Washington Post: To Illegal Immigrants, Md. Feeling Less Friendly

To Illegal Immigrants, Md. Feeling Less Friendly

By Pamela Constable and Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; B01

Public anger against illegal immigrants, already entrenched in parts of Northern Virginia, is seeping into Maryland. With legislators facing unprecedented demands to take action, fears of a crackdown are spreading among illegal immigrants in a state that has been more tolerant of them.

A record 20 bills targeting illegal immigrants have been introduced in the state legislature this session. Although none of the bills is expected to survive, their supporters are far more vocal and organized than in the past, and the movement has gained recent support in Maryland communities that include Mount Rainier, Gaithersburg and Taneytown.

"If there is any doubt that people like me truly represent the overwhelming majority on this issue, show some courage and put it on a referendum," Margaret Montuori of Bethesda told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing last week.

Last fall, a Washington Post poll found that about half of Maryland residents considered illegal immigration a problem and that Marylanders were more apt than Virginians to call it a "very serious" problem. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed said they wanted state and local government to take an active role in dealing with the issue.

The clamor is causing alarm among the thousands of day laborers, dishwashers and babysitters who live and work without legal papers in Maryland and who are beginning to see refugees from Virginia in the busy Latino enclaves along the bus routes of Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

"Everywhere you go now, the first thing they ask you for is papers," Juan Perez, 28, a Central American construction worker, said outside a gas station in Langley Park one recent morning. "We do the work faster and cheaper, but no one wants us now. I haven't sent any money home to my family since December, and I can barely pay to sleep in my friend's apartment."

Just across University Boulevard, a battered sedan with Virginia tags pulled up in front of a convenience store. The driver, a carpenter from Guatemala named Raul Romano, 40, said he and his family had recently fled Prince William County, their home for eight years, after it enacted a law allowing police to question immigrants about their legal status.

"Now I am too scared to go back and return my license plates," said Romano, who has lived illegally in the United States for 18 years. "I left my job, my apartment, my daughters left their school. Now, here we are in Maryland, starting over again. We don't know anyone, but it's safer for the moment. Tomorrow, it might be a different story."

The 20 bills introduced in Annapolis -- a sharp increase from three last year -- include proposals that would require driver's license applicants to prove they are lawfully in the country, voters to confirm their legal status at the polls and local governments to enforce federal immigration laws.
Legislators said most have no chance of passage in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. Some have been killed in committee, and most others are expected to languish until the legislature adjourns next month.

"The voices are louder, but I doubt a single piece of legislation will get through," said Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Mont). She said opponents of illegal immigration are "better organized now, but they are not convincing the hearts and minds of the people. Maryland is still an immigrant-friendly environment."

Activists against illegal immigration said the legislature is out of touch with public frustration and concern. During hearings in the past two weeks, residents have testified that illegal immigrants are inundating schools, hospitals and suburban neighborhoods and warned that they might bring disease and terrorism.

Opponents also appear to have stalled legislation to give in-state college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants. The measure won approval in both chambers in 2003 before being vetoed by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). Last year, the House again passed it, but it stalled in the Senate. This year, it is not expected to emerge from a House committee.

"We have more people than we ever expected getting involved. They are mad, but until now, they didn't know what to do about it," said Brad Botwin, a Rockville resident who chairs the activist group Help Save Maryland. "For the first time, the delegates and senators are hearing the majority view on the impact of illegal immigrants on our state."

The atmosphere in some hearings has been tense and heated. In the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George's), one activist distributed fake "wanted" posters of Vallario wearing a sombrero.

A construction worker who attended another hearing was arrested afterward for allegedly threatening by e-mail to strangle Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). The man's wife said he was upset after losing work to illegal immigrants.

Susan Payne, an activist from Montgomery County, warned lawmakers that terrorists could threaten the state if obtaining a driver's license is not made more difficult. She also lashed out at CASA of Maryland, a nonprofit group that advocates immigrant rights, calling its staff "paid lobbyists" for a "special interest group."

Kim Propeack, a CASA lobbyist who helped bring dozens of Latinos to the Annapolis hearings, said her organization was trying to counter the "ugliness" of a small activist group by presenting real immigrants and their problems.

Among the scores of illegal laborers who congregate in parking lots and at CASA job centers in Wheaton and Langley Park each morning, the fact that no laws are likely to be passed against them soon does little to ease the growing frustration and fear.

County police officers cruise the parking lots frequently and often give the laborers warnings for loitering. They do not ask for proof of legal residency, and police officials said their policy is to check legal status only if someone has been arrested and charged with breaking another law. But the men know that this has begun happening in Prince William, and they worry it could start affecting them, too.

They are also concerned about the small but growing exodus of illegal immigrants from Virginia. Some are showing up at the same day-laborer sites, adding to the competition. In Langley Park Plaza one recent mid-morning, two dozen idle men said they had been waiting for work since 6:30. Several said they had considered returning to their homelands but were embarrassed to face their families.

"I walked for 40 days across the desert; I was hungry and thirsty; my feet were swollen. I miss my children, but how can I go back with nothing?" said Angel Cervantes, 33, a Mexican father of three. "I know I am here illegally, but I believe in following the law. I never drink or even get a parking ticket," he said. "If the day comes when they deport me, I want to go home with honor."
Nearby, a white unmarked van circled the parking lot, cruising for a quick household moving job. The driver, a Mexican without legal papers who gave his name as Gerardo, said he had just gotten a police ticket for parking illegally and was relieved that the officer had not asked him for proof of legal residence.

"Look around at this plaza. See how much life we Latinos have created here," Gerardo said.

"There's my bank. There's my insurance agent. That's where I buy my groceries. I used to have a good moving business with my truck, but every day it is harder to find workers. They are all scared of being arrested now. I am illegal, too, but I don't hurt anyone. I am helping this community grow. We all are. Just look around!"

Montgomery County Chambers of Commerce - Will you help employers follow the law?

March 20, 2008

From:

Help Save Maryland
P.O. Box 5742
Rockville, MD 20855


To:

African American Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County
Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce
Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce
Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County
Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce
Olney Chamber of Commerce
Poolesville Area Chamber of Commerce
Potomac Chamber of Commerce Inc.
Rockville Chamber of Commerce
Rockville Economic Development Inc.
Wheaton-Kensington Chamber of Commerce
Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce


Dear Montgomery County Business Organization Leaders:

My name is Brad Botwin and I’m the Director of Help Save Maryland, a multi-ethnic, grass roots citizens’ organization with members across 14 Maryland Counties and growing. We are Democrats, Republicans and Independents; Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians and Indians. Our main goal is to eliminate the use of our tax dollars on programs and services for illegal aliens in Maryland. www.HelpSaveMaryland.com

On March 13, 2008, your business organization counterparts in Anne Arundel County, in coordination with state and local government organizations, hosted a half-day event titled “Foreign Workers Employment Practice Workshop”. Sponsored by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation and 10 other groups, the event focused on lawful employment practices involving foreign workers. This included worker identity verification and the use of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-Verify System; compliance with federal employment laws; and liability issues for hiring unauthorized aliens. See the attached event flyer and web site for further details.

My question is simple. When are the local business leaders and related organizations in Montgomery County going to develop and host a similar event regarding lawful practices for hiring foreign workers? An event like this is desperately needed in Montgomery County because of the growing illegal alien population. Lack of effective leadership by county and state elected officials, and related law enforcement authorities, have clearly contributed to the problem.

Under the administration of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, with the full support of Council President Mike Knapp, programs and services for illegal aliens have rapidly expanded. Taxpayer-funded Day Laborer Centers, run by the non-profit CASA of Maryland, attract and cater to workers who are in the country illegally. Leggett and Knapp have ignored requests to require CASA of Maryland to check the workers for legal presence in the United States at any of the multiple Day Laborer sites in Montgomery County. Legal businesses, potentially some of your members, who utilize the centers are unknowingly hiring unauthorized aliens and could be subject to prosecution under the law.

In addition, Leggett and Knapp want to go a step further and are now pushing legislation which would require homeowners to sign contracts with “domestic workers” (nurses, maids and others). As with Day Laborers, unfortunately many of these domestic workers are also in the country illegally. Citizens could also be subject to prosecution under the law by unknowingly entering into contracts, hiring and harboring illegal workers.

I believe it’s time for our business leaders to step forward and take a leadership role in the community regarding lawful hiring practices. A proposed “Foreign Workers Employment Practice Workshop” in Montgomery County would be an important first joint action by the various local Chambers and related organizations.

I look forward to a response to my question from each of the 13 organizations listed above. I can be reached at HelpSaveMaryland@yahoogroups.com . Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Brad Botwin, Director
Help Save Maryland

The Dilution of our Citizenship and Branding of America

The Tentacle - Frederick County

March 24, 2008
The Dilution of our Citizenship and Branding of America

Steven R. Berryman

Membership has its rewards! Just ask major credit card providers. Citizenship in America is much the same way. When we “brand” America, in the demographic sense, citizenship should be the upgrade, and it should not be provided with no strings attached!

This fee premium status of citizenship must have a cost and an associated status if we are to maintain the value in being one in America. No guest cards. No trial programs.

The vast majority of Americans today became citizens as a birthright simply by having been smart enough to choose the right parents. For some strange reason, it does not matter whether the parents themselves are citizens. Under our current system, you are just as legal either way.

The political and social indoctrination program in America is fostered by our public school system, which is highly regulated and stylized. We don’t view the Pledge of Allegiance as propaganda – although theoretically it could qualify as such – because we accept and believe it to be fundamental to as a unified people.

The nature of our schools curriculum itself lends the lessons of citizenship. It is up to the parents of citizens to reinforce them and to drive it home. In the example of the illegal immigrant with a new child, this is a problem.

Knowing our historical lessons, the price others have paid, and the extent of our freedoms and rights are all part of teaching the appreciation that is a necessary step in citizenship.

The incentives to achieve “de facto” citizenship in Maryland are manifest. Jobs, education, relative safety, and emergency room healthcare are but a few.

A worsening global economic state will continue to make us a desirable destination for refugees. Once in country here, pressures at the state level will offer further reasons for those illegals currently concentrated in places like Arizona and Virginia to head for Maryland.

Our drivers’ license lacks the test of citizenship, at least for now. This makes the advent of the “anchor baby” all that more feasible as a tactic. The anchor baby becomes the excuse to not process other family members and return them to their countries of origin, if for example they are discovered to be illegal and without a green card or a visa if arrested.

Conferring citizenship without the education and lessons is a disservice for those taking the legal but difficult steps of the process.

But is this citizenship the reason for the enormous influx of illegals from Mexico and Central and South America? They originate from there because we are connected by a land-bridge. Do they love our Constitution and freedoms that much and seek to become legal citizens? A love of democracy? No!

The above is a fallacy, and maybe is our fantasy. The truth is that many – if not most – illegals find relative economic prosperity here and send money home. When they stay in America, citizenship is not their goal.

To complicate the matter, our citizenship process is broken, and terribly cumbersome. There is no political will now to improve the situation, especially during an election year.

Perhaps if there were a path, there would be more interest. Until then, our legislators are under pressure to offer services on a humanitarian basis, which is bankrupting us. Illegals form pressure groups and circumvent the system.

We lack the political will for a solution that covers all aspects of the enforcement of our immigration laws, a humanitarian answer to those already here, and a way to stop the bleeding at the borders. And the fact is that we do need a workable program for those wanting to work in America without becoming citizens. But on our terms!

Without addressing these real problems, now getting much worse, we loose out in the value of our own citizenship via the dilution of the brand of being American.

One right we have as legal citizens is the right to be apathetic. Truly, in some countries one can be sent to jail for not voting! Just do nothing and still complain.

Another right we have as legal citizens is the right to speak out, to petition, to contact our legislators and elected representatives and to organize as groups with common interests about common problems.

I prefer the latter.

School health centers take priority over education at some MCPS schools

Today's Examiner reports that some Montgomery County schools, such as Summit Hall Elementary in Gaithersburg, are having to put students in trailers in order to make space for medical clinics that serve low-income families.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Montgomery leaders are spending millions to construct health care centers inside schools for children from low-income families, upsetting some residents who are frustrated that space is made for the facilities while classes meet in portable trailers outside.

In July, Summit Hall Elementary School in Gaithersburg will debut the county’s fifth school-based health and wellness center, which cost $1.6 million to construct and will cost about $300,000 a year to operate.

“Many young families don’t have easy access to transportation,” said Judy Covich, director of school health services for Montgomery’s Health and Human Services department. “When parents don’t have to take off from work to take a child to the doctor, there is a real advantage.”

But some people who’ve worked in Summit Hall have expressed frustration the county is building an addition to house a health center, but the school has five portable trailers for classes and the school system as a whole has 470 relocatable classrooms.

“My feelings are that schools are for education,” said an educator who asked that her name not be used for job security concerns. “Before you start a health center, get kids in classrooms inside the building.”

See the Examiner article for the full story.