PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona lawmaker said Monday that she has received several sexually threatening e-mails in response to her bill that would make armed civil patrols an act of domestic terrorism.
Democratic state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix, an immigrants rights advocate whose proposal targets the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and other groups that patrol the border, said she reported the e-mails to the FBI and Arizona Department of Public Safety.
There were no immediate responses late Monday afternoon from either law enforcement agency on whether they would investigate Sinema's complaint.
Sinema said she has received threats in the past but reported some recent e-mails because, unlike those from the past, they were of a sexual nature.
"This is the really frightening extreme part of our community," Sinema said.
Sinema said the e-mails came after the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps issued a press release criticizing her bill (HB2286) as an affront to members of the group.
The lawmaker said she wasn't accusing the group of being responsible for the e-mails. "It's individuals who are doing this," Sinema said.
Stacey O'Connell, the past president of the Arizona chapter who remains a member the group, said the group had nothing to do with the sexually threatening e-mails.
"That's not coming from any professional member of the Minuteman organization," O'Connell said.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Sex, lies and white supremacy
The radical right has long been plagued by sexual scandal. Recent months are no exception.
by Mark Potok
It's the dirty little secret of the white supremacist movement in America. Klan leaders with black girlfriends. A neo-Nazi caught with a black transvestite. A macho skinhead arrested while soliciting sex from Latino men. National Socialists affiliated with Satanists who promote sexual ceremonies involving children.
And now, the arrest of Kevin Alfred Strom, a key "intellectual" of the radical right, for possession of child pornography.
But that's not all.
Just days after the Jan. 4 arrest of the leader of the neo-Nazi National Vanguard group, news emerged that two weeks earlier another National Vanguard member had been arrested for another sexual crime. Police in Brookline, Mass., jailed Matthew Downing, a prominent, 25-year-old activist and organizer with the Boston unit of the organization, on a felony charge of statutory rape.
Officials say that an acquaintance of Downing's, 17-year-old Jeremy Perea, got two teenage girls to come to Downing's Brookline home six days before Christmas. Once they were there, Perea allegedly told them he would not drive them home unless one had intercourse with Downing. They refused, but one of them, a 14-year-old, agreed to perform oral sex on the Aryan activist.
If that wasn't enough for embarrassed movement stalwarts, police in Sharpsburg, Md., on Jan. 10 arrested recent Klan boss Gordon Creal Young, 40, and charged him with seven criminal counts for allegedly forcing an underage girl to perform oral sex on him on two occasions in late October. Young, who was then still the imperial wizard of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, also allegedly told the girl on another day that Klan members always strip females who want to join in order to search their bodies for imperfections. The girl later told a pastor that Young then touched her inappropriately.
Last November, just days after his alleged sexual encounters with the child in his home, Young announced he was shutting down the World Knights in order to become state leader of the National Socialist Movement (NSM). After Young's arrest in January, NSM leader Jeff Schoep E-mailed a local Herald-Mail newspaper reporter to say that Young "is not currently active with the National Socialist Movement," but refusing to discuss the matter further.
SPLCenter
by Mark Potok
It's the dirty little secret of the white supremacist movement in America. Klan leaders with black girlfriends. A neo-Nazi caught with a black transvestite. A macho skinhead arrested while soliciting sex from Latino men. National Socialists affiliated with Satanists who promote sexual ceremonies involving children.
And now, the arrest of Kevin Alfred Strom, a key "intellectual" of the radical right, for possession of child pornography.
But that's not all.
Just days after the Jan. 4 arrest of the leader of the neo-Nazi National Vanguard group, news emerged that two weeks earlier another National Vanguard member had been arrested for another sexual crime. Police in Brookline, Mass., jailed Matthew Downing, a prominent, 25-year-old activist and organizer with the Boston unit of the organization, on a felony charge of statutory rape.
Officials say that an acquaintance of Downing's, 17-year-old Jeremy Perea, got two teenage girls to come to Downing's Brookline home six days before Christmas. Once they were there, Perea allegedly told them he would not drive them home unless one had intercourse with Downing. They refused, but one of them, a 14-year-old, agreed to perform oral sex on the Aryan activist.
If that wasn't enough for embarrassed movement stalwarts, police in Sharpsburg, Md., on Jan. 10 arrested recent Klan boss Gordon Creal Young, 40, and charged him with seven criminal counts for allegedly forcing an underage girl to perform oral sex on him on two occasions in late October. Young, who was then still the imperial wizard of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, also allegedly told the girl on another day that Klan members always strip females who want to join in order to search their bodies for imperfections. The girl later told a pastor that Young then touched her inappropriately.
Last November, just days after his alleged sexual encounters with the child in his home, Young announced he was shutting down the World Knights in order to become state leader of the National Socialist Movement (NSM). After Young's arrest in January, NSM leader Jeff Schoep E-mailed a local Herald-Mail newspaper reporter to say that Young "is not currently active with the National Socialist Movement," but refusing to discuss the matter further.
SPLCenter
LULAC Decries Suspension of High School Student for Speaking Spanish
Organization files compliant to U.S. Department of Education.
Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) severely criticized today officials of the Endeavor Alternative School in Kansas City, Kan. for suspending high school junior Zach Rubio for speaking Spanish in the hallway of his school. Although the decision was rescinded by the school district, the action taken against Rubio was in blatant violation of his civil liberties and is a prime example of language discrimination.
The 1st Amendment guarantees to all citizens the right of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and press, freedom of assembly, and freedom to ask for governmental reform. Barring someone from speaking Spanish infringes upon a person’s right to freedom of expression – both oral and written. Moreover, punishing someone for speaking a language other than English has been ruled by many courts as language discrimination and found to be the same as discrimination based on race or national origin.
LULAC is deeply concerned over the explanation of the school’s decision to suspend Rubio for 1 ½ days, noting that “this is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school.” This official statement suggests there has been a consistent and unlawful pattern of language discrimination.
“This type of practice is often seen in the workplace, businesses or government services. It is alarming to learn that an educational institution has violated one of our country’s most fundamental rights,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC. “Ms. Jennifer Watts and her staff acted in poor judgment by disregarding the laws of this country – a law that is taught in every 8th grade class room across the United States – and we are filing a complaint and requesting a full investigation from the Department of Education.”
LULAC National President Hector Flores has written a letter to James Manning, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education, requesting an official investigation involving the infringement upon a U.S. citizen’s civil rights and to determine cyclic patterns of discrimination.
What happened in Kansas City is a microcosm of a broader national debate over language in America. LULAC’s position on language is for programs to embrace cultural and linguistic differences as they will serve to enrich the entire student body.
The League of the United Latin American Citizen (www.lulac.org) advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.
LULAC
Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) severely criticized today officials of the Endeavor Alternative School in Kansas City, Kan. for suspending high school junior Zach Rubio for speaking Spanish in the hallway of his school. Although the decision was rescinded by the school district, the action taken against Rubio was in blatant violation of his civil liberties and is a prime example of language discrimination.
The 1st Amendment guarantees to all citizens the right of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and press, freedom of assembly, and freedom to ask for governmental reform. Barring someone from speaking Spanish infringes upon a person’s right to freedom of expression – both oral and written. Moreover, punishing someone for speaking a language other than English has been ruled by many courts as language discrimination and found to be the same as discrimination based on race or national origin.
LULAC is deeply concerned over the explanation of the school’s decision to suspend Rubio for 1 ½ days, noting that “this is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school.” This official statement suggests there has been a consistent and unlawful pattern of language discrimination.
“This type of practice is often seen in the workplace, businesses or government services. It is alarming to learn that an educational institution has violated one of our country’s most fundamental rights,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC. “Ms. Jennifer Watts and her staff acted in poor judgment by disregarding the laws of this country – a law that is taught in every 8th grade class room across the United States – and we are filing a complaint and requesting a full investigation from the Department of Education.”
LULAC National President Hector Flores has written a letter to James Manning, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education, requesting an official investigation involving the infringement upon a U.S. citizen’s civil rights and to determine cyclic patterns of discrimination.
What happened in Kansas City is a microcosm of a broader national debate over language in America. LULAC’s position on language is for programs to embrace cultural and linguistic differences as they will serve to enrich the entire student body.
The League of the United Latin American Citizen (www.lulac.org) advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.
LULAC
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Airline Passenger Awarded $400,000 In Racial Profiling Case
POSTED: 6:10 pm EST January 15, 2007
UPDATED: 7:02 pm EST January 15, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A jury in Massachusetts ruled on Friday that American Airlines should pay a South Florida man $400,000 in a discrimination case.
John Cerqueira and his attorneys accused American Airlines of racial profiling after he was removed from a plane in Boston in December 2003.
Cerqueira said he had visited family in the Boston area and was trying to fly back to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when American Airlines officials ordered him and two other men off the plane.
"I have a feeling these kinds of incidents of racial profiling happen to people more often than we're aware of," said Cerqueira.
Cerqueira said three Massachusetts state police officers escorted him and two Israeli men off of the plane. They were all questioned and later released.
"We went to the American Airlines ticket counter and they refunded our fares for all three of us and told me I was being denied service," Cerqueira said. "They didn't tell me for how long and I had to figure out a way to get home."
In his suit against the airline, Cerqueira, who is an American citizen of Portuguese descent, claimed he was denied service because the airline mistakenly believed he was of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian decent.
The complaint included an e-mail message, which Cerqueira said is from an airline official, stating, "Our investigation has revealed that our personnel perceived certain aspects of your behavior, which could have made other customers uncomfortable on board the aircraft."
Cerqueira, a computer consultant, said he flies all over the world for his business.
"To be honest, I wasn't able to get back to work for a while after the incident because I was very concerned about my freedom," Cerqueira said. "My job requires traveling so I was very concerned... afraid of traveling."
American Airlines sent NBC 6 the following statement regarding the jury's decision in the case: "While we respect the jury system, we disagree with this verdict. This decision is simply not supported by the facts nor the law. We will evaluate our legal options."
"I am certainly hoping that American Airlines will consider their policies and ensure there are proper checks and balances for situations not to get out of hand the way this situation did on that day," Cerqueira said.
Source: NBC6
Civil law suit: PDF
UPDATED: 7:02 pm EST January 15, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A jury in Massachusetts ruled on Friday that American Airlines should pay a South Florida man $400,000 in a discrimination case.
John Cerqueira and his attorneys accused American Airlines of racial profiling after he was removed from a plane in Boston in December 2003.
Cerqueira said he had visited family in the Boston area and was trying to fly back to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when American Airlines officials ordered him and two other men off the plane.
"I have a feeling these kinds of incidents of racial profiling happen to people more often than we're aware of," said Cerqueira.
Cerqueira said three Massachusetts state police officers escorted him and two Israeli men off of the plane. They were all questioned and later released.
"We went to the American Airlines ticket counter and they refunded our fares for all three of us and told me I was being denied service," Cerqueira said. "They didn't tell me for how long and I had to figure out a way to get home."
In his suit against the airline, Cerqueira, who is an American citizen of Portuguese descent, claimed he was denied service because the airline mistakenly believed he was of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian decent.
The complaint included an e-mail message, which Cerqueira said is from an airline official, stating, "Our investigation has revealed that our personnel perceived certain aspects of your behavior, which could have made other customers uncomfortable on board the aircraft."
Cerqueira, a computer consultant, said he flies all over the world for his business.
"To be honest, I wasn't able to get back to work for a while after the incident because I was very concerned about my freedom," Cerqueira said. "My job requires traveling so I was very concerned... afraid of traveling."
American Airlines sent NBC 6 the following statement regarding the jury's decision in the case: "While we respect the jury system, we disagree with this verdict. This decision is simply not supported by the facts nor the law. We will evaluate our legal options."
"I am certainly hoping that American Airlines will consider their policies and ensure there are proper checks and balances for situations not to get out of hand the way this situation did on that day," Cerqueira said.
Source: NBC6
Civil law suit: PDF
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Man wins suit in airline race-profiling case
By Scott Malone
Tue Jan 16, 2:32 PM ET
A Florida man removed from an American Airlines flight because he was considered a security threat has won a $400,000 jury award in a case that accused the airline of racial profiling.
John Cerqueira, a U.S. citizen of Portuguese descent, charged that he was removed from a 2003 flight at Boston's Logan International Airport because he appeared Middle Eastern, and was denied service even after police determined he did not pose a threat.
Cerqueira's attorneys said on Tuesday that the suit, which accused the airline of violating his civil rights, was the first of its kind to go to trial. The federal jury in Massachusetts made its decision on Friday.
"It's part of this whole debate about security versus civil rights," said Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which represented Cerqueira. "We don't think there's any conflict between security and civil rights. And the jury came down on our side in this."
Civil-liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union say racial profiling, or ethnic-based targeting, against Middle Easterners has risen in the United States since the September 11 attacks. Two planes out of Boston, including an American Airlines aircraft, were among the four hijacked in the attacks.
In Cerqueira's incident, police removed him and two Israeli men from a December 28, 2003 flight bound from Boston for Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Israelis, whom Cerqueira did not know, had drawn attention by speaking loudly in a non-English language, according to court papers. Cerqueira charged that he was removed from the plane with the other two because of their similar "color and physical appearance."
Police released all three after questioning them for two hours.
Staff of the airline, owned by AMR Corp., then told Cerqueira that the airline would not let him fly, citing remarks he made on the plane. They refunded the ticket cost and suggested Cerqueira, a regular American Airlines flier, find another way home.
"Mr. Cerqueira was literally just sitting in his seat minding his own business and he was removed from the plane and interrogated, detained for two hours for the sole reason that he appeared to be traveling with two passengers who were seated next to him ... he was caught up in it because of his similar appearance to them," said David Godkin, attorney at Birnbaum & Godkin, a Boston law firm that also represented Cerqueira.
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said of the verdict: "This decision is simply not supported by the facts or the law. We will evaluate our legal options."
The two Israeli men were also released but denied further service by the airline, Cerqueira's attorneys said.
"The message is clear, that airlines have to treat their passengers fairly, without discrimination, based on religion or ethnicity or perceived religion or ethnicity," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group. "Those airlines that fail to do that will pay a financial price."
In other recent incidents, the ACLU accused federal security officials at New York's John F. Kennedy airport in August of unfairly targeting Muslim, Arab and South Asian passengers for extra scrutiny. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official denied using racial profiling but said passengers from "high-risk areas" received close attention.
In November, six Muslim imams were removed from a commercial flight in Minnesota after being accused of "suspicious activity" that they said amounted to no more than saying evening prayers.
Source: Yahoo
Tue Jan 16, 2:32 PM ET
A Florida man removed from an American Airlines flight because he was considered a security threat has won a $400,000 jury award in a case that accused the airline of racial profiling.
John Cerqueira, a U.S. citizen of Portuguese descent, charged that he was removed from a 2003 flight at Boston's Logan International Airport because he appeared Middle Eastern, and was denied service even after police determined he did not pose a threat.
Cerqueira's attorneys said on Tuesday that the suit, which accused the airline of violating his civil rights, was the first of its kind to go to trial. The federal jury in Massachusetts made its decision on Friday.
"It's part of this whole debate about security versus civil rights," said Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which represented Cerqueira. "We don't think there's any conflict between security and civil rights. And the jury came down on our side in this."
Civil-liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union say racial profiling, or ethnic-based targeting, against Middle Easterners has risen in the United States since the September 11 attacks. Two planes out of Boston, including an American Airlines aircraft, were among the four hijacked in the attacks.
In Cerqueira's incident, police removed him and two Israeli men from a December 28, 2003 flight bound from Boston for Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Israelis, whom Cerqueira did not know, had drawn attention by speaking loudly in a non-English language, according to court papers. Cerqueira charged that he was removed from the plane with the other two because of their similar "color and physical appearance."
Police released all three after questioning them for two hours.
Staff of the airline, owned by AMR Corp., then told Cerqueira that the airline would not let him fly, citing remarks he made on the plane. They refunded the ticket cost and suggested Cerqueira, a regular American Airlines flier, find another way home.
"Mr. Cerqueira was literally just sitting in his seat minding his own business and he was removed from the plane and interrogated, detained for two hours for the sole reason that he appeared to be traveling with two passengers who were seated next to him ... he was caught up in it because of his similar appearance to them," said David Godkin, attorney at Birnbaum & Godkin, a Boston law firm that also represented Cerqueira.
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said of the verdict: "This decision is simply not supported by the facts or the law. We will evaluate our legal options."
The two Israeli men were also released but denied further service by the airline, Cerqueira's attorneys said.
"The message is clear, that airlines have to treat their passengers fairly, without discrimination, based on religion or ethnicity or perceived religion or ethnicity," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group. "Those airlines that fail to do that will pay a financial price."
In other recent incidents, the ACLU accused federal security officials at New York's John F. Kennedy airport in August of unfairly targeting Muslim, Arab and South Asian passengers for extra scrutiny. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official denied using racial profiling but said passengers from "high-risk areas" received close attention.
In November, six Muslim imams were removed from a commercial flight in Minnesota after being accused of "suspicious activity" that they said amounted to no more than saying evening prayers.
Source: Yahoo
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Two Aryan Brotherhood Leaders Convicted in Los Angeles
Posted: January 11, 2007
Two high ranking members of the racist prison gang Aryan Brotherhood were convicted in Los Angeles, California, of federal racketeering charges stemming from six murders and three attempted assassinations.
Robert Lee "Blinky" Griffin, 59, and John William "Youngster" Stinson, 52, were convicted on January 9 of conspiracy to commit racketeering, and committing violent acts in aid of racketeering. Both men face life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The trial of Griffin and Stinson follows the July 2006 conviction of four other Aryan Brotherhood leaders by a federal jury in Santa Ana, California. Barry Byron Mills, 57, Tyler Davis Bingham, 59, and Edgar Wesley Hevle, 54, were sentenced to life in prison without parole. The fourth, Christopher Overton Gibson, 46, is currently awaiting sentencing.
During the six-week trial prosecutors offered testimony and evidence of an Aryan Brotherhood conspiracy of murder and intimidation from within the California prisons, and that both Stinson and Griffin were among those who took part.
Griffin led the California unit of the Aryan Brotherhood since its conception in 1982 at the state prison in Chino. Stinson rose to power within the gang by aligning himself with Griffin, and was the group's predominant leader by 1994. Both men were already serving time for murder when they joined.
Griffin and Stinson are scheduled to be sentenced on May 14, 2007.
Two high ranking members of the racist prison gang Aryan Brotherhood were convicted in Los Angeles, California, of federal racketeering charges stemming from six murders and three attempted assassinations.
Robert Lee "Blinky" Griffin, 59, and John William "Youngster" Stinson, 52, were convicted on January 9 of conspiracy to commit racketeering, and committing violent acts in aid of racketeering. Both men face life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The trial of Griffin and Stinson follows the July 2006 conviction of four other Aryan Brotherhood leaders by a federal jury in Santa Ana, California. Barry Byron Mills, 57, Tyler Davis Bingham, 59, and Edgar Wesley Hevle, 54, were sentenced to life in prison without parole. The fourth, Christopher Overton Gibson, 46, is currently awaiting sentencing.
During the six-week trial prosecutors offered testimony and evidence of an Aryan Brotherhood conspiracy of murder and intimidation from within the California prisons, and that both Stinson and Griffin were among those who took part.
Griffin led the California unit of the Aryan Brotherhood since its conception in 1982 at the state prison in Chino. Stinson rose to power within the gang by aligning himself with Griffin, and was the group's predominant leader by 1994. Both men were already serving time for murder when they joined.
Griffin and Stinson are scheduled to be sentenced on May 14, 2007.
Former KKK Imperial Wizard Arrested for Statutory Rape in Maryland
Posted: January 12, 2007
The former leader of the Sharpsburg, Maryland-based World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who disbanded his group in November 2006 to join the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM), is accused of forcing a child to perform oral sex on him.
Gordon Creal Young, 40, of Sharpsburg, Maryland, was arrested on January 10, 2007, on seven criminal counts, including two counts each of second-degree assault and sex abuse of a minor, second-degree sex offense, and one count of causing another person to ingest bodily fluid.
The charges allege that Young forced a child to perform oral sex on him at his home on two separate occasions in October 2006. It is further alleged that Young told the girl that Klan members routinely strip women of their clothing in order to search their bodies for flaws upon joining. The investigation ensued after the girl revealed to a pastor that Young had touched her inappropriately.
Young's capture follows the December and January arrests of three other key white supremacists in Virginia and Massachusetts on charges related to the sexual molestation of children.
Young is being held at the Washington County Detention Center on $350,000 bond.
The former leader of the Sharpsburg, Maryland-based World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who disbanded his group in November 2006 to join the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM), is accused of forcing a child to perform oral sex on him.
Gordon Creal Young, 40, of Sharpsburg, Maryland, was arrested on January 10, 2007, on seven criminal counts, including two counts each of second-degree assault and sex abuse of a minor, second-degree sex offense, and one count of causing another person to ingest bodily fluid.
The charges allege that Young forced a child to perform oral sex on him at his home on two separate occasions in October 2006. It is further alleged that Young told the girl that Klan members routinely strip women of their clothing in order to search their bodies for flaws upon joining. The investigation ensued after the girl revealed to a pastor that Young had touched her inappropriately.
Young's capture follows the December and January arrests of three other key white supremacists in Virginia and Massachusetts on charges related to the sexual molestation of children.
Young is being held at the Washington County Detention Center on $350,000 bond.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Killing Stirs Racial Concerns in North Woods of Wisconsin
By BARBARA MINER
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 8 — Law enforcement officials said Monday that a Hmong hunter found dead Saturday in northern Wisconsin had been murdered after an “accidental meeting” between the victim and another small game hunter.
The killing has reignited racial tension in Wisconsin’s northern woods, where two years ago a Hmong hunter killed six white hunters and injured two others in a confrontation that included racial epithets.
Details remain sketchy about the latest killing, although there have been news reports that the two men had a confrontation.
“While there is much I would like to tell you, there is much I cannot tell you,” Sheriff James Kanikula said at a news conference Monday in Marinette, Wis., The Associated Press reported.
The finding that the death of the Hmong hunter, Cha Vang, 30, had been intentional was based on an autopsy. The case has been turned over to Wisconsin’s newly elected attorney general, J. B. Van Hollen.
The other hunter, James Nichols, 28, of Peshtigo, Wis., is being detained, but has not been charged in the killing. Mr. Nichols is being held on charges of violating parole and being a felon in possession of a firearm. A convicted burglar, he has been in custody since Saturday, when he showed up at a medical center with a gunshot wound.
Many members of the Hmong community here are urging caution.
“There are a lot of rumors, and there is a lot of talking, but I don’t have all the information at this point,” Yia Thao, president of the United Hmong Community Center in Green Bay, said in a telephone interview. “I believe in the law, and I hope that whoever caused the crime, I hope they will be put into justice.”
The body of Mr. Vang, a father of five children age 3 to 10, was found partly concealed Saturday in the Peshtigo Harbor Wildlife Area. The hunting spot is an hour’s drive north of Green Bay, where Mr. Vang lived, and about 250 miles north of Chicago.
He had been hunting small game with friends on Friday, and they reported him as missing when he did not show up at day’s end. A search, which included tracking dogs, took place. The authorities did not find Mr. Vang’s body until after questioning Mr. Nichols.
Hunting is deeply ingrained in both the Hmong and Wisconsin northern woods cultures. Distrust among the Hmong and other residents has been high since Chai Soua Vang of St. Paul killed six hunters and wounded two others in 2004 in north-central Wisconsin. The hunters had ordered Chai Soua Vang off private land. Mr. Vang is serving a life sentence.
About 40,000 Hmong live in Wisconsin, which has the third-highest Hmong population in the United States, after California and Minnesota. Roughly 6,000 live in the Green Bay area. The Hmong, who are from the mountain regions of Laos, were granted refugee status after the end of the Vietnam War.
Cha Vang was among the final wave of Hmong refugees from Thailand and emigrated to Wisconsin two years ago. He spoke little or no English and had recently been laid off from a manufacturing job, said Mr. Thao, of the Hmong community center.
After the killings two years ago, many Hmong felt nervous about hunting. “Everybody was worried,” said Zongsae Vang, a community organizer with the Hmong American Friendship Association in Milwaukee, where most of the state’s Hmong population lives.
Pang Vue Vang, Cha Vang’s wife, does not speak English and she and the children are having difficulty coping with all that is happening, Mr. Thao said. “I see the wife crying all day, and the little one is asking for their dad,” he said.
Source: NYTimes
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 8 — Law enforcement officials said Monday that a Hmong hunter found dead Saturday in northern Wisconsin had been murdered after an “accidental meeting” between the victim and another small game hunter.
The killing has reignited racial tension in Wisconsin’s northern woods, where two years ago a Hmong hunter killed six white hunters and injured two others in a confrontation that included racial epithets.
Details remain sketchy about the latest killing, although there have been news reports that the two men had a confrontation.
“While there is much I would like to tell you, there is much I cannot tell you,” Sheriff James Kanikula said at a news conference Monday in Marinette, Wis., The Associated Press reported.
The finding that the death of the Hmong hunter, Cha Vang, 30, had been intentional was based on an autopsy. The case has been turned over to Wisconsin’s newly elected attorney general, J. B. Van Hollen.
The other hunter, James Nichols, 28, of Peshtigo, Wis., is being detained, but has not been charged in the killing. Mr. Nichols is being held on charges of violating parole and being a felon in possession of a firearm. A convicted burglar, he has been in custody since Saturday, when he showed up at a medical center with a gunshot wound.
Many members of the Hmong community here are urging caution.
“There are a lot of rumors, and there is a lot of talking, but I don’t have all the information at this point,” Yia Thao, president of the United Hmong Community Center in Green Bay, said in a telephone interview. “I believe in the law, and I hope that whoever caused the crime, I hope they will be put into justice.”
The body of Mr. Vang, a father of five children age 3 to 10, was found partly concealed Saturday in the Peshtigo Harbor Wildlife Area. The hunting spot is an hour’s drive north of Green Bay, where Mr. Vang lived, and about 250 miles north of Chicago.
He had been hunting small game with friends on Friday, and they reported him as missing when he did not show up at day’s end. A search, which included tracking dogs, took place. The authorities did not find Mr. Vang’s body until after questioning Mr. Nichols.
Hunting is deeply ingrained in both the Hmong and Wisconsin northern woods cultures. Distrust among the Hmong and other residents has been high since Chai Soua Vang of St. Paul killed six hunters and wounded two others in 2004 in north-central Wisconsin. The hunters had ordered Chai Soua Vang off private land. Mr. Vang is serving a life sentence.
About 40,000 Hmong live in Wisconsin, which has the third-highest Hmong population in the United States, after California and Minnesota. Roughly 6,000 live in the Green Bay area. The Hmong, who are from the mountain regions of Laos, were granted refugee status after the end of the Vietnam War.
Cha Vang was among the final wave of Hmong refugees from Thailand and emigrated to Wisconsin two years ago. He spoke little or no English and had recently been laid off from a manufacturing job, said Mr. Thao, of the Hmong community center.
After the killings two years ago, many Hmong felt nervous about hunting. “Everybody was worried,” said Zongsae Vang, a community organizer with the Hmong American Friendship Association in Milwaukee, where most of the state’s Hmong population lives.
Pang Vue Vang, Cha Vang’s wife, does not speak English and she and the children are having difficulty coping with all that is happening, Mr. Thao said. “I see the wife crying all day, and the little one is asking for their dad,” he said.
Source: NYTimes
'HATE' HOST IS HACKED - Hal Turner's site under 'attack'
Monday, January 08, 2007
By ALI WINSTON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Hal Turner's site under 'attack'
A band of Internet hackers have crashed the Web site of North Bergen white supremacist Hal Turner and blocked his Internet radio broadcasts.
Automated programs - set up by a group of people identifying themselves as "/b/tards" - have sent an avalanche of Internet traffic to Turner's Web site, overloading the Web server. The tactic is known as a "denial of service" attack.
An anonymous message posted Wednesday afternoon on Turner's site read: "We're all just using our free time to attack your site - losing no money and having lots of fun bothering a person selected randomly off the Internet."
The poster claims the attacks aren't associated with the aggressively racist content of Turner's programs: "The invasion has and always will be for the laughs. We don't care about the content - we just need something to fill all the spare time we have."
But several other white supremacist Web sites, including the widely used Web forum Stormfront, also have experienced similar attacks recently.
Turner, a native of Jersey City, still posts on what he calls a "highly content-restricted" blog at Blogspot.com, where he has railed against the hackers and exchanged barbs with them. On Dec. 31, he wrote, "I am, as of now, DEFEATED. My entire existence on the Internet has been utterly wrecked."
But then on Thursday, Turner posted a message claiming his main site was running again and that he had blocked subscribers to Internet providers AT&T and Verizon from his Web site in an effort to prevent more attacks.
As of last night, however, Turner's site - www.halturnershow.com - was still unavailable.
Turner, whose short-wave radio show broadcasting from a Maine radio station ended in 2004, regularly rails against minorities, immigrants and homosexuals. He has advocated violence against these groups and has been profiled by anti-racist watchdogs such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Government officials are also a favored target - recently Turner advocated the assassination of any member of Congress who supports amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He made headlines this summer after hiring a plane to fly a message with an anti-Mexican slur over a pro-immigrant march in Liberty State Park.
That same incident prompted former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Jaime Vazquez to protest in front of Turner's home. When Turner confronted Vazquez, each accused the other of simple assault, but a judge dismissed the charges against each.
Source: NJ
By ALI WINSTON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Hal Turner's site under 'attack'
A band of Internet hackers have crashed the Web site of North Bergen white supremacist Hal Turner and blocked his Internet radio broadcasts.
Automated programs - set up by a group of people identifying themselves as "/b/tards" - have sent an avalanche of Internet traffic to Turner's Web site, overloading the Web server. The tactic is known as a "denial of service" attack.
An anonymous message posted Wednesday afternoon on Turner's site read: "We're all just using our free time to attack your site - losing no money and having lots of fun bothering a person selected randomly off the Internet."
The poster claims the attacks aren't associated with the aggressively racist content of Turner's programs: "The invasion has and always will be for the laughs. We don't care about the content - we just need something to fill all the spare time we have."
But several other white supremacist Web sites, including the widely used Web forum Stormfront, also have experienced similar attacks recently.
Turner, a native of Jersey City, still posts on what he calls a "highly content-restricted" blog at Blogspot.com, where he has railed against the hackers and exchanged barbs with them. On Dec. 31, he wrote, "I am, as of now, DEFEATED. My entire existence on the Internet has been utterly wrecked."
But then on Thursday, Turner posted a message claiming his main site was running again and that he had blocked subscribers to Internet providers AT&T and Verizon from his Web site in an effort to prevent more attacks.
As of last night, however, Turner's site - www.halturnershow.com - was still unavailable.
Turner, whose short-wave radio show broadcasting from a Maine radio station ended in 2004, regularly rails against minorities, immigrants and homosexuals. He has advocated violence against these groups and has been profiled by anti-racist watchdogs such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Government officials are also a favored target - recently Turner advocated the assassination of any member of Congress who supports amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He made headlines this summer after hiring a plane to fly a message with an anti-Mexican slur over a pro-immigrant march in Liberty State Park.
That same incident prompted former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Jaime Vazquez to protest in front of Turner's home. When Turner confronted Vazquez, each accused the other of simple assault, but a judge dismissed the charges against each.
Source: NJ
Nazis, racists join Minuteman Project
Two Minuteman Project volunteers — men who described themselves as members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance — pose near the Mexican border with a handmade sign bearing an image identical to that on Alliance pamphlets and billboards.
The men told fellow volunteers that a total of at least six Alliance members had joined the Minuteman effort in order to recruit new Alliance members and to learn where to conduct their own "Mexican hunts" once media attention flagged.
The men carried assault rifles in their vehicle and boasted that they were scouting "sniper positions."
DOUGLAS, Ariz. | April 22, 2005 -- For months, Jim Gilchrist promised that his Minuteman Project would peacefully observe the Arizona border as a protest against illegal immigration. Volunteers — he said there would be 1,300 of them — would be carefully screened, with FBI help, to keep out white supremacists and racists. No one would be allowed to bear guns except those who had permits to carry concealed weapons.
Gilchrist said that critics who called his group "vigilantes" — naysayers who included President Bush — were absolutely wrong about his volunteers.
Indeed, Gilchrist told USA Today, these men and women sought only to bring attention to a major social problem. Most were "white Martin Luther Kings."
Maybe so. But Gilchrist's accuracy has been less than sterling.
As the month-long April project started, some 300 volunteers showed up — a thousand fewer than predicted. An FBI official denied that the agency was screening Gilchrist's or any other private group's members. At least four-fifths of volunteers did carry weapons, and almost none were checked for permits. Racist talk abounded. And at least some neo-Nazis and other racists did join in Gilchrist's project.
On April 2, as the month-long effort got under way, the Minuteman Project held a protest across the street from the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Naco, Ariz. Prominent among the demonstrators were two men who confided that they were members of the Phoenix chapter of the National Alliance — the largest neo-Nazi group in America. One of the two, who sat in lawn chairs throughout, held a sign with arrows depicting invading armies of people from Mexico — a sign identical to National Alliance billboards and pamphlets, except without the Alliance logo.
The presence of Alliance members was not much of a surprise, and there were likely more than that pair. "We're not going to show up as a group and say, 'Hi, we're the National Alliance," Alliance official Shaun Walker told a reporter in the run-up to the protest. "But we have members ... that will participate."
In fact, National Alliance pamphlets were distributed in Tombstone and this predominantly Hispanic community just two days before the Minuteman Project got going. "Non-Whites are turning America into a Third World slum," they read. "They come for welfare or to take our jobs. Let's send them home now."
Many other white supremacists had promised to attend, including members of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, but it was difficult to know if they showed up.
One well-known extremist did appear. Armored in a flak jacket and packing a .38-caliber snub-nosed revolver, Joe McCutchen joined other volunteers patrolling the barbed wire fence separating the United States and Mexico near Bisbee, Ariz.
McCutchen is the recently appointed chairman of Protect Arkansas Now, a group seeking to pass legislation that would deny public benefits to undocumented workers in that state. More to the point, he was identified by the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens as a member in 2001 — a charge he denies, though he admits that he did give a speech that year to the group that has described blacks as "a retrograde species of humanity." As recently as summer 2003, McCutchen wrote anti-Semitic letters to his hometown newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark.
"A lot of these people coming in, they're diseased," McCutchen told one group of fellow volunteers, who treated him like a visiting celebrity. "They've got tuberculosis, leprosy. I mean, you don't even want to touch them unless you're wearing gloves. So why the hell should we pay our taxes to cure them?"
"They're turning our country into a Third World dumping ground," he said. "We're losing our language to them, losing our culture. They're taking over, and if we don't stop [immigration], our society will not survive. That's why I'm here."
Back in March, Gilchrist had also warned that he had been told that leaders of an extremely violent gang made up of Salvadorans — the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 — had ordered its members to teach "a lesson" to the Minuteman volunteers. As it turned out, however, no frightening, brown-skinned gangsters showed up.
But the National Alliance was certainly there.
The day after the Minuteman rally in Naco, the two Alliance members there — one of whom identified himself as "Sam Adams" — were assigned to an observation post about a mile from McCutchen's location. They arrived there after a 10-minute "training session," driving to the post as they blasted white power music.
"We understand why Gilchrist and [project co-organizer Chris] Simcox have to talk all this P.C., crap," said one. "It's all about playing to the media. That's fine. While we're here, it's their game and we'll play by their rules. Once Minuteman's over, though, we might just have to come back and do our own thing."
Source: SPLCenter
Friday, January 12, 2007
Senator Introduces Year's First Immigration Bill
January 12, 2007
Michael Doyle
The introduction Wednesday of an ambitious agricultural guest-worker plan showcases the changed Capitol Hill circumstances that may make 2007 the year for an immigration overhaul.
Some congressional roadblocks are gone. Sympathetic new leaders are in charge. A restored Democratic majority claims new priorities.
"A year does make a difference," insisted Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.
Or so he hopes.
Joined by lawmakers from Florida and California, and backed by hundreds of farm, labor and church groups, Craig is reintroducing a guest-worker plan that's been debated for years. As many as 1.5 million farmworkers and their relatives now in this country illegally could gain legal status under the bill.
The legislation, dubbed AgJobs, would also revise an existing guest-worker program that farmers consider inefficient. It's the first big immigration overhaul bill introduced this year, mirroring legislation passed last year by the Senate but not the House of Representatives.
"I happen to believe we have the votes," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "I believe the bill can move quickly."
The bill is bipartisan, introduced by Republicans Craig and Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Democrats Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., helped negotiate the package and introduced an identical bill in the House.
The legislation would grant "blue cards" to illegal immigrants who could prove they had worked in agriculture for at least 150 days in the last two years. They must continue working in agriculture for several years before attaining permanent legal status.
The Republicans who controlled the House last year refused to bring the guest-worker legislation up for a vote. This year, Democrats control the House by a 233-202 margin.
"With the change in the majority party, I think we're going to see a situation where we get something done this year," said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League.
"There's a little bit more impetus with the change of leadership on the congressional side," said Vito Chiesa, a California peach and almond grower.
The Senate will probably move first, since it took the lead last year. As before, the agricultural guest-worker package could be folded into an immigration overhaul plan that extends beyond farm workers. Congressional negotiators have quietly been redrafting such a comprehensive plan.
The broader proposal will be introduced later with its own fanfare. It will extend to millions of illegal immigrants the opportunity to become legal U.S. residents and, eventually, citizens if they can pay fines and cross other hurdles.
As before, both the broader immigration overhaul and the AgJobs proposal will incite vigorous resistance.
"The Senate has already heard a great number of euphemisms about the AgJobs bill, but let's be clear from the start about what we are discussing," Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., warned during earlier debate. "It is amnesty for aliens employed unlawfully in the agricultural sector, and it is amnesty for the businesses that hire and exploit them as cheap labor."
If resistance to a immigration overhaul bill grows too stiff, Berman said, the agricultural guest-worker package could be moved as a separate bill.
Source: Copyright (c) 2006, Contra Costa Times
Michael Doyle
The introduction Wednesday of an ambitious agricultural guest-worker plan showcases the changed Capitol Hill circumstances that may make 2007 the year for an immigration overhaul.
Some congressional roadblocks are gone. Sympathetic new leaders are in charge. A restored Democratic majority claims new priorities.
"A year does make a difference," insisted Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.
Or so he hopes.
Joined by lawmakers from Florida and California, and backed by hundreds of farm, labor and church groups, Craig is reintroducing a guest-worker plan that's been debated for years. As many as 1.5 million farmworkers and their relatives now in this country illegally could gain legal status under the bill.
The legislation, dubbed AgJobs, would also revise an existing guest-worker program that farmers consider inefficient. It's the first big immigration overhaul bill introduced this year, mirroring legislation passed last year by the Senate but not the House of Representatives.
"I happen to believe we have the votes," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "I believe the bill can move quickly."
The bill is bipartisan, introduced by Republicans Craig and Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Democrats Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., helped negotiate the package and introduced an identical bill in the House.
The legislation would grant "blue cards" to illegal immigrants who could prove they had worked in agriculture for at least 150 days in the last two years. They must continue working in agriculture for several years before attaining permanent legal status.
The Republicans who controlled the House last year refused to bring the guest-worker legislation up for a vote. This year, Democrats control the House by a 233-202 margin.
"With the change in the majority party, I think we're going to see a situation where we get something done this year," said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League.
"There's a little bit more impetus with the change of leadership on the congressional side," said Vito Chiesa, a California peach and almond grower.
The Senate will probably move first, since it took the lead last year. As before, the agricultural guest-worker package could be folded into an immigration overhaul plan that extends beyond farm workers. Congressional negotiators have quietly been redrafting such a comprehensive plan.
The broader proposal will be introduced later with its own fanfare. It will extend to millions of illegal immigrants the opportunity to become legal U.S. residents and, eventually, citizens if they can pay fines and cross other hurdles.
As before, both the broader immigration overhaul and the AgJobs proposal will incite vigorous resistance.
"The Senate has already heard a great number of euphemisms about the AgJobs bill, but let's be clear from the start about what we are discussing," Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., warned during earlier debate. "It is amnesty for aliens employed unlawfully in the agricultural sector, and it is amnesty for the businesses that hire and exploit them as cheap labor."
If resistance to a immigration overhaul bill grows too stiff, Berman said, the agricultural guest-worker package could be moved as a separate bill.
Source: Copyright (c) 2006, Contra Costa Times
DEATH THREATS for Pizza Chain accepting Pesos
DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A pizza chain has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, becoming another flashpoint in the nation's debate over immigrants.
"This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one e-mail read. "Quit catering to the damn illegal Mexicans," demanded another.
Dallas-based Pizza Patron said it was not trying to inject itself into a larger political debate about illegal immigration when it posted signs this week saying "Aceptamos pesos" -- or "We accept pesos" -- at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California.
Pizza Patron spokesman Andy Gamm said the company was just trying to sell more pizza to its customers, 60 percent of whom are Hispanic.
Wal-Mart, H-E-B supermarkets and other American businesses in towns along the Mexican border accept pesos. And some businesses in New York and Minnesota communities along the northern border accept Canadian dollars.
The difference here is that many of the pizza joints are far from the border, in places like Dallas, more than 400 miles away, and Denver, more than 700 miles away.
"If people would understand that the majority of our customers are Hispanic, then it might make more sense for a company to sell pizza for pesos," Gamm said. "It doesn't make sense in Connecticut. And it doesn't make sense in North Dakota or in Maine. But it makes perfect sense here in Dallas, in Phoenix, in Denver -- areas far from the border that have significant Hispanic populations."
The company said it has received hundreds of e-mails, some supportive, most critical.
While praising the pesos plan as an innovative way to appeal to Hispanics, a partner in the nation's largest Hispanic public relations firm said a backlash was inevitable.
"Right now there's a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric going around that could make them a lightning rod," said Patricia Perez, a partner at Valencia, Perez & Echeveste in Los Angeles, California.
Pizza Patron proclaims on its Web site that "to serve the Hispanic community is our passion." Its restaurants are in mostly Hispanic neighborhoods, and each manager must be bilingual and live nearby, said Pizza Patron founder Antonio Swad, who is part-Italian, part-Lebanese.
The take-home menus are in both English and Spanish, and the dishes include the La Mexicana pizza, with spicy chorizo sausage; La Barbacoa pizza, topped with spicy pulled pork; and chicken wings flavored with lime, peppers and garlic con queso.
Many Pizza Patron customers have pesos "sitting in their sock drawers or in their wallets," Gamm said. "We're talking small amounts, where it would be inconvenient to stop and exchange on the way back -- maybe 10 or 20 dollars' worth of pesos."
The promotion will run through the end of February and then be re-evaluated, Swad said.
In the first week, payments in pesos have accounted for about 10 percent of business at the five restaurants operated by the corporation, Pizza Patron said. The others are franchised, and the company will not get reports until the end of the week.
The company has set a conversion rate of 12 pesos per dollar, which is slightly higher than the official rate of about 11 pesos per dollar. Any change is given in U.S. currency.
At a Pizza Patron in Dallas, Veronica Verges bought a pizza Wednesday for her son Nathan's fourth birthday. She paid with pesos her father brought home two weeks ago after a trip to see family in Mexico.
She said she is an occasional Pizza Patron customer, but came that day because she could pay with pesos. Her father wasn't going to use them because he had no plans to go back to Mexico anytime soon.
"I would mostly think a restaurant would do this in a border town," she said. "But it got me over here."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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CNN
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Civil Rights Groups File Challenge to Anti-Immigrant Ordinance in Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@aclu.org
FARMERS BRANCH, TX – Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, along with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, filed suit in Dallas federal district court on behalf of Farmers Branch residents and landlords challenging the city’s recently adopted anti-immigrant ordinance.
“Immigration enforcement must be left to the federal government, not each local municipality,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “Otherwise Texas will end up with a patchwork system that is impractical and unenforceable, and in Farmers Branch, private landowners as well as tenants will pay an unfair price.”
The lawsuit charges that the Farmers Branch anti-immigrant ordinance runs afoul of federal immigration law and places landlords in the untenable position of acting as federal immigration officers. The complaint also alleges that the ordinance is so poorly drafted that it excludes even some authorized immigrants from renting in Farmers Branch apartment complexes.
“The Farmers Branch law is a botched attempt to force landlords to police immigration” stated Nina Perales, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel. “The Latino population of Farmers Branch is a strength, not a liability, and city leaders should not be wasting tax money to drive out people who help the city,” continued Perales.
The housing ordinance is scheduled to take effect on January 12, 2007.
The complaint filed today challenging the ordinance is available online here: COMPLAINT
Source: ACLU
Contact: media@aclu.org
FARMERS BRANCH, TX – Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, along with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, filed suit in Dallas federal district court on behalf of Farmers Branch residents and landlords challenging the city’s recently adopted anti-immigrant ordinance.
“Immigration enforcement must be left to the federal government, not each local municipality,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “Otherwise Texas will end up with a patchwork system that is impractical and unenforceable, and in Farmers Branch, private landowners as well as tenants will pay an unfair price.”
The lawsuit charges that the Farmers Branch anti-immigrant ordinance runs afoul of federal immigration law and places landlords in the untenable position of acting as federal immigration officers. The complaint also alleges that the ordinance is so poorly drafted that it excludes even some authorized immigrants from renting in Farmers Branch apartment complexes.
“The Farmers Branch law is a botched attempt to force landlords to police immigration” stated Nina Perales, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel. “The Latino population of Farmers Branch is a strength, not a liability, and city leaders should not be wasting tax money to drive out people who help the city,” continued Perales.
The housing ordinance is scheduled to take effect on January 12, 2007.
The complaint filed today challenging the ordinance is available online here: COMPLAINT
Source: ACLU
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