Illegal Aliens In Delaware Making Demands In Spanish

In the news video from this rally, one man spoke in Spanish and someone translated him saying he voted for Obama and he expects citizenship now, Obama promised, enough is enough. Say what??? Voted??? It really irks me that illegal aliens come here then start making demands on American citizens. What other country could you go to illegally and behave this way? “We are not criminals” Ugh, technically…… There are qualified candidates who applied for citizenship the legal and proper way who are still waiting. How dare these people make demands and if we are just giving citizenship away to people who don’t play by the rules, what will stop millions of more people from coming over our unsecure border? Sooner or later people need to take personal responsibility for their actions. We don’t need more citizens and voters who want to play the role of the victim. We need immigrants who believe in American exceptionalism  and who hunger for the American dream; people who want to contribute to our society, speak our language and obey the law. Stop rubbing this in our face. In light of the recent terror attacks, now more than ever, we need to secure our borders . That needs to be done NOW. The rest of this reform can be looked at down the road. We have bigger problems to deal with. -Alexis

By James Fisher Via The News Journal-
GEORGETOWN — Delawareans who want changes to federal immigration laws say they are worried the atmosphere they see as open to reform will vanish before Congress acts, leaving residents who aren’t citizens in limbo.

Even though the U.S. Senate has an immigration reform bill endorsed by a bipartisan group of eight senators in hand – with committee hearings on it set to start next week – reform advocates say its progress is dismayingly slow, hindered by objections from conservative Republicans.

“We think comprehensive immigration reform, the effort for that, has stalled,” said Claudia Peña Porretti, executive director of La Esperanza, a nonprofit agency serving Hispanics in Sussex County. “The election was six months ago, when we all thought there was going to be some stronger movement, some change.”

Around the country, Latino and immigrant rights groups held rallies Wednesday calling on Congress to get moving on reform, continuing what has become an annual May Day cry for easing the nation’s immigration laws.

One of those was held in Georgetown Wednesday evening, where speakers described the reforms as a way to heal families ripped apart by deportations.

“My husband came to the U.S. on a work visa in 1991 and was here for 17 years,” said Amelia Rosa Gonzalez, who addressed the crowd of hundreds of people in Spanish and was echoed in English by an interpreter. Her husband, she said, was deported in 2008 and has not been able to return.

“It’s been five years since my children have seen their father,” Gonzalez said. “I have faith that my husband will be here for his children. That’s only if this immigration reform is approved.”

Immigration reform is not a top-line issue for many political activists in Delaware the way it is in some Western and Southern states. The tea party movement here, which is driving opposition to the reforms in other states, is more focused on blocking gun control and same-sex marriage bills in Delaware’s Legislature.

The proposals to open access to immigrant laborers could directly benefit the state’s agricultural industry, which employs thousands of Hispanic immigrants.

The National Chicken Council, a group representing Perdue Foods and other poultry producers, supports creating an occupational visa that would let food companies bring in foreign workers for years at a time, as well as “options to address the 11 million undocumented workers in the shadows of our economy.”

The industry wants “a stable and permanent workforce that can help sustain the rural communities where we do business,” said NCC President Mike Brown in congressional testimony in January. “We seek workers who will stay on the job long enough to become skilled and efficient.”

Businesses in Delaware are largely staying out of the fray. Julie DeYoung, a Perdue spokeswoman, said the company had taken no formal position.

Bill Satterfield, director of the Delmarva Poultry Institute, said poultry producers in the region left it to the National Chicken Council to follow immigration reform’s progress in Congress.

“As a trade association, DPI has had no discussions on the immigration bills,” Satterfield said. “The three state legislatures, that’s what our focus is on.”

Conservative opposition to the bill centers around concern that it will grant citizenship status while not doing enough to prevent future illegal immigration, with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions calling it “amnesty before enforcement.”

For the groups behind Wednesday’s rally, immigration reform is important to solve a social crisis, not an economic one.

“They’re living undocumented and there’s a lot they’re not able to do,” Porretti said of people who come to La Esperanza for help. “They’re living in the shadows … living in fear of being deported. We want to respect the law. We want everyone to live here with legal status.”

She said the issue was as crucial in Delaware as it is in the rest of the country.

“All the issues are important. We feel we’re right there with every other state,” Porretti said. “What’s the alternative? We’re still going to be talking about this five years from now?”

At the Georgetown rally, where people held up signs saying “No human is illegal” and chanted in Spanish, “Obama, we are present here,” there was a sense of urgency.

“Tomorrow? No! Next month? No!” activists from CASA in Action shouted through megaphones before two hours of speeches, broadcast live on Spanish-language radio station Maxima 106.1FM, began. “When do we want it? Now!”

“We are here for many years. In reality, we are not criminals,” said Gustavo Ramos, 52, of Glen Burnie, Md., who attended the rally. “If America wants to be a leader, not just economically, they need to be a leader in immigration reform.”