Posted on 03/01/2008 6:20:26 AM PST by Sammy67
BY DAN OSBURN Albany Bureau
ALBANY-- After a fallout last year over Gov. Eliot Spitzer's failed plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses, more than 1,000 immigrants rallied on the steps of the Capitol on Monday to demand a new initiative from Spitzer: a $100 million citizenship program to fund education and legal services to help immigrants assimilate more easily.
The crowd was made up of a diverse mix of immigrants - from Russia, Mexico, Africa, Korea, Haiti and other countries - that now call the state home.
The $100 million citizenship initiative would fund English-learning classes for children and adults, provide legal assistance to help eligible immigrants through the citizenship application process and protect immigrants from abusive employers and scams, according the coalition.
The citizenship initiative would not only help immigrants achieve citizenship more easily, it would create a more respectful environment statewide for newcomers, said Chung-Wha Hung, executive director of the state's Immigration Coalition.
Immigrants' public image was hurt last year during the fallout following Spitzer's initiative to provide illegal immigrants with drivers' licenses, Hung said. Spitzer proposed the plan last September, but it was widely panned by the public and lawmakers, and less than two months later, he scrapped the idea. The proposal, though, was initially hailed by immigration groups.
"We need to turn from scapegoating to solutions," Hung said. "We're trying to set a new tone and turn the tide."
Currently, 4 million New Yorkers - 20 percent of the state's population - is foreign born, with 1.1 million of those currently eligible for citizenship, according to the coalition. Another 400,000 New Yorkers will be up for citizenship in the coming years, according to the coalition.
Manuel Rivera, the governor's top
(Excerpt) Read more at americanpatrol.com ...
Memo to the INS....That was a target rich environment. Question...where were you?
She’s still working on bringing all those jobs to NY that she promised 6 years ago.
red-meat-to-the-wolves alert. And so many will fall for it.
Unmitigated gall alert. Why don’t they demand that taxpayers buy new cars for all of them while they are at it? Legal parasites, and illegal parasites, apparently there is not much difference.
I guess I could work more overtime to pay for this...
What’s next with those people?
America is the greatest engine of assimilation in human history, without needing to spend a dime.
If you're here legally, and you really want to assimilate, learn English, get a job and stay out of trouble. If you're not here legally, go home.
Demand?
It is just too bad that real American Citizens can not be in positions to handle this. It would take exactly one instance of such lunacy to be surrounded by ICE and arrested en mass and deported within 3 days to bring it to a SCREACHING hault. But nooooo, we gotta cough up another 50 million to Boeing or Martin or whomever for a bunch of stupid cameras and radars for a "virtual fence" con-job while the illegals grab their d**ks and give us the finger on the way to pick up their government checks.
And the politicians are so shocked when they can't get anybody to give them money...
How about a hundred million dollar tax on immigrant to pay for the rich enviroment that tax payers have built up here for them to immigrate to?
Imagine this speech thirty years ago. Why are Americans allowing these people to get to the point where they feel they CAN demand these things from us?
God help us all.
Isn't it funny how the same liberals who criticize America for "interfering" in other nations are the same ones who think we're somehow responsible for fixing Mexico's problems? Gah.
Liberals are for anything liberals propose and against anything conservatives propose. Simple as that. If they’re one and the same: ie deposing Saddam, well that’s hardly releveant to them!
My hope is that eventually, someday we can pay algore enough money to propose that the only way out of global warming is mass suicide since humans emit CO2 which is killing the planet. It’s the only way out.
I don’t have any problems with the concept, just the method and the taxation. It’s hard to thumb your nose at people who say they want to assimilate faster.
But there are other alternatives to helping LEGAL IMMIGRANTS (ONLY!) to learn English.
The State Dept., U.S. military, and other NGO entities have taxpayer-developed language courses, including English As A Second Language. These should be made available freely to new immigrants wanting to learn and/or improve their skills.
As an example, see:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series71.html
(For those who’ve seen the Rosetta Stone ads, some of those courses were directly derived from the U.S. State Dept. language courses and repacked under the RS label).
As for the remainder of the demands, there are plenty of community-supported immigrant organizations which provide tax, legal, and employment information. Taxpayers don’t need to foot the bill for more of those.
Why don’t these immigrants form an organization that offers classes in English and other subjects needed for assimilation. Since there are so many in one state, it should be easy to do with many willing dues payers and fee paying enrollees for classes.
Who told them the government was responsible for teaching them English and helping them to assimilate?
Oh, they’d probably been taught that before they even arrived in the US.
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