Tag Archives: SB1070

Election 2010, San Diego

CAMPAIGN PRESS RELEASE – July 27, 2010

PRESS RELEASE – July 27, 2010

CANDIDATE LUTZ CALLS CONGRESSMAN HUNTER OUT ON HIS ANTI-AMERICAN SANCTUARY CITIES “GAG-ORDER”

LUTZ SAYS IMMIGRATION POLICY TOO IMPORTANT TO BE USED AS PARTISAN ELECTION FOOTBALL

El Cajon, Calif. –

“Hunter wants to stop the debate, but he knows he can’t pass his gag order — he’s just playing partisan politics to get in the news,” said Ray Lutz, the Democratic challenger to California’s 52nd Congressional Seat. “I say let the courts chew on Arizona’s SB-1070 law and decide once and for all if it is unconstitutional. What’s the harm in that?”  

Lutz, 52, spoke in rebuttal to recent statements by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, who this week introduced a bill into the U.S. House designed to block the department of justice from prosecuting its case against the State of Arizona for passing a law mandating all persons to carry immigration documents.

“Congressman Hunter’s support of this Arizona-type of immigration control amounts to a type of Produce Tax,” said Lutz. “If we had this kind of law affecting California’s central valley, ag labor costs would shoot through the moon – and the cost for each family to put food on the table would increase considerably.”

Lutz said Hunter’s bill aims to force the DOJ to cut Criminal Alien Assistance funds (SCAAP) from counties, such as San Diego, where law enforcement doesn’t demand immigration paperwork in every encounter with suspected immigrants. Last year, San Diego County received nearly $3 million in SCAAP funding for much-needed alien detention reimbursement, which could be in jeopardy if Hunter’s bill ever became law. The bill is seen to have very little chance of passing, however, as only five items of Hunter-sponsored legislation have ever become law – most of which were ceremonial, nothing more.

In previous statements, Hunter’s anti-immigrant stance has taken him beyond simply endorsing Arizona’s unconstitutional law. In April, The Congressman received heavy criticism for saying he would favor deporting “natural born American citizens that are children of illegal immigrants,” because the country couldn’t “afford” to continue current practices.

“Disrepecting birthright citizenship flouts the 14th amendment to our constitution, and suggests we should revisit the civil liberties gained after the Civil War” said Lutz. “This guy is representing us and he can’t even respect the bill of rights. Which right will he go after next?”

Ray Lutz for Congress is hosting a public fundraising party in the Gaslamp District this upcoming Friday, July 30, between 4-7pm at the Tequila 100 Bar & Grill.

Ray Lutz for Congress can be reached at: 619.447.3246

Uncategorized

Coming to a Farm Near You: Steven Colbert?

That’s right, you heard me. Stephen Colbert has accepted the United Farm Workers’ creative challenge to Americans of all stripes to head out to the fields and try their hands at picking fruit, if they want their danged jobs back so badly.

The campaign details are over at TakeOurJobs.org, where would-be farmworkers get matched with struggling growers and immigrant trainers.

Watch Colbert’s segment and see UFW’s Arturo Rodriguez explain what the campaign is all about, as well as how to say “Yes We Can-wich” in Spanish. (You won’t want to miss that).

The Take Our Jobs campaign has received tons of media attention for the way it directly challenges the oft-repeated claim that immigrants are simply “taking American jobs” instead of contributing to and strengthening our economy and our food security.

A couple recent headlines: Colbert teams up with  UFW over immigration (AP), Farmers Tackle  Immigration Issues (Miriam Jordan, Wall Street Journal), Farmworkers to Colbert: Immigration worries? Work in fields (Dylan Smith, Tucson Sentinel).

It’s even spawned DIY-videos and tales of bloggers (like The Unapologetic Mexican) and journalists (like Teresa Puente) heading out to the fields to take on anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith writes:  

The “Take Our Jobs” site asks interested parties to supply their name and area code to streamline the hiring process. It cautions, however, that “duties may include tilling the soil, transplanting, weeding, thinning, picking, cutting, sorting & packing of harvested produce. May set up & operate irrigation equip. Work is performed outside in all  weather conditions (Summertime 90+ degree weather) & is physically  demanding requiring workers to bend, stoop, lift & carry up to 50  lbs on a regular basis.”

According to Colbert, however, the excruciating summer heat and difficult conditions of farm work are no big deal:

“It was over 100 degrees this entire week  here. I did my show 22 minutes a night.”

Smith concludes:

“Somehow, undocumented workers are getting as much blame for our economic troubles as Wall Street, but missing from the immigration debate is an honest recognition that the food we all eat at home, in restaurants and work-place cafeterias, including those in the Capitol, comes to us from the labor of undocumented workers,” Rodriguez told the Tribune. “According to the federal government, more than 50 percent of the  workers laboring are undocumented.”

We are not only a nation “in denial about our food supply,” as Rodriguez has famously quipped, but a nation in denial about who’s to blame for our current economic crisis, aside from vulnerable scapegoats. This has led us to set aside common-sense solutions to fixing our broken immigration system and pursue radical, dangerous ones, like Arizona’s SB 1070, which law  enforcement says destroy community safety and shift the focus away from fighting crime.

More to the point, though, how do I get a front-row ticket to see Colbert struggling in the fields? Can’t wait for part 2 of the Take Our Jobs challenge.

Note: Cross-posted at America’s Voice.