By Tom Flanigan
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-958239.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Two immigration bills, one in the House and one in the Senate, are working their way through the Florida Legislature. Tom Flanigan reports both of them drew fire from a large rally of immigrants and their supporters at the State Capitol today Thursday.
Democratic State Representative Mark Pafford of Palm Beach said the irony was just too much to ignore.
"Oddly enough, it's St. Patrick's Day. We're here celebrating diversity in this country. But St. Patrick was known for one thing; he was known for getting those snakes out of Ireland. There's one thing that you can do in 2012; register to vote and kick the snakes out of Tallahassee!"
The "snakes" Pafford referred to are the Republicans in the Florida Legislature. Many of them are favoring two immigration bills now working their way through the lawmaking process. The House Bill is sponsored by Republican Bill Snyder whose district is close to Pafford's. That bill is closely modeled on Arizona's current immigration law. The measure has already cleared all committees and will soon be up on the House floor. Another Democratic Representative, Miami-Dade's Luis Garcia, himself an immigrant, doesn't think much of the bill either.
"Do we need immigration reform? Absolutely! And this is something that we need to push in Washington. Not in here."
Pafford and Garcia were two of several Florida lawmakers, all Democrats, who spoke during a rally on the steps of the Old Florida Capitol on Thursday. There were hundreds of people, most of them immigrants who now live in many parts of Florida.
"Are there here people from Miami? (cheers), Palm Beach? (cheers)
Lakeland? Gainesville? Apopka? Immokallee?"
One of those representing Sarasota, the city's Mayor Kelly Kirschner, referenced an earlier event that preceded the rally.
"We just had a prayer vigil at 10:30 this morning just two blocks away with pastors, with the Catholic bishop of my community from Venice, Florida, rabbis, talking about the gold standard of the bible; of the Old Testament of the New Testament, is to love an immigrant."
There's also an immigration bill in the Florida Senate that opponents claim contains even less love than the House bill. Filed by Miami Republican Anitere Flores, it gives local law agencies the authority to demand proof of citizenship from anyone at any time. Subhash Kateel, state organizer for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, which organized the rally, sees it as a way to support privatized jails and prisons.
"The Benjamins' are just flying everywhere. It's all about the money and this is what it's about. It's not about making our communities safer, this is not about creating jobs, this is not about advancing education, it's not about any of those things. It's about criminalizing people and making money off of them."
But supporters of Florida's immigration bills say that's not true. The idea, they say, is to more quickly identify, arrest and deport immigrants who are truly criminal. They say that will actually reduce the state's jail and prison population and that law-abiding immigrants have nothing to fear. But the fear remains. Sister Ann Kendrick is a nun who works with immigrants and their families at the Hope Community Center in Apopka. She says many immigrants see the bills as a first step in wholesale roundups and deportations of undocumented but otherwise law-abiding people. Something she says would be a disaster all the way around.
"If they're all removed in one swoop, our economy in Florida would be destroyed. Agriculture doesn't want it, housing doesn't want it, construction doesn't want it, tourism/hotel/motel...these are the people who are doing all that work. They should have an opportunity to regularize their immigration status and contribute more fully to full participation in the American Dream, because that's what this country is all about."
Not all undocumented immigrants are that way by choice. Felipe Matos was brought to this country from Brazil as a young teen. Today, he's one of nearly two-hundred thousand students who don't have legal authorization to be in the U.S. He brought a petition bearing some three-thousand signatures which he planned to hand-deliver to the State Senate president inside the Capitol.
"So we're going to call on our leader, Mike Haridopolos, to stand up with Latinos today, because he wants to count on us in 2012 when he runs for (U.S.) Senate. And what we're going to tell him today is, if we can't count on you in 2011, don't count on us in 2012."
And Matos led his delegation to the Senate President's office with a sendoff from Mike Williams with the Florida A-F-of-L-C-I-O.
"You're doing the right thing. And when you walk into that Capitol Building, let me remind you, this is not their house, this is YOUR house!"
The House bill is already headed for the floor. The Senate's immigration measure faces a vote in the judiciary committee next Tuesday.