Tri-County Latino Elected Officials rally against Arizona immigration law

By MIKE HORNICK • mhornick@thecalifornian.com • May 6, 2010
Posted by Gordon on May 6, 2010 at 10:30am
By MIKE HORNICK • mhornick@thecalifornian.com • May 6, 2010


The Monterey County Board of Supervisors is drafting a resolution condemning a new Arizona law that gives police there new powers and obligations to check residents' immigration status.

It will come up for a vote within a few weeks, Supervisors Fernando Armenta and Simón Salinas said Wednesday. And while it could end up as a simple statement of opposition to Arizona Senate Bill 1070, more substantial action could follow, they said.

The two men were among about 20 members of the Tri-County Association of Latino Elected Officials to speak against the Arizona law at a Cinco de Mayo rally on the county courthouse steps in Salinas.

"We will utilize every significant, legal, political, economic force at the Monterey County level, at every level ... to defeat SB 1070," Armenta said. Still, he said, the resolution is "not going to be anything regressive or contentious. We'll express our concern that that's not the way to go about immigration reform."

Salinas said it's not clear what direct influence the county may have in Arizona, but any contracts with firms there could come up for reconsideration.

"I suspect there might not be much [board influence]," Salinas said. "A good avenue to work with would be the grower industry. Some of our companies here with operations in Arizona, they're going to be put in a tight position now. What if they don't have a labor force, or what if workers refuse to go into Arizona?"

Grower-Shipper Association President Jim Bogart said his organization has taken no position yet on the Arizona legislation, but has long supported immigration reform.

"All of our members that have operations in Arizona have moved into California," he said. "My guess is that by the time they return to Arizona next winter this law will be somewhere in the court system. It may be a moot issue by the time our member companies return."

Grower-Shipper backs Ag JOBS The Grower-

Shipper Association supports the proposed federal Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, or AgJOBS. The bill would establish a blue-card temporary residency for laborers who can prove they worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days in the two years ending Dec. 31, 2006. Under AgJOBS, the blue-card status could last up to seven years, after which they could apply for green cards and permanent residency. "Clearly the system is broken," Bogart said. "It needs to be fixed, and we are in favor of [AgJOBS]."

Another route, Salinas said, is to support efforts to overturn the law in the courts or in the Arizona Legislature.

"We also have to pressure the federal government," he said. "We've been pushing for years. With the Obama administration focusing on health care, they put it on the back burner. This has brought it to the forefront."

At the rally, Hollister School District board member Beatrice Gonzales-Ramirez wore a T-shirt saying: "I just look illegal."

"It's going to open the door to racial profiling," she said of Arizona SB 1070.

Among other provisions, the law requires local and state law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they're in the country illegally.

Salinas City Councilman Sergio Sanchez said he will put a resolution against Arizona SB 1070 up for a council vote in one of its next two meetings.

"I just want to reaffirm what's already a practice," he said, "that our police department and public safety personnel do not ask people for documents. They do ask for an ID. That's current policy and practice and I just want to reaffirm that's not what police are going to be doing."

Law has its defenders

Rick Cope, a retired Monterey County sheriff's deputy who's filed papers to run for Salinas mayor in November, said he supports the Arizona law.

"The politicians have ignored the federal law for 40 years in order to satisfy their interest groups," said Cope, who attended the rally. "It's dime store demagoguery. [The speakers] never spoke of the fact that being here against the law is illegal. They knew that one day the other shoe was going to drop and now it's dropped.

"The Latinos who are here legally want this Arizona law as much as anyone. But the corporate growers want cheap, compliant labor. The Democrats want more social programs. Everyone in the middle is left out."


PERSONAL NOTE:


Doesn’t this act by these two supervisors and the Board in general fly in the face of the Oath of Office they each took to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California,” an obligation taken “freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”

These two in particular seam to take great delight in thumbing their nose at the oath they took. They brazenly, openly and unashamedly take advantage of every opportunity to take stances against it in favor of their own political idiosyncrasies. To my knowledge the CAO’s office is the only avenue of approach for any thought of reprimand concerning the actions of these elected seat warmers.


Comment by Josie on May 8, 2010 at 11:31am
These 2 guys could careless about America. It's all about their own agenda.