Immigration marches put charge in Hispanic power

Reuters ^ | 4/11/6 | Jeff Franks

[Crackingham]

Massive street marches to protest a proposed crackdown on illegal immigration have energized U.S. Hispanics and may signal a new day of Hispanic political involvement. The demonstrations, which attracted both legal and illegal residents across the country, mean politicians may face an angry Hispanic electorate in which Republicans would be the biggest losers, activists said on Monday.

Half a million people marched in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and another half a million protested in Dallas on Sunday. On Monday, there were smaller marches in more than 60 cities, all to express displeasure with proposed legislation in Washington aimed at clamping down on illegal immigration. As happened in Los Angeles, the Dallas march stunned the organizers, who expected only 20,000 people in politically conservative Texas.

"Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine half a million people marching in a city that has 1.2 million people," said Lydia Gonzalez Welch, a board member with the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, which promoted the so-called Mega March.

"The feeling of celebration and amazement yesterday was powerful and we will make sure that power continues to be demonstrated and the local leaders will feel it," she said.

"This is the first real social movement, bottom-up, grass-roots movement of the 21st century," longtime Hispanic activist and university professor Jose Angel Gutierrez told the Dallas Morning News.

.......

Democrats stand to gain most from new Hispanic involvement because political analysts say that, typically, two-thirds of Hispanics vote for their party. Despite exuberance among activists, greater Hispanic political activism is not assured because the Hispanic population is not a political monolith, experts say. While U.S.-born Hispanics are largely sympathetic to illegal immigrants, a Pew Hispanic Center survey found that a third of them feel illegal immigrants drive wages down.

Republicans have made gains in attracting Hispanics, but could lose ground by pushing a harder line against illegal immigrants, said Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson in Dallas.

They "should take a deep breath here, and ask themselves what a failure to deal with the concerns of immigrants both legal and illegal will mean for the Republican Party," he said.

Republican political consultant Bill Miller in Austin agreed the party is in a difficult position.

"It's a real high risk situation for Republicans, and it's almost all down side," he said. "There is no more sacred issue to Hispanics."

[Dallas59]

Too bad the majority of the protesters can't vote.

[stopem]

" mean politicians may face an angry Hispanic electorate in which Republicans would be the biggest losers, activists said on Monday.

So now they are threatening.

Hopefully our elected officials will not cave in to their demands and than who will be the biggest losers Bye bye illegals.

[bella1]

Allow me to explain. For so long the vocal minority has been the African Americans, but the events of last week have changed that forever. People with power, no matter on what scale, hate to lose it. Where I live, there are many Mexicans who come our way during harvest season to work. They are extremely, and I mean extremely, hard working. And just so there is no mistaking it, I am 100% against illegal immigration. But from my observation point, much of the blame lies with the business owners (Americans!)who will gladly import cheap labor. You will not find any Mexicans around here on welfare, but pay cash for everything (yes, we know why). And during the past election, on a side note, many had "Viva Bush" stickers on their cars. For the past 40+ years we have had minority groups march for their right to the welfare dollar; now we have a minority group that is marching for the right to work, generally speaking; hence my belief that the real losers in all of this are the African Americans. The long term results of this I do not know, and what side of the political coin these illegals eventually fall is anyones guess. Given that they are mostly hard working people, hopefully they will be conservatives. Who knows.

[RoseofTexas]

"OUTRAGED 250 million who are pissed off about illegal immigration"

Forgive my skepticism, but what 250mill? Heck if they were REALLY 250MILL outraged you'd see them on the evening news protesting in even BIGGER numbers down the streets! We're too comfortable to leave home and work to show our support for the LAW of the LAND! We take it for granted our elected officials will do the work we have elected them to do...BS! The majority, with the exception of a few gutsy pubs, are cowering under a bed somewhere scared to death they'll be booted off their comfortable comfort zone of DC! Not enough spines in our party...pity!

[DumpsterDiver]

"Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine half a million people marching in a city that has 1.2 million people," said Lydia Gonzalez Welch, a board member with the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, which promoted the so-called Mega March.

Hey, Lydia, just where DID all those people come from?

"This is the first real social movement, bottom-up, grass-roots movement of the 21st century," longtime Hispanic activist and university professor Jose Angel Gutierrez told the Dallas Morning News.

"Grass-roots" courtesy of A.N.S.W.E.R., et al.

[desertlily]

Chtoopid Reuters is quoting Professor Angel Gutierrez, the man who formed La Raza.......the man who said that Gringos need to be killed.

These Latino marches are pure terrorism that intends to intimidate our government.

[RoseofTexas]

"Given that they are mostly hard working people, hopefully they will be conservatives. Who knows."

I'll tell you which way the wind will blow with this group. La Raza organization along with LULAC and the rest of liberal scummy groups will have a tremendous amount of clout with these folks...Take my word for it, I know...they will be the new RATS voting block, which to the dismay of the Black community, will be the force to reckon with in future elections. The pubs by keeping away from the problem have just sealed our party's fate! The rats were in full force gaining these folks trust and votes, unfortunately they are turning out to be the savior of this ILLEGAL cause! Let's see what the pubs do, but I ain't holding my breath! The rats just screwed the pooch and unless those 250 million folk kick them outta office, consider a RAT majority in all three branches...SCARY THOUGHT!

[j35jazz]

15 down, 6,234,978 to go:



15 immigrants fired after attending rally



Page 1 of 1

The Associated Press

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 6:10 a.m. ET

DETROIT (AP) -- Fifteen immigrant women were fired from their jobs as meat cutters after attending a protest for immigrant rights last month.

The women had been told they would be terminated if they missed work on the day of the March 27 rally in Detroit, said Jay Bonahoom, general manager of Wolverine Packing Co.

But the workers said Monday that the women received no such warning. They would not have skipped the morning shift if they knew they would have been fired for attending the rally, said Elena Herrada, an activist trying to get the women's jobs back.

The workers had been told, "written and verbally," on the Friday before the protest that their attendance was mandatory on the day of the rally, Bonahoom told the Detroit Free Press.

The fired workers were natives of Mexico. Many had worked at Wolverine Packing for several years, and some were undocumented immigrants, Herrada said.

They were fired "for standing up for their rights," she said.

[jordan8]

Exactly what were they demonstrating for? Unlimited immigration forever? The system and the people, rotten from the decadence of wealth and multicultural brainwashing, are incapable of doing anything to stop it.

[concerned about politics]

They were fired "for standing up for their rights," she said.

They're not American citizens. They have no rights under our Constitution. They're foreign invaders, and should have been arrested on the spot.

[bella1]

I agree. If the Republicans loose this next election it will not be because of Iraq, but because of their lack of action on illegal immigration. I for one am not inclined to bail them out. I guess I am trying to find a silver lining in all of this. The Mexicans I know around here are conservative in their beliefs and want to work hard, which is no excuse for illegal immigration. But like i stated in an earlier post, I am inclined more and more towards placing much of the blame on the business owners who hire them and pay them cheap wages. If no one would hire them, many would stop coming here. The rest of us need to stop doing business with Americans who hire illegals as much as possible and tell them why.

[TexKat]

"Who is funding and organizing these marches?"

In response to the question, the following are some that are responsible:

National Sponsoring Committee Endorsers

Coordinated by the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, Institutional Funders

Organizations Supporting the Kennedy-McCain Immigration Legislation

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
American Jewish Committee
Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)
Arizona Interfaith Network (AIN)
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Conservatives and Business Representatives
Cook County (IL) Resolution
Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC)
Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)
Heartland Alliance’s Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center (MIHRC) 
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) 
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
Immigrant Rights Network of Iowa & Nebraska
International Franchise Association
Jesuit Conference and Jesuit Refugee Service USA
Laborers’ International Union of North American (LIUNA), AFL-CIO
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC)
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
National Immigration Forum
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) 
National Restaurant Association
New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)
Organization of Chinese Americans
PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union, and CAUSA, Oregon’s immigrant rights coalition
People for the American Way (PFAW)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
UNITE HERE!
United Farm Workers (UFW)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)

Statute of Liberty Campaign supporting the McCain-Kennedy bill that includes:

American Health Care Association
American Hotel and Lodging Association
American Immigration Lawyers Association
American Jewish Committee
American Nursery and Landscape Association
Essential Worker Immigration Coalition
Grover G. Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
International Franchise Association
Jeff Bell, Principal, Capital City Partners
Laborers’ International Union of North America
League of United Latin American Citizens
Linda Chavez, President, Center for
Equal Opportunity
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund
National Council of La Raza
National Immigration Forum
National Restaurant Association
National Roofing Contractors Association
Service Employees International Union
Tamar Jacoby, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
The Latino Coalition
United Farm Workers of America
UNITE/HERE
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

PDA = Progressive Democrats of America

Synergos Partners

Synergos Major Donors

[Othankheavenfor7eleven]

I agree with you. I think that the mexican and hispanics more than any of the minorities in this country are our closest cousins in that their heritage is european (i think Spain is in Europe) and truely american since many immigrants are mestizos, that is mix of native american-continent indians and spanish, uh european. I like the fact that Mexico City had the first printing press in the americas and the first University; i also like the fact the entire continent is christian, and the fact that it's their heritage that brought to this continent the wheel...an admittedly minor event, yet very significant when accepting the immigrant. This perspective forms a part of my attitude.

[TexKat]

The workers had been told, "written and verbally," on the Friday before the protest that their attendance was mandatory on the day of the rally, Bonahoom told the Detroit Free Press.

But, but they no read, no understand da englass!

[sandbar]

>>>Interesting that our officials should worry about the 12 million illegals (who aren't supposed to vote anyway) and not worry about the OUTRAGED 250 million who are pissed off about illegal immigration...>>>

I've pondered that myself. I don't think they truly get it. The average joe, that can't afford to, don't want to take off of work to go scream in the streets does NOT LIKE THIS AT ALL.

[varon]

Half a million people marched in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and another half a million protested in Dallas on Sunday.

Missed opportunities for crop duster planes to spray them with sterilizing agents ;-)

[TexKat]

And the real losers in all of this are..... the African Americans. Anyone else agree?

Being a black woman myself bellal, I hope that this does not come back and bite the African Americans in the butt. (Check out my post #54 to see the numerous blacks that are supporting and/or endorsing this).

In a way it is kind of funny to me when I compare to what is happening today and what was being spun on the news talk shows a couple of years ago, if that long.

It was being boasted about that the mexicans, latinos were going to surpass the African Americans to become the #1 minority, etc. by the talking heads and some politicians. And how it was such a good thing because the African Americans was such a lazy lot, yada, yada, yada.

It appears that the talking heads and the pro illegal immigrant bunch got their wish.

Illegals marching, flying their Mexican flag and demanding in the streets of America.

[junta]

We aren't supposed to mention the words "race" and "power" in the same sentence. Or so I thought?