LA TIMES ARTICLE ON IMMIGRATION
Border Security Bill Raises Concerns: Aid groups that assist immigrants — including the undocumented — fear pending federal legislation could criminalize such work.
Anna Gorman,
Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-assist16jan16,1,5652214.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
Standing in front of two dozen immigrants at a town hall meeting in the Pico-Union neighborhood, attorney Robert Foss explained what to do if stopped by la migra.
‘Defend yourself with silence,’ he told the group. ‘A lot of people get deported by their own voices.’
Immigrants go to the Central American Resource Center seeking legal advice, job training and other services. The center has been helping immigrants – many of them undocumented – since it was founded in 1983 by refugees fleeing civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala.
But officials at the center, along with other aid groups and churches, fear that pending congressional legislation could criminalize the work they do helping illegal immigrants. The U.S. Senate is poised to begin debate in February on the legislation, designed to improve border security and crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
The bill would expand the definition of smuggling to include anyone who ‘assists’ or ‘directs’ an illegal immigrant to reside or remain in the United States. Violations could lead to five years in prison.
‘It’s a very cruel bill,’ said the center’s executive director, Angela Sanbrano. ‘We don’t look at people as legal or illegal.. We provide services to the community.’
The bill’s author disputes that it would make criminals out of aid groups that assist illegal immigrants.
‘It’s completely false,’ said Jeff Lungren, spokesman for Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.). ‘That’s not the focus.’
Lungren said the goal was to improve the federal government’s ability to combat immigrant smuggling – not to go after churches and aid groups. Such organizations, he said, were trying to mislead the public about the intent of the law.
But Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, said he believed the provision also would give prosecutors a way to go after religious or human rights groups that were ‘promoting illegal immigration but doing so under the cover of legitimate activity.’
‘Anyone who is promoting illegal immigration is doing something wrong,’
Krikorian said.
Because the wording of the smuggling provision is vague, aid organizations question whether it could also apply to church leaders, attorneys, tax preparers, employers, banks, doctors or even family members. They say running day-laborer centers or teaching English to immigrants could lead to criminal prosecution.
Antonio Gonzalez, who arrived from Mexico in 1981, has a green card, but his wife and 16-year-old son are here illegally. Gonzalez worries that if the bill becomes law, he could be thrown in jail for helping family members.
‘It’s an unjust law that shouldn’t pass,’ said Gonzalez, 39. ‘They are treating us like criminals.’
The U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops has joined the campaign against the bill, writing letters to legislators and speaking out against the provision.
The bishops believe that parish and social service staff members – who represent immigrants in court, run day-laborer centers and offer shelter to immigrant youths – could be at risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs.
‘We think it is an extreme measure,’ said Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego of the San Bernardino Diocese. ‘We cannot criminalize acts of kindness, acts of assistance to people in great need.’
For the rest of the article, which proceeds to quote our own HIROSHI MOTOMURA, click on the link above
KJ