In The News
V V Daily Press – VIDEO – Hire Americans Rally
Click on link then click on Play Video
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/minuteman-13277-protest-victorville.html
“We had been attending the City Council meetings, and we’ve also been meeting with other residents that agree that a U.S. city should not be sponsoring a foreign country’s Mexican holiday at taxpayers’ expense,” said Robin Hvidston, executive director of We the People. She has attended council meetings in an effort to get officials to cancel the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration.
The event, sponsored by the Northtown Housing Development Corporation and the city’s Community Services Department, includes family activities, live entertainment, and a popular local salsa contest from 1 to 6 p.m.
“It’s a big family reunion, and it’s a cultural event,” said Rebecca Dennis, executive director of the NHDC.
“You’re learning about history and tradition, and it’s a connection for us to our parents from Mexico.”
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the battle of Puebla, in which the Mexican military won a battle against the French, who had their sights on taking over the country.
“The people of Mexico, the culture, and the historians of Mexico show little if any regard, reference, or significance for Cinco de Mayo … it is a day that those who reside illegally in America, participate in celebrations, being forced upon the American people in the name of multiculturalism and diversity,” said Raymond Herrera, founder of We the People.
City leaders said the event is no different than any other cultural event that receives city support, such as Friday’s celebration of Japanese-American heritage at the Paul A. Biane Library. Mayor Dennis Michael said Cinco de Mayo is merely a cultural celebration. The population of Rancho Cucamonga is 35 percent Latino.“It’s an event for people to gather together and socialize,” Michael said. “Cinco de Mayo happens to be a Saturday and it’s May 5 and I have been there on many occasions. I support our Hispanic-American people and all people.”
Councilwoman Diane Williams will judge the salsa competition, as she has done in the past.
“It’s no different from celebrating Chinese New Year,” she said. “It’s become an ethnic celebration of that culture. How it this any different?”
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, who will attend the event at Old Town Park, said any connection between illegal immigration and the celebration of Cinco de Mayo is a big stretch.
“We’re a multi-cultural city, and California is a multi-cultural state,” said Dutton, whose wife is of Mexican descent. “I think some people need to remember back when California became a state, they wrote the Constitution in Spanish and English out of respect for the Mexican people who fought for statehood.”
Apart from a congressional election contest this year, Dutton has a salsa contest to worry about.
“I’ve been known to mix a pretty mean bowl of salsa,” he said.
Information: rcpark.com, or visit 909-941-7465 .
Violation of the rule of law
by Raymond Herrera, president and founder of We The People California’s Crusader, based in Claremont
Posted: 04/19/2012 12:50:34 PM PDT
In the year 1789 James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers feared there would be a future president such as Barack Obama. The Obama administration and his unelected Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas are an ominous threat to the republic. The founding fathers’ fear is well founded in the year 2012. The federal government is now in the hands of a despotic president who is attempting to alter the legislative powers of We The People.
President Obama, in an attempt to force immigration reform, or amnesty, upon the American people this election year, has promised select Latinos and Hispanics legal status. Obama will surrender America, shackle We The People and subvert the laws of consent – those of the legislative branch – and cease the administration of justice. The bonds of society.
Mayorkas is seeking to change the “rules” for illegal immigrants with immediate relatives who are U.S. citizens by granting them a new waiver. Thereby, Obama will be rewarded with the votes from the U.S. relatives of illegal immigrants, an election-year ploy, that will subvert democracy and surrender the constitutional protections of We The People, in favor of illegal immigrants.
The current U.S. law mandates that illegal immigrants be repatriated to their home countries and barred from re-entry to the United States for three to 10 years before they are eligible to apply for visas. This is known as the fire and the sword of the magistrate – the rule of law.
The fountain of authority in our American society begins with the consent of We The People, that is to be legislated by our sovereign, elected representatives. There is no other fountain of authority.
To subvert any of the above with “new rules” will circumvent democracy in America.
In the April 3 article “Agency looks at waiver policy” reporter Joe Nelson interviewed Joe Olague, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Inland Empire.
Mr. Olague cited heartbreaking stories. One of the stories, was about a 4-year-old sobbing uncontrollably when her illegal immigrant father was cited by local law enforcement for a broken taillight. Deported for being in the country illegally. In another story an illegal immigrant mother dropped her children off at a local school. She then made an illegal U-turn. Again, local law enforcement cited her and she eventually was also deported for being in the United States illegally.
The rule of law enforced.
Mr. Olague talked about separation of families. He spoke about the financial and emotional hardships of illegal immigrant children, but he never once spoke about the crimes that are committed against Americans, our American society and our American posterity.
One parent has been in the United States illegally for 23 years. He violated U.S. immigration law at the border. However, the real crime committed by this illegal immigrant was that for 23 years he had worked on an American job site, displacing an American worker. Displacing an American family from their American dream.
American workers and their families have been left homeless, hungry and cold.
The emotional pain of an American father who walks his homeless children into the dead of night to seek shelter under the stars, in a cave or under a tree is not mentioned in the article. Nor did it mention that the children of the displaced American workers whose American dreams are circumvented during their childhood will be forced to compete against an American-educated, bilingual illegal immigrant student.
When will American reporters feel the sorrow and feel the regret of a displaced American worker?
My voice is the voice of experience. I am the American worker – a master carpenter – who lost my trade to an illegal immigrant work force.
I am the American father described above. They are my American children who have suffered, and have been so viciously betrayed, by government bureaucrats and politicians such as President Barack Obama.
Today, in the year 2012, I beckon Americans to stand up and allow your voice, your wrath to be heard in Washington, D.C. And felt across America.
I call upon the constituents of this great nation to end the tyranny, end the reign of a despot. Vote Obama out of office in November, so that our nation can begin to restore the administration of justice in America – the commonwealth of We The People. Democracy.
Illegal alien workers suffering consequences
Re: “Vigil supports workers,” March 6.Cafeteria employees – who were working in the USA illegally – were fired at Pomona College more than two months ago. The Daily Bulletin covered the recent on-campus vigil.
There are more than 24 million Americans looking for a job according to news reports, but the Daily Bulletin finds it newsworthy to report upon 17 workers – in the country unlawfully – whose improper U.S. documents caused them to be terminated.
The article heralds pious religious leaders who attended the vigil in order to talk about “selflessness” and the “needy” in regard to the 17 fired, illegal workers. Where is the religious support and vigil for the more than 24 million Americans desperate for work – who cannot put food on their tables to feed their families? Why didn’t the Daily Bulletin get quotes from unemployed American workers for this article?
How about asking unemployed Americans at the local unemployment office – whose jobs were taken away, too – their opinion of the 17 illegal workers getting religious leaders and organizations to stage publicity events.
The article has lofty quotes from “Jose Calderon, sociology and Chicano studies professor at Pitzer College.” However, I thought this “professor” was now retired. And how brazen and disrespectful of U.S. law that someone – openly in our country illegally – Christian Torres, has the audacity to rail against our institutions. He should be standing up and fighting in his home country – Mexico.
The 17 workers are adults. They knew they were working illegally at Pomona College. When you break the law, consequences follow.
In addition – how about empathy, focus and religious devotion to help the 24 million Americans out of work!
ROBIN HVIDSTON
Upland
WFJ and UNITE HERE Rally Against Pomona Board of Trustees
Demonstrators gathered outside Pomona College’s Smith Campus Center Feb. 24 to show solidarity with the 17 Pomona employees fired in December when they could not produce immigration documents by the college’s deadline, and to support Workers for Justice, the pro-union group of Pomona dining hall workers. The event was scheduled to coincide with the Trustee-Faculty Retreat in Rancho Palos Verdes.
The organization of the event was a collaborative effort by WFJ, students and UNITE HERE Local 11. A group of supporters started the event by marching down Sixth Street, turning on College Avenue and ending on the lawn in front of the Smith Campus Center.
Once everyone had gathered on the lawn, students wearing suits took turns reading quotes from Trustee Paul Efron ’76. The actors pretended to defend the December firings to a jeering audience.
“Today’s event is a teatro, which was a form of community theater that was practiced by the United Farm Workers when they were organizing in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Natty Spielberg PO ’12 said. “So the teatro is kind of a way of mocking and singling out the fact that the Board of Trustees are meeting behind closed doors. There are no students, there are no community members, there are certainly no workers who are given a voice in any of those decisions.”
After the teatro, students, workers, professors, and community members made supportive statements, each ending with the declaration, “We are Pomona” or “I am Pomona.”
“We are decision makers,” Erica Reiss PO ’13 said. “Every person on this campus is just as deserving as the next to make decisions and to be fully included in our community. We cannot and will not force conditions of intimidation and fear that our friends at the dining hall currently have to endure every day. We are Pomona.”
In anticipation of the event supporting WFJ, a few members of the group We the People, California’s Crusader—a Claremont based, grassroots network that protests “employers that hire and exploit illegal aliens”—held a counter-protest outside Alexander Hall. They carried signs that read “Hire Americans” and “Uphold Our Laws.”
“The administration upheld and enforced employment verification and 17 individuals were terminated, and we are in support of that,” said Robin Hvidston, a member of California’s Crusader. “We are in support of hiring Americans.”
One of the pro-union protesters shouted “You’re disgusting” at the California’s Crusader members, but most of the WFJ and UNITE HERE supporters appeared to take little notice of the opposition.
“Obviously people are free to come and protest for whatever they want to,” Rodriguez said.
The event culminated outside of Frary dining hall, where WFJ supporters formed a circle around Frary fountain, held hands and sang in unison.
2/24/12 – We The People counter protested @ Pomona College. Pro-American workers – appear at the 37 second point of the Inland Newspaper Video
Rule of law violated in San Bernardino
Violations that would bring the demise of the union, the republic. Our nation.
One of their greatest fears was the violation of the American creed by the body politic. Tyranny. This day in America, the violation of the American creed by President Obama and the Obama administration is tyranny by faction. It is an internal blow, one that if not corrected, will deconstruct not only America, but the great American culture.
A major component of the American creed is the rule of the law – the bond of the great American society.
Obama’s failure to administer the rule of law has imperiled America.
His failure to execute the rule of law equally has created a state of anarchy, disorder and confusion. The president has emboldened illegal aliens on American soil. And this is a violation of the voice, the will and the mandate of the American people.
It is a violation of the legislative body, that which is the consent of We The People. The self-governed.
As president, Obama has supreme power and authority to execute the laws of the land, the laws of the legislative body. Obama’s abandonment of the public charge to enforce immigration laws has resulted in the failure to administer justice in e governs with the will of a tyrant.
Tyranny. A government without laws is not conducive to political societies. Inconceivable for the mindset of the American people.
It is a state of anarchy and not democracy. In part, the manifestation of Obama’s ill will is the end result of Univision television, Spanish-language television, broadcasted to illegal aliens across this nation. Emboldening criminal elements to strike at the heart of America, the bonds of society – the rule of law.
While interviewed on Spanish media, Obama promised piecemeal amnesty. Students are not to be detained. Repatriation and processing of non-felon illegal aliens has ceased, at the hands of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, ordered by Obama.
Entitlements are promised, to solicit the votes of Hispanics, illegal aliens and their supporters. Promoted in Spanish. Unbeknown to the English-speaking American people, subverting the rule of law.
As recently witnessed on the streets of San Bernardino.
Recently, in San Bernardino, children of illegal alien parents railed against the rule of law.
Illegal alien college students provoked law enforcement into arresting 12 so-called “Dream” college students. Those who have invaded our American society and now challenge We The People.
The protest included chants opposed to our brave law officers, such as “racist police” and compared our police officers to immigration authorities, calling both “porqueria” – Spanish for trash, according to The Sun.
Ruben Barrera arrived in San Bernardino from Los Angeles with the explicit goal to be arrested. He was photographed, screaming in agony. Calling out to America, to afford him social justice.
In reality, America should respond to Ruben Barrera’s arrest – the law should be enforced. Ruben Barrera should be repatriated to his home country. He should protest – in his home country, not the USA.
As exemplified in San Bernardino, a state of anarchy begins when the rule of law is violated.
It is incumbent upon all Americans to rise up and challenge the intrusion of illegal aliens, but more so the tyranny of one president – Barack Obama.
I call upon the American people, to challenge Obama and immoral bureaucrats, who in concert, foster the demise of our American culture.
The challenge to the American national identity, democracy in America, shall be met by We The People. Preservation of our liberties, our security, our property and our American posterity shall prevail. For it is the wrath, the dissention, the native right of every American to crush the tyranny of Barack Obama. We can vote him out of office Nov. 6, 2012.
Let your voices be heard. Allow your vote to be felt. Democracy – in action.
Raymond Herrera is president and founder of We The People California’s Crusader.
Take fight to Mexico
I read the article “Protester explains why she risked deportation.”Isabel Perez referenced illegal aliens who are “afraid.” They are right to be afraid – they are breaking the law.
Isabel Perez should be protesting – in her home country of Mexico, where she is a citizen. In my opinion, Isabel Perez is a coward. She should have the courage and the conviction to protest in Mexico, to protest the corrupt and abusive Mexican government – which is the real problem, the real issue.
Instead, she is on U.S. soil protesting the country that gave her a free education, that gave her free social services does she thank this country? No. Never.
In the shadows? Not hardly. The newspaper, once again, is the willing mouthpiece, cranking out front-page articles that tout illegal immigrant rhetoric and ideology.
Obama also favors this lawbreaking.
The Obama administration has made a mockery of our laws by issuing piecemeal amnesty, circumventing Congress – the only body politic that can enact laws. Not the president. Not unelected bureaucrats.
I think Americans across this nation will vote Obama out of office in 2012 and will replace him with a president who will respect and uphold our immigration laws! Perhaps a new president’s immigration officers – when illegal immigrants protest in order to get arrested – will repatriate them to their home countries!
Stand up and fight in Mexico!
Robin Hvidston
Upland
Raymond Herrera: Television Interview
Focus Inland Empire
Donnelly says petition drive has fallen short in effort to repeal the California Dream Act
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_19688970
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly said Friday the effort to repeal the California Dream Act had fallen short of gathering enough signatures needed to get on the ballot.
The legislation, which goes into effect in 2013, gives undocumented students in California the opportunity to apply for financial aid.
“Despite an incredible effort by tens of thousands of volunteers working alongside professional petition gatherers, I regret to announce that we have not met our goal to collect 504,760 valid signatures in under 90 days,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly blamed the shortfall on not having had enough time to collect signatures. He had earlier expected 800,000 would sign up.
Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, who introduced the legislation, said he was happy the people of California have chosen not to repeal the California Dream Act.
“This is good for California’s economy,” Cedillo said. “We have rejected the lies, the misstatements, the hate and divisiveness of this proposal.”
Angelica Salas, executive director of the coalition for humane immigration rights based on Los Angeles, said the ability for undocumented college students to access student financial aid is sensible legislation.
“This is evidenced by the Assemblyman Donnelly unable to get the required number of valid signatures on the ballot,” she said.
Signature-collection events had been scheduled up and down the state through this month. While the effort fell short, Donnelly said the fight against the new legislation isn’t over.
Donnelly and campaign coordinators on Friday discussed beginning another repeal effort this year. It’s unclear when or how it may begin, but the initiative process is among the options.
“This is the first battle in a longer fight,” Donnelly said. “We had the most intense interest of getting petitions signed and people went to incredible lengths and distances to accomplish this, so I say that if we do fall short in the first battle, there will be another battle.”
Robin Hvidston, who coordinated Inland Empire signature gathering events, agreed.
“We’ve just begun the fight,” said Hvidston, executive director of the Claremont-based anti-illegal immigrant group We The People, California’s Crusader.
“We think this is far from over. We had an excellent response from the public.”
The count as of late Thursday was 447,514 signatures.
“This is disappointing news, especially in light of Governor Brown’s announcement that he will be seeking yet another tax hike on California families,” Donnelly said.
“The governor signed AB 131, creating a new entitlement program for illegal immigrants while the state still has a budget deficit over $9 billion, and cannot even meet its obligation to legal California students. How can the governor and Democrat Legislators who voted for AB 131 justify spending even more money in these economic conditions?”
Donnelly’s Dream Act disappointment comes after he was cited earlier this week at LA/Ontario International Airport for having a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage.
The violation is a misdemeanor, but he could face up to $10,000 in fines for bringing a loaded gun to the airport.
Hvidston is a volunteer with We the People California’s Crusader.
Opponents of the DREAM Act argue that taxpayer dollars should only go to citizens.
Backed by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-59th district), volunteers are heading to the streets with one goal in mind: Repeal of the California DREAM Act.
Opponents from all over the state are taking part in a petition drive with the goal of gathering at minimum 505,000 signatures to qualify the referendum for the Nov. 2012 ballot.
Volunteers were out at the Stater Bros. on Route 66 at Lone Hill Friday morning collecting signatures to repeal what they feel is an unreasonable mandate.
“Taxpayer-funded dollars are used to give SB 540 students that are in our country illegally … CalGrants and financial aid,” said Robin Hvidston, volunteer and member of the We the People California’s Crusader. “I’m working on this because I think every penny of our tax dollars should go to our struggling American citizen college students and legal residents.”
AB 540, signed into law a decade ago, gives students in the country illegally in-state tuition if they have completed at least three years of high school in California, or complete a GED program and sign an affidavit to pay in-state tuition for higher education, regardless of citizenship.
Hvidston said she has had many students approach her saying they had to drop out of college simply because of high costs, which is why she seeks repeal of the California DREAM Act.
Supporters of the California DREAM Act argue that the legislation would be a boon to the state’s economy.
“I would like to see them in their own countries standing up and fighting and bettering their home country,” Hvidston said. “We’re enabling other countries, like Mexico, to not take care of their citizens.”
According to the California Department of Finance, an estimated 2,500 students statewide would qualify for Cal Grants, fee waivers and institutional aid at a cost of about $59.1 million.
Emily Stillion was also gathering signatures at Stater Bros.
“I worked my way through college. I washed dishes, worked in factories and I also believe illegal is illegal,” Stillion said.
Set to take effect Jan. 2013, the two-part bill will make private and public financial aid available to students whose residence in this country is illegal, but who have attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated. They also must affirm they are in the process of obtaining citizenship.
AB 131, the second portion of the bill would allow undocumented students to apply for and participate in all forms of public student aid.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report Dec. 1 that found the state’s DREAM Act could cost $25 million more than originally estimated.
AB 131 could end up costing an already cash-strapped California $65 million instead of the $40 million originally determined.
Signature drives were also held at a Fresh & Easy in Upland and at the Von’s supermarket in Atascadero.
More events are scheduled in the future. For a complete list, click here.
Love Black Friday But Hate the DREAM Act? There’s An Event For You
http://laist.com/2011/11/25/love_black_friday_but_hate_the_drea.php
The campaign to overturn the DREAM Act is steadily gaining steam in California. Opponents of the state law, which allows undocumented high school graduates to apply for financial aid, have been gathering signatures throughout the state. If they get enough signatures, they will be able to put the issue up to popular vote.
Opponents of the DREAM act kicked off their campaign in conservative strongholds in the Central Valley. And for the next week they are targeting opponents in the Inland Empire. All day today opponents of the law are targeting Black Friday shoppers at the Upland Colonies Shopping Center in the Inland Empire at a “Park N Sign,” according to CBS Los Angeles. Next week outspoken DREAM act opponents and shock jocks John & Ken are holding a “Stop the Dream Act Petition Rally” in Ontario, according to The San Bernardino Sun.
Groups such as “We the People California’s Crusader” and “Stop AB 131″ are hoping to get signatures from at least 500,000 opponents of the DREAM act by January 6 in order to put the issue up to state voters next year. The groups oppose giving funding to illegal immigrants and say that money should be going to legal state residents.
“Our state is very low on funds to the tune of being in debt billions of dollars and we feel, particularly at this time, to protect taxpayer-funded financial aid to students in our country unlawfully is an incredible waste of tax dollars,” said Robin Hvidston, executive director of We the People and an Inland Empire representative for Stop AB 131. “We believe every tax dollar should be going to American college students that are struggling.”
Keep the American Dream alive
http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_19380430
The mind is a terrible thing to waste – as demonstrated by the failed state of Mexico, the corrupt government of Mexico. What does legislation such as the California Dream Act, Assembly Bill 131, accomplish? It enables governments such as Mexico’s to continue to neglect the education of its citizens.The California Dream Act? The Mexican people must rise up in Mexico, stand up, and fight for a Mexican dream in Mexico.
President Thomas Jefferson believed that liberty was a learning process – through the education of the rising generation of Americans. The ability to write, and to articulate, according to Thomas Jefferson, would be the cornerstone of democracy in America – an educated populace would maintain its democracy. The democracy of we the people – the democracy of a vigilant and an educated people.
For it was the spirit of 1776, the heritage of those great American patriots who were the soldiers of the American Revolution. They were educated by tyranny – that of the British monarch. The monarch who believed that his power was vested in the uneducated populace of his kingdom. And people, oblivious to their rights, and unable to articulate in their own defense, the power of tyranny. In 1776 it was the articulation of Thomas Jefferson – the Declaration of Independence – the inception of the great American society, culture and that of we the people.
The American social order, predicated upon the educated minds of its youth.
Incontrast the spirit of 2011 articulated (in “Give struggling students a boost,” Nov. 10 point of view) by teacher Michael Rausin – a modern-day educator – beckons the demise of our great American society, imperils the opportunity for American children.
The children of we the people – the rightful heirs to America’s torch – are displaced and dislodged from the American dream, on American soil. In the K-12, California public education system there are roughly 6 million students, of which approximately 2 million are non-English speakers. For years, the populace in California illegally has wreaked havoc on the California education system and the goals and aspirations of our American children, who have sacrificed the American curriculum, the American test scores, and their American futures in favor of students in the United States unlawfully. All taxpayer funded to the tune of billions of dollars.
Now, as our state teeters near bankruptcy, Gov. Brown has signed into law A.B. 131, designed to give taxpayer funded financial aid to illegal alien, S.B. 540 college students.
But through the democratic process, the referendum of A.B. 131, the California voters seek to overturn A.B. 131. A groundswell of California voters, the petition collectors, “waving their clipboards” – such as in Upland on Nov. 5 – patriotic American parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles – are Americans exercising their right to political redress.
We beckon the California constituents to stand with the American people and affirm the future of our American children. The California registered voters can save their tax dollars for their American posterity, with a signature on the petition to Stop AB 131. They can save the future of our American children like our fathers and mothers before us, with American pride, American unity and American courage – and ultimately, advance the American dream. Log onto http://stopab131.com.
Raymond Herrera is founder and president of We The People, California’s Crusader, based in Claremont; http://californiascrusader.com.
Restore American Dream in state
By Raymond Herrera http://www.dailybulletin.com/editorial/ci_18896939
Created: 09/14/2011 06:20:08 PM PDT
Sacramento represents a travesty in American democracy. Our Golden State of California is a failed state, tyrannized by racist, political “aristocrats” – the California legislators – a liberal “monarch” – Gov. Jerry Brown – and race-based institutions and governmental agencies of political and social oppression of We The People – the California citizens.
The second half of the California DREAM Act 2011 is political treason authored in the dark chambers of Hispanic legislators. Assembly Bill 131, now awaiting the governor’s signature, circumvents the rule of law in order to allow illegal alien, AB 540 college students to compete for the $40 million in public financial aid, such as Cal Grants and other fee waivers.
Historically, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the legislation each time it crossed his desk.
The California DREAM Act of 2011, AB 131, would reward AB 540 students – children of illegal alien parents – and illegal alien supporters with state-funded educational grants at the expense of California residents, taxpayers and our very own American sons and daughters, forced to compete – and often rendered ineligible – when they are up against AB 540, illegal alien college students.
AB 131, authored by Hispanic Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, cannot be measured in terms of monetary value, tax dollars alone.
Fiscal policy and common sense should prohibit funding for illegal aliens, in the name of America’s children, America’s college students.
More ominous is the collateral damage that will occur if our own children – eventually our college graduates – are forced to compete with bilingual, illegal alien college graduates. Our American students invest four years attaining a higher education degree. But the California DREAM Act circumvents the opportunities that lie ahead for our children – the futures of our American college graduates. California DREAM Act students now in our curriculum will be rewarded with the American dream of our children. The American dream of future generations – the rightful heirs of America’s torch.
The commonwealth of California is violated when Hispanic legislators in coalition with ethnic minority legislators and liberal Democrats silence the voice, the will, the mandate of We The People. The immoral body politic of Sacramento legislates not on behalf of We The People but rather they legislate to circumvent the rule of law. Their legislation imbeds criminal elements in the state of California. Creating a fiscal drain on the state of California, as illegal aliens receive billions of our tax dollars – from our ever-exploding deficit – resulting in our American students being denied educational opportunities.
I call upon all California residents, voting constituents, our sons and daughters, American students, to rise up and face the challenge, to rise to the occasion and face the tyranny perpetrated by the body politic in Sacramento. We call upon We The People in this great state to vote, to allow our voices to be heard.
Gov. Jerry Brown and his co-conspirators, Hispanic legislators, liberal legislators and ethnic minority legislators, shall face the wrath of We The People in 2012. The moral political guillotine – we shall vote them out for such blatant violations of our American creed, our democracy in the state of California and the violations of our American children, in order to restore our Golden State, in order to restore California’s American dream.
Raymond Herrera is founder and president of We The People, California’s Crusader, based in Claremont; http://californiascrusader.com.
Discriminatory actions
Created: 09/06/2011 08:07:44 PM PDT
http://www.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_18839335
Latino advocacy groups should not determine redistricting maps. Our nation has a history of assimilation and and of being a “melting pot” where we come together as Americans – not segregated groups as defined in this article (“Districts challenged,” Sept. 2).
Congressman Baca and LULAC presented their case – issuing threats and legal edicts – and which strikes me as hate speech-oriented. The hostility and push for the so-called “new Latino district” should inspire voters to cast a no vote for Congressman Joe Baca.
We are Americans, yet LULAC and Congressman Baca are focused upon the voters’ ethnicity, upon skin color. Their actions are discriminatory and, ultimately, racist.
ROBIN HVIDSTON
Upland
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2011/08/18/news/doc4e4da3f415e68145138766.txt
President announces that U.S. will not deport undocumented immigrants whose cases do not involve criminal acts
By ALEJANDRO CANO
Published: Thursday, August 18, 2011 4:49 PM PDT
The Obama Administration announced on Thursday that it would not deport undocumented immigrants whose cases do not involve criminal acts or those who came into the country at an early age, have a high diploma and/or served in the Armed Forces.
President Obama ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to halt cases in federal immigration court of those who have no prior convictions or have non-threatening cases to the nation.
“The president has said on numerous occasions that it makes no sense to expend our enforcement resources on low-priority cases. (Doing otherwise) hinders our public safety mission — clogging immigration court dockets and diverting DHS enforcement resources away from individuals who pose a threat to public safety,” wrote Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Napolitano also said that the agency will launch a case-by-case investigation of 300,000 cases as part of the order, detaining and deporting only those with serious criminal cases and history. Those who qualify as low-priority could receive a stay of deportation and the opportunity to apply to a work permit.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), called the order a victory and a direct response to the pressure applied on the Obama Administration to implement humane and respectful laws.
“After two and a half years of pressuring the administration for key changes and one million deportations later, DHS inched a step closer to more humane, smart, and sensible immigration enforcement. If the process announced today is implemented, we believe hundreds of thousands of honest, hard-working families, including DREAM-eligible students, in deportation proceedings should have their cases stayed,” said Salas.
Maribel Nunez, organizer for the Inland Empire Dream Team, applauded the efforts and said the order would benefit thousands of innocent people, but she called the effort a presidential campaign strategy by Obama.
“He had the power to do this long time ago; instead he chose to deport more people than President Bush. Now he wants our vote,” said Nunez. “I’m happy but in general I’m also disappointed with Obama’s work. The fight continues until an inclusive immigration reform is ordered.”
According to a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center right after the 2008 election, Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one, 67 percent versus 31 percent.
Obama’s aggressive campaign directed to gain the Hispanic vote began last month with his speech delivered to the National Council of La Raza, one of the nation’s top Hispanic advocacy groups.
“I promised you I would work tirelessly to fix our broken immigration system and make the DREAM Act a reality, and two months ago I went down to the border of El Paso to reiterate my vision for an immigration system that holds true to our values and our heritage, and meets our economic and security needs. And I argued this wasn’t just the moral thing to do, it was an economic imperative,” said Obama at that time.
“Now, I swore an oath to uphold the laws of the books, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know very well the real pain and heartbreak that deportations cause. I share your concerns and I understand them. And I promise you, we are responding to your concerns and working every day to make sure we are enforcing flawed laws in the most humane and best possible way.”
Riverside-based attorney Rosa Elena Sahagun said that one thing is to order an action and another one to implement the action. Sahagun said other orders have been ignored by DHS, such as to only arrest and deport “violent criminals” but reality indicates this not to be the case.
“This is a political move that could benefit Obama only if the order is really implemented. We all know other orders have been completely ignored. This order could backlash on Obama, but I’m hopeful it would benefit lots of people,” said Sahagun.
Obama’s action was criticized by We the People, California’s Crusader, a Claremont-based group which strongly opposes illegal immigration.
“We are a great nation, in many regards, because we are a nation of laws,” said Robin Hvidston of We The People. “The president of the United States is not to write or create laws – that is exclusively the job of Congress. Obama — in many respects — is breaking the law in order to ‘legalize’ those in this country illegally — who he defines as either young or in school. Each child in the USA illegally takes a seat in school from an American citizen or legal immigrant.”
Proposed bill would change DUI checkpoint procedures
By ALEJANDRO CANO
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2011/08/19/news/doc4e4d3a8cc7548672397999.txt
Published: Thursday, August 18, 2011 9:52 AM PDT
In an attempt to establish uniformity in the way that DUI checkpoints and vehicle impoundments are conducted across the state, Assemblymember Michael Allen (D-Santa Rosa) earlier this year introduced a bill that was amended in July after the Transportation Committee originally approved it.
AB 1389, also known as Vehicle Sobriety Checkpoints, would also require checkpoints to be on roads with high rates of drunken driving arrests and not necessarily only on city streets or minority neighborhoods.
AB 1389, supportedby the California Labor Federation, American Civil Liberties Union, and Immigrant Rights and Education Network, among many others, would also prohibit officers from impounding vehicles if they can be moved to a safer place or driven by another licensed driver.
Opposed by the California State Sheriff’s Association, the California Police Chiefs Association and the San Bernardino County Sheriff, among others, AB 1389 was introduced after Allen received thousands of letters explaining how sobriety checkpoints directly affected the life of sober immigrants.
Those in favor of the bill argue that it will reduce the number of impounded vehicles of unlicensed drivers, thus reducing the economic difficulties of hard-working families, including those which include immigrants.
People who oppose the bill argue it limits police and makes DUI arrests more difficult.
“It is outrageous that our tax dollars are being squandered on this bill as it winds its way through the behemoth machine of the Sacramento Legislature,” said Raymond Herrera, founder of We the People, California’s Crusader, a group which is strongly opposed to illegal immigration. “We have been hammering senators since the beginning of June, in the name of public safety. We want illegal alien drivers – untrained and dangerous – off of our streets.”
Authorities throughout the state impound vehicles of unlicensed sober drivers at checkpoints as well as during saturation patrolling.
Authorities argue that DUI checkpoints are worthwhile because they reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, but opponents of the checkpoints argue they only benefit towyards and city budgets.
Some cities like Fontana conduct checkpoints on a regular basis, sometimes arresting relatively few DUI drivers in comparison to the number of impounded vehicles.
In Colton, authorities are using a different method by not holding checkpoints. Unlicensed drivers there are taken to a safe place before their vehicles are impounded. Authorities there are now looking into the idea of avoiding impoundment if another licensed driver can pick up the car, as the policy is currently implemented in Oakland and the Coachella Valley, among other areas.
Impoundments of vehicles cause financial distress to immigrant families, according to human rights advocates. In order to take their car back, families usually have to pay an average of $1,500 plus police fees.
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Raymond Herrera 7/25/11, denounced Governor Jerry Brown for signing AB 130, CA DREAM Act, KTTV, Fox News 11, Los Angeles
The Californian, Temecula, CA, 7/24/11
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Opponents of illegal immigration hold rally to draw attention to case of human trafficking in Rancho Cucamonga
Published: Monday, July 11, 2011 1:04 PM PDT
Robin Hvidston, a member of
We The People, California’s Crusader, participates in a
rally in Rancho Cucamonga last week to draw attention
to the case of human smuggling which took place
recently in the city.
Members of We The People, California’s Crusader expressed concern over the
incident, in which three men from Mexico were arrested and charged with holding three illegal immigrants captive for ransom. The suspects pled no contest to false imprisonment and were sentenced to three years in prison.
Raymond Herrera, founder of We The People, California’s Crusader, said the case illustrates the “growing threat of illegal aliens residing in Rancho Cucamonga.”
Herrera said he believes there may be many more human traffickers in the city.
“Where there is one human smuggling ring in a city, there are a multitude. I call upon Mayor Dennis Michael to ferret out ALL human traffickers in Rancho Cucamonga,” Herrera said. “This incident is not isolated and the mayor in conjunction with law enforcement must apprehend and bring to justice all human traffickers as well as illegal aliens residing in Rancho Cucamonga.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Alvaro Barajas, 38, Jose DeJesus Horta Gutterrez, 34, and Leonardo Rios Sanchez, 24, on June 17 in a home in the 13000 block of Arrow Route, just west of Fontana.
Deputies went to the residence after one of the captives called the Sheriff’s Department to report the crime. The captives, all of whom were citizens of Mexico who were smuggled across the border, were held by the suspects in lieu of $1,000, authorities said.
pKhswJ:article.wn.com/view/2011/05/25/Editorial_Exaggerations_ignore_comprehensive_reforms_merits/+Opponents+of+illegal+immigration+held+a+r
ally+in+Rancho+Cucamonga&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com.
Q & A: Vietnam veteran shares thoughts
Raymond Herrera attended elementary through high school in Chino. In his senior year, he quit high school to volunteer to fight in Vietnam. Based on his entrance exams, he had numerous options, but chose to be an infantry rifleman. He served 12 months in combat, for which he volunteered with the 173rd Airborne 1968 — 1969 in the Republic of South Vietnam.
“I was a rifleman. I am a combat war veteran and a Purple Heart recipient.
“I was one of six children and the proud son of a World War II veteran. I am the proud father of seven children and two grandchildren — and am looking forward to having more grandchildren — I value family over material possessions.”
Several years after returning from Vietnam, I entered into a career as a carpenter and became a journeyman carpenter for 12 years, framing houses all over Southern California. He went on to become a general contractor.
Q: Describe a special memory you have of the High Desert.
A: The births of my seven children at St. Mary’s Hospital, Apple Valley.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Read history books. I like to read extensively. I like to read about the founding of America, our founding settlers, our founding fathers, our U.S. Constitution and our democracy. It enables me to be a better custodian — a caretaker — of American posterity. It gives me a sense of community with all Americans across this great nation. I am a great believer in our American Creed and reading extensively enables my passion, my love for America.
Q: Tell us one thing that most people don’t know about you.
A: I still have the same waist — size 30 — as I did in high school.
Q: What is your passion?
A: Baseball and politics.
Q: What person, living or from history, would you most like to have dinner with and why?
A: William Bradford, the leader of the Mayflower pilgrims, and Dr. Martin Luther King because both of them were courageous men, men of profound impact in America.
William Bradford brought the first contingent of Anglo Protestant settlers onto the shores of America, on Nov. 11, 1620. It is these early settlers who I credit with bringing with them our American Creed, the core values of America.
Dr. Martin Luther King, a man whose courage will never be equaled on the face of the earth, a man of profound political and social change. A man who raised the awareness of humanity. A man who faced racism and hate and finally his death — he stared into the face of those three ominous threats — and refused to surrender.
Q: Who is someone who had a big influence on your life?
A: John Wayne.
Q: Describe your worldview.
A: I think that everyone should walk hand in hand with the Lord. When people are able to join with our Lord, acceptance and love, not arrogance and war — which speak volumes in terms of humanity — will pave the road toward world peace.
Q: What is your favorite quotation?
A: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
Q: Tell us about your faith.
A: I believe everybody should be connected with our Lord, Jesus Christ, our Christian God, and this should be on a personal basis. Man should walk and live in the Lord. I was raised a Catholic but now I am an American Christian.
Q: What words of advice do you have for the next generation?
A: I think for the next generation I would invoke the American Creed — not only for the next generation — but for all generations of Americans — VIGILANCE.
Q: Tell us about the charities that are close to your heart and why.
A: I don’t believe, so much, in giving to charities my money. Rather, I have on many occasions walked up to the downtrodden — wherever I may have encountered them — and award them a $20, a $50 or a $100 bill, and then I simply walk away.
Q: What’s your favorite sports team and why?
A: Vince Sculli and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Why? Because since the age of 9, I have listened to Vince Sculli announce Dodger games. Mainly on my transistor radio as a child. For it is Vince Sculli’s voice and his vocabulary that brought the Dodgers to life. To this day Vince Sculli and the Dodgers are still there, and for me, the only difference is, rather than a 9-year-old Little Leaguer, I am now a 61-year-old proud American, proud Dodger fan.
Q: What is something you are particularly proud of.
A: My tour of duty in Vietnam from 1968 – 1969 and being the president and founder of We The People California’s Crusader http://californias crusader.com/about-us/ — both in defense of America, democracy in America, the American culture and We The People.
Q: What’s your favorite movie and why?
A: “The Patriot” starring Mel Gibson. It’s about the American Revolution. About American courage and democracy.
Q: Tell us about your favorite thing about the High Desert?
A: Sunrise, sunset, open spaces and the people.
Q: What is the best thing about your job?
A: As President and Founder of We The People California’s Crusader, the best thing about my job is having political impact, raising the awareness level of the American public in the battle for America against illegal aliens on American soil. I battle against the political arrogance in Washington, D.C., and I fight to keep corrupt leaders such as Obama, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder from desecrating our America.
Q: What book had a significant impact on you?
A: “The Guadalcanal Diary” memoir written in 1943 by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. It is about the battle for Guadalcanal Island in the South Pacific during World War II. It is the story of courageous American warriors — our United States Marines and our United States Army and the courage of our fathers. This diary was an inspiration to me as a child that ultimately led me onto the battlefields of Vietnam. The story then and the story this day — God, country, family.
Q: Tell us about a special vacation.
A: I’d like to one day take a vacation to the Bahamas or Hawaii and just sleep on the beach and enjoy Mother Nature.
Q: What makes you tick?
A: The American Creed and my love of America.
Q: Tell us about one thing you want to accomplish in life.
A: The restoration of American democracy, American culture, American posterity the evocation of the American creed upon future generations of Americans.
Q: What’s your favorite place to eat in the High Desert?
A: Sizzlers on Main Street in Hesperia. The best steaks and the best salad bar.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: Holding political office. Either in Sacramento as a state senator or in Washington, D.C., as a congressman, representing the voice, the will, the mandate of We The People — democracy in America.
Q: What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
A: Sleeping in late.
Q: Tell me about a happy memory in your first car.
A: Driving to Newport Beach with my buddies.
Daily Bulletin
June 1, 2011
Proposals to pass DREAM Act are revived, but groups opposing illegal immigration are standing firm
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2011/05/13/news/doc4dcc72c2ebc89136495229.txt
By ALEJANDRO CANO
Published: Friday, May 13, 2011 12:19 AM CDT
Proposals to pass both state and national versions of the DREAM Act have been revived, but both face an uncertain future.
A few days after the California Dream Act was approved by State Assembly, and less than a day after President Barack Obama called on Congress to take a stand in favor of immigration reform, federal legislators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced on Wednesday morning the DREAM Act, which would legalize millions of undocumented students across the nation.
Groups which are opposed to illegal immigration have expressed antipathy toward various DREAM Act proposals in recent years and have helped make it difficult for bills to be approved.
The California version, AB 130, introduced by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, would allow students who are in the country as undocumented residents to pay in-state tuition and also apply for private college scholarship.
The national DREAM Act would give people who came to the United States as minors, are long-term residents and demonstrate good moral character, the opportunity to become a legal resident. Applicants have to also complete two years of college or service in the military and be in good standing to qualify.
The legislators, together with 29 other Senate colleagues, including California Democrat Barbara Boxer, reintroduced the bill that died last December in the Senate, arguing it is long overdue and beneficial for the national economy.
Boxer joined the effort to legalize about 11 million undocumented immigrants, arguing “it is long past time to provide a path to success for these bright and hard-working young people, who grew up here and call America home.”
“Our country is stronger when we nurture our best and brightest,” said Boxer.
Due to their undocumented status, tens of thousands of immigrant students with good grades are “shut out of the American dream”, said Boxer.
“Through no fault of their own, these students were brought to the United States by their parents at a young age and have spent most of their lives here. As President Barack Obama said in his speech about immigration reform, ‘These are kids who grew up in this country, love this country, and know no other place as home. The idea that we would punish them is cruel and it makes no sense. We are a better nation than that.’”
According to Boxer, the DREAM Act would benefit the U.S Armed Forces. The Defense Department’s Fiscal Year 2010-12 Strategic Plan includes the DREAM Act as a means to help shape and maintain a mission-ready all-volunteer force, said Boxer.
Endorsed by General Colin Powell, the DREAM Act is also supported by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has said it “will result in improved recruitment results and attendant gains in unit manning and military performance.”
According to a University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the DREAM Act would contribute approximately $1.4 to $3.6 trillion to the U.S. economy.
Despite having bipartisan support in Congress, the DREAM Act is stalled because of opponents who argue it would destroy the U.S. economy while putting at risk national security. The national version needs 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster.
Raymond Herrera, the founder of We the People, California’s Crusader in the Inland Empire, has been a vocal opponent of the DREAM Act and all policies which would encourage illegal immigration. “Our lawmakers should not be writing bills for lawbreakers — illegal aliens,” Herrera said.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which opposes illegal immigration, said that the DREAM Act would provide “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.
“Promoters of the DREAM Act have deliberately tried to mislead the American people by not disclosing detailed information about the legislation. But when Americans fully understand the scope of this illegal alien amnesty proposal, the benefits that illegal aliens would be eligible to receive, and the very minimal requirements needed to qualify, they overwhelmingly oppose passage of the DREAM Act,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.
Stein said proponents of the legislation have consistently tried to portray the DREAM Act as a very limited amnesty for a small number of high achieving young people who arrived in the United States prior to age 16. “In fact, an estimated 2.1 million illegal aliens — many of whom are well into adulthood — would qualify for amnesty and subsidized educational benefits merely by taking a few college or vocational classes,” Stein said.
Thousands of protesters crowding the streets of Orange County on May Day to demonstrate over immigration were but a memory Sunday.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/people-298666-american-group.html
Six people protested (no) amnesty for undocumented immigrants above the 57 freeway on Sunday. The group says they came out to counter the May Day march in Santa Ana.
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JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER The counter-protest comprised six people waving flags from an overpass in Brea. Mike Gonzalez, a district director for League of United Latin American Citizens immigrant councils, brought a dummy – intended to represent President Barack Obama – to the march at the Plaza of the Flags at 700 W. Civic Center. “We brought Barack Obama just to remind him, if he’s forgotten about immigration reform, that we have not,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said his group is going to the Santa Ana City Council Monday to ask that the city be declared a sanctuary for immigrants, and that local police stop seizing cars from unlicensed drivers at checkpoints. A recent investigation by California Watch found that governments across California seized 17,419 vehicles at checkpoints in 2010, most of them from sober, unlicensed, illegal immigrants. Several hundred turned out for a May Day protest last year in Santa Ana, and in 2006, about 15,000. Six people in Brea gathered on the 57 freeway overpass at Imperial Highway. The group held yellow signs and American flags. They shouted “God bless America” as some passing cars honked in approval. Raymond Herrera of We the People, California’s Crusader said he believes his group can serve as a “beacon of hope” for Americans. “We’re out here to embolden the American people on May 1 … the day illegal immigrants have chosen to come out against the American people,” Herrera said. The group has held its protest for the last three years over the 57 because of its visibility, Herrera said. “They’re going to think about what they saw and go home and tell their families,” he said. “It’s through word of mouth the American spirit just spreads everywhere.” Contact the writer: jfletcher@ocregister.com or 714-796-79 |
Verizon replaces Spanish billboard
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/billboard-27237-spanish-verizon.html
April 21, 2011 8:40 AM
Following a grass-roots campaign by a local anti-illegal immigration activist, a Spanish-language billboard for Verizon has been removed.
Raymond Herrera said his organization, “We The People California’s Crusader,” urged CBS Outdoor Advertising and Verizon to replace a Spanish language Verizon billboard on Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga.
Herrera planned a boycott and rally at the site of the billboard, he said in a press release. One week of the campaign started, he said, the Verizon Spanish language billboard was removed.
“We the People have raised the awareness level in regard to advertising in Spanish,” Herrera said, adding that the California State Constitution, English is the official language of California.
However opponents counter that businesses have a legal right to advertise in any language. Others say that separate cultural groups struggle to keep their language because it is fundamental to social life in their community.
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Advocate for all
http://www.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_17839560
I read the article “CSUSB holds Latino advocacy day” (March 29).
Why is a taxpayer-funded state university hosting a day dedicated to only one group? Is this not the textbook definition of a racist event?
CSUSB should have staged an advocacy day and devoted it to promoting education for all students.
The event was free? I think not. As our state teeters toward bankruptcy, I am sure taxpayers paid plenty for Latino advocacy day at CSUSB.
Why did a taxpayer-funded California state university stage a presentation opposing Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070? If CSUSB presented opposition to SB 1070 did they also present the other side – those who support SB 1070?
I found the flagrant statement of bigotry attributed to the Arizona activist Salvador Reza, of the Puente Movement, particularly disturbing. Reza promoted illegal aliens and said, “The way to do this is to take off the labels, eradicating the concept of white and bringing the concept of human being to the forefront.”
At a Latino advocacy day at a taxpayer-funded state university a speaker proclaims racist statements blaming, targeting “white.” Salvador Reza should apologize for this racist statement and CSUSB should apologize and refund any taxpayer funds for the Latino advocacy day back to the taxpayers!
To CSUSB: A university advocacy day should be for all students – regardless of race and skin color!
ROBIN HVIDSTON
Upland
Spanish sign replaced with English
http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/spanish-26279-upland-english.html
UPLAND • Little more than a week after anti-illegal alien activists objected to a Spanish language sign board at a Vons grocery story, the sign has been replaced by a sign in English.
Activist Raymond Herrera, of Hesperia, said he led a group of residents Feb. 21 in an impromptu meeting with the manager of the Upland Vons to request that the Spanish language sign at the store entrance be replaced with an English language sign.
“I would estimate that more than 90 percent of the people shopping at Vons, Upland, are English speakers and unable to read the Spanish sign,” Herrera said in a statement. “I can’t read Spanish. I don’t know what the sign said.”
The Spanish sign advertised Post Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. Herrera said the Vons manager rebuffed them so his group, “We The People,” launched telephone campaign and was preparing a boycott protest.
Herrera said that although the store manager said the Spanish language sign would stay, in fact, the sign had been replaced as of Sunday with an English language sign.
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Activist is caught between 2 cultures
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/02/17/20110217cepeda18.html
CHICAGO – There’s nothing remarkable about a member of the Minuteman Project raising a fuss over a Spanish-language billboard. The outrage was spurred by an ad for low-cost auto insurance in Victorville, Calif., featuring the image of an attractive Hispanic woman and the inducement that you would get “more for your money” at Adriana’s Insurance.
The anti-illegal immigration activist in question said the billboard was “a blight and affront on our language” and demanded the company “cease its divisive campaign of erecting Spanish-language billboards on American soil,” according to a report in the Victorville Daily Press.
The remarkable part is that this activist – a 61-year-old unemployed Vietnam War veteran who fears that illegal immigration is killing the country he so dearly loves – is a second-generation U.S.-born Latino who simultaneously brags that his grandfather rode with Pancho Villa while fancying himself “probably the biggest Minuteman in America.”
Raymond Herrera identifies with two groups on very different sides of the immigration-law reform battle. He’s had the painful experience of being a skilled laborer who lost jobs to illegal immigrants preferred by employers looking for the cheapest, most disposable labor. “I was an American carpenter making a living with plenty of jobs,” Herrera told me, describing what led him to his role as founder of “We the People, California’s Crusader,” a group that opposes illegal immigration.
“I was married, had my first child, a house, two cars, two cats, a picket fence, whole thing. …Then in 1980 when they came across that border, I lost my jobs, I lost my house, eventually I lost my family – I lost my way in America.
“Like so many other American workers, I lost my American dream. The father that displaced me, his children are now in competition with my sons. Now they’re taking away my children’s American dream, too.”
Yet he is a dark-skinned, bilingual Latino who, in the grand tradition of the American melting pot, considers himself an American first and an ethnic minority last. Like other Hispanics, he is proud of his Mexican immigrant roots and deplores the exploitation of illegal immigrants.
Perhaps the one group Herrera has the most in common with is the 31 percent of Latinos who, in the fall of 2010, believed that the impact of illegal immigration on Hispanics already living in the U.S. is negative. Compare that to only 20 percent who felt that way in 2007 when the Pew Hispanic Center gauged these attitudes.
This increasing anxiety is not something most Latinos want to discuss publicly because illegal immigration is as complex as Hispanic families that can be a diverse mixture of legal residents, illegal immigrants and the U.S.-born.
According to Herrera, his outrage begins with the erosion of a common American culture. He believes previous generations of immigrants were eventually united by the English language, but this ideal is being eroded because about four in five illegal immigrants come from Latin American countries.
He then expresses his fear.
“They advertise in Spanish to sell car insurance to illegal aliens by telling them, ‘You don’t need a license to drive in America, you just need insurance,’” Herrera said. “Never mind that they can’t read the signs or know California rules of the road. They endanger public safety.”
Herrera’s final argument is one of exploitation of both legal resident and illegal-immigrant consumers. He points out that Adriana’s Insurance was given an “F” rating by the Southern California Better Business Bureau because of 47 complaints against it for allegedly not honoring quotes, canceling policies without notification, unauthorized billing and not paying legitimate claims.
Yet, despite the public-policy concerns he seeks to bring into the spotlight, being a brown face in the crowd of the mostly White anti-illegal-immigrant movement hasn’t been easy. Though he sometimes gets hugs from illegal immigrants who admire his views that the Mexican government should be responsible for creating a working economy that doesn’t export its workers, more often Herrera is accused of betraying his roots.
Whether you love or hate Herrera’s complicated views on illegal immigration, his story reflects America.
Spanish billboard stirs protest
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/protest-25799-spanish-stirs.html
February 04, 2011 3:43 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • A local activist is protesting a billboard that advertises in Spanish, calling on the city to pass an ordinance mandating English-only signs.
“It’s a blight and affront on our language,” said Raymond Herrera, founder of anti-illegal immigration group We The People, California’s Crusader. “Adriana’s Insurance should cease its divisive campaign of erecting Spanish language billboards on American soil.”
The billboard for Rancho Cucamonga-based Adriana’s Insurance sits along the northbound lanes of Interstate 15, just south of Bear Valley Road. It has five words in Spanish, including the phrase “More for your money.”
A spokeswoman for the insurance firm said they had no comment on Herrera’s protest.
“Who are we to tell them how to run their business?” Mayor Pro Tem Rudy Cabriales asked, in response to Herrera’s request for Victorville to intervene. “I don’t think the city has any business getting involved in that. We have enough to deal with. If a business wants to do that, it’s their money. And they make their decisions based on the market.”
According to the latest data from the U.S Census Bureau, nearly 29 percent of Victorville’s population speaks Spanish in the home and two-thirds speaks only English.
Herrera led the charge in fall 2009 against local Spanish-language signs for Wells Fargo. Two weeks later, three Spanish-language ads for the bank in Hesperia and one in Apple Valley were all replaced with English-language signs from different companies.
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Brooke Edwards may be reached at (760) 955-5358 or at bedwards@VVDailyPress.com.
Immigration debate in Congress to change course during new year
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_16987711
The approach to addressing illegal immigration is expected to shift as Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in the new year.
In a matter of weeks, Congress will switch from working on legislation geared toward legalization to stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, will feel more confident in re-introducing his legislation to create a counterfeit-proof Social Security card and a strong employment eligibility verification system, said his press secretary, Jo Maney, in an e-mailed statement.
“He continues to believe any immigration reform must be preceded by stronger control of our border and better workplace enforcement,” Maney said.
Possibly on the immigration to-do list is a requirement for employers to use E-Verify when hiring employees.
E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows an employer to determine if the employee is legally able to work in the country.
Raymond Herrera, founder and president of Claremont-based We The People California’s Crusader, said he and fellow activists have been encouraging lawmakers on several immigration statues, including the use of E-Verify.
“We’re working to get it mandated, not only just for employers but unions, staging areas and mandated where cities can then enforce their employers to have E-Verify powers,” he said.
Herrera said his group is also working with Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce who has announced plans to introduce legislation to test interpretations of the 14th Amendment’s granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
Jose Calderon, an immigrant rights advocate and sociology professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, said taking on the 14th Amendment will not be a simple endeavor.
It would require a long process to essentially change the U.S. Constitution, he said.
Some Republican strategists have warned that it’s not in the party’s interest to take a hard-line approach to immigration matters and that it can lead to a backlash, Calderon said.
California experienced such a backlash, he said, after the 1994 passage of Proposition 187, an initiative supported by many Republicans, called for denying education and other services to the children of illegal immigrants.
The initiative was approved by voters in 1994 but found unconstitutional by a federal court. In 1999 then-Gov. Gray Davis halted court appeals.
Some believe that as California’s Latino population grew and began to participate in the electoral process, the Republican party had a harder time succeeding in statewide elections.
Denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants is a form of nativism, Calderon said.
“What’s scary is how far nativism and using the sincere suffering of hard-working people has gone,” he said.
Many people are hurting due to the economic downturn and without having accurate information those same people could turn against undocumented immigrants and people of color, he said.
That “can result in a real negative populist movement,” Calderon said.
“The rhetoric is there’s an invasion taking place and immigrants are taking jobs and the services of local communities,” Calderon said.
The opportunity exists to form coalitions with “hard-working people and people of different backgrounds” to build a unified group that can work with political leaders to deal with issues such as jobs, unemployment and the economy – all matters that are affecting many nations around the world, Calderon said.
Passage of the DREAM Act in the House served as the Democrats’ final attempt at immigration legislation before relinquishing control to Republicans.
The DREAM Act would have legalized thousands of illegal immigrants up to the age of 30 after completion of a college degree or two years in the military.
The bill passed the House, but failed in the Senate last month.
Herrera said he does not believe the DREAM Act has a chance in the new Congress.
The DREAM Act “is not going to go,” he said. “It wouldn’t even if it was a Democratically held House this coming year. The people have spoken. The will of the people has been expressed. Deny the voice of the people and you’ve denied democracy in America.”
Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, plans to continue to push for comprehensive immigration reform as a workable solution to fix the broken immigration system, he said in an e-mailed statement.
“Comprehensive reform means strengthened border security, tougher sanctions for employers who willingly violate immigration laws and a tough but fair pathway to citizenship for immigrants who want to contribute,” he said.
Similarly to Dreier, Baca has plans to re-introduce legislation.
The People Resolved to Obtain an Understanding of Democracy (PROUD) Act, was originally introduced in June 2009.
The act “provides a streamlined path to citizenship for exemplary young students who were brought to the U.S. at an early age,” Baca said. “Part of comprehensive immigration reform, the PROUD Act changes existing policies that unfairly punish the innocent young people who came as children to the U.S. by no choice of their own.”
Baca said he realizes it will be difficult to pass comprehensive immigration reform once Republicans take control of the House, but he will not give up.
“As President (Barack) Obama has stated, we need a bipartisan approach to immigration reform moving forward,” he said. “Immigration cannot simply be used as a political wedge issue.”
Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, said there will be three issues the new Congress will focus on within the first few months of the new year: birthright citizenship, border security and E-Verify.
“We all have priorities. I think the most pressing issue today is putting the American people back to work,” Miller said. “You have a lot of very good people, talented people, out of work and willing to take a job if it’s offered to them.
“You can’t create jobs in government. That just spends taxpayer money, but you can create an environment where businesses create jobs and give opportunity to the American people.”
Miller said he still expects some opposition from Democrats.
“They’ll consider us mean and cruel and heartless and cold-blooded and uncaring and that’s not the case at all,” he said. “We are the most generous nation in the world as it applies to immigration and we should be. We’re a blessed people, but there’s a system people should follow.”
The Senate will still have a Democratic majority, but Miller said Republicans will make sure they realize it’s about getting Americans back to work.
“We’re going to try to put them in a position to where they have to address it,” he said.
President Obama could be a wild card in future immigration legislation.
He’ll have at his disposal his veto power should a bill denying citizenship to children of illegal immigrants make it to his desk.
But Obama also said he has made cracking down on employers a key part of his administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Hispanic voters and their allies will look for Obama to broker a deal on immigration as he did on tax cuts and health care. After the DREAM Act failed in the Senate this month, Obama said his administration would not give up on the measure.
“At a minimum we should be able to get DREAM done. So I’m going to go back at it,” he said.
The president has taken heavy hits in Spanish-language and ethnic media for failing to keep his promise to address immigration promptly and taking it off the agenda last summer. His administration’s continued deportations of immigrants – a record 393,000 in the 2010 fiscal year – have also made tenuous his relationship with Hispanic voters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sign in Spanish riles activists
Group says it violates ‘creed’
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/26/2010 07:57:22 PM PST
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_16947963
UPLAND – A billboard here advertising the new McCafe Caramel Mocha at McDonald’s has outraged anti-illegal immigration activists.
The sign, near the intersection of 11th Street and Central Avenue, is entirely in Spanish.
The sign reads “Todos tenemos un lado dulce,” which translates to “everyone has a sweet side.”
The company’s slogan “I’m lovin’ it” is also in Spanish.
Raymond Herrera and Robin Hvidston of We the People, California’s Crusader in Claremont have spoken to the Upland City Council and have made several calls to McDonald’s corporate office in Illinois.
“It’s a violation of our American creed,” Herrera said. “One of the major components of our American creed, core values of the American creed, is the English language … It is what gives the American people the sense of community. It’s how we interact with everybody.”
The billboard speaks to Spanish-speaking consumers as well as many Americans, in a way that is relevant to them, said Carlos Rodriguez, marketing manager for McDonald’s Southern California region.
“We have a long history of leadership in diversity and inclusion and are exceptionally proud of our achievements in these areas,” he said. “I expect most people will agree that supporting diversity is not only good for business, but it’s also good for our community. Rest assured, it is never our intention to offend anyone. Demonstrating our ability to understand and be sensitive to our differences is not divisive. On the contrary, it builds bridges that can bring us closer together.”
The billboard is scheduled to be up for four weeks before its rotation ends, which is how the company manages their billboard advertising, he said.
Another problem with the sign, Hvidston said, is the amount of graffiti it has attracted.
“The back side of the sign is filled with graffiti, gang-styled graffiti,” she said. “Why does a corporation like McDonald’s allow a blighted eyesore like this to go forward in our town?”
Joe Olague, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said McDonald’s is reaching out to the Latino community, which is growing in the region.
“As far as the Inland Empire, 50 percent of the population in San Bernardino County is Latino and growing, so statewide you’re talking about the same demographic shift happening,” Olague said.
“At this particular time, 50 percent of school age children in California are Latino.”
Supporters want Pomona to take stand on DREAM
Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/13/2010 09:10:45 PM PST
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_16852067?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com
POMONA – With the DREAM Act on hold in the Senate until Republicans can be persuaded to vote in favor of a bill they have called blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants, supporters of the measure are focusing on local action.
Advocates held signs and chanted in front of Pomona City Hall on Monday to urge greater awareness and a city resolution in favor of the bill.
“They’ve been supporting our education all along, so now it only makes sense to let us contribute with that education,” said Jesus Barrios, a Cal State San Bernardino student and resident of Pomona. “We don’t want to take advantage of anyone. We want to help.”
Formally known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010, the bill would allow those who illegally entered the country as children to earn citizenship by spending two years in the military or college.
Applicants must meet additional requirements, including entering the country before they were 15 and having a clean criminal background, although opponents say these provisions are open to fraud.
Barrios was one of two members of the DREAM Team who spoke during the public comment section of the City Council meeting to urge the council to pass a pro-DREAM Act resolution.
Pomona resident Jacqueline Cervantes, 23, had just come to watch the meeting, but she joined the chants.
“I was lucky enough to have been born here and go to school,” she said. “Just because someone wasn’t born here, why shouldn’t they have the same opportunities?”
Local activists also protested and called voters to show support of the legislation in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“No matter how someone feels about the immigration debate, these are youths who come as innocent children and are doing everything right,” said Gustavo Ramirez, 38, of Rancho Cucamonga, speaking on behalf of his educational organization, Phoenix Rising.
But other local activists have protested as strongly, if not as publicly, against the bill.
“We have been working in the political boiler room of `we the people,’ the living rooms and on the phones – we have been milking the phones day and night nationally,” said Raymond Herrera, founder and president of We the People, California’s Crusader, based in Claremont. “My position on the act is it’s a failed amnesty from the inside out, inasmuch as they’re using children as pawns.”
Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_16852067?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz18O4hUJob
August 2009 – debate: Raymond Herrera vs Felix Diaz
http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/activists-13980-debate-illegal.html
AP PHOTO: Raymond Herrera (left), a supporter of the Arizona law, argues with Gerardo Marin outside the U.S. Court of Appeals building in San Francisco.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/02/MNDP1G54K0.DTL
(11-01) 16:14 PST SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court appeared willing Monday to reinstate, but weaken, a central provision of an Arizona law allowing police to stop and question suspected illegal immigrants.Spanish language newspaper
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that it would authorize police to demand papers from those they reasonably suspected of being in the country illegally, but would not allow authorities to arrest or prosecute them under state law.
That would still allow suspects to be referred to U.S. authorities for deportation, however.
At an hourlong hearing in a packed San Francisco courtroom, two panel members suggested that a federal judge had gone too far when she blocked enforcement of all major provisions of the law.
Responding to an Obama administration lawsuit that claimed Arizona was interfering with federal regulation of immigration, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction July 28, less than 24 hours before the law was to take effect.
The judge barred Arizona from requiring police to order anyone they stopped for a crime, and reasonably suspected of being in the country illegally, to produce proof of legal status. She also blocked a provision allowing police to detain anyone they believed was deportable because of a previous conviction.
In addition, Bolton blocked provisions of the law making it a crime for illegal immigrants to seek work, and for a noncitizen to be in the state illegally or to fail to carry immigration documents.
Court’s leanings
Based on judges’ comments in Monday’s hearing, the appeals court appeared likely to lift the ban on police authority to demand immigration papers and detain immigrants who faced deportation, while upholding Bolton’s rulings against state criminal penalties.
The appeals court panel – Judges Carlos Bea, John Noonan and Richard Paez – appeared to agree with Bolton’s conclusion that a state law against illegal immigration would conflict with federal authority over immigration.
But Bea and Noonan indicated they saw no conflict between federal law and Arizona’s requirement that police seek immigration documents from suspected illegal migrants.
Bea noted that federal law requires U.S. officials to respond to police inquiries about the immigration status of anyone under arrest. If police can request that information, he asked, why can’t they also order someone to show proof of legal status?
Arizona’s case
The state can cooperate with federal immigration authorities but can’t establish its own enforcement policy, replied Edwin Kneedler, a deputy solicitor general. If Arizona’s law is allowed, it could encourage a “patchwork of law” among different states, he said.
Kneedler also argued that requiring immigrants to produce documents in every police encounter would sweep up legal residents who weren’t carrying papers.
But Noonan said Congress has not barred police from obtaining immigration information and contacting federal authorities, or from holding a noncitizen who could be deported because of a previous conviction.
What state could do
If the court reinstates those provisions, police in Arizona could order a suspected illegal immigrant to produce a driver’s license or other documents, and could make inquiries to immigration officials.
But state prosecutors could not charge someone for failing to possess the required papers.
That would strip the requirement of most of its force, Arizona’s lawyer, John Bouma, said after the hearing. “If (the state) can’t prosecute them, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to hold them,” he said.
Bouma urged the court to reinstate criminal penalties against illegal immigrants who seek work. But the judges said they were bound by the appeals court’s 1990 ruling that allowed penalties only against the immigrants’ employers.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who attended the hearing, said afterward that the state was prepared to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Civil liberties groups have a separate lawsuit pending before Bolton that contends the Arizona law promotes racial profiling.
La Prensa, article references protest of Congressman Joe Baca Middle School protest – photo below
FONTANA: El congresista fue emocionado en la ceremonia de construcción de la escuela para los grados 7 y 8.
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, October 28, 2010
Por ALEJANDRO CANO
Especial Para La Prensa
http://www.laprensaenlinea.com/
noticias/notas/LP_News_Local_P_lp_joe_baca_school.4ecb9a5.html
Las autoridades del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Colton celebraron el pasado sábado Oct. 23 la ceremonia de construcción de una nueva escuela en la ciudad de Rialto que llevará como nombre Joe Baca Middle School en honor al congresista del distrito 43.
El nuevo plantel estará ubicado en las esquinas del bulevar Valley y la avenida Lilac en donde el congresista Baca, acompañado del presidente de la Junta escolar Mel Albiso, y los miembros Marge Mendoza-Ware, Kent Taylor, Patt Haro y David Zamora, participaron en la ceremonia protocolar ante cientos de asistentes.
“Acepto este honor en nombre de mis padres, hermanos y hermanas y demás miembros de mi familia que hicieron el sacrificio de ayudarme para estar en donde estoy hoy”, comentó Baca emocionado. “Me siento muy honrado con este reconocimiento mismo que me da energía para continuar trabajando por los niños y por las familias del distrito 43″.
Según Katie Orloff, portavoz del distrito, el nuevo plantel será construido en un terreno de 14 acres y se convertirá en la quinta escuela secundaria, misma que educará a aproximadamente 1,325 estudiantes del área. Reportes oficiales indican que el nuevo plantel comenzara a operar para el ciclo escolar 2012-2013.
“Este reconocimiento ya se había tardado. El congresista merece ser reconocido con una escuela ya que ha sido un luchador incansable en la educación local. Estamos muy emocionados y contentos de ser parte de la historia y de un proyecto que beneficiara a miles de familias locales y a la comunidad en general”, comentó Albiso.
La aprobación de nombrar la escuela en honor a Baca ocurrió en Septiembre pasado con un voto unánime, reflejo del merecimiento hacia un hombre que comenzó su carrera política en el área de educación, añadió Albiso.
En efecto, en 1979 Baca se convirtió en el primer político de origen latino en ser electo para fungir como representante del distrito del colegio San Bernardino Valley. Desde entonces, Baca ha cumplido con su compromiso con la educación ofreciendo becas para estudiantes universitarios, así como destinar fondos económicos para la construcción de innumerables proyectos educativos.
Recientemente, Baca ayudo a conseguir fondos económicos federales que ayudaron a salvar 160 mil empleos educativos, incluyendo 16 mil en el estado de California. Tan sólo el distrito de Colton recibió aproximadamente 3.5 millones de dólares que sirvieron para mantener a maestros y empleados escolares activos.
Con el reconocimiento, Baca se convirtió en el último legislador viviente en recibir tal distinción. La última vez que esto sucedió en la región fue con el nombramiento de una escuela en honor a la asambleísta Wilmer Amina Carter.
La ceremonia se vio empañada con la breve visita de cuatro miembros del grupo Minuteman, incluyendo Raymond Herrera, fundador del grupo We the People, que exigieron el cambio de nombre y la destitución de Baca como legislador regional.
El distrito de Colton educa a aproximadamente 25 mil estudiantes, de los cuales el 78% son de origen latino. Actualmente cuenta con cuatro escuelas secundarias pero ninguna al norte de la autopista 10. Con el nuevo plantel, cientos de estudiantes evitaran cruzar el puente hacia el sur evadiendo así posibles accidentes.
El plantel de 159 mil pies cuadrados educará a estudiantes del grado 7 y 8, tendrá 50 aulas y contará con lo más sofisticado en tecnología así como canchas deportivas.
Antes de finalizar el evento, Baca se comprometió a continuar velando por los estudiantes de su distrito desarrollando una alianza entre los colegios comunitarios y universidades para beneficio de las futuras generaciones.
“En el Congreso, continuaré trabajando por un mundo en donde los niños puedan crecer seguramente, seguir sus estudios y alcanzar sus metas. A través de nuestros esfuerzos en conjunto, podemos proveer una mejor calidad de educación para todos los estudiantes”, concluyó Baca
Latinos souring on illegal immigration
Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/30/2010 03:41:02 PM PDT
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_16478933
A new study shows Latinos have soured considerably on illegal immigration in the last three years.
In 2007, 50percent of Latinos surveyed told the Pew Hispanic Center that the growing number of illegal immigrants was a positive force for the existing Latino population. In a Pew survey released Thursday, that number had plummeted to 29percent.
Thirty-one percent said illegal immigration had a negative effect, and 20percent said it had no effect.
While the wording of the question changed slightly in 2010 – striking the phrase “growing number” to reflect studies that show illegal immigration declining – several local advocates on different sides of the issue called the change in perception unsurprising.
Those Inland Empire voices diverged significantly, however, when it came to explaining the shift and what it means for immigration policy.
Raymond Herrera, president and founder of a Claremont-based group called We the People, California’s Crusader, said political will has been shifting since 2004.
Herrera said that’s when activists like him began loudly calling for reform, slowly building what he said is a national consensus that illegal immigrants should be deported.
“The Minutemen stood up six years ago and brought the awareness level to the American people,” he said. “It is now at an apex where … enough people have had their American dream stolen (by illegal immigrants).”
The head of a center that provides legal and other assistance to immigrants disagreed.
Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Resource Center, said the growing negative attitudes are an understandable but flawed response to a faltering economy.
“In these difficult financial times, even immigrants see themselves competing against new immigrants,” Amaya said. “(But) they don’t really compete because most people, older immigrants, they already have different (job) skills.”
Amaya said illegal immigrants should be fined and “sent to the back of the line,” matching the opinion of 53percent of Latinos. The Pew survey found 13percent of Latinos advocate deportation, while 28percent said illegal immigrants should not be punished.
Political and economic factors often shift Latino opinions of immigration, noted Cherstin Lyon, who studies at Cal State San Bernardino.
“Mexican-American populations have been divided throughout the 20thcentury, and (opinions) largely changed since the 1970s,” she said. “Most famously, Cesar Chavez came under intense attack from others within the Chicano movement because he … encouraged punishments of those hiring illegal immigrants.”
Lyon had not yet read the study but said crackdowns – such as Arizona’s S.B. 1070, which allows police to check immigration status if they suspect a person they’ve already stopped is in the country illegally – tend to encourage discrimination against Hispanic-looking people.
However, 34percent of Latinos said they, a family member or a close friend experienced discrimination because of their race or ethnic group in the last five years – up 2 percent from 2009, before Arizona’s law was proposed.
Pew surveyed 1,375 Latino adults in English and Spanish from Aug. 17 until Sept. 19. the history of citizenship and civil rights ryan.hagen@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-386-3916
Raymond Herrera: guest on MARIA ELVIRA LIVE, Mega TV – in support of Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce’s legislation to end birthright citizenship. 14 state lawmakers are collaborating on similar legislation: Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mariaelviratv#p/u/2/npppsecEhuE
Highland hears from both sides on Arizona law
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/13/2010 04:01:56 PM PDT
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_16330809?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com
HIGHLAND – The City Council’s decision to support Arizona’s S.B. 1070 immigration law has drawn praise and anger from residents and outside groups.
The Inland Empire League of United Latin American Citizens, Council 3163, and the Claremont-based conservative group We the People, California’s Crusader are the most recent organizations to clash over the council’s controversial stance.
Both groups spoke publicly at Tuesday evening’s council meeting, each airing its views on the Arizona law that’s not yet in full effect due to a federal injunction.
Raymond Herrera, founder of We the People, praised the council for “standing with Arizona and the American people.”
“They are the elected body politic and they should not be chastised for representing the voice and the mandate of the people of Highland,” he said.
Resident Leroy J. Martinez, Council 3163 vice president, said the council violated its own ethics code when it sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other elected officials stating it backs S.B. 1070.
Martinez said the letter implied all residents support the law, which, is patently false and against a section of the code that asks members to refrain from airing personal opinions as those of the entire city.
He also took offense at comments Mayor Penny Lilburn and Councilman Larry McCallon made in a newspaper report in which Lilburn stated, “If people don’t like it, then they don’t have to live here.” McCallon said he believed all Highland residents agree with the support letter.
Martinez said the comments were arrogant and false.
Lilburn said her comment was targeted at illegal immigrants who live in the city, not all residents.
“Anyone can disagree if they’re not happy with the decisions that the City Council makes,” she said.
McCallon didn’t immediately return calls for comment Wednesday.
Lilburn also said the letter doesn’t imply support from residents.
The first and last sentences of the letter state “the City Council of the city of Highland supports Arizona Senate Bill 1070.”
Census shows illegal immigrant numbers down
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/05/2010 08:57:21 PM PDT
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_16263747
In California and across the country, illegal immigration has become a bigger issue this year than in any election year in recent memory.
Yet some experts say – and the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau seem to show – that in California and San Bernardino County, illegal immigration is a shrinking problem, not a growing one.
Census Bureau estimates released this week show fewer noncitizens lived in the county and the state in 2009 than in any year since 2003. The bureau does not differentiate between illegal immigrants and other noncitizens.
“I think a lot of people think immigration keeps increasing, but it’s been decreasing,” said Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, which offers aid to immigrants. “A lot of it is misinformation.”
John Husing, a Redlands-based regional economist who studies the Inland Empire, said the Census Bureau numbers are good evidence that illegal immigration is on the decline and that the emergence of illegal immigration as a campaign issue is “Republican Party and Tea Party propaganda.”
He and local immigration advocates say that’s a tactic aimed at mobilizing conservative voters. Some advocates argue the outrage over illegal immigration boils down to concerns that Latinos are rapidly on their way to becoming California’s ethnic majority.
But activists on the other side say illegal immigration is a growing problem – they say they doubt the accuracy of the Census Bureau numbers, which are estimates from the annual American Community Survey – and that it’s become an issue in this election because Californians are seeing the downsides of unchecked immigration.
“Today, there’s not a city in the country that doesn’t have a population of illegal immigrants and the problems that go with them,” said Rick Oltman, a spokesman for the anti-illegal-immigration group Californians for Population Stabilization. “Everybody has a problem.”
In San Bernardino County, the number of illegal immigrants shrunk by more than 30,000 from 2006 through 2009, from 264,889 – or 13.3percent of the county’s population – to 234,359 – 11.6percent of the population.
Husing said it makes sense that illegal immigrants would have started leaving San Bernardino County after 2006 – the high-water mark, according to Census numbers – because of the Great Recession.
“People who might be here in a good time aren’t here now because there’s no work,” Husing said.
At the same time, illegal immigrants in Southern California were much more likely to be deported in 2009 than they were in 2006.
Federal officials “are really going all out,” said Jose Zapata Calderon, a professor of sociology and Chicano studies at Pitzer College in Claremont.
Over the past four years, the number of deportations has nearly doubled, from 13,337 in 2006 to more than 25,285 in 2009, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
But those statistics and the Census Bureau’s estimate of noncitizens leave anti-illegal-immigration activists unimpressed. Oltman said Husing’s economic argument fails because the shaky U.S. economy is still attractive to workers trying to escape the Mexican economy.
“The whole world economy has taken a hit,” he said. “It’s still better to live in America with a declining economy than in Mexico.”
Raymond Herrera, president and founder of We the People, California’s Crusader, a Claremont-based anti-illegal-immigration group, said the Census Bureau numbers can’t be accurate.
“The Census Bureau is taking account of noncitizens that are willing to come forth and say, `Here I am,”‘ he said. “The ones I’m speaking about are in the shadows. (Illegal immigrants) don’t come forward and reveal their presence or their status.”
Herrera has been following immigration issues for 30 years and, about six years ago, was involved with Minuteman groups that patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border. He said he’s glad illegal immigration issues have crept into the mainstream political debate, though he, like Husing, said some politicians are using it solely to boost their campaigns.
“Republicans are jumping on the bandwagon,” he said. “John McCain is in trouble running against J.D. Hayworth, so he runs an ad where he’s walking along the border and he’s supporting the Arizona law. These are political tactics.”
Amaya agreed, in a sense. He said the issue itself – not a particular candidate’s stance – has been trumped up to help conservatives. Calderon said the issue of illegal immigration lets people voice fears that have more to do with ethnicity than with citizenship.
“The basis here is that the Latino population is growing,” he said. “In some areas, like San Bernardino, Latinos will soon constitute a majority. And there’s a fear there.”
If voters are concerned about those changing demographics, about the changing face of California and San Bernardino County, it’s possible they’ll be attracted to anti-immigrant and anti-illegal-immigration rhetoric, Calderon said.
“People don’t really go on issues – they go on emotions,” Amaya said. “They think people are taking over our country. It makes sense as a political move. It’s a wedge issue.”
Herrera, though, said Amaya and Calderon, not conservatives and anti-illegal-immigration activists, are “playing the race card” and that illegal immigration is a serious issue that must be addressed.
“What the American people are concerned about is our democracy, our way of life and our American culture,” he said. “When you allow the laws to be broken, when you don’t enforce them, you have a state of anarchy.”
Obama betrayed oath to uphold Constitution, rule of law
By Raymond Herrera
Posted: 08/30/2010 07:19:08 PM PDT
http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_15944728
The truth shall set Suzanne Foster and Carl Bergquist free (“ICE program should be reined in,” Aug. 24). As well as America – free of criminal illegal aliens. The Obama administration has shackled the federal government, our American democracy, and We The People.Obama has betrayed his oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law – meant to foster and render democracy to all Americans. Obama and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have obliterated the American creed, the bible of We The People, the bible of democracy in America.
Equality of condition – a major component of the American creed – is no more. Under this administration, the rule of law is a nonexistent component. The Obama administration’s failure to enforce the 1986 immigration law, the law of the land, equally on every law-abiding American or criminal elements – such as illegal aliens – is anarchy in the face of democracy in America, in the face of the governed – We The People.
The Obama administration violates not just our Constitution but it obliterates the ratification of our Constitution when policies deny the power of restraint and incarceration, vested in the depositories of our elected body politic – at all levels of government, be it federal, state, county or municipality. The best example, at the state level, to deal with criminal illegal aliens is the state of Arizona legislation Senate Bill 1070. The power of restraint is the ability to legislate laws for the good of the commonwealth, at every level of government.
The power of incarceration is the ability to apprehend and incarcerate criminal elements who violate the laws legislated by our elected body politic. For they are the extended form of our republican form of government. The voice, the will, and the mandate of We The People – democracy in America.
The Los Angeles Times recently published an article detailing Mexican film producers who created 10-minute films at the behest of the Mexican government, in order to illuminate the dilemmas of Mexico. One top screenwriter produced a 10-minute film where he acknowledged 40million of his fellow Mexican countrymen are living in the United States.
Forty million Mexicans living on American soil is criminal.
They are not to be considered civil infractions. The collateral damage to America, democracy in America, the American culture and our beloved American creed is manifested in mayhem, wrought upon We The People by such un-American writers as Foster and Bergquist, whose clouded minds further perpetuate anarchy.
The father of our U.S. Constitution, James Madison, and founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were fully cognizant that too much liberal thought would lead America’s democracy into tyranny by faction – be it majority, minority or special interest groups, such as Foster’s and Bergquist’s pro-lawbreaking groups. Our founders’ worst fear was tyranny by the central government: our present-day federal government.
This day, the presidency of Obama and his administration are the manifest enemies of democracy in America. The failure of Obama to enforce the 1986 immigration law further perpetuates mayhem on We The People. The collateral damage is not only the loss of Americans’ jobs, the American dream and American posterity, but, also the loss of American lives.
According to Iowa Congressman Steve King’s office staff, more than 63,000 people have been killed by illegal aliens on American soil since 9/11. A total of 33,215 of the deaths were the end result of driving without a license or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. And an additional 30,660 deaths are the end result of mayhem such as rape, violence and robbery. These statistics do not include the nonfatal violent crimes committed such as rape and other felonies by illegal aliens.
Checkpoints and programs such as Secure Communities will only prevent minimal collateral damage.
ICE Agents, U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement must be fully empowered to enforce U.S. laws in order to secure our country. Perhaps Foster and Bergquist’s liberal thoughts should be promoted in Mexico, where the oppressive and repressive government of Mexico, and the people of Mexico, lack not only democracy, but the right kind of liberal thought that would foster and render a democratic Mexico, and in the process, stop illegal immigration and the associated murderous mayhem on American soil by criminal illegal aliens.
Raymond Herrera is founder and president of We The People, California’s Crusader, based in Claremont.
Ontario Council opts to stay out of SB1070
Council members at their Tuesday meeting decided against taking a stance on the illegal immigration enforcement law after representatives from a grassroots group requested that the council pass a resolution supporting it.
We the People, California’s Crusaders made the request after Our Lady of Guadalupe Church officials urged the council in August to publicly oppose the law.
The law calls on Arizona’s law enforcement officers to check the residency status of anyone suspected of being illegally in the United States. It is being challenged in court by the federal government.
“Certainly this is a very emotional issue and a very important issue,” Councilman Alan Wapner said. “Formally, as an agenda item, it is not the support of the council to lean one way or another.”
Wapner made the statement toward the beginning of the meeting’s public comments session, despite a crowded room waiting to voice their opinions on the law.
Wapner asked the other three council members at the meeting if they wanted to discuss the law at a future council meeting, but none of them made a motion to do so.
Mayor Paul Leon did not attend the meeting.
The city has more pressing issues to deal with such as the economy and foreclosures, Wapner said.
Prior to the meeting, more than 30 people (NOTE: head count during photo: more than 55 in attendance) attended a rally put on by We the People in City Hall’s parking lot. The Claremont-based group has made a name for itself in the past year voicing opposition to illegal immigration.
The rally also attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice who sent one of its employees to the rally and the meeting.
The department’s Community Relations Service is a facilitator of conflict mediations. The division works with the community, law enforcement, school and government leaders to solve problems, said Matthew Davis, a media affairs officer for the Washington D.C.-based department.
“They can be there to asses or monitor a situation. CRS often works in situations where there is racial conflict or in cases of hate crimes or cultural discrimination.”
Because of a confidentially matter, Davis could not disclose if the department representative was there on his own accord or if he was asked to attend.
Arizona is doing the job that the federal government won’t do, said Scott Folkens, a Republican who is running against Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, to represent the 43rd District in the House of Representatives.
“If (the federal government) are not going to enforce the law, then they should at least let Arizona enforce the law,” he said at the rally.
Despite Wapner’s statement at the start of the meeting, council members still listened to an hour-and-a-half of public comment on the law.
Raymond Herrera, founder of We The People, said he was disappointed the city was not going to show their support for S.B. 1070, and that city officials need to do their part to uphold the rule of law.
“I love (Mexicans) dearly, viva Mexico,” Herrera said. “But not in American soil.”
He added that Hispanics is “a sugar-coated word for illegal aliens.”
Throughout the public comment session, Wapner had to stop speakers to clarify statements made about the city.
“We are not Arizona, but we enforce Ontario, county and federal laws,” he said. “The fact that we’re not acting on the Arizona law doesn’t mean we do not care or enforce any laws.”
Tom Burciaga, a long-time Ontario resident, said he will continue to work with the Latino community to make sure there is a strong relationship with the city, police and fire departments.
“This is our city and we don’t need anybody bothering us,” Burciaga said.
Ontario resident Richard Galvez echoed Burciaga’s sentiments.
“It’s a good city and we want to remain without any controversy,” he said. “We don’t want outsiders coming in and generating some divisiveness.”
Fr. Pat Guillen, a retired Catholic priest with the San Bernardino Diocese and an Ontario resident, who quoted a part of the Pledge of Allegiance, told the council that the community needs to come together and find a resolution that is “justice for all”.
“We need to learn to listen to each other, we need to learn to respect each other and we need to learn to trust each other,” Guillen said. “When community members don’t do that then we’re in trouble. A problem doesn’t solve itself and we have to tackle it.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church parishioners in August urged the City Council to publicly oppose Arizona Senate Bill 1070. Church Pastor Alex Castillo made the request and asked for a public meeting with council members in a letter mailed to Mayor Paul Leon. Parishioners said they have not received a response to the letter that was mailed in late July.
909-483-8556
Catholic Church defends support of DREAM Act
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_16046024
Liset Márquez, Staff Writer
Created: 09/10/2010 07:34:13 PM PDT
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – The Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino is defending its decision to hold an event in the city that rallied support around legislation that would aid undocumented young people.
The gathering at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church aimed to raise awareness and promote advocacy for the DREAM Act, said John Andrews, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino.
The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act would help young illegal immigrants who are illegally in the United States enlist in the military, attend college or acquire citizenship. The youth would have to meet certain requirements, such as being high school graduates and of good moral character.
But members of a Claremont-based grassroots group said the Catholic Diocese has violated the separation of church and state principle. Separation of church and state is derived from documents put together by the country’s founders.
“They are no longer advocating people to vote, they are going further beyond than that. They are politically looking to circumvent the rule of law,” said Raymond Herrera, founder of We The People, California’s Crusader
Herrera said the action by the church is detrimental to society, and the passage of the act is another way of rewarding amnesty.
“They are here illegally and when the church dabbles in meetings like (the one on Friday), it is breaking the law,” he said.
But Andrews said the diocese is careful to follow guidelines under its status as a nonprofit.
“The Catholic Church’s obligation is to teach moral values that shape our lives through public policy,” he said. “We don’t look at it as a political perspective but a moral perspective.”
The church has not supported a political candidate or a political party at such gatherings, Andrews said.
A similar DREAM Night on Sept. 4 at Our Lady of Soledad Parish in Coachella was not protested, said Kathi Scarpace, coordinator of the Justice for Immigrants Campaign for the diocese.
The diocesan Justice for Immigrants office as well as the Ministry with Youth Office for the Diocese of San Bernardino have sponsored the events.
The event at Sacred Heart at 12704 Foothill Blvd. included prayer, testimonies from undocumented students as well as music, videos, skits and poetry.
Young people were encouraged to get their parish involved in e-mailing elected officials or putting a petition together to encourage the act’s passage, Scarpace said.
While immigration is a controversial issue, Scarpace said the Dream Act has received bipartisan support. The act has not been approved by federal lawmakers.
“We feel people who are vulnerable don’t have a voice. We feel, as Catholics, as no fault of their own, that they are vulnerable,” she said.
liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com
909-483-8556
The City Council meets at 6:30 p.m.
Study: Latino arrests drop
But experts differ on significance of latest numbers
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15863618
An analysis of Arizona crime data shows arrest rates are dropping faster among the state’s Latino residents than among non-Latino Arizonans, prompting strong and contradictory interpretations in San Bernardino.
Mike Males, senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, studied records from the Arizona Department of Public Safety from 2002 to 2009. He found skyrocketing drug arrests among non-Latino residents even as overall arrests declined for all groups and legal and illegal Latino immigrants flooded into the state.
Latino immigrants are often seen as criminals when they’ve done nothing wrong, according to Joe Olague, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
“It happened to one of our friends that happened to be driving around one of the cities around Phoenix, and the police stopped him,” Olague said. “Of course, he was a citizen and his brother-in-law happened to be the mayor.”
Not everyone is so lucky, Olague said.
He also said the study reveals that people focus too much on the Mexican component of drug trafficking.
“There is supply and there is demand, and our society demands drugs,” he said. “Now they are trying to stop putting so much money on drugs coming in and more on the prevention of using drugs.”
To others, the data demonstrates the success of Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
“The crime rate is just indicative of illegal immigrants fleeing the state of Arizona,” said Raymond Herrera, founder and president of We The People, California’s Crusader, a Claremont- based coalition. “This should be a calling card to other states of what happens when they stand up.”
However, Males noted that crime rates in bordering states, including California, also went down during the same period.
“The crime decline among younger ages has offset the crime increase among older ages,” he said. “The Hispanic population benefits from this decline in younger crime.”
Researchers are not sure why people younger than 30 are committing fewer crimes than they used to.
Although the original data distinguished only between Hispanic and non-Hispanic arrests, Males found other information supporting a rise in white drug use. For instance, non-Hispanic whites account for 60 percent of Arizona’s population but 80 percent of its drug deaths. Hispanics constitute one-third of the population and one-sixth of drug deaths.
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice is a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce what it says is society’s reliance on the use of incarceration.
Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15863618#ixzz0xSSpDtn8
American creed
http://www.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_15655377
I read the article “Local Democrats split after leadership vote,” July 24.
The great American divide – Hispanic, Latinos and Latinas on American soil – they are very un-American. They are so divisive, they are divided even when they attempt their political mayhem on we the people.
Hispanic leaders such as Gil Navarro, Joe Baca, Mark Alvarez, and Leticia Gonzales have now divided their San Bernardino politburo.
The Democratic Central Party sounds like a communist or socialist party bent on the desecration of America, democracy in America, the American culture, and the most blatant violation of our American creed, which is the Bible of we the people.
The American creed is our national identity that so defines our moral, political platform from where we the people shall defend this great nation – America.
My father, a World War II veteran, taught me to be an American first and foremost, even above my ethnicity.
I ask for the voters in Gil Navarro’s and Joe Baca’s districts to vote these two un-Americans out of office!
RAYMOND HERRERA
President and Founder, We The People, California’s Crusader
Enforcement broken
http://www.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_15571863
I would like to state to Mr. Emilio Amaya (“Illegal entries go unpunished,” Page A1, July 5) that I too agree with family reunification – that is, in the home country of the illegal entrant. Our country has a generous immigration process. The message should be this – enter the United States legally.
I think Mr. Mrozek’s statements that the offense of illegal entry into the United States is not prosecuted promotes the wrong message to the world. It seems Mrozek is saying: Enter the U.S. illegally and my department says it is OK. Ho hum.
I don’t think our immigration process is broken. Our enforcement process is broken. If Nancy Pelosi can rent a new office suite in San Francisco for more than $18,000 a month and politicians collectively spend billions of our tax dollars on their jet travels, I don’t buy the excuse that Mrozak does not have the money to enforce our immigration laws.
Our elected officials should do their job – that is, stop with the excuses and misspending our tax dollars – use our tax dollars to secure the borders and enforce our immigration laws.
ROBIN HVIDSTON Upland
Local activists honor fallen border agent outside Upland City Hall
http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_15589184
Created: 07/23/2010 05:48:45 PM PDT
UPLAND – A candlelight vigil was held Friday outside City Hall to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of a fallen border patrol agent.
Agent Robert Rosas, 30, was shot and killed on July 23, 2009 by a group Mexican citizens illegally crossing the border near Campo.
Claremont-based anti-illegal immigration group, We The People, California’s Crusader, organized the vigil.
The group passed a card for Rosas’ wife and two young children.
“We’re keeping his memory alive,” said Robin Hvidston, member of We The People. “He didn’t give his live in vain. We the American public, the people, appreciate that he paid the ultimate sacrifice, the giving of his life.”
Rosas was shot multiple times in the back of the head after investigating suspicious activity along the border.
Multiple people were arrested for Rosas’ murder, but there are two unknown suspects currently at large.
Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez, 17, turned himself in and pleaded guilty shooting Rosas. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Britt Craig of Mission Viejo, a member of the Minuteman, was camped out near the location of Rosas’ murder.
Craig spoke about Rosas during the vigil.
Craig said he spoke with Rosas earlier in that day of his death.
“He told me that they had been following four or five people on the south side of the border, watching them go down the border and they would occasionally stop and mess with the wall, where there was a wall, basically as if they were trying to annoy the Border Patrol,” Craig said.
He said he saw two people who may have been part of the group Rosas was following. He called Rosas to tell him what he saw.
“I had this little Chihuahua that was real mean and I was joking about (Rosas) taking him,” Craig said. “I said `are you sure you don’t want to take the attack Chihuahua?’ He said `We’re going to catch these guys. I’ll come back and tell you about it.”‘
That was the last time they spoke.
“I watched him drive. I had him in my vision off and on for about a mile and then he turned,” he said. “It got fully dark, and I heard eight shots.”
Craig called the agents to let them know what he heard.
“I called them up I said I think one of your guys is in trouble,” said Craig, who watched several helicopters and vehicles rush to the scene within 10 minutes of the call.
“Of course (Rosas) never came back to tell me about it, so out of the information loop I was afraid it had been him that got shot,” Craig said. “A couple days later I talked to some Border Patrol people, and they told me it was indeed him.”
Since Rosas’ death, Craig said he has seen some changes at the border.
“After the murder they started doubling up a lot and feeling, not more cautious, but a little more aware of the danger,” Craig said. “And they repaired the fence where Agent Rosas was killed.”
sandra.emerson@inlandnewspapers.com
909-483-8555
Temecula mandates E-Verify use
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_sverify14.24cb0dd.html
Twenty-seven people — almost all supporting E-Verify — signed up to speak about the ordinance, including Robin Hvidston, of We The People, a Claremont-based group dedicated to stopping illegal immigration.
“What is divisive?” she said. “Divisive is coming to this country illegally and living in our country illegally.”
Frank Bellino/Special to The Press-Enterprise
TEMECULA: Council approves employment law
Meeting preceded by rallies on both sides of immigration debate
Raymond Herrera, left, Peter De La Torre, center, and Eugene Stock, who support the Arizona immigration law, argue with Rudy Navarro, who is against the Arizona immigration law, Tuesday outside Temecula City Hall. Both sides of the immigration debate staged rallies before the council meeting. (Photo by Hayne Palmour IV – Staff photographer)
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15486995
Group rallies behind Arizona
Dropping of lawsuit sought
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/10/2010 05:39:05 PM PDT
APPLE VALLEY – In an effort to garner support for Arizona and it’s controversial new immigration policy, the conservative activists’ group We the People, California’s Crusader held a rally Saturday along Bear Valley Boulevard.
Raymond Herrera, the group’s president and founder, said he hoped to gather hundreds of signatures for a petition that asks President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to drop a lawsuit against Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070.
“Arizona has taken a moral political stance,” Herrera said. “You have the state trying to support the federal (immigration) law and the commander-in-chief trying to circumvent the law.”
S.B. 1070 requires police in Arizona to verify the citizenship of anyone they suspect might be in the country illegally.
The law has stirred the ire of groups who say it will unfairly target Latinos and result in mass instances of racial profiling.
“I’m 100 percent to not just boycott it, but to boycott those who are supporting Arizona,” said Steve Figueroa, president of Inland Empire Latino Coalition.
The U.S. lawsuit claims only the federal government can enforce immigration law. Herrera says, “The policies of immigration are vested in the House of Representatives. Not Obama. Not Eric Holder.”
The Obama administration isn’t enforcing federal immigration law so states are left with little other recourse, Herrera said.
Figueroa says state’s rights claims have been used before to enforce unjust laws.
“This is the same mentality that supported slavery,” he said. “They can’t overrule the supremacy law.”
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/07/2010 06:35:17 PM PDT
Latino and conservative groups clash over student’s “Mexico” T-shirt
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_15461281?source=rss
BIG BEAR LAKE, CA - A “Mexico” T-shirt worn to support the county’s World Cup soccer team has created a full-blown controversy in the Bear Valley Unified School District.
The mother of the girl who wore the shirt to Big Bear Middle School on June 11 alleges her seventh-grade daughter’s teacher took offense to the shirt and accused her of being an illegal immigrant in front of the class.
Diana Aviles says she and her daughter are U.S. citizens. The teacher later apologized.
The incident has erupted into a battle between anti-illegal immigration activists and Latino groups who say the teacher’s alleged behavior is an example of racism and racial profiling.
At the district’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, members of the conservative activist’s group We The People were expected to speak during public comment. The group opposes illegal immigration and employers who hire and exploit illegal aliens, according to a statement on its Web site.
Ray Herrera, the group’s founder, president and spokesman, says he believes Aviles is an illegal immigrant granted amnesty. He says she’s trying to push a “Mexican agenda” on Americans. She allowed her daughter to attend school with the shirt and owns a Mexican restaurant in Big Bear City that displays a Mexican flag, which Herrera describes as “antagonistic.”
Aviles said it’s not outrageous to have a Mexican flag in a Mexican restaurant. The flag has been taken down because of harassment,
she said. When the Mexican flag was up, she said the American flag was larger and displayed higher.
“I’m not pushing anything political,” Aviles said. “I had a small Mexican flag and a huge American flag, only for the reason that I’m a Mexican-American restaurant. I don’t like people to say I’m not American. This is my country.”
Herrera said Latino groups such as The League of United Latin American Citizens have publicly called the incident an example of racial profiling so it can be cited during it’s fight against Arizona’s SB 1070 law, which requires police in the state to check the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.
“They’ve been campaigning throughout the county on behalf of illegal immigrants,” Herrera said. “This is just a case where they think they’ve found another poster child – another racial profiling story.”
Leroy Martinez, vice president of LULAC Council 3163, said he decided to attend the meeting after he heard the group planned to speak.
“If (Herrera) wants to turn this into an immigration issue that’s his problem,” Martinez said. “The reality is you have an American student who was profiled.”
A statement from the district says it’s investigating allegations from a student that a teacher made racist remarks against her during a class. The statement then says the district will not comment on the findings of the investigation until it’s completed.
Aviles says the teacher should be fired. She wants her daughter to be moved to another class if the teacher remains at the school.
“I’m angry,” Aviles said. “Why should it be turned into a political thing when this is about a child who is being ridiculed? That teacher showed hatred in the class.”
The teacher’s apology is enough and the investigation should be dropped so the matter doesn’t distract students, Herrera said.
michael.sorba@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-386-3872
Rally against amnesty targets Dreier
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_15441667
SAN DIMAS – A sit-in by immigration activists at Rep. David Dreier’s office in June motivated some of his anti-illegal-immigration constituents to stage their own demonstration.
Activists from anti-illegal immigration groups and people opposing amnesty staged a rally outside Dreier’s San Dimas office Friday calling for his public support of Arizona’s immigration law.
“We wanted express his constituents’ support for the Arizona law, and we absolutely oppose amnesty or any form of legalization,” said Robin Hvidston, a member of We The People California’s Crusader, a Claremont-based anti- illegal-immigration group.
The law, which takes effect July 29, allows police in Arizona to check the immigration status of people they think might be in the country illegally.
Hvidston was accompanied by members of Derail Amnesty, Tea Party members and others who are against amnesty.
A petition was available that called for Dreier, a Republican, to publicly support the Arizona law.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, has come out in favor of the law. A copy of his statement was available to view at the rally.
“We have studied the polls, and there’s broad support for the Arizona immigration law, so Congressman Dreier would be representing his constituents if he would take a stand in favor of the Arizona immigration law,” Hvidston said.
The group also opposed the immigration speech President Barack Obama gave on Thursday.
“A lot of our activists were not happy with the speech,” Hvidston said. “We want our border secured and our laws upheld, and Obama stumped for legalizing people that are breaking our laws when we have more than 60 million American citizens looking for jobs.”
Some of the group had an appointment with members of Dreier’s staff to discuss the issue. In an e-mailed statement, Jo Maney, Dreier’s press secretary, said Dreier shares citizens’ concerns over the unsecured border.
“The most important priority in any immigration reform debate must be securing the border first,” she said. “Unfortunately, President Obama’s speech placed too little emphasis on this unfulfilled federal responsibility.”
Illegal entry not punished
Prosecutors say they lack resources, facilities
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 07/04/2010 10:27:02 PM PDT
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_15442032?source=rss_viewed
It’s illegal to enter the United States without permission. At least technically.
Improper entry by an immigrant is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison. A second offense is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison.
But in practice, it’s treated much less seriously.
“We basically do not prosecute that offense,” said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. “Essentially, if you’re an illegal alien and you come across the border and we find you, we almost never do anything.”
Indeed, in 2008, the most recent year for which information is available, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California – which includes San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties – didn’t prosecute a single person for simple illegal entry.
The lack of prosecutions is just a sign that, as lawmakers have said, U.S. immigration policy is broken and doesn’t satisfy those on either side of the debate.
Illegal immigrants who are found and detained by federal officials are often deported but rarely charged with the crime of entering the country illegally. That usually only happens, Mrozek said, when an illegal immigrant has been convicted of a felony and has returned to the U.S. after being deported.
“It always comes after that person has been convicted of some other offense – drug trafficking, burglary,” Mrozek said. “What we’ve decided to do is focus on the worst of the worst.” In 2008, the Central District filed charges in 699 felony illegal immigration cases.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, part of the Department of Justice, isn’t the only federal agency that deals with illegal immigration. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, can detain and deport immigrants, but it does not charge illegal immigrants with a crime.
In many cases, illegal immigrants from Mexico and Canada are allowed to go home without being formally deported.
In a speech Thursday, President Barack Obama acknowledged that illegal entry, even if it isn’t treated as a crime per se, is a violation of U.S. law.
“Ultimately, our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders and set laws for residency and citizenship,” Obama said. “And no matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million (illegal immigrants in the U.S.) who broke these laws should be held accountable.”
The nation’s patchwork of immigration enforcement techniques doesn’t seem to please the president or anyone else.
Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, who has been a vocal advocate of allowing illegal immigrants in the U.S. an opportunity to become citizens, says illegal immigrants should not be seen as criminals.
“The hard-working men and women who are here to make a better way of life for their families are not criminals,” Baca said. “They are an embodiment of the American dream.”
Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, which provides legal aid to immigrants, said he has concerns about how ICE enforces immigration laws, specifically that the agency will deport people without taking into account the families they are leaving behind.
“I think enforcement should recognize that people come from mixed families,” he said, meaning families in which some members are illegal immigrants while some are citizens or legal residents. “Before expelling people from the country, I think family unification, morally, should play a role.”
But Raymond Herrera – president of anti-illegal-immigration group We the People, California’s Crusader – said it’s not acceptable for illegal immigrants to carry on without being punished.
Federal officials, Herrera said, “took the law and said we’re only going to go after criminals – but they’re all criminals.”
He said those who want to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens and ignore the crime of illegal entry might think illegal immigration is a victimless crime.
“The federal government says there’s no victim, but that illegal alien displaced an American worker,” Herrera said. “I’m a victim, but nobody is looking to prosecute the criminal.”
He said federal officials should find illegal immigrants, charge them and deport them.
But Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, said the federal government isn’t even doing enough to remove illegal immigrants who have committed other crimes.
“We can’t even prosecute some of the most egregious,” Miller said. “Let’s prosecute the people who are coming here and committing crimes.”
Mrozek said prosecuting every illegal immigrant in the country – estimates range from 11 million to 30 million – or even the Central District of California would require a lot more resources than his office has.
“If we wanted to, every single prosecutor in our office could do nothing but immigration crimes,” he said. “There’s enough business, so to speak, to keep those people more than occupied.”
But he said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has other priorities: international smuggling, organized crime, tax evasion.
“If we had thousands of prosecutors and the (federal) Bureau of Prisons had infinite beds and we had who knows how many courtrooms, yeah, all these cases could theoretically be dealt with,” Mrozek said. “We have what we have, and we do the best we can to deal with the criminal problems that exist in our district.”
Herrera, though, said a lack of manpower or resources isn’t a good argument for letting thousands of criminals off the hook.
“When they tell you they can’t afford to enforce the law, they’re saying we have a state of anarchy,” he said.
ACLU warns travelers about Arizona law
Created: 06/30/2010 05:09:01 PM PDT
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_15413590
In the face of an Arizona immigration law that has ignited fierce debate across the country, the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday issued an alert to travelers headed to the state, informing them of their rights when stopped by law enforcement there.
“California residents need to know their rights and the dangers of traveling to Arizona before setting foot there,” said Hector Villagra, legal director for the ACLU of Southern California.
Arizona’s S.B. 1070 requires law enforcement officers to verify the immigration status of people they suspect might be in the country illegally.
The ACLU says the law is unconstitutional in that it subjects people to warrantless arrests without any probable cause that they have committed a crime.
The ACLU has posted information in English and Spanish on its website informing people of their rights if they are stopped by an Arizona law enforcement officer.
The information states, in part:
“If you are not a U.S. citizen and an immigration agent requests your immigration papers, you must show them if you have them with you. If you are over 18, carry your immigration documents with you at all times. If you do not have immigration papers, say you want to remain silent. Do not lie about your citizenship status or provide fake documents.”
The materials include a downloadable card with instructions on how to handle vehicle stops and questioning by police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or the FBI.
Illegal-immigration opponents said Wednesday the Arizona law only reinforces federal law, and that the ACLU’s efforts serve to embolden Americans who are fed up with illegal immigration.
“The American people are on fire with immigration laws and they are on fire with supporting Arizona,” said Raymond Herrera, founder and president of Claremont-based We The People, California’s Crusader.
Although the Arizona law is not scheduled to go into effect until July 29, ACLU officials said they are concerned that some law enforcement officers may already be acting on provisions of the law.
ACLU officials said Arizona has created a hostile environment for Latinos so that they and other people of color would voluntarily leave the state.
In the advisory, Villagra said, “Every Californian should know that under Arizona’s misguided laws, they will likely experience racial profiling and unlawful detentions.
Local immigration activists applauded the alert.
“We have been advising our constituents of their rights,” said Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to immigrants. “I agree with what they are doing.”
Amaya said his group has asked immigrants to contact them if they have had problems in Arizona, but none have done so thus far.
Herrera suggested illegal immigrants should be more concerned about the ACLU’s advisory.
“If they follow what the ACLU tells them, they will be arrested, detained and deported because they did not allow law enforcement to identify them,” Herrera said. “They’re actually getting deeper in the hole.”
