TO ALL CANDIDATES IN FLORIDA AND THE USA

We have read in (St. Pete Times, Saturday, June 26, 2010. Florida Republican leaders drawing up Arizona-styled anti-immigrant legislation) the papers that you are leading, with a group of fellow representatives, an effort to establish a similar law that the State of Arizona (SB 1070) passed some time ago. As you well know, this law has fueled the debate over immigration reform and U.S. immigration policies.  It has brought reactions from all parts of the nation, and there definitely is a divide regarding this matter. The Hispanic Alliance of Tampa Bay and others in agreement signing this letter, on behalf of the Hispanic communities we serve, and as part of the almost 4 million Hispanics that live in this State wish to express our opposition to such ideas or to ANYTHING similar to SB 1070.

You expressed, as stated in the article that “This is a human right issue”. With all due respect, nothing is further from the truth. If were truly interested in protecting the human rights of immigrants, you would sit down with and discuss the situation with the group whose human rights you pretend to protect.  So if you are really interested in protecting human rights, why don’t you sit down with the farm workers organizations, minority community leaders and other minority groups and discuss THEIR solution to the human rights violations that occur to immigrants.  This would be empowering to such groups instead of this paternalistic approach in which you offer a solution that is practically unanimously repudiated by the people that you say you are trying to protect.

We welcome measures to stop the obstruction in congress and work towards immigration reform. There are other ways to solve this situation, racial profiling is not one of them…and please do not insult our intelligence by stating that there will not be increased racial profiling due to such a law. Just the other day, a Puerto Rican (an American citizen by birth) was placed in jail for 3 days because law enforcement thought he was Mexican and was facing deportation. (Puerto Rico Daily Sun, May 31^st 2010, http://www.prdailysun.com/?page=news.article&id=1275278431). The excuse was, “well, he looked like a Mexican”.  As George Gonzalez, a University of Miami political science professor very well expressed, “It is a way to channel people’s anger and frustration about the labor market onto a group and to take advantage of it, too.”

We believe the ONLY solution to this is a broad and national immigration reform that will help immigrants who, by and large, come to this country to work hard in order to improve the economy of this country by taking the undesirable jobs, improve the lives of the poor families they left behind by sending them enough to make life tolerable, and improve their own lives by putting foods in their bellies, and bringing up children who contribute to making America the innovative superpower that it is.

We ask you and your colleagues to GIVE UP these ideas, which will only hurt ALL Floridians and cost you our votes on election day.

Thank you

Hispanic Alliance of Tampa Bay, League of United Latin American Citizens, Hispanic Young Professionals and Entreprenuers, Norma Camero Reno, Dominican Association of Tampa Bay, Panamanian Club of Tampa,  Ecuadorean Social Club, Peruvian Club of Tampa, Puerto Rico Cultural Parade of Florida, LLC, Pura Vida Costa Rican Association, Inc.