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07/07/04 Dallas
Managed News strikes again!
If you like a lot of people saw the following
Dallas Managed News
story, you probably went ballistic. With our lack of funding for more Code
Enforcement inspectors or more police and firefighters, and better equipment for
all, it is incredible to think that anyone would consider diverting $250K or
more from basic services for Dallas CITIZENS and TAXPAYERS to fund an office at
City Hall for immigrants, legal and illegal.
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Leppert supports immigrant office;
Mayor has a few questions amid heavy lobbying for agency
Tuesday,
July 3, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
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Tom Leppert's mayoral victory was less than a week old when the lobbying intensified from an unusual camp: immigrants.
They wanted an office of immigrant affairs, dedicated to assimilating immigrants, legal and illegal, into the city of Dallas.
There's urgency, they argued: Congress' decision not to revamp the nation's immigration system heightens the need for cities to take action. In Dallas, one of four people is foreign-born.
At a victory reception held by Latino groups for the new mayor Thursday, Mr. Leppert said he is committed to opening an office of immigrant affairs.
"All I want is to make sure we have a clear direction," said Mr. Leppert, a former construction firm CEO. "Who does it serve and how are we going to measure its success?"
... City Council member Steve Salazar suggested an office of immigrant affairs last year, but his proposal was tabled. Mr. Salazar, the U.S.-born son of a legal immigrant from Mexico, said he's working on its revival.
Claudia Herrmann, an immigrant who heads one of the largest Mexican hometown or homestate associations in the Dallas area, is also bending Mr. Leppert's ear. Four days after Mr. Leppert's victory, Ms. Herrmann wrote him a three-page proposal on how she believes an office of immigrant affairs should work.
"We applaud that you have recognized the need to create a Dallas Office for New Americans," it read, "to help immigrants from different countries as well as international refugees to adjust to their new life in Dallas."
... "You have to deal with the people already here," Ms. Herrmann said. "It would take an army to deport everyone, and you would have economic chaos if you did. It is extremely important that the city of Dallas has an office attending to the needs of immigrants – and immigrants from all over the U.S."
... The proposed office could focus on connecting the foreign-born to social service agencies in the city, Ms. Herrmann said, and on teaching immigrants about basic services, such as how 911 works for emergencies and how to use the Dallas Public Library.
... The city began its budget process two weeks ago, and the budget does not currently fund an office of immigrant affairs. But Mr. Salazar said he would introduce a proposal for an office later this month. The cost is yet to be determined.
... The changing demographic DNA of Dallas was vividly apparent at the victory party Thursday for Mr. Leppert. Mexican association leaders mingled in clusters with other Spanish-speakers, while native-born Mexican-Americans swapped stories in English or Spanglish over cheese and wine.
... In Dallas, Latinos are more likely to be foreign-born than native-born, which is not true for the nation as a whole, according to the U.S. Census. ...
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Sounds pretty horrible, right?
Fortunately, Dianne Solís is either an incredibly inept reporter or she is an
outright liar, or both. She certainly is not an unbiased reporter.
Rather, she has an agenda.
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Several Dallas citizens contacted the Mayor's Office to state their
opposition. Mayor Leppert actually called one angry citizen back. He
denied supporting or opposing an immigrant affairs office at City Hall. He says he
told the proponents to "bring me a plan, and we will
look at it". Solís can't blame whoever wrote the headline for
misconstruing her story. Use the link, to read her complete
misrepresentation disguised as a news story. This is becoming typical of
the misdoings at Belo's Dallas Managed News. |
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Gehrig Saldaña:
Chihuahua! --
Sharon's still has a Big Firecracker from July 4th!!!
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It was astounding to read the DMN
editorial,
Fighting
the Good Fight,
where they actually had something good to say about
President Bush. They applaud the President for pushing an immigration bill
that 80% of U.S. citizens oppose. They criticize Senators Cornyn and
Hutchinson for listening to their constituents -- the Texans who elected them.
The DMN
Editorial Board will have the same contempt for the
will of 80,000 Dallas citizens who do not want a toll road inside the Trinity
River. Rather than support this incredible display of Democracy, Our
Downtown Betters (the ODB), are already strategizing how to stop the will of
Dallas citizens -- Dallas taxpayers.
Things are so out of balance this July 4th of 2007 that last Saturday (6/30/7) a
DISD school board member refused to speak English to a crowd of Dallas parents
rallying against the heroin combination called "cheese". The crowd
included Whites, Blacks and Non-Spanish-speaking Hispanics. The school
board member smugly refused to speak English or answer questions in English.
It was left to former Councilman Domingo Garcia to translate what the school
board member had said to the crowd. Mind you, the school board member
represents a predominantly White constituency in North Dallas. What was
that about?
Really strange situation when Domingo Garcia has to be the good guy.
Back to the proposed Office of Immigration Affairs at City Hall, I sent the
following e-mail to Mayor Leppert:
Immigration Office at City Hall - Bad Idea!
Dear Mayor Leppert:
Unfortunately, my first communication with you after your swearing-ing
will be to advise of my opposition to your idea for an Immigration
Office at City Hall to "help immigrants assimilate".
Not only is it a waste of scarce taxpayer dollars on people who are
NOT taxpayers, but that money would be better spent on more police
officers and equipment and more code enforcement inspectors.
Immigrants to this country have been "assimilating" into our culture
for centuries without bureaucratic assistance. People were expected
to become Americans if they came to the U.S. It is insulting to new
LEGAL immigrants to assume they are less capable than those who came
before them. We can't expect much from those who come here ILLEGALLY
because their very actions are testimony to their lack of respect
for our laws, much less our culture.
My neighborhood is being destroyed by illegal and new immigrants. My
Hispanic neighbors who are LEGAL resident aliens are as upset about
the situation as are my Anglo and African-American and
Asian-American neighbors. Our homes may be modest by your standards,
but they are major investments for us.
The money you propose to waste on your Immigration Office would be
better spent beefing up Code Enforcement. We currently have
several homes on my street that are clearly occupied by multiple
families, multiple immigrant families. There are three houses
on my block with at least 6 or more trucks regularly/permanently
parked in their driveways and in front of the houses.
Emergency vehicles could not get down my street on most weekends.
My neighborhood school is crammed full of kids, but not from my
neighborhood.
If your proposed Immigration Office had a staff of 20, it would not
be enough to make one bit of difference that would improve the lives
of Dallas taxpayers of all ethnicities. Do you remember the
African-American lady that you met when you and Councilman Caraway
were walking South Dallas neighborhoods and TV crew was with you?
The lady who said she wasn't voting for either one of you because
you weren't addressing the immigration issue? She said the illegal
immigrants were destroying our country.
It's bad enough that Dallas police officers cannot assist with
capturing illegals in this city, but what you propose will encourage
more criminals to migrate to Dallas. It may not be politically
correct, but people who violate our immigration laws are criminals,
hence the term ILLEGAL immigrants.
This is a bad idea that is going to outrage many of the people who
elected you. I hope you will reconsider before any
taxpayer dollars are wasted on assisting non-taxpayers when Dallas
citizens are begging for more police officers and better code
enforcement.
Sharon L. Boyd |
The e-mail was sent before I
learned Dianne Solís story was not factual. So, wherever, I said "you" or
"your" thinking Mayor Leppert supported the proposed Office of Immigration
Affairs, I should have said "they" or "their".
Can you imagine a bunch of Americans demanding a city in Mexico provide a
special office to deal with their wants and needs, much less help them
assimilate into Mexican culture? Mexico deals very harshly with illegal
immigrants. It is insulting to assume today's immigrants are less capable
or dumber than their predecessors. According to Solís, 27% of the
population of Dallas, Texas are immigrants, and 72% of those immigrants come
from Mexico.
My next door neighbors are legal immigrants from Mexico. Two doors down,
my neighbors are legal immigrants from Mexico. They are as victimized as
anyone by what is happening in my neighborhood, if not more. They follow
the rules. They respect their neighbors. Yet, the peaceful enjoyment
of their homes is being denied by residents of 2 rental properties.
The money that would be wasted on an Office of Immigration Affairs would be
better spent hiring more Code Enforcement inspectors to insure Dallas
neighborhoods are protected from abusive occupants of rental properties.
Almost every moderate to low income neighborhood in this city experiences
similar problems as what happens in my neighborhood.
The money that would be wasted on an Office of Immigration Affairs would be
better spent hiring more police officers. Just this week, local LULAC
president Jesse Diaz was car-jacked at gunpoint in Pleasant Grove. In his
interview with Ch. 11's Jay Gormerly (see
Local Hispanic Activist Survives
Carjacking),
Diaz says, "What was
troubling to me is, I called police four times, and it took them 30 minutes to
arrive."
It's unreasonable to expect
police to respond to our neighborhood traffic/parking/noise problems when they
don't have enough personnel to timely respond to a car-jacking.
Dallas taxpayers' dollars should be spent FIRST on protecting our persons and
our property.
When someone can name one major city in Mexico, Central America or South America
that offers a government office to help non-citizens "assimilate", I might
reconsider my objections to an Immigration Office at Dallas City Hall.
It is amazing for a school board member to refuse to speak English at a
rally of Dallas parents of multiple ethnicities within days of a group of
immigrants demanding Dallas taxpayers furnish them their own office and staff at
City Hall.
All of this when we are celebrating our Independence Day, July 4th?
sb
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