Blogger, filmmaker join forces to protest immigration policies
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By Kipp Hanley
Published: April 8, 2008
The politically-charged subject of illegal immigration and all the debate that surrounds it has led to the formation of yet another local grassroots group.
The makers of the YouTube documentary “9500 Liberty“ are combining with local blogger Alanna Almeda to protest policies recently implemented by Prince William County and Manassas directed toward illegal immigrants.
The group has yet to come up with the name, but around 75 people came out for the group’s first meeting at the Mexican restaurant El Portal in Woodbridge last Friday.
According to Almeda, the group plans on meeting for dinner every other Friday to discuss the direction of the group and to support area Hispanic businesses.
“By joining of the forces, I think we will have a powerful medium,” said Almeda, a stay-at-home mother of four in Haymarket who runs the political blog http://www.antibvbl.net. “They have video and we can provide the discussion with the blog. We’ll put those two things together to put message out there.”
“9500 Liberty” was created last year to stir up the immigration debate as county policy makers were in the midst of forming legislation to deny certain services to illegal immigrants. The documentary’s name specifically refers to a partially demolished house in Manassas that has sported numerous political messages regarding race, the county’s resolution and the city’s imminent involvement in the Immigration & Customs Enforcement 287(g) program.
Almeda said she supports the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center’s involvement in the 287(g) program, which helps process and deport criminal illegal immigrants. However, she said the resolution passed by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors last October as well the county and city’s involvement in the 287(g) program were fiscally unnecessary scare tactics.
Enforcing the resolution in the jail and on the streets, buying cameras for police cars, employing the criminal alien unit and restricting social services to illegal immigrants will cost the county an estimated $6.4 million in fiscal 2009, according to Prince William County spokeswoman Liz Bahrns.
“How can we spend more money on this than transportation improvements?” asked Almeda. “... It definitely has scared people, the resolution has already had its intended affect, to rid the county of Hispanics.”
Almeda started her Web site as a response to the political blog run by Greg Letiecq, the president of the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Manassas. Almeda claims that she was shut out of posting on Letiecq’s blog, bvbl.net, because he didn’t like what she was posting online.
Consequently, Almeda created a nearly identical Web site with the opposite name.
On a recent post, Almeda thanked her supporters for showing up at the meeting. Many of the attendees at the first meeting are bloggers on antibvbl.net.
Almeda hopes many of those voices present at that meeting will be raised as the county goes through its budget process this month.
“The immigration resolution is a ‘failed’ experiment in Prince William County,” wrote Almeda on her blog. “Socially and fiscally, our county is crumbling under its pressure. Let’s talk about specific ways we believe we can move forward.”
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on April 11, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Only half of illegals in Va. are paying income taxes, the rest are working under the table and or using phony documents as well as stolen identities and the last time i checked stolen identity is a felony. Going home seems like a much gentler solution. I won’t deny that some illegals are hard workers. However it does not give them the right to be here. Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( rebelreggie ) on April 11, 2008 at 5:02 pm
ON MAY 1, 2008 THERE IS GOING TO BE ANOTHER WELL ORGANIZED AND FUNDED, MARCH FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS. ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS IS JUAN ANGEL GUTIERREZ. THE ARTICLE BELOW WAS TAKEN FROM A MEXICAN NEWSPAPER. GUTIERREZ IS CALLING FOR MEX PREZ CALDERON TO GET INVOLVED IN THE PUSH FOR AMNESTY. BEFORE THE ARTICLE, I WANTED TO SHOW YOU WHAT GUTIERREZ HAS ALSO SAID.
“ The border remains a military zone. We remain a hunted people. Now you think you have a destiny to fulfill in the land that historicallyas been ours for forty thousand years. And we are a Mestizo Nation. This is our homeland. We cannot-we will not- and we must not be made illegal in our own homeland. We are not immigrants that came from another country to another country. We are millions. We have an aging white America. THEY ARE NOT MAKING BABIES. They are dying. It’s a matter of time. The explosion is in our population. THEY ARE s**tTING IN THEIR PANTS WITH FEAR. I LOVE IT! WE’VE GOT TO ELIMINATE THE GRINGO, AND WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS, IF THE WORST COMES TO THE WORST, WE HAVE GOT TO KILL HIM!“—Jose Angel GutierrezProfessor, Univeresity of Texas at Arlington,Founder of “La Raza Unida Party”
PARTIAL TRANSLATION FROM:
http://www.laopinion.com/latinoamerica/?rkey=00000000000003631910
MEXICO, D.F.— “It is time for president Felipe Caldron to stop with the hollow speeches and truly support an migratory reform for the Mexicans in the United States”, said Juan José Gutiérrez, of the Latin-American Movement USA.
Yesterday, migrant leaders requested the Mexican Executive to call and to support the marches in Mexico parallel to the ones that will be carried out on May 1st in the United States, where they anticipate mobilizations in 200 cities with the participation of around a million workers.
Street marches, boycott the consumption of American products, border blockades in the northern border, pronouncements, prison sentences… any action that arises in this country would be like a cane of support in the long road for legalization plagued with violations to their rights, they say.
“We want to feel that support from over there because we are all Mexicans and for growth we depend on each other”, stood out María Jiménez, activist in Houston through a teleconference organized in the Mexican Chamber of Representatives.
Last year, the remittances added the figure record of 23.979 billion dollars, 1% more than in 2006, according to the Bank of Mexico, although it also expects a fall in the shipments due to the anti-immigrant raids.
“It isn’t possible that even when it is known that we have so many problems there, here in our country of origin the issue is half-forgotten and completely out of the national agenda”, emphasized Gutiérrez.
Rosendo Delgado, of the latin American organization Latinos United in Detroit, explained by telephone, the importance of having the boycotts on the consumption of U.S. businesses in Mexico to declare the nonconformity that generates the abuse of our contrymen in that country.
“It is only for a day and we will be able to give a sample of what we can do”, he emphasized.
Francisco Chavira, president of the Front Mexico USA, in Laredo, Texas, pronounced that it be the border cities the ones that set the example to the rest of the country organizing the main mobilizations against the criminalization of the immigrants.
“In the two previous years they have been organized in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, with the participation of migrant organizations in Texas”, he comments. “That zone is more sensitized to the issue because we see the families separated by the raids and the persecution of the undocumented.“
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Posted by ( do the right thing ) on April 11, 2008 at 4:04 pm
rebelreggie,
Your comments about the Mexican State o Sonora should be sent to all of the newspapers, especially, Potomac News and the Wash.Post. These newspapers don’t want to report this information to the public.
9500 Liberty filmmakers Eric and Annabel, who are you kidding calling Ms. Almeda a moderate Republican. Your coverage of the Illegal Immigration debate has always been one-sided. Citizens who support the Rule of Law Resolution don’t want to talk to you because they don’t trust you. I witnessed how you both operate at the McCoart building.
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Posted by ( Rogue ) on April 11, 2008 at 3:21 pm
You know there is an easy way to stop the so called mistreatment and taxing of these people. GO HOME! Easy.
As you stated they are here illegally and without proper papers. And you seem to be over looking that a large number of Illegals are paid in cash under the table. And to add to that a good portion of the money is sent out of the country and the local economy.
And as for Mcdonalds… It wasnt until recently that the immigrant staffed McDonalds was seen. When I was growing up McDonals and the like was where teenagers worked after school and summers. Now once a manager of a certain ethnic group is put in place all the jobs go to the same ethnicity. I have a friend who son was told they could not hire him because he didnt speak spanish.
You act like we starved and jobs went undone in this country before we have had the so called benefits of Illegal Immigrants. All the jobs the illegals are taking should be for legal citizens.
Its total bull that you think that an Illegal immigrant population is needed to run this country.
We did just fine before and we wil do just fine after you go.
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Posted by ( LY ) on April 11, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I don’t think your thinking with your head. Let me tell you what many people don’t want you to know. For your information I know many illegal people and they are all hard working people that come here to better their lives by working even though they don’t have any legal papers. However, this doesn’t stop the government from with drawing all of the taxes you and I pay. They pay S.S.; Medicare; FICA what benefits do you think they will be getting when they turn 67 years old nothing because according to the government they don’t even exist. Every week these people pay taxes just like if they were legal where is the justice on that. So you can’t tell me they don’t pay. Stop believing what everybody else says. And where do you think that money goes too. Well it helps those who are legal and can work live of welfare. Yes, believe it or not theirs millions of unclaimed money and the commonwealth of VA says I wonder where that money is coming from. Let’s stop living in a box guys we all need each other. The illegals are doing jobs US citizens don’t want to do. Why because the pay is low. Who do you think is building your homes taking care of the kids? Go to McDonalds any fast food how many foreigners do you see? That’s all you see. Why because they need the job to support their families and they don’t care what kind of job it is as long as it is not degrading. But will you see a US citizen their maybe but guess what they are teenagers. So next time you go to eat stop complaining.
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Posted by ( MRI4YOU ) on April 11, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I don’t know why everyone is trying to make numbers on who pays taxes or who doesn’t who cares? Maybe what we need to be doing is minding our own business and let PWC whatever they are trying to accomplish with this new law. Why don’t we pay more close attention to other things happening around us like USA going into a recession, or more and more soldiers getting killed and also how is it that we are one of the richest nations how do we still have proverty in our own back yards? Children and families w/no food on their tables and don’t even get me started on how is it possible that people that have lost their homes due to Katrina still don’t have any homes for them with all that money that was donated. I am for looking for a solution but to single out people is never ever going to get us to a solution that will work, and for those of you complaing about illegals not paying any taxes, americans go south of the border to buy homes all the time they don’t pay taxes their or here in the USA, so what are we really complaining about??
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Posted by ( rebelreggie ) on April 11, 2008 at 9:12 am
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Nearby Mexican state upset with influx of Mexicans
The Mexican state of Sonora recently sent nine legislators to Tucson to complain about the Arizona crackdown on employers of illegals. Their specific complaint? Too many Mexican illegal aliens are returning to their hometowns in Sonora.
The law’s effect, they said, will be “devastating” on Sonora. The state, just south of the U.S. border, does not have enough housing, jobs of schools to handle the influx, they contend.
One Mexican Representative asked in Spanish “How can they pass a law like this? Mexico is not prepared for the tremendous problems it will face as more and more Mexicans working in Arizona and sending money to their families return to hometowns in Sonora without jobs’, she said.
Speaking of the people of Sonora, MX and Arizona, US, Rep. Leticia Amparano Gamez also claimed ‘We are one family, socially and economically.“
American citizens disagree. The United States is a sovereign nation. Its states and its citizens are not responsible for the welfare of Mexico’s citizens. It’s time for the Mexican government to stop feeding off of the United States and start finding ways to start taking care of its own citizens.
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Posted by ( cobra ) on April 11, 2008 at 9:08 am
I recall that the filmaker was going to be objective when making that film. At least that is what they stated. Of course no one believed them and now we see why. Another group of Traitors among us. Support area Hispanic Business’s? So I guess Alemda will be standing at the local 7-11 each morning as that is where most Hispanic Business start. Maybe she can support Freddy Lopez or the Construction Company that was just raided.
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Posted by ( cobra ) on April 11, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hey Kgotthardt,
just added you to the list of Traitors. Better to be a Racist then a sell out to ones Country. I know you like to look up the definitations of words so look up Traitor. It has your picture next to it. You are in the minority here. We want illegals gone from this community at all costs.
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Posted by ( cobra ) on April 11, 2008 at 8:45 am
Thats all we ever hear from the open borders crowd. They pay Tax’s. The overwhelming majority of illegals work in the low paid service industry. Many make less then $10 an hour. Now that is $400 a week, after tax’s they most likely get $330.00 of which $100 will be sent back to their families around the world. For those that are given ITN numbers for tax purposes, many of them claim the maximum dependents and end up paying very little. And those that file at year end will take advantage of the child tax credit and will end up getting refunds. One Emergency Room visit can costs as much as their entire tax liability for the year. They burden our schools with to many children who require ESL as the flood the single family homes with multiple familes. So where is your outrage with those tax’s that are being spent on those that are not suppose to be here?? Glad to see all the Traitors up early today calling everyone RACIST.
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