California is the national battleground on the issue of immigration and anti-immigrant groups seem to crop up on a weekly basis to battle it out with pro-immigrant groups. Suddenly there are the Mothers against illegals who collaborate with the Watchdog. In the meantime the Minutemen set out on a caravan to DC and set out battle cry to "Build a Fence"!
Day Laborers recently won a legal battle in the City of Redondo Beach. The city is prohibited from arresting workers who look for jobs on publicside walks. The legal victory stems from a suit filed on behalf of Day Laborers who in a 2004 crackdown by city officials led to the arrest of 60 workers. The workers were arrested under an ordinance aimed at controlling traffic. The judge ruled that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it was too broad and might also apply to "people hailing taxis or even girl scouts selling cookies on the street".
Nevertheless the fact that Congress has failed to resolve the issue of illegal immigration has contributed to local governments and anti-illegal immigration foes to take matter into their own hands. An anti-illegal immigration activist Joseph Turner of San Bernardino secured the minimum 2,216 signatures to place a ballot measure on the upcoming elections and thus set the stage for a law that would prohibit landlords from renting toillegal immigrants and force day laborers to present proof of legal residency.
In the meantime self-proclaimed pro-immigration advocate Nativo Lopez of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) finds himself on the hot seat by a Spanish language newspaper HOY for collecting donations during the May 1st protest march held in Los Angeles. Nativo Lopez defended his actions saying "the Catholic church also collects donations" and demonstrated little concern about the suspicions his actions have raised within other Latino community organizations.
technorati tags: immigration, protests, minutemen, daylaborers
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