Illegal Protest

This needs to be filed under “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” Sadly, it is actually going to spur HEARINGS from the House Judiciary Committee because now Rep Zoe Lofgren apparently does NOT understand how the laws in this country work and that you cannot claim ignorance of the laws and escape punishment. That fact is codified in the statement I have heard ALL MY LIFE from law enforcement and it goes like this :

IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE

If this is allowed to go as far as HEARINGS by our so-called political representatives in Congress, it will be yet another blow to the rule of law in this country, as our so-called political representatives debate whether or not we need to hold illegal aliens to the same legal standards as citizens. Yes folks, that is the only thing that can come from this. It really could happen that even at our highest levels of government, illegal aliens will be excused from their illegal behavior “because they didn’t know it was illegal”. Meanwhile, you and I are held to the standard of “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.

We need to NIP THIS ONE IN THE BUD folks and I provide contact information for the culprits behind this farce as well as a link to contact info on ALL the House Judiciary Committe members and let’s get the phones ringing off the hook. Make no mistake about it, if these Postville illegal aliens are allowed to say that they “didn’t know it was illegal to use the Social Security Card with someone else’s name on it” it will open the door to all illegal aliens claiming ignorance of our laws as a way to escape punishment. Rep Zoe Lofgren SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HERSELF. But then again she comes from San Francisco where there are very few laws which are followed apparently.

Thanks to Michael Cutler for alerting me and others to this article in the New York Times.

An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants ( where’s my tiny violin? )

In 23 years as a certified Spanish interpreter for federal courts, Erik Camayd-Freixas has spoken up in criminal trials many times, but the words he uttered were rarely his own.

Then he was summoned here by court officials to translate in the hearings for nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers arrested in a raid on May 12 at a meatpacking plant. Since then, Mr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, has taken the unusual step of breaking the code of confidentiality among legal interpreters about their work.

In a 14-page essay he circulated among two dozen other interpreters who worked here, Professor Camayd-Freixas wrote that the immigrant defendants whose words he translated, most of them villagers from Guatemala, did not fully understand the criminal charges they were facing or the rights most of them had waived.

In the essay and an interview, Professor Camayd-Freixas said he was taken aback by the rapid pace of the proceedings and the pressure prosecutors brought to bear on the defendants and their lawyers by pressing criminal charges instead of deporting the workers immediately for immigration violations.

He said defense lawyers had little time or privacy to meet with their court-assigned clients in the first hectic days after the raid. Most of the Guatemalans could not read or write, he said. Most did not understand that they were in criminal court.

“The questions they asked showed they did not understand what was going on,” Professor Camayd-Freixas said in the interview. “The great majority were under the impression they were there because of being illegal in the country, not because of Social Security fraud.”

During fast-paced hearings in May, 262 of the illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in one week and were sentenced to prison — most for five months — for knowingly using false Social Security cards or legal residence documents to gain jobs at the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in nearby Postville. It was the largest criminal enforcement operation ever carried out by immigration authorities at a workplace.

The essay has provoked new questions about the Agriprocessors proceedings, which had been criticized by criminal defense and immigration lawyers as failing to uphold the immigrants’ right to due process. Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said she would hold a hearing on the prosecutions and call Professor Camayd-Freixas as a witness.

“The essay raises questions about whether the charges brought were supported by the facts,” Ms. Lofgren said.

Bob Teig, a spokesman for Matt M. Dummermuth, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, said the immigrants’ constitutional rights were not compromised.

Read more

Here is contact information for the two main culprits in this ridiculous fiasco as well as a link to the House Judiciary Committee so that you can contact and perhaps find some on that committee with some COMMON SENSE and urge them NOT TO HOLD HEARINGS ON THIS SUBJECT!!!

Erik Camayd-Freixas - Florida International University
Phone: 305-348-6222
Second Phone: 305-348-2851
Email

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Washington DC Phone: 202-225-3072
CA District Phone: 408-271-8700
Email

House Judiciary Committee Members

Democrats:

* John Conyers (Mich.), Chairman
* Howard L. Berman (Calif.)
* Rick Boucher (Va.)
* Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.)
* Robert C. Scott (Va.)
* Melvin L. Watt (N.C.)
* Zoe Lofgren (Calif.)
* Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas)
* Maxine Waters (Calif.)
* Martin T. Meehan (Mass.)
* William D. Delahunt (Mass.)
* Robert Wexler (Fla.)
* Linda Sanchez (Calif.)
* Steve Cohen (Tenn.)
* Hank Johnson (Ga.)
* Luis Gutierrez (Ill.)
* Brad Sherman (Calif.)
* Anthony D. Weiner (N.Y.)
* Adam B. Schiff (Calif.)
* Artur Davis (Ala.)
* Keith Ellison (Minn.)

Republicans:

* Lamar S. Smith (Texas), Ranking Member
* Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.)
* Howard Coble (N.C.)
* Elton Gallegly (Calif.)
* Bob Goodlatte (Va.)
* Steve Chabot (Ohio)
* Dan Lungren (Calif.)
* Chris Cannon (Utah)
* Ric Keller (Fla.)
* Darrell Issa (Calif.)
* Mike Pence (Ind.)
* J. Randy Forbes (Va.)
* Steve King (Iowa)
* Tom Feeney (Fla.)
* Trent Franks (Ariz.)
* Louie Gohmert (Texas)
* Jim Jordan (Ohio)

Related posts on Postville Iowa raids here and here

Digger over at Digger’s Realm put together an awesome video analysis of the story NBC San Diego did on the National Council of THE RACE Convention being held in San Diego this week. The NBC story was being passed off as “objective news” but it was more like a nice little PR piece for NCLR. In fact, it seems the Mayor of San Diego was busy whoring himself at the feet of NCLR and the imaginary powerful Latino vote like a cheap hooker, by proclaiming July 8th as “NCLR Day”. How nice! A racist, separatist pro-Latino screw everyone else group is being honored with their own day. Well scratch San Diego off my list of cities I ever want to visit because apparently it has been bought and paid for by Mexico and NCLR. How disgusting!

I visited San Diego in the late 70’s and it was a cool, hip place with lots of American “hippie” types. I suppose now it looks more like Mexico. How sad.

Digger does an EXCELLENT job at dissecting the media bias in the short piece. You will learn how to spot the media bias in other stories after you watch his educational video.

Here’s the YouTube video by Digger that you absolutely must see!

Wow there is actually a judge left who has some common sense and is not completely on the side of open borders globalists? Patriotic Americans everywhere should celebrate this victory! It shines a harsh light on those who sought to squelch the free speech and rights of the San Diego Minutemen as well as shows that their efforts to brand the SDMM as “racists” has failed miserably.. because.. well.. there is NO PROOF. You cannot just make claims like that without facts and proof and I hope SDMM takes Caltrans to the CLEANERS and then puts that money to good use in taking back this country for AMERICANS!

Caltrans officials are reviewing a federal judge’s decision ordering it to reinstate an Adopt-A-Highway permit for the San Diego Minutemen to conduct highway shoulder cleanups on Interstate 5 next to the Border Patrol’s San Clemente checkpoint.

Meanwhile, the anti-illegal immigration activists, who sued the transportation agency alleging free-speech discrimination in February over the removal of their Adopt-A-Highway sign and their reassignment to another location, are awaiting permission to schedule cleanups along the two-mile stretch of northbound I-5 it had adopted.

“We can’t do a cleanup unless we have a permit to encroach upon the freeway,” said Howard Kaloogian, the group’s attorney. “There has to be a permit issued and a sign acknowledging the permit.”

Caltrans has 30 days to restore the sign. Meanwhile, the activists are celebrating their court victory as they wait.

“We were hoping that the fight would be worth it,” said Jeff Schwilk, the group’s leader. “It really comes down to free speech. We’re thrilled.”

The San Diego Minutemen were granted the stretch of I-5 by Caltrans in November, after first applying for a spot on state Route 78, which was taken. After being assigned the spot by the immigration checkpoint – a coincidence, according to Caltrans – Schwilk sent out messages to members about their luck.

“How great is that?!” Schwilk wrote in one e-mail.

The proximity to the checkpoint was disturbing to local Latino groups and some state legislators, who criticized Caltrans for granting the permit. According to Caltrans guidelines, the program bars groups that advocate “discrimination based upon race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry,” among other things; the group has maintained that it does not discriminate.

Citing safety concerns that might arise if the group were targeted by opponents, Caltrans reassigned the activists to a stretch of state Route 52 near Santee, which they refused to take.

Yesterday, local critics of the San Diego Minutemen said they were disappointed by the ruling, which the judge issued last week.

“Although I understand it, we remain with the opinion that the Minuteman organization is using the Adopt-A-Highway program as a method of advertising their extremist agenda,” said Bill Flores, a retired San Diego County assistant sheriff who is now a spokesman for El Grupo, a North County coalition that includes local chapters of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the NAACP and others.

Hey idiot! What exactly is EXTREMIST about wanting our country to NOT BE INVADED BY FOREIGNERS WHO COME HERE ILLEGALLY? You want to see EXTREMIST take a nice look at the Reconquistas in Los Angeles and the racists politicians who are promoting the “Latino agenda” to the exclusion of ALL OTHER RACES EXCEPT LATINOS. That is what I call EXTREMIST.

Kaloogian said yesterday that while the group is pleased with the ruling, a preliminary injunction in the First Amendment case, it will pursue the lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages.
“The preliminary injunction having been issued is a very good sign for us,” he said.

Full article at SignOnSanDiego  (you can comment there)

Here is what I have to say about this. The most important point to realize here and to expose the blatant lies and finger pointing of the pro-illegals in this situation, is that CALTRANS WAS THE ONE WHO GAVE I-5 TO THE SDMM. They did not campaign for that stretch of highway. It was just a stroke of pure luck. So how in the WORLD can that be using that stretch of highway to further “their extremist agenda” WHEN IT WASN’T EVEN THEIR IDEA?????

It is just plain wrong for American taxpayers to foot the bill to educate the children of illegal aliens, whether they be illegal aliens themselves or they were born here and wrongfully given citizenship.

Turning them into citizens is NOT THE ANSWER. Giving away citizenship like they are raffle tickets CHEAPENS the value of becoming an American citizen and spits in the face of those LEGAL immigrants who are going about the process legally.

These people at the NEA are supposed to be smart people who are teaching our children but it appears they don’t have the common sense of DIRT. Did any of them notice that the 1986 amnesty only increased the problem of illegal immigration? Do any of them understand history and how not knowing it we are destined to repeat it? It’s a case of BEEN THERE DONE THAT. Giving “amnesty” to illegal aliens by “adjusting their status” after they have come here KNOWING THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW BY DOING SO only rewards their illegal behavior and the illegal behavior of millions of future illegal aliens.

Their “vision” of educating illegal aliens and promoting their education smacks of terribly clouded judgement. Who the heck is going to pay for all this huh? Do they realize that the illegal alien families are a BURDEN on communities where they settle? Do they realize that they do not contribute to the TAX BASE that funds the community schools? Turning them into citizens is not going to help solve that either because these illegal alien families are dirt poor, uneducated adults with barely a 4th grade education and they will never rise above the minimum wage. Yes a few may do so but they will be few and far between. The majority of illegal aliens coming here as they do across the border, will always be landscape workers or hotel maids or dishwashers. Is that the caliber of people we need more of?? NOOOO! Talk about self-limiting stupidity!

Here is what I suggest. If these teachers care so much about educating these people from other countries - why don’t the go to those countries and teach?! We cannot afford to bring all the poor people of the world here to make their lives better. I do not feel guilty that I have a better life than a lot of people in the world. Apparently these teachers are buying into the “equalization of wealth” socialist plan and it is very scary that they are teaching OUR CHILDREN!!! Yay for home schooling! My grandmother, who was a schoolteacher, would be outraged at what is happening with teachers and schools in this country.

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Some of the almost 10,000 members of the National Education Association (NEA) attending the teachers union’s annual conference this week in the nation’s capital spoke out on the issues they hope their lobbyists will fight for during next year’s legislative session, including the establishment of a peace academy, in-state college tuition and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who graduate from high school.

Susie Jablinske, a first grade teacher at Central Elementary School in Edgewater, Md., said children who are in the country illegally should have the same educational rights as American children.

Oh really? So I guess Susie, you think it is pointless to control immigration or have immigration laws then huh? And I have news for you Susie, we already DO give illegal alien children the same rights to education as American children and THAT my friend, has to STOP. Free education and jobs that pay more than they do in their country ARE THE MAGNET for illegal aliens to come here and it HAS TO STOP if we are to stop and start reducing illegal immigration.

She proposed that the NEA add the following words to its resolution to develop programs to help minority students become college graduates, regardless of immigration status: “Access to higher education and in-state tuition, regardless of immigration status, as well as paths to legalization to undocumented high school graduates,” Jablinske proposed.

She said as many as 65,000 graduates from U.S. public high schools are “undocumented,” even if they don’t know it.

Do the math. It is estimated that each student costs the US around $10,000.00 a YEAR. So with 65,000 students who do not belong here, taxpayers have spent around $650 MILLION a YEAR on educating children who are from other countries and are not supposed to be here. That takes away from spending that money on OUR OWN CHILDREN.

“Many of them actually didn’t even know they were undocumented until they started applying for a driver’s license or financial aid for college,” she said.

Outgoing NEA President Reg Weaver, in an interview with The Hill newspaper in February, said that the NEA - with a membership of 3.2 million - plans to spend $40-$50 million to help get candidates who will help advance its agenda in the 2008 election, including the union’s endorsement and support for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

So there you have it. The NEA supports Barack Obama which means if he becomes our President you better get ready to give up even more of your hard earned dollars educating, feeding and employing illegal aliens so they can have their American Dream. How nice. I wonder how much brainwashing of students will be going on to get them to accept the socialist policies of Barack Obama?

“We plan to be very aggressive,” Weaver said in the interview, citing at least 25 House and nine Senate races around the country the NEA supports.

Read the full article

H/T to Pat in New Jersey and Dr Gayle Kesselmen of NJCIC for sending the article to me in email.