Auto registration checks scaring immigrants

News that the state will cancel the car registrations of possibly thousands of undocumented immigrants has caused panic and created rumors among those living in central Ohio.

Before Aug. 24, a loophole in the state Bureau of Motor Vehicle's policy allowed illegal immigrants to register cars in their names by using a power-of-attorney form, even if they didn't have a driver's license.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety closed the loophole after delaying a crackdown on possibly fraudulent registrations for more than a year.

After The Dispatch reported on the delay, the bureau sent letters at the beginning of October to more than 47,000 people statewide whose vehicle registrations didn't list a Social Security number or Ohio driver's license or ID number. The state gave them until Dec. 9 to prove residency at a local BMV and pay $3.50 or have their registration canceled.

The change in policy was not aimed at a particular population, said BMV spokeswoman Lindsay Komlanc. "We have a responsibility to confirm that every document we use is verifiable."

But the impact on undocumented immigrants and their families -- many of whom are Latino -- will be severe, said Julia Alachan, who came to Columbus from Honduras in 2000 and volunteers with local Latin soccer leagues.

Illegal immigrants, like many other central Ohio residents, rely on their cars to get to and from work and school, she said. "It's not like in New York or Los Angeles where a bus is coming every four or five minutes. There isn't other transportation."

Concern over the new policy has sown seeds of misinformation within a community already isolated by a language barrier, cultural differences and fear of deportation.

Rumors of immigration checkpoints on Sullivant and Cleveland avenues and raids at Easton Town Center and Polaris mall last month kept many undocumented immigrants home from work, Alachan said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement hasn't been at any of those locations, said Corey A. Price, ICE assistant field office director. "ICE has never done checkpoints in Ohio. Our focus is criminals. If they are criminals, we are going to do everything we can to find them, detain them and remove them."

Illegal immigrants risk deportation whenever they drive, but expired plates and stickers will make them more visible to police, who can pull over and ticket motorists without valid registration.

Although local police agencies do not have the power to enforce federal immigration law, they can arrest people who drive without a license or who can't provide valid identification. Undocumented immigrants typically do not have valid Ohio driver's licenses or IDs.

ICE agents regularly sweep county jails for illegal immigrants and deport them, according to an ICE spokesman.

Opponents of illegal immigration hope the new policy will make undocumented workers so uncomfortable that they'll move elsewhere.

"We want only legal immigrants in this country. And if they aren't legal, then they should go," said Jerry Martin, chairman of the America First Party of Ohio, a 7-year-old political-action committee.

"I'm not an advocate of people breaking the law, but it's more complicated than that," said Ana Perales-Lang, a Latino community volunteer. The policy directly affects the children of illegal immigrants and other family members, many of whom are legal residents or U.S. citizens, she said.

Word has spread that unscrupulous legal immigrants or citizens are charging as much as $500 to register people's cars in their name. Others have suggested that the state might accept the nine-digit federal tax number that allows illegal immigrants to pay income tax or that they might be able to register a car in the name of a business.

To register a car in someone else's name or in the name of a business, an illegal immigrant would have to sign the title over to that person or company, Komlanc said.

If the vehicle is not properly insured, the person on the title and registration could be financially responsible, she said, and the driver would have no legal proof that he bought the car if there were a dispute over ownership.

Also, the state does not accept federal tax-identification numbers, Komlanc said.

Some illegal immigrants are making plans to stop driving altogether; carpools are popping up, Perales-Lang said.

"There are a lot of people along Sullivant who are buying tickets to go home," Alachan said.

"They're saying, 'They don't want us. There's not a lot of work. I'm going to leave.'

Another article today where local law enforcement is TRYING to control the situation.

Undercover sting used to cite, deport Carlsbad day laborers

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_9f398c18-f394-5f8d-9335-8dafad573de3.html

Written by CA Political News on November 02, 2009, 11:42 AM

Undercover sting used to cite, deport Carlsbad day laborers
Police say the workers create traffic hazards along El Camino Real

By EDWARD SIFUENTES, North County Times, 11/02/09

In a new twist, Carlsbad police have adopted an old tactic to bust day laborers: undercover sting operations similar to those used against street prostitutes.

The undercover stings and the anti-solicitation law that police have been using to cite the workers have opened a legal can of worms.

Other cities in the county and in the country that have tried to regulate day laborers have run into similar problems: How do you restrict day laborers without running afoul of their right to seek work?

Police say they are simply trying to address a safety problem. It’s dangerous for drivers to stop on busy roads to pick up the workers, Carlsbad police Capt. Neil Gallucci said.

But migrant rights advocates say they see a more sinister purpose. It’s simply the latest scare tactic used by the city to get rid of day laborers, whom some residents consider an eyesore.

“Are you kidding me?” attorney Victor Torres asked. “If the issue is safety, why aren’t they enforcing the traffic laws that prohibit stopping in a bike lane or the red (zone) instead of using sting operations?”

Police said they do routinely also ticket drivers who stop illegally on the road.

In an Oct. 14 operation, police officers driving unmarked cars and wearing civilian clothes approached day laborers on El Camino Real and pretended to offer them work. The workers were driven a few blocks away where they were cited under the city’s anti-hawking ordinance, police said.

Nine people were cited and nine others suspected of being in the country illegally were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, Gallucci said.

Safety first

Citing day laborers under the city’s anti-hawking ordinance is not new.

Police started using the anti-solicitation ordinance -—— which was originally aimed at newspaper hawkers —— to cite day laborers in 2007. At the time, police said the department had received numerous complaints from area homeowners.

The anti-hawking law prohibits people from distributing materials or soliciting “business or contributions from any person who is traveling in any type of vehicle” along roads with a 35 mph or higher speed limit and on some streets with lower speed limits.

Thus far this year, 22 citations have been issued for violations to the city’s anti-hawking ordinance, Gallucci said. There were seven traffic collisions this year in the areas that were targeted in the Oct. 14 operation, he said, though there was no clear link between those accidents and the day laborers.

Police say they want day laborers to use the city-sponsored hiring center on El Camino Real, which is partly funded by Carlsbad and run by the nonprofit SER-Jobs of Progress. But day laborers say they prefer the streets because it’s easier to get work there.

Also, the hiring hall doesn’t take illegal immigrants because it receives government funding.

“They just don’t want us to be here,” said Moises Ventura, an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, who has made a living as a day laborer for 10 years in Carlsbad. He said he is in the process of legalizing his status, but does not yet have a work permit.

Carlsbad is not the only North County city trying to get rid of the informal hiring sites, which have long existed on streets all across the region and the country. Vista passed a law in 2006 requiring people who want to hire day laborers off the street to register with the city.

Escondido also has discussed an ordinance to regulate day laborers, but those plans have largely faded.

‘Almost like prostitution’

Until recently, Carlsbad police simply cited day laborers under its anti-hawking ordinance. But the courts said that police could not ticket someone just because they were standing on the street.

In one case, a state appellate court ruled last month that there was not enough evidence to convict Regulo Luna Colores, a day laborer, under the Carlsbad law.

“Although (Luna) admitted that he was ‘looking for work’ and thus impliedly intending to violate the Carlsbad Municipal Code, the evidence was insufficient to establish an attempt on his part to solicit business or otherwise violate the ordinance,” according to the court’s ruling.

Dorothy Johnson, an attorney with the nonprofit legal aid group California Rural Legal Assistance in Oceanside, said the court made the right call. She said not only is the ordinance wrong, but police are misusing it.

“If someone is simply standing on the sidewalk, not engaged in any kind of conduct that would be consistent with soliciting, like whistling or waving or yelling, they are still getting ticketed,” Johnson said.

Because of the ruling, police changed their tactics, Gallucci said. Officers have to observe that there is an agreement between the day laborer and the employer, he said.

“There has to be an agreement,” Gallucci said. “It’s almost like a prostitution citation.”

Several day laborers said that police are simply looking for excuses to intimidate and harass them.

“They are tricking us, and that’s not right,” said Gudelio Mendoza, one of the people cited Oct. 14 by police.

‘It’s outrageous’

Mendoza said he and other men were picked up by police and taken a few blocks away, where a Border Patrol vehicle was parked. He was asked for an ID, and because he is a legal resident, he was able to show one and was simply cited. Other people who could not show an ID were turned over to the Border Patrol, he said.

Immigrant rights advocates have criticized such close cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities. They say it raises a suspicion among immigrants that if they call police to report a crime, they could be handed over to immigration agents for deportation.

Gallucci said they use immigration agents to verify people’s identification and to help translate between mostly Spanish-speaking day laborers and English-speaking police officers. He said people who call police to report a crime have nothing to fear.

Torres, a Rancho Penasquitos attorney who has defended several of the day laborers, including Luna and Mendoza, said the police’s explanations don’t make sense. Torres is also the spokesman for El Grupo, an umbrella organization of various local civil rights groups.

“It’s outrageous,” Torres said. “If someone cannot be identified, then they can either do a check by fingerprints at the station or by laptop in the field. They don’t need to have live Border Patrol intimidating day laborers and putting more fear and distrust into the hearts and minds of the Latino community.”

Anchor babies....remember they aren’t counted in the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens that are here.

AMNESTY....What does 20 million people actually look like? Do you realize if this AMNESTY happens we are in effect creating the equivilent of adding over 17 more states to this country? And that’s not even considering the chain migration that is in every amnesty bill or the millions of illegal alien anchor babies intent on carrying out the terror of their Mexican drug cartels.

Please look at what giving amnesty to as many as 20,000,000 illegal alien foreign nationals actually represents. More than the population and infrastructure of 16 states and DC! (see map)

According to the 2000 census, 18,785,867 is the total populations combined of Wyoming, Dist. of Columbia, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Idaho, Nebraska, West Virginia, New Mexico and Nevada. THINK about that! http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=what+does+amnesty+look+like”";

The figure of 20 million illegals has been used since the 70’s.
I lived in So Calif then, and it was the usual number heard over and over again.

In the intervening years, I am loathe to believe that the number is static.
There have been faaaaaaar too many more of the illegals coming across the southern borders, and I want their “anchor babies’. reversed.

Let them go beck to where they came from.

They often do not have auto insurance, don’t have good driving skills, and when they hit your car, you might feel as I do.

“These illegals are taking jobs away from Americans who need jobs.”

Take a look at what is happening with ‘legal’ entrants...one visa after another by the millions.

http://cis.org/miano/h1bnumbers

WSJ Spin on H-1B Numbers
By John Miano, October 29, 2009

The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today on that portrays a sharp decline in the number of H-1B visas.

The paper reports that “only 46,700” applications had been made for 65,000 H-1B visas available.

Intel’s director of work-force policy and manager of the firm’s immigration policies, Jenifer Verdery, proclaims that, “The fact that the 65,000-visa cap hasn’t been reached this year shows that the market will temper demand when necessary”

The spin here is that the worst economy since the Great Depression has caused industry to reduce its use of H-1B visa from every last visa possible to only 72 percent of those available. This supposedly shows that “Contrary to the claims of H-1B critics, if importing cheap labor were the goal of H-1B visa employers, these visas would have been gone on the first day applications were accepted last spring,” Ms. Verdery of Intel says. “In slow economic times, such as today, the demand decreases and the market takes over, which is as it should be.”

Holy mindless spin, Batman! The H-1B visa sellers have as much shame as the Wall Street bonus pushers.

If H-1B use really responded to economic demand, one would expect H-1B numbers to drop to nearly zero when we are losing jobs. No job growth should mean no visas. Job reductions and more visas mean even greater pain for Americans than necessary.

But things are even worse. The WSJ story is not even counting all the visas.

There is another quota of 20,000 H-1B visas for those with U.S. graduate degrees. That was used up. So we have 66,700 of 85,000 visas (76%) being used up.

And visas issued to universities do not get counted at all. Reported annual visa numbers under the current law have ranged from 109,614 in FY 2006 to 130,497 in FY 2004.

The total number of H-1B visas was probably about double the WSJ’s “only 46,700” figure.

The paper gives us even more lobbyist-speak: “[T]he number of visa holders is small compared with the U.S. work force.”

H-1B is small compared to total jobs but is large compared to job growth. Between 2000 and 2007 job growth in computer fields has averaged about 65,000 a year. Over the same time period, there was an average of 49,000 H-1B visas approved for computer workers each year. If you are looking for a computer job, the number of H-1B visas is significant. (I use averages here because in some years the number of H-1B visas actually exceeds the number of new jobs, as it certainly will this year.)

American workers are not going to rest easy knowing that in the declining job market they face from H-1B “only 46,700” job competitors that would not otherwise be there plus ... plus 20,000 more ... plus ...

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