Posted on 06/18/2010 10:22:38 AM PDT by Steelfish
City in Nebraska Torn as Immigration Vote Nears
By MONICA DAVEY June 17, 2010
FREMONT, Neb. — In this city of 25,000, far from any international border, the fight over illegal immigration has boiled over.
This is ordinarily a serene place with polite politics and votes that sail through City Hall 8 to 0. But in a special election Monday, residents will decide whether to ban businesses from hiring illegal immigrants and bar landlords from renting to them. Residents demanded the vote, fighting off challenges by some of their elected leaders all the way to the State Supreme Court.
The election has opened a rare and raw divide. There are awkward silences for some who fear offending their neighbors (whose position they cannot be certain of), and, for others, volleys of suspicion.
Wanda Kotas, who pushed for the special election, said her family’s cat, Mr. Sippi, was killed by a pellet gun not long after her efforts, an act she suspects is related. Kristin Ostrom, who has spoken against the referendum, said a rock was heaved through her front window, an old barbecue grill was dumped at her doorstep, and, this week, an e-mail message arrived promising in red letters to “shed blood” to take back the country. And Alfredo Velez, who once worked at one of Fremont’s meatpacking plants and now owns a Mexican grocery, received an anonymous letter accusing him of harboring illegal immigrants, and said someone screamed at him on these neatly kept streets: “Go back to Mexico!”
The Hispanic population, while growing, still makes up less than 10 percent of Fremont, yet some say they blame illegal immigrants for what they see as a rise in crime here, the loss of good jobs for local residents and a shift in the culture.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Border Ping
Yet another community where the elected officials weren’t going to do anything about it until the voters forced their hand. What is it about getting elected to public office that makes so many people indifferent to the Rule of Law?
Sounds like Monica is deeply sympathetic to illegal immigration.
From the article:
“I know what they’re thinking when they look at me: Am I legal? Am I illegal?” said Luis Canahui, who came here from Guatemala. “I can feel it.”
Well Luis, ARE you legal?
And:
A woman who asked not to be identified because her legal status has run out grew tearful at what Fremont had once felt like to her. “I like this town, but this is the place for my kids, not for me anymore,” she said.
Well, your LEGAL status has run out, so go back to your home country, or make yourself LEGAL here.
LEGAL and AMERICAN!! Turn your back on that southern cesspool that Mexico is and support this country, not try to recreate the hole you came from!
More Americans waking up.
Ping!
Culture War Erupts in Middle America.
Film at 11.
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