City in Texas ...to keep out illegal immigrants,

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas (AP) -- This Dallas suburb could become the first city in Texas to adopt a sweeping ordinance intended to keep out illegal immigrants, a cause for concern among its large minority population.

More than 50 municipalities nationwide have considered, passed or rejected laws banning landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ undocumented workers and making English the local official language.

But until now, that trend hasn't been matched in the Lone Star State.

"This is the first town in Texas that had the guts to do what's right," Susie Hart, who grew up in Farmers Branch, said during a recent demonstration outside City Hall. "The education system is tanking, health care has gone through the roof, everybody is bilingual."

Such sentiments and the proposed ordinance trouble many people in Texas, where many Latino families can trace their roots here to the era before statehood.

"This is not just a Farmers Branch problem," Elizabeth Villafranca said of the proposal.

Villafranca, whose family owns a Mexican restaurant in Farmers Branch, said she worries that such laws will spread to other cities if the City Council approves the proposal. The measure is expected to be submitted to the council on Monday, but there was no indication when it might be put to a vote.

Since 1970, Farmers Branch has changed from a small, predominantly white bedroom community with a declining population to a city of almost 28,000 people, about 37 percent of them Hispanic, according to the census.

It also is home to more than 80 corporate headquarters and more than 2,600 small and mid-size firms, many of them minority-owned.

The local debate over illegal immigration began in August and spawned demonstrations by both sides of the issue. Council members adopted a resolution criticizing the federal government for not aggressively addressing the issue.

A councilman has given city attorneys drafts of an ordinance that would make English the city's official language and proposals to fine companies and landlords who do business with illegal immigrants.

The Farmer's Branch proposal follows a vote this year in Hazleton, Pa., to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, deny business permits to companies that employ them and require tenants to register and pay for a rental permit. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the Hazleton ordinance while he considers a lawsuit against the town by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups.

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More than a dozen other Pennsylvania cities have taken up similar ordinances, as have several others in the South and a handful in California.

Many of the towns and counties have based their ordinances on a model provided by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which favors limits on immigration and is affiliated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

"They've all expressed a great deal of frustration with the failure of the federal government to respond" to illegal immigration, said Mike Hethmon, the institute's general counsel.

Critics fear the spread of anti-illegal immigration rules will lead to sanctioned discrimination and racism.

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"It's basically saying those people are illegal in their very nature; it is all right to be against them because they are lawbreakers. Many people are assuming that all immigrants are lawbreakers, and that people who are different, who speak a different language, are to be shunned," said Cesar Perales, president and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

I thought that was a bit extreme, then I read:

According to Rep. Steve King, illegal aliens commit 12 murders every day in the U.S. and kill another 13 daily through drunk driving incidents.

That's more than 9,000 people killed every year by illegal aliens.

As World Net Daily's Joseph Farah points out, that means more people are murdered by illegal aliens in one year than have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since their inception.

Rep. King also notes that on average eight children are sexually abused by illegal aliens every day -- that's over 2,920 annually. And that's just a small portion of the illegal alien crime wave.

+ + 4.1 million crimes by illegal aliens

As we reported in Grassfire's booklet, "The Truth About The Illegal Invasion," some 325,000 criminal illegal aliens will be incarcerated in state and federal prisons this fiscal year. A GAO study found that illegal aliens commit, on average, 12.6 criminal offenses. This means incarcerated illegal aliens have committed over 4.1 million crimes -- and that does not include illegal alien criminals who are not incarcerated. And we learned from Rep. Tom Tancredo that thousands of illegals are coming from terrorist and suspect nations.

+ + So, what do we do?

It is very clear that the President and the Democrat-controlled Congress are "chomping at the bit" to pass amnesty. The only way to stop this is to rally a massive grassroots uprising.

+ + Action Item -- alert your friends

I am asking you to pass this message on to your friends, co-workers, family members who may not be aware of how serious the illegal invasion crime epidemic is.

Encourage them to take a stand to stop the illegal invasion by signing our petition:

http://www.grassfire.org/42/petition.asp?RID=11667349

We have set a goal of rallying 1 million citizens before the Bush-Pelosi amnesty push gets rolling, but we need your help.

Now I have gone back to my original stance, illegal is illegal, become a citizen now, get a legal visa or out.

Oh, can we keep this on-topic please, this is a legal issue, not a racial one. It has never been about race and is not now.

[bluecuracao]

Just how are they getting their numbers, I wonder.

rkzenrage, did you take a look at grassfire.org's website to see what they're all about?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Broken Borders, near the bottom of the page.

Illegals, undocumented immigrants, over 300,000 strong in North Carolina alone. Some of these people here illegally work in our hospitals and many work in the food industry and since they are illegally here we have no idea if they even have proper inoculations against serious communicable diseases.

Not to mention the threat of the criminal element that has found safe haven across the borders. Drugs, prostitution, gang violence and larcenies have all spiked in the statistical examinations by the authorities. For instance 95 percent of all outstanding homicide warrants in Los Angeles were against illegal immigrants. Two thirds of the 17,000 outstanding felony warrants in LA are for illegals. 500,000 illegals are currently in prison for serious offenses such as rape, murder, kidnapping and other serious felonies. Read about the serious crime wave

It is a well known fact that chartered busses make their way to North Carolina full of illegals because of the ease of obtaining a driver's license here. Shame on us for not protecting our nation against such a serious breach in national security. Many of these licenses are used for illegitimate activities.


US Attorney Frank Whitney recently found and arrested 50 some illegals working at the Goldsboro military airbase, illegals have also been found and 27 of them were arrested servicing commercial airplanes in Greensboro, many with forged credentials, meaning the repairs done to the aircraft being serviced, was being done by someone that may or may not have the experience to do the job properly. We had no idea who these people were around these airplanes and yet I have to take off my shoes to fly.

Why is it no one seems to care? The state of North Carolina has one deportation agent to handle the entire state's illegal immigrants. ONE AGENT!

We all welcome the immigrants that found citizenship and shelter here through proper channels. I am not too sure we are of the mind to welcome those who have illegally lied their way onto the short payroll lists and have left behind a long tab at the hospitals, schools and social services agencies as they bring new lives into our country. The UNC Hospital System reported in 2002 34% of all births were born to Latino mothers, 24% of all infants admitted to the hospital were Latinos. I am also not too sure that we are of the mind to turn a blind eye to Federal Government's lack of enforcement of existing laws protecting our Nation's security.

It's not going to get better by itself.

[9th Engineer]

Why was it that people were shouting that it was the fault of businesses who hired illegal immigrants that they come here and the landlords that knowingly rent to them, and now that communities are doing something about this from the ground up it's being decried???
I also have major issues with the legal Mexican and latino citizens here who protest these laws on the grounds of discrimination or anything like that. It has nothing to do with race, only legal status. Nobody should say they are being 'alienated' because illegal aliens of their race are now having the law applied to them.

[tw]

And so the price of American grocery store produce increased 20% or more because America needs 1,800,000 immigrant workers and will only license 29,000 - due to racist laws.

Meanwhile, some should first learn facts. Massive increases in crime are occurring in Central America because America exports its gang crimes to those nations. Central America did not create the Bloods and Crypts. These are another American export.

But when emotion replaces 'first learning facts', then the myths claim crime is from illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrants were recently rounded up in Swift packing factories. Why did those illegals have jobs? Because they all pay into Social Security and pay withholding taxes - that remain unclaimed. Reality is that illegals mean more money for government - a profit. But again, hate and emotion ignores reality to claim illegal immigrants live off American services.

The problem is that America needs million of legal immigrants. The only reason they must be illegal - we stupidly restrict the number using racist (emotional) reasons. But then if we made them legal, government would have to refund their withholding tax money. Then illegals would be granted what they deserve. Better to just call them nigger scum; take social security and taxes from them. Once that was called discrimination when people could see the difference between facts verses bias and hate.

America desperately needs those immigrants. A smarter America would eliminate silly numerical restrictions that make them illegal - that make them have to turn to criminals for support.

[yesman065]

How many do you employ tw?

[tw]

Originally Posted by yesman065

How many do you employ tw?

How would I know. Illegal pay social security and taxes just like everyone else. But I will know when the government starts cracking down on illegals. Suddenly the town goes into recession. Business close. Factories move. And the exist white radical start proclaiming their skin head rights as 'true' Americans. Funny. The town was only productive when it had so many illegal immigrats. Ahhh but who needs to be confuse with facts and reality. We have new wave skinheads and our emotions to set us right.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't worry, we won't confuse facts with your reality. :p

Originally Posted by bluecuracao

Just how are they getting their numbers, I wonder.

rkzenrage, did you take a look at grassfire.org's website to see what they're all about?

I looked at the front page, basically just wanting the strict enforcing of existing laws. I see no problem with that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

From FOX News

An estimated 700,000 illegals entered America last year; the national total is nearly 11 million.

California and Texas lead the pack of states, with nearly 4 million illegal aliens combined. Florida follows with 850,000, New York with 650,000 and Arizona has 500,000. Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina all top 300,000 while another 3.1 million are scattered among the other 42 states.

And tw claims they are all paying SS and income tax.

[DanaC]

Umm.....how many murders are committed by average, legal citizens and how many of the child abuse cases don't involve an illegal immigrant? Since these things tend to go hand in hand with every large grouping of people, I'm guessing any increase of population, legal or illegal, is going to push up those stats. Do we have some kind of comparitor?

[Sundae]

Again, I can only see it in simplistic terms - if they are illegal (regardless of race, colour, background) they should not be living and working in the country.

If America needs them, it will learn pretty fast and can increase the number allowed to enter legally.

I do understand it is difficult to police the borders and monitor the situation, but I can't see why anyone would have a problem with a country that upheld its own laws - I certainly do not see that as racist.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

If America needs them, it will learn pretty fast and can increase the number allowed to enter legally.

Well then the quotas were increased using that logic. But instead, the US has made legal entry to this country so difficult that even science conferences and applicants for advanced education are going elsewhere - those numbers in America are even dropping. Once America had no fear of foreigners. Suddenly they are all evil? Welcome to Fox News 'hype and fear' that promotes all these myths about illegal immigrants.

If they were not needed, then why do they so routinely and quckly find jobs? And why does massive enforcement of immigration laws only result in recession?

[bluecuracao]

Originally Posted by tw

Once America had no fear of foreigners.

Yes, there have been times in our history when there was less fear of foreigners, but overall, it runs in cycles.

For a perspective "from the other side," I highly recommend to everyone the documentary Wetback. Gives a painfully clear idea of how complicated and far-reaching the issue really is.