Event Reports

Read on to find out news and reports on past immigration reform events.

HB 87 Re-examined by GA Senators

Posted on November 16, 2011 by IRN_admin

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, several speakers presented their findings on the impact of HB 87 on the economy at a Senate Democratic Special Committee on Immigration and Georgia’s Economy.

The committee heard from representatives of the restaurant industry and the state’s fruit and vegetable growers, as well as people who deal regularly with the state’s immigrant communities. The speakers said the state’s new law targeting illegal immigration is causing a labor shortage, harming the state’s economy and unfairly targets Latinos. Several said they’d like to see the law repealed.

Though Senator Thompson, chairman of the committee, said that a repeal of HB 87 is unlikely, he did say that there are other ways to render HB 87 useless, such as amending it drastically or pushing the political capitol towards federal immigration reform.

Charles Hall, who heads the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said he continues to get comments from growers who say they don’t have enough workers. An informal survey conducted over the summer showed farmers of onions, watermelons and other hand-picked crops lacked more than 11,000 workers during their spring and summer harvest.

“We certainly don’t want to encourage illegal employment, but we also feel like there needs to be an adequate guest worker program,” he said.

Paul Bridges also spoke at the meeting.

“Please, let’s repeal HB 87 in its entirety. It is destroying Georgia’s economy and it is destroying the fabric of our social network in south Georgia,” said Paul Bridges, mayor of Uvalda, a small town in Vidalia onion country. He is part of a lawsuit challenging the new law.

The farmers in the area rely on immigrant labor, and many of their workers have families that are a mix of people in the country legally and illegally, he said.

To read more on this, click here.

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Posted in Event Reports, Events, GA-HB 87, Issues, News | Tagged Charles Hall, current events, economics, GA-HB 87, Georgia, Georgia H.B. 87, immigration, immigration news, immigration reform, news, Paul Bridges, politics, Senator Thompson, undocumented immigrants | Leave a comment

Event Report: Birmingham Rally 14 Cities, 14 Days, One Family, One Alabama

Posted on November 14, 2011 by IRN_admin

Birmingham News article:

About 200 protesters marched and rallied against Alabama’s illegal immigration law today in downtown Birmingham

The protests came during day six of what is called the “14 Cities, 14 Days, One Family, One Alabama” tour being sponsored by La Jefa Radio. Also taking part in the rally was the Birmingham chapter of the NAACP.

The march began at the grave of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth at Oak Hill Cemetery and ended at Kelly Ingram Park where the crowd of Hispanics, blacks and some whites were urged not to be afraid to stand up and oppose the law.

“We are standing up today against this unjust law and together we will defeat injustice,” saidOrlando Rosa, a personality featured on La Jefa Radio.

The protesters, many of whom brought their children, took time to visit the many statutes of civil rights heroes of the 1960s featured across Kelly Ingram Park.

“These men, women and children stood up to oppose a bad law and so must we,” the Rev.Anthony “Alan” Johnson of the NAACP told the crowd.

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Report on the July 26, 2011 Senate Subcommittee Hearing

Posted on August 8, 2011 by IRN_admin

On July 26, 2011, Paul Bridges had the opportunity of being one of the panelists in the Senate Subcommittee Hearing on “The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform.” The following is a commentary from Attny. Rebecca Black.

Comment on July 26 testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and
Border Security Committee on the Judiciary

The Senate Subcommittee invited a select group of people to testify on various aspects of
immigration reform July 26, 2011. The Senate preselected these individuals for the various
points they would present before the committee. This group included mayors from the small
towns of Lewiston Maine, Utica New York, and Uvalda Georgia; two highly respected technical
universities of Cornell and the Rochester Institute of Techology (RIT); Microsoft and Nasdaq to
represent the high tech industries that drive our economy in so many ways, Dr. Arora
representing Asian Tech workers through Immigration Voice, and finally Senator Patrick Leahy
(D-Vt.).

As these people were pre-selected for the testimony that they would present and put in the now
voluminous record pertaining to immigration reform, it seems clear where the Senate’s interests
primarily lies- STEM competitiveness. The testimony of Microsoft, Nasdaq and Cornell focused
on the critical need to support immigration reform so that our technology based STEM industries
would remain strong and competitive. Dr. Arora spoke to the need to support additional visa
numbers so that these workers are able to adjust status to become permanent residents. RIT was
the only interest group to point out negatives, being concerned about abuses and fraud in the
H1B and L1 programs. It must be noted that companies filing these applications pay heft fraud
and retraining fees so it is USCIS’s own fault in not managing their well-funded programs better.

The Mayor of Lewiston, Maine provided testimony on the valuable economic role the large
refugee population has brought to his small town. This vibrant community of refugee Somalians
has filled vacant storefronts and added a new commercial tax base, in addition to filling what
would be deserted housing and shopping at other local commercial establishments. The Mayor
of Utica New York testified to the economic achievements and contributions of the immigrant
Eastern Europeans in his community and the need for positive immigration reform to enable the
undocumented workers to have a pathway to become legal. And finally the Mayor of Uvalda
GA, Paul Bridges testified on the huge economic impact that the undocumented workers have
on agriculture, their work ethic and the disastrous effects that Georgia’s new anti-alien laws are
having in the farming communities in South Georgia and across the country. Finally, Senator
Leahy testified generally, supporting STEM immigration reform as well as citing the Cato
Institute’s studies showing the overwhelmingly huge positive impact that the 10 million or so
undocumented aliens have on our economy and the need for a comprehensive immigration
reform.

Given that four of the speakers testified positively on STEM reform whereas the three mayors
spoke of the impact of the various immigrant communities in their communities, it seems clear
that the Senate’s primary concern lies with making sure the STEM industries interest are being
protected and that it has little concern to make significant changes to work out a solution to the
problem of the undocumented worker. Our country needs to address the realities of 10-11 million
people living in the shadows and also to have a coherent plan for the future. If this is what you
support, then we need you to be vocal in sending your senators and congressmen emails, faxes
and telephone calls asking them to support positive immigration reform for the undocumented
people underpinning much of our economies. I have included below the links to the various
testimonies presented that day.