed them too, but that didn't stop the CJ's in the past.
You have information that only a member would have?
Tell us more.
What other racist websites are you a member of?
Does LaRaza pay you to carry their water or are you just "useful"?
With all due respect Fiorenza can kiss my arse! I'm GLAD the Minutemen are coming here. If the gooberment won't take care of the problem and the damn politicians just sit on their butts and TALK about it......well, SOMEBODY has to do something! If they ever get around my area, I'll fix em' meals and beverages......so there!
Only the Quislings' motives are in question. Their goal is always the same: the destruction of American sovereignty.
The only Nazi collaborators here are those who stand with Stormfront against Hispanic-Americans.
The one question that causes them to flee like a vampire from the cross is the American values one.
Here it is: Loyal American conservatives believe in defending American sovereignty, protected and secure borders, and the preservation of American culture, customs, traditions and language. These are the values of loyal American conservatives. Are they yours?
The quislings never provide a yes or no answer. They bob & weave, stonewall and deny, mount an attack which always features te race card, or simply disappear from the thread. Amazing how consistent their behavior is on this one simple question.
It works BOTH ways, prollem is, your "immigrants" to which we refer more appropriately as "illegal aliens" have preempted the illegal thingy.
I'll be there, and I hope you bring it. Looking forward to it.
You're going to find that they aren't going to be near as welcome in Texas as they were in AZ. Frankly, Arizonans dissapointed, but rest assured, Texans won't.
The ones who are here legally may be. If they entered the US illegally, they're criminal invaders.
Only if jaywalkers are criminals, too. The 'invaders' part you yourself don't believe, for otherwise you'd be rushing to the border with your rifle, which you are not.
You seem to stay wrong.
As you are wrong on this issue.
The only ones who are not welcoming them are folks with an agenda that doesn't serve America.
Why do y'all hate America but stay here? Why not just move to the paradise of mexico?
I want to second Cultural Jihad's complaint. The graphic in 41 displays the number of hispanics in the those states, it does not depict illegal immigrants, it does not even depict legal immigrants, it just just graphically depicts the distribution of hispanics. If it's not bordering on racism, I don't know what is.
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