Posted on 10/22/2005 12:06:44 AM PDT by dennisw
Murders of immigrants help prompt lawsuit against Homeland Security By ROSA RAMIREZ Hispanic Link News Service October 20, 2005
- The recent murders of six Mexican workers in Georgia underline various social issues facing immigrants, including inadequate housing and a lack of trust of financial institutions and local authorities.
Responding to these and other atrocities, a class action lawsuit was filed Oct 18 in Los Angeles on behalf of hundreds of undocumented immigrants living throughout the United States. The suit was directed at Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, pressing them to issue visas to immigrant victims of violent crimes who have cooperated with investigations or prosecutions of such crimes.
Five years ago, congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which permits some undocumented immigrants who were crime victims to remain lawfully in the United States for humanitarian reasons.
To date, Chertoff has "flouted and violated this important law," according to the suit.
Gabriela Lemus, policy analyst for the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington, says there is increasing evidence that crimes against immigrants are not being reported, particularly in emerging communities where a Hispanic infrastructure has not developed.
"The overarching immigration policy is very confusing. People don't know what their rights are," Lemus contends.
According to Luz Marti, a Hispanic advocate in Georgia's Tift County, where the latest killings occurred, inadequate housing likely contributed to the immigrants' vulnerability.
"The doors (of the trailers where the victims lived) were not strong. There were no working windows. In some trailers, windows were (covered) with towels or sheets," she says.
Marti says the crimes, which police maintain are not racially motivated, should serve as a wake-up call to Hispanics, law enforcement and the public about the challenges facing immigrants.
A series of mobile home invasions at four Tift County trailer parks Sept. 30 resulted in the six Mexican men being beaten to death, one woman raped and six other men wounded.
The victims have been identified as Mateo Gomez, 54; Jose Luis Tias, 20; Felipe Mauricio Esparza, 32; Armando Perez Martinez, 25; Mauricio Florindo and Guadalupe Sanchez. The ages of the latter two are unknown.
"We think these people were targeted because they carry a lot of cash," Marti says, adding that some immigrants keep their savings at home and usually pay with cash.
Four people have been charged with six counts of murder each, according to David Haire, public information officer with the sheriff's office in Tift County.
While the murders have shocked the local immigrant community, the Southern Poverty Law Center has produced several intelligence reports detailing attacks against Mexican immigrants throughout the country.
Peter Schey, at it again.
It hurts doesn't it Ray. When it comes right down to it, it really hurts when your introduced face to face with another person who is more than willing to accept less than half your wages to do the same amount of work. I know and feel your pain. I have worked along side some of these folks in my line of work as a diemaker for over 23 years. I've been there, don't fool yourself of who I am. But that fact doesn't give me nor anyone else the right to degrade or oppose these peoples right for their pursuit of happiness and ultimate citizenship. Like it or not these people are comming and better ways of dealing with them will prove more fruitfull than building our own berlin wall.
He does, although "the rod" could spell better and had a better grasp of the english language. Maybe it's a ruse he's using to divert us from his real goal: unbridled illegal immigrants from south of the border.
You are dead wrong.
I don't think you even care that we have a Constitution or laws any more do you?
Talk about sticking your head in the sand. It's you that wish to give in to the lawlessness and criminals that violate our laws. It's you that wishes to succumb to the weight that illegal immigrants impose on our society. It's you that turns a blind eye to the crimes they commit by your willingness to surrender your American citizenship by diluting it to mean that anyone who wants to come here should be able to.
Like it or not these people are comming....
Talk about raising the white flag. Go ahead surrender your country's future to hordes of illegals. I won't
B. A wall spanning our souther border would succeed where the Berlin Wall failed. The Iron Curtain was intended to prevent people from escaping from Communist totalitarianism, therefore there was an inherent defect. It tried to deny the innate nature of humanity. A wall on the border would be denying people access to a country that most citizens here do not want them to be a part of. Your analogy is flawed.
"But that fact doesn't give me nor anyone else the right to degrade or oppose these peoples right for their pursuit of happiness and ultimate citizenship. "
So we should just open up our borders to the third world and destroy our economy?
You have the foresight of lemming, I'm afraid.
Are you aware of how greatly the number of applications for immigration into this country exceed the number of accepted entries? And these people are effectively jumping line just because they're a little closer.
Let's not also forget that the huge number of people coming over from Mexico discourages integration.
Huh? While we may all disagree with these folks being here, exchanging labor for wages is not a crime.
Estimates are that it is closer to 50%.
Dude ! wake up !, I'm surrendering nothing. These people are comming and have been comming for the last 200 years !. They need to be registered. We need a better way of knowing exactly who these people are. The current border patrol is living proof that the way we are doing business down there isn't working. Why keep kicking a dead horse ? And building a better mouse trap is NOT the answer. Jeesh, such short sightedness !
"Are you aware of how greatly the number of applications for immigration into this country exceed the number of accepted entries? And these people are effectively jumping line just because they're a little closer"
It's their superiors, i.e. our nation's feckless political leadership, which has failed them.
If Bush was as preoccupied with preserving our sovereignty as he is with appeasing Vincente Fox, then we wouldn't even be discussing this problem.
The PAN should forget about nominating Santiago Creel and just nominate Bush in his stead; he's done more for Mexico than any Fox crony ever has.
Heck, he might even have a better shot at defeating Manuel Lopez Obrador if he's willing to grow a mustache.
So we should just open up our borders to the third world and destroy our economy?
In 2002, the net loss to U.S. natives from immigration was $68 billion.
This $68 billion annual loss represents a $14 billion increase just since 1998. As the size of the immigrant population has continued to increase, so has the loss.
The decline in wages is relative to the price of goods and services, so the study takes into account any change in consumer prices brought about by immigration.
The negative effect comes from increases in the supply of labor and not the legal status of immigrants.
While natives lose from immigration, the findings show that immigrants themselves benefit substantially by coming to America.
Those who remain behind in their home countries also benefit from the migration of their countrymen.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back205.html
ping
Sadly, that is not true- illegals do have the very same rights in this country we do. This was determined/affirmed or whatever during the Carter administration. I remember it very well, for those of us who lived on the border then it was the beginning of a large tide of illegals that has only grown throughout the years since. The criminal element of illegals truly began then, when they found out they would be treated the same as citizens if caught in illegal activity. It was a great big welcome to the US for the criminal element.
"Why should the illegals get a free ride"
You think that someone breaking our immigration laws is just a matter of "disagreement"? Is that how you treat all of our nation's LAWS?
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