June 09, 2005

De-Magnetize Tennessee Rally

I attended the De-Magnetize Tennessee Rally against illegal aliens held at Centennial Park this evening. The turnout was excellent and was even better than I had expected.

Speakers ranged from state legislators Beth Harwell, Donna Rowland, Bill Ketron, Jim Bryson, (and lots more) to Michael Leon a member of the Minuteman Project. He is a Hispanic and said he was a Democrat who only started disliking the ACLU after what they did during the project in Arizona (oh, and he did say that he is a veteran of both Panama and Grenada and loved Ronald Reagan).

Glen Dean of Nashville Truth was also in attendance along with his beautiful wife and four month old son. He has several good posts on the event.

The purpose of the event is to attempt to make illegal immigration a state issue for Tennessee by "de-magnetizing" it for illegal immigrants to come here. We must start at the root of the cause, and that's the hiring of illegals. Phil Valentine is pushing for fines against businesses that knowingly hire illegals in Tennessee along with other types of laws to stop the enormous influx of illegal aliens. If Tennessee passes such laws perhaps other states will follow suit.

I was able to get several pictures, and I've uploaded some of the better ones to Flickr. You can see them all here.

Here are a few good ones as well:

Michael Leon who worked with the Minuteman Project

Michael Leon speaks

Organizer of the event, Phil Valentine

He asked me who I worked for before I took the picture

His papers checked out

There were about six people who didn't agree...

Out of all of these people

Chris along with Stephen of Creative Liberty

This guy will be a U.S. Senator one day

Again...see all of the pictures here.

Comments:

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Great pictures Blake.

Posted by: Glen Dean at June 9, 2005 11:56 PM

Good photo coverage. Was there any talk about "why" the illegals are in America? I do believe that if you lived in Mexico - as f'ed up as Mexico is - that you'd do everything you could to get to America, even illegally. The process of becoming a citizen is very expensive, and time consuming - lawyers and many many years. I don't blame them, or hate them, for being here. And they are contributing to our economy, not just being a drain on it. And, Nashville is not a magnet for Mexicans - their populations are increasing all over the USA. California has had strict laws against employers hiring illegals for decades, but those laws aren't stopping the illegals from coming, and are not stopping Americans from hiring them.

I truly believe that our Fed government isn't doing anything to stem the tide of illegals because of economic reasons. As they flood the job market, they keep the cost of labor down. Something big business is obviously in favor of. And remember, inbetween the time that illegal aliens were expected to arrive, and they time the actually did, all the banks in town converted all their ATMs to bilingual.

Don't blame the illegals for being here, you'd do the same if in their shoes. Blame big business and their puppet American government for not helping the Mexican economy to grow, and for making it easy for them to illegally immigrate here.

Posted by: Kevin at June 10, 2005 01:51 AM

Kevin,
Nobody blames immigrants for wanting to come here. After all, this is still the greatest country in the world. What we don't approve of is illegal behavior. Why should we accept these people when their very first act in America is a felony? There are laws for a reason! They are not just arbitrary rules designed to confuse and frustrate. Granted, the system is not perfect. Thats where we agree, the government is doing nothing on the national level to fix it. We in TN can't change that directly, but we can do something here.

That's what the rally was all about.

Posted by: Jim at June 10, 2005 08:56 AM

Blake, I must point out that, as an unpaid lobbyist for immigration control/reform, I was rather surprised at some or even most of the Tennessee state legislators lined up to speak at Phil Valentine's anti-illegal-immigration rally. Sen. Jim Bryson, for example, did not put his name on ANY immigration-related legislation we pushed this year in the Legislature, though I know some of his constituents asked him to, because some of them are in my network. Rep. Beth Harwell was the last to add her name on one bill sponsored by others, and that was her only appearance on such legislation, that I know of, this year. So it was rather hypocritical of these legislators to stand up at an anti-illegal-immigration rally and pretend to be responding to the will of the people.

The state legislators who courageously responded this year and sponsored bills are: Rep. Curry Todd, Sens. Mark Norris and Bill Ketron (HB 0196 - SB 1595); Rep. Tom DuBois and Sen. Bill Ketron (HB 0242 - SB 0303); Rep. Donna Rowland and Sen. Bill Ketron (HB 2132 - SB 1050); Reps. Gary Moore and Chris Newton (yeah, I know) and Sen. Joe Haynes (HB 0111 - SB 0411); Rep. Frank Buck and Sens. Doug Jackson and Bill Ketron (HB 2217 - SB 1928; HB 2218 - SB 1906); Rep. W.C. Pleasant and Sen. Mark Norris (HB 0698 - SB 1627).

Too late now to get these passed this year, and actually, a couple of these legislators deliberately sabotaged their own bills. But these bills will be back, and we commend Phil Valentine for organizing the rally, though I wish it had been held during the legislative session.

Donna Locke
Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform

Posted by: Donna Locke at June 10, 2005 02:43 PM

There is a basic problem with Valentine's idea. Immigration is a federal responsibility. Any statute passed to fine employers for hiring illegals would be shot down in court. This has been litigated previously and it's just spinning wheels to push for that.

What can be done is to demand that the state clean up the driver's license mess. The Real ID Act passed by Congress will begin in three years, but why should the state continue to hand out legitimate ID's until then? Contact your elected state rep. Find out what our neighboring states do that cause illegals to swarm to Tennessee to get documents.

Secondly, contact your U.S. congressional office to request more Agents and INS enforcement for our area. Does anyone know how many enforcement people are assigned to Tennessee? Is it enough? Have you thought to ask that question? Has Phil Valentine? Do they have the tools needed to do their job? If the estimates of over one hundred thousand illegals in Tennessee is correct, how many Agents are need to make an impact?

Lastly, in our system we are the government. Don't like the number of illegals here? Ask real experts, (not Phil Valentine), how we shut down the border. Push for those reforms.

Posted by: Ronj at June 11, 2005 09:09 AM

Nope, Ronj, there is plenty that states can do and will have to do to protect themselves from the irresponsibility of the federal government on immigration. Just as Arizona, Virginia, and other states are doing, Tennessee can protect its voting process and can deny state benefits, permits, and services to illegal aliens (though we will not be allowed to deny them federal benefits, such as Medicaid, that our government has declared you and I must give them).

As Alabama and other states are doing, Tennessee can mandate cooperation of state and local police in enforcement of federal immigration laws. State and local police already have this authority under federal law, this cooperation is provided for in federal law, and this authority been affirmed in circuit court decisions out West.

Tennessee can deny in-state tuition or enrollment, period, to illegals at its colleges and universities. We can deny public contracts to those who use services from illegal aliens. And lots more.

Under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, it is a felony to employ an illegal alien, and it is a felony to assist or encourage anyone one should reasonably expect is an illegal alien to remain in the United States. If you wait for the federal government to enforce its own laws and to protect our borders, you will be waiting a long time, and Tennessee will be inundated and bankrupt by then. The prudent states are acting NOW to do the many things they CAN do.

This battle will be won or lost at the state and local levels, not the federal level. Our opposition figured that out long ago and has been capitalizing on our failure to act at those levels.

Donna Locke
Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform

Posted by: Donna Locke at June 11, 2005 10:12 PM

Donna,
I was specifically referring to Valentine's idea that the state can fine employers who hire illegals. The state can play a very vital role by tightening up voter registration, driver's licenses and in-state tuition. But unless you can remove the employment, those are just iceing on the cake to an illegal. I'm not arguing that there is so much more the state can do.

And you can deny federal benefits to illegals. The SAVE program mandates that states verify citizenship or residency before allowing any federal funds to be paid. That includes Medicaid, Food Stamps, and unemployment benefits. Where it breaks down is when an illegal has a child born in the U.S. and the child is entitled to those benefits.

And just to correct something--It's not a felony to employ an illegal. There are administrative fines and remedies, and the gov't must show a pattern and practice of knowingly hiring illegals before you can charge anyone. And even then it's only a misdemeanor. With all of the counterfeit documents around, the burden of proof on that is horrendous.

Posted by: Ronj at June 12, 2005 06:28 AM

Ronj,

I agree we have to target the employers.

But the states will not be able to keep illegal aliens from getting Emergency Alien Medicaid, WIC, and a few other federal giveaways that the federal government allows them to get. That's why the Arizona citizens' initiative was worded the way it was by the lawyers who wrote it.

As for the employers, many have been charged with Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. Failing to verify work authorization is a misdemeanor, but employing illegals is a felony.

Posted by: Donna Locke at June 12, 2005 06:34 PM