Group wants immigration issues on candidates� minds
So far, presidential candidates bypassed Hazleton, where Mayor Lou Barletta has taken a strong stance on immigration issues.
�We want to raise those issues,� Bhatt said Thursday.
Bhatt and Kaminsky of the New York Immigration Coalition visited Hazleton as part of their road trip to the Democratic National Convention, which begins Monday in Denver.
On their way to Denver, they and their support team of John Akin, Alan Kaplan and John Croes, will pass through places in forefront of the nation�s debate about immigration. They have planned another road trip en route to the Republican convention on Sept. 1 to Sept. 4 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Bhatt and Kaminsky, whose coalition draws together 100 immigrant groups in New York and doesn�t endorse candidates, have the same message whether addressing McCain or Obama.
�Abide by the principles you�ve articulated,� Bhatt said.
�What we�ve seen now,� Kaminsky added, �is a diluting of those principles.�
While the candidates are putting forth messages about the economy, Iraq, gasoline prices and other issues, they have grown quieter about immigration.
McCain�s immigration proposal in 2006 was so in tune with the coalition�s views that he spoke at one of their forums in New York. Now he said he will secure the country�s borders first and in the present climate won�t push for his proposal, which offered illegal immigrants a way to gain legal status, according to the Web Site, Ontheissues.org. McCain also favors deporting the 2 million immigrants who committed crimes.
Obama also favors efforts to secure the border, according to the same Web Site, and says deporting all 12 million illegal immigrants would be impossible.
His immigration plan includes increasing legal immigration, helping Mexico develop jobs to retain workers and letting undocumented immigrants have a chance to become citizens if they pay a fine and learn English.
In the absence of national policies, like either candidate outlined, local and state governments have improvised immigration policies and landed on Bhatt and Kaminsky�s itinerary for their Finding America Tour.
They plan stops in Shenandoah, where illegal immigration has been suggested as a motive in a recent killing there, and Postville, Iowa, where immigration officials raided a meat plant.
Hazleton became a destination because Barletta�s Illegal Immigration Relief Act was among the first attempts to sanction employers who hire or landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, the group said.
Similar sanctions have been proposed in Suffolk County, Long Island, which was the first stop on the New York Immigration Coalition�s tour.
A county executive in Suffolk supports Hazleton-like measures and has received assistance from groups that seek to restrict immigration.
In contrast, neighboring Nassau County managed the latest wave of immigrants differently with help from charities and social service groups, Kaminsky said.
She and Bhutt next pulled into New Haven, Conn., where the city issues identification cards that immigrants can use to open bank accounts and get library cards. A computer chip allows them to use the card like a debit account to pay for parking meters and buy meals at participating businesses.
The later features have led people to use the card, even if they�re not immigrants.
Officials in New Haven hope immigrants will be less vulnerable to robbery if the card helps them use banks more and carry cash less.
New Haven�s ID cards proved more popular than the ill-fated plan last year of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer to issue driver�s licenses to illegal immigrants.
Bhatt said he supported Spitzer�s plan, which he hoped would reduce the number of uninsured motorists.
�Obviously it went through the political lens and ended up being a high-profile issue,� Bhatt said after the proposal received harsh criticism from several sectors and Spitzer dropped it.
In Trenton, N.J., the Finding America tour group talked with a councilman and a state immigration policy worker about the state�s �Don�t Ask, Don�t Tell� policy. Police don�t ask about the immigration status of people. In return, victims of crime and witnesses are less reticent to make reports.
A study commission in New Jersey at the end of the year will make recommendations about immigrant affairs and how to build cohesion between immigrants and other residents, Kaminsky said.
But in New Jersey, she and Bhutt also heard about racial profiling. In this case the victims were cab drivers. Latino cabbies were singled out in a program that policed unauthorized taxi rides, Kaminsky said.
At Riverside, N.J., where they stopped to eat, a restaurant owner told them that business receded when people left after the town passed an ordinance similar to Hazleton�s. Riverside repealed its law after little more than a year, he said. A federal judge ruled Hazleton�s law unconstitutional before it took effect.
Laws to crack down on illegal immigration touch emotions, but don�t provide solutions, Kaminsky said.
�There�s a visceral response: Let�s build jails and round people up,� she said. �It creates the kind of environment that will never address the problem. It addresses the symptoms.�
Raids on workplaces by immigration officials treat one symptom, but also cause others, such as anguish for families.
�We deported 280,000 people last year. At that rate, it will still take 50 years,� Kaminsky said.
She and Bhutt said the United States doesn�t have detention centers for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants and couldn�t replace their role in the economy.
Instead of trying to deport the 12 million, the country should offer them a path toward citizenship, Kaminsky and Bhutt said.
They prefer policies that offer low-skilled workers more opportunities to enter America legally and foster safety for them once they are on the job.
For families, the New York Coalition advocates shortening the time that people must wait to rejoin their relatives.
�Ultimately,� Kaminsky said, �these things can�t be dealt with at a local level.�
kjackson@standardspeaker.com
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