Regarding Anti-Immigrant Actions

It looks like Hispanic leaders are not going to take Farmers Branch's new anti-immigrant ordinances lying down. Last week the city council approved measures that makes English its official language, and would punish landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants.

The Azteca Business Development Group is spearheading an effort they call "intelligent buying". They are asking people to shop only at Farmers Branch businesses that support immigrant rights. They even plan to give out stickers that businesses can put in their window to show they support the Hispanic community.

Carlos Quintanilla, president of Azteca and a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens [LULAC], said, "We need to show them our money is important. We're basically saying if you're going to Farmers Branch, buy from businesses that support the Hispanic community and immigrant rights. I think we're going to have a lot of impact. There are a lot of companies that depend on immigrant revenues."

In addition, LULAC, the ACLU and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund are all still considering legal action against the racist and probably unconstitutional actions by the city. Farmers Branch may soon regret passing the new ordinances.

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It looks like the Pahrump town council in Nevada has lost its mind. They just passed an ordinance making it illegal to display the flag of another country. It is now punishable by a fine of $50 and 30 hours of community service.

The town clerk Paul Willis said, "All of the illegal alien protesters are waving Mexican flags and we just got tired of it. This is the United States, and the Stars and Stripes should fly supreme."

Where do these nuts get these crazy ideas? It may not be very smart to wave a foreign flag these days, or even very patriotic, but it is constitutionally protected free speech. I hope the courts slap this one down quickly.

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Sheriffs in a sixteen county area of south Texas have been given millions of dollars in federal money in a program called Operation Linebacker. Governor Perry, who funneled the federal money into this program, and the border sheriffs all say the money will help to fight drug trafficking, violent crime and terrorism.

But the El Paso Times, who obtained Operation Linebacker reports for the last six months from the sixteen counties, says the money is not doing what it was supposed to do. To date, not a single terrorist has been caught, and undocumented immigrants are being arrested seven times as much as violent criminals or drug traffickers.

Will Harrell, executive director of the Texas ACLU, said, "Money the governor is allocating is clearly being misused."