Baltimore Asks Washington To Step up to the Plate and Reform Immigration

by: casa_de_maryland

Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 03:09 PM EDT

By Mario Quiroz, of CASA de Maryland

Delay may be business as usual in Washington, but Baltimore isn't having it.

Yesterday evening, amidst news that President Obama now sees immigration reform delayed until 2010, the Baltimore City Council passed a resolution-- the first like it in Maryland-- calling on President Obama and Congress to act swiftly to pass real, comprehensive immigration reform. 

According to Baltimore City Councilmember Rochelle "Rikki" Spector:

As a city with a rich immigrant history, we recognize that our city and country will be stronger if we can assist new immigrants in fully assimilating into our community, There’s no doubt that the country has a broken immigration system, and that local municipalities are paying a big price as a result of Washington’s inaction.

Delegate Ron George on Illegal Immigrants and Driver's Licenses

by: PMF

Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 10:02 PM EDT

District 30 Delegate Ron George (R-Arnold) has taken the lead on a bill to clamp down on illegal immigrants getting driver's licenses. While I am in full agreement with the need for a real national policy on illegal immigration and for states to take action as well, I question some of George's fears and concerns, especially when he starts talking about infectious diseases and health care

For example, he writes: "There has been a rise in infectious diseases. Tuberculosis, malaria, plague, polio, dengue, hepatitis A to E, and Chagas' disease cases are on the rise in illegal immigrant target states......Foreigners with diseases or in need of operations can head here illegally. They are openly received and get treatment at the expense of taxpayers and hospitals, since by law hospitals must treat everyone."

Why do I have a problem with this? For starters, I think it's overstated and it plays on our worst fears. Handgun violence kills tens of thousands a year, automobile wrecks claim tens of thousands, over three thousand soldiers have died in Iraq, and AIDS has killed countless thousands. We have a ridiculously administered so-called health care system, and a population of sedentary, overweight, poorly nourished and overfed walking diabetes and heart disease time-bombs, but whooaaa.....immigrants are spreading disease! I think we've heard it before, like when my grandparents came here from Russia and Poland.

The issue is that if someone is here illegally, how can we even consider granting them privileges such as a driver's license and access to health care? There are many, many recent immigrants going to the County's Health Department on Truman Parkway to get pre-natal care, and from what I understand, it has overwhelmed that department.

Stupidest Anti-Immigrant Group Ever

by: Eric Luedtke

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 10:17 PM EST

There was a rally in Annapolis tonight organized by a number of pro-immigrant groups to protest the spate of anti-illegal immigrant bills introduced in the assembly. The response from the anti-immigrant group that calls themselves the Minutemen?

In response, the Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps asked the federal agency that polices immigration to send representatives to the rally to check whether the participants -- who were to be bused to the capital from all over the state -- could prove their legal status.

Because apparently merely showing up at a protest that supports immigrants means you must be an illegal immigrant. It's funny that the wingers yell and scream about red light cameras because they're a violation of privacy, but seem perfectly comfortable with people walking through the state capitol checking ID cards. Next time the minutemen have a rally, I say INS raids it and we see how many of them are carrying their birth certificates around in their wallets. Coming soon: the right wing police state.

Immigration Debate in Annapolis

by: Isaac Smith

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 09:41 PM EST

It looks like immigration will be one of the big issues of the General Assembly session this year. With Gov. O'Malley having dropped his opposition to REAL ID regulations that would bar illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, he's now been accused by Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez of "betrayal." (See Adam Pagnucco for a great analysis of the subject). In addition, supporters of immigrants' rights are forming a new coalition:

Today more than a dozen lawmakers who are newcomers to the United States or the children or grandchildren of immigrants plan to kick off a New Americans Caucus. The members, who represent some of the most diverse parts of Montgomery and Prince George's counties, say they are determined to push back against a national anti-immigration mood they see seeping into the legislature. They say they intend to fight bills introduced by conservative Republicans that would deny services to illegal immigrants. The coalition members argue that the bills would also unfairly stigmatize legal immigrants.

Indeed, the Republican efforts range from a bill to prevent illegal immigrants from being released on bail if arrested to one making English the state's official language (not to mention Del. Pat McDonough's lawsuit against the state for being an illegal immigrant 'sanctuary'). 

The funny thing about the Republicans' vehemence on this issue is that it comes at a time when John McCain, perhaps the most pro-immigrant Republican out there, is on track to be the GOP's nominee for President. This suggests that illegal immigration, while it may attract a lot of attention in certain sectors of the right, is not that big an issue among Republican voters at large.

O'Malley and REAL ID, Cont'd

by: Isaac Smith

Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 12:52 AM EST

Jim Harper of the Cato Institute takes on Gov. O'Malley's decision to implement REAL ID in Maryland:

O’Malley backtracked on campaign commitments to keep Maryland an immigrant-friendly state when he announced that the state would link driver licensing and immigration status. Somehow O’Malley and his secretary of transportation, John Porcari, convinced themselves [...] that REAL ID requires them to refuse licenses to illegal immigrants, and that moving toward REAL ID compliance would allow them to avoid standing out.

[...] 

States can issue licenses to anyone consistent with REAL ID. Licenses that don’t meet the federal law’s strictures would simply have to be labeled as such.

On O’Malley’s pre-commitment to REAL ID, there are two possibilities. One is that Governor O’Malley and Secretary Porcari actually don’t understand what REAL ID requires and are ignorant of sentiment about the law among sister states. The other is that O’Malley, indeed, has abruptly reversed his professed friendliness toward immigrants.

Xenophobia on the March, Cont'd

by: Isaac Smith

Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:26 PM EST

Del. Patrick McDonough plans to sue Gov. O'Malley and the General Assembly for turning Maryland into a "sanctuary state":

“The politicians and the governor in the state of Maryland are probably the worst in the country,” said McDonough, R-Baltimore and Harford counties. “Maryland is a lost cause. The politicians in this state sold out to illegals.”

[...]

He said he will file three bills in the General Assembly next week that target illegal immigrants. One would ban companies from employing illegals. One would require a voter ID — instead of only a driver’s license — to vote, and one would make English the state’s official language.

Now that the state plans to go along with the REAL ID Act that prevents illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses, McDonough's case would seem to be weakened. But then, McDonough is the guy who had a snit over Maryland Public Television introducing an all-Spanish channel, so he's probably got bigger pescados to fry.

O'Malley: Yes to REAL ID

by: Isaac Smith

Wed Jan 16, 2008 at 03:03 PM EST

The Transportation Department has proposed creating a two-tiered system of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants in order for Maryland to get around the requirements of the REAL ID Act. (You may recall that a similar proposal in New York generated some controversy among the Democratic presidential candidates a while back.) Gov. O'Malley, however, has quashed that idea:

Instead, O'Malley (D) directed his top transportation officials to comply with the federal Real ID law by devising a secure, federally recognizable license that would be accepted as identification to board planes or enter government buildings.

"We should not allow Maryland to become an island virtually alone on the East Coast" by not requiring proof of legal residence for licenses, O'Malley said last night.

If approved by the General Assembly, O'Malley's plan would take effect in 2010. Maryland would join Virginia and the District in requiring a "lawful presence" of drivers.

O'Malley's rationale for backing off the proposal seem pretty weak to me; not wanting to get into the same conflict that bedeviled Eliot Spitzer in New York, especially when O'Malley's popularity is on the wane, seems more likely.

And let's be serious here: REAL ID requirements aren't going to halt illegal immigration; they're just going to result in illegal immigrants driving without licenses, potentially endangering our roads. Of the many ways to restrict the flow of immigration, this is one of the least effective.

See security expert Bruce Schneier for more on the weaknesses of REAL ID.

Credit Where Credit's Due

by: Isaac Smith

Tue Jan 15, 2008 at 08:06 AM EST

Taneytown decides not to declare itself a xenophobe's haven after all:

The Taneytown City Council has voted down a resolution declaring that the community is not a so-called "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants.

Councilman Paul Chamberlain Junior's resolution was defeated Monday night 3-2.

Council members Henry Heine Junior, Jacquelyn Boisvert and Angelo Zambetti all said the city already was not a sanctuary city, and that the police were fully enforcing immigration laws.

"Tonight we are wasting the taxpayers' money," Heine said.

Well played, Taneytown.

Xenophobia on the March

by: Isaac Smith

Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 02:01 PM EST

Taneytown in Carroll County, having already declared itself an English-only town, has taken the next step in announcing its hostility to illegal immigrants:

The resolution, proposed by City Councilman Paul Chamberlain Jr., would make Taneytown the first city in Maryland to declare it is not a “sanctuary city,” where government limits how much it asks about immigration status.

The resolution, stating town officials and residents would do everything legally possible to keep illegal immigrants out, has been the buzz of Taneytown and other cities in Maryland, and callers have flooded radio shows with sharply contrasting views on the divisive issue.

“It’s important for all of Maryland that this passes,” said Brad Botwin, a Montgomery County resident who drove more than an hour to a public hearing Wednesday night. “Please do the right thing: Help save Maryland.”

Rafael Zamora, a Hispanic who runs a landscaping business in Taneytown, recently moved there from Germantown. He considered Taneytown a welcoming place to raise his family, but the resolution made him think again. “We’re not here to rob you,” he said.

Other critics said the resolution saddened and disgusted them and made Taneytown appear cruel and cold.

The Bells! The Bells!

by: Gilbert

Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 04:47 PM EDT