Posted on 03/14/2003 10:50:40 AM PST by Gopher Broke
Click here to email Warner and urge him to SIGN these bills!
From the Richmond Times Dispatch
Bills called anti-immigrant Latino coalition asks Warner to either veto or amend them
BY TYLER WHITLEY TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 14, 2003
The Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations urged Gov. Mark R. Warner yesterday to veto or amend bills that spokesmen said would punish immigrants.
Two measures would prohibit the issuance of driver's licenses and ID cards to illegal immigrants. Another would require illegal immigrants to pay out-of-state tuition, which is considerably higher, to attend a Virginia college.
The Democratic governor has expressed reservations about the measures. He has until March 24 to decide whether he will veto or propose amendments to the 1,000-plus bills that the General Assembly sent to his desk.
"In the land of immigrants and opportunity, this legislation is closing the doors of opportunity for tax-paying immigrants," said Isis Castro, chairwoman of the Fairfax School Board and the first Hispanic to serve as an elected official in Virginia.
She was joined by representatives of 29 organizations, including chambers of commerce, labor unions, and church and Latino groups, at a state Capitol news conference.
The measures are being pushed by Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, a Republican, who held a news conference last week to urge Warner to sign them. Kilgore was accompanied by Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, who has introduced legislation in the House of Representatives to create a national standard for valid driver's licenses.
Kilgore used as a backdrop pictures of the 19 terrorists who crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Seven, who did not live in Virginia, obtained state ID cards illegally. All of the hijackers had entered the country legally, although the visa of at least one had expired.
The Kilgore bill would tie driver's license expiration dates to visa expiration dates.
The Latinos put a human face on their story, calling on teenagers and other immigrants to talk about the adverse effects of the pending laws.
Four teenage girls, who want a chance to go to college, declined initially to give their last names. Later, three did.
Activist Claire G. Gastanaga of Richmond, who helped arrange the news conference, said the legal status of one of the girls is "iffy."
"We are Americans; we, too, suffered on Sept. 11," said one, who has a 3.5 grade-point average and worries that she cannot afford out-of-state tuition.
Bessy Guevara came to this country with her parents when she was 4. She has attended Virginia public schools for nine years. She is a member of the National Honor Society and applied to the College of William and Mary but said she could not get in because she left her citizen status blank on the application form.
"We have to jump hurdles that students I've gone to school with for years don't have to jump," she said. "It's not fair."
Jorge Figueredo, co-chairman of the coalition, said, "We should not use the excuse of terrorism to pass what is clearly anti-immigrant . . . legislation. The children here today, and their parents, did not come here seeking to destroy our country."
Figueredo said that if Warner does not veto the bills, he should amend the driver's license measures to delay the effective date from Jan. 1, 2004, to July 1, 2004, so DMV personnel can be trained and the costs determined.
Warner should propose a re-enactment clause on the higher-education bill so it cannot take effect unless passed again by the legislature next year, Figueredo said. This would give the governor more time to study the access issue.
To emphasize their point, Latino organizations plan a march to Warner's home in Alexandria Tuesday to protest "Jaime Cuervo" - Spanish for "Jim Crow" - the laws enacted after Reconstruction that legalized segregation.
Warner will be in Richmond at the Executive Mansion after returning from a skiing vacation with his family in Colorado.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com
They have a chance to go to college in their own country or pay out-of-state or foreign tuition just like other foreign students pay. Why should breaking the law get them something that law-abiders don't get? Why should an honest student from Mexico or another country have to pay a higher rate because they chose to follow the law?
Unbelievable!! is right. Expensive too! Ship them back to where they came from and make them wait their turn to enter this fine country.
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