June 8, 2011

Latino concerns

Mayor meets with Hispanic community
Charles Oliver
charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Jun 08, 2011

Fear. Anxiety. Concern.

Those were just a few of the emotions many speakers expressed Tuesday night at meeting hosted by the Coalition of Latino Leaders (CLILA) at its headquarters on Morris Street.

Around 100 people, mostly members of Dalton’s Hispanic community, met with Mayor David Pennington and officials from the Dalton Police Department. The meeting was sparked by a concern about roadblock check points conducted by the police department, but the discussion ranged over a number of topics related to the state’s new immigration law and how it is already having an impact on the local Hispanic community.

The Rev. Gilbardo Guerrero, pastor of Dalton’s World Friendship Church, said his church once had almost 600 members but now has less than half that.

He said the numbers began to drop after the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office adopted the 287(g) program three years ago, which allows the sheriff’s office to determine if people who are booked into the jail are in the country illegally.

But he says the numbers leaving have really jumped in just the last few weeks, after the General Assembly passed a new law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. That law, among other things, requires employers to take part in a federal program that helps determine if new hires are legally allowed to work in the United States.

“I’ve got people moving to Chattanooga. I’ve got people moving to Cleveland,” he said. “They were just waiting for the kids to finish their school year.”

Several speakers said that the policies are breaking up families.

Leslie, a 13-year-old girl, spoke of how her mother was stopped at a roadblock and when police saw she didn’t have a license they took her to jail where they determined she was an illegal alien and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under a new interpretation of Georgia law handed down by the state attorney general’s office earlier this year, those found driving without a license must now be taken into custody and fingerprinted. That means that, in Whitfield County, illegal aliens caught driving without a license could be deported.

Spencer Zeiger, a professor at Dalton State College, said he has two sons adopted from Honduras and one of them was recently stopped by law enforcement. Zeiger said that his son was held by the side of the road for around an hour while officials tried to determine whether he was an illegal alien.

HERE

WABE — Atlanta

State AG says he cannot accept outside money to fight HB-87

Atlanta — Just as a coalition of civil rights groups filed suit Thursday to block Georgia’s new immigration law, those in favor of the tougher measures were vowing to fund a legal fight of their own. — At least one prominent backer, D.A. King of the Dustin Inman Society, said he would help raise money to pay for the state’s legal battle…

HERE

Farm Labor Shortages: How Real? What Response

By Philip Martin
October 2007
cis Backgrounders and Reports

Download the .pdf version

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Executive Summary

For several years stories in the media have reported a farm labor shortage. This study examines this question and finds little evidence to support this conclusion. First, fruit and vegetable production is actually rising. Second,
wages for farm workers have not risen dramatically. Third, household expenditure on fresh fruits and vegetables has remain relatively constant, averaging about $1 a day for the past decade.

Among the findings:

•Production of fruits and vegetables has been increasing. In particular, plantings of very-labor intensive crops such as cherries and strawberries have grown by more than 20 percent in just five years.
•The average farm worker makes $9.06 an hour, compared to $16.75 for non-farm production workers.
•Real wages for farm workers increased one-half of one percent (.5 percent) a year on average between 2000 and 2006. If there were a shortage, wages would be rising much more rapidly.
•Farm worker earnings have risen more slowly in California and Florida (the states with the most fruit and vegetable production) than in the United States as a whole.
•The average household spends only about $1 a day on fresh fruits and vegetables.
•Labor costs comprise only 6 percent of the price consumers pay for fresh produce. Thus, if farm wages were
allowed to rise 40 percent, and if all the costs were passed on to consumers, the cost to the average household would be only about $8 a year.
•Mechanization could offset higher labor costs. After the “Bracero” Mexican guestworker program ended in the mid-1960s, farm worker wages rose 40 percent, but consumer prices rose relatively little because the mechanization of some crops dramatically increased productivity.
•Labor-saving mechanization can be difficult for one farmer, since packers and processors are usually set up to deal either with hand-picked or machine-picked crops, but not both. Government has a key role to play in facilitating mechanization.

ACTION NEEDED Please pass this around to your lists

Please call Governor Deal’s office ASAP to urge him to create an HB 87 Legal Defense Fund as was done in Arizona. There, donations poured in from all over the nation from pro-enforcement Americans who have had enough of the race-baiting GALEO, SPLC, ACLU and LaRaza anti-enforcement network. About $ 4 million dollars has been raised in Arizona and is being used to pay for defending their SB 1070. NO PUBLIC FUNDS HAVE BEEN SPENT ON PRIVATE LAW FIRMS IN ARIZONA. WHETHER OR NOT PRIVATE FIRMS ARE USED HERE, DONATIONS FROM CITIZENS CAN BE USED TO REPLACE MONEY SPENT FROM THE GEORGIA BUDGET DEFENDING THE RULE OF LAW FROM THE CRAZIES!

Please call Governor Deal’s office at 404 656 1776 now. Simply say that you are willing to be one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans from coast to coast who wants to contribute a small amount to help fight the lawsuit filed yesterday in Georgia against HB 87. “Please tell the governor and his staff to create an Americans for Immigration Enforcement – HB 87 Georgia Defense Fund” so that I can donate and counter the well-funded open borders mob.”

NOTE: Arizona Governor Brewer’s Defense Fund E.O. can be accessed HERE.

New Suit Challenges Georgia Immigration Law

FOX FIVE TV

Dustin Inman Society

MEDIA ADVISORY 2 June 2011

The Dustin Inman Society
www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org
3595 Canton Rd. A-9/337
Marietta, Ga. 30066
Contact: D.A. King
DA (at) TheDustinInmanSociety.org

The Dustin Inman Society condemns the anti-enforcement lobby’s lawsuit on HB 87 and calls on Governor Deal to an issue an overdue Executive Order establishing an “Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act Defense Fund” to which pro-enforcement Americans can donate to defer costs of defending common sense and the rule of law in Georgia.

Dustin Inman Society president D.A. King today denounced the lawsuit to be filed attacking the concept of immigration enforcement in Georgia by the ACLU, the SPLC and other fringe groups that oppose an equal application of the law on the crime of illegal immigration.

“I am among the majority of Georgians who are sickened by the constant race-baiting and the smearing of our brave law enforcement officers who risk their lives to protect and serve. But, no one should be surprised at the baseless court action. These are the usual suspects whose hatred of American values and immigration laws is widely known and contrary to the majority of American’s principles and desires” said D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society. “These radicals have no legal ground to stand on and have no trace of any shame” remarked King.

King worked closely with state Representative Matt Ramsey on producing HB 87 and lobbied to see the bill passed and signed into law.

King also announced that he and the supporters of his organization were calling on Governor Deal to establish a defense fund into which Americans across the nation can donate to assist in the court fight brought about by the open borders mob.

According to King, a similar defense fund was created by Executive Order in Arizona by Governor Jan Brewer last year. “Earlier today I spoke to my long-time friend and Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce – who authored the 2010 Arizona enforcement law – about his state’s success with financial help in the form of contributions from everyday Americans” noted King. “Senator Pearce confirmed press reports that the state has spent little or nothing defending SB 1070 and has brought in almost four million dollars in donations with from every state in the union.”

King expressed his dismay that Governor Deal’s staff has apparently not yet considered such a plan. “It’s a no brainer and most people are more than willing to help in the coming fight with the far-left fringe opposing our recent law. It would be a small amount, but put me down as the first donor if the governor decides to heed our respectful advice” ended Mr. King.

NOTE: Arizona Governor Brewer’s Defense Fund E.O. can be accessed here: http://azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/EO_2010-11.pdf
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