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.
I can't sleep. What's your excuse?
Ummmmmmmmm.........let's see.
We had our Friday night date. Got home late. The coffee was still in the pot. I HAD to drink said coffee.
I HAD to check the Canteen and FR.
And here I sit.
I actually don't WANT the bennies....I was using that as an example...I'm PROUD of what we've earned, ourselves...
LOL! I think I'll go sit outside on the back porch for a few minutes...lol.
Me too.
You yell real loud. I'LL yell real loud.
:_)
FOTFL! OK.
grumble....grumble...grumble...
Why, oh why, does it ALWAYS wind up being an issue of appreciation for for giving away hard earned labor or not having a fair mind?
I know.....
The black slaves in the South created wealth too. Just because something creates wealth doesn't necessarily mean that utilizing it is right or ethical.
Lucky you!
All I have to look forward to is "doo doo doo lookin' out my back door". ; )
60 degrees out....a gentle breeze...nice weather.
I'm outta here. You NIGHT owls sleep well....whenever you decide to go to bed, that is!
LOL. Nice outside tonight.
I see BG has said "good nite" -- but she usually says that 3 or more times.
I need to try to sleep again too.
I'm on call at work this weekend so I am insistent on staying awake for I know as soon as I dose off into dreamland the phone will ring!
Toothpicks for the eyes have been a thoughtful consideration.
BG, are you a stutterer? LoL!
The Fourteenth Amendment has been misinterpreted. Foreign nationals are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. There are statutes on the books that state quite plainly that children of ambassadors and other dignitaries are NOT automatically US citizens. All it would take is a single statutory change or *one* Supreme Court case and -poof- no more problem.
Bingo! I got Bingo! - Troy Brown
If we find it too difficult to remove 11,000,000+ illegals, then let's focus on a much easier task of removing 535 from Congress and 1 from the white house!
Thank you. 'Bayurod' has an agenda.
OK then, let's change the Law so I can Legally rob Banks, problem solved. You were not missed in your brief absence. Blackbird.
Your reference to abortion is a perfect example of what I meant. It may be legal, but it is a dasterdly wrong and has and will copntinue to be a blight on this country. Intellectuals, liberals, and what I would term as "Useful idiots", put in place and then influenced the judiciary to do exactly what I indicated...factored rioght and wrong right out of legal and illegal.
< Your desire to make all illegal aliens legal is another example of the same...albeit not nearly to the degree that abortion is, yet, IMHO, it would still prove disterously wrong for this nation.
Thanks for making my point for me.
As I said earlier, no need to go further. On this issue, we clearly disagree, and I am content to let other posters and lurkers decide for themselves between what we have posted.
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