{"id":606,"date":"2008-01-26T01:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-26T01:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=606"},"modified":"2008-01-26T01:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-26T01:42:00","slug":"arkansas-times-acknowleges-illegals-working-for-tyson-others-proudly-where-is-law-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=606","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas Times acknowleges illegals working for Tyson & others ….proudly…where is law enforcement?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/font><\/p>\n


<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span>Don’t want to be lifted?  Get REAL.  We are sick and tired of
\nbeing pushed around\/ down, stomped on, taxed to death, lied to – – – who are
\nyou going to believe Arkansas Times or your tired old eyes??   
\n               
\n               
\n    <\/font><\/span>Sharon Stark, Little Rock <\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Arkansas<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc<\/span>We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re
\ncoming here to pick the country up\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

But
\nsome natives don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be lifted. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Published
\n1\/24\/2008 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Perceptions of The Immigrant vary, to say the
\nleast. Merchant and restaurateur Eduardo Martinez of Little Rock
\nsees himself a few years ago \u00e2\u20ac\u201d ambitious, hard-working, law-abiding, soon
\nto become a pillar of the community.<\/p>\n

Mayor Stephen Womack of Rogers sees people
\nwho drive up the crime rate, strain government services as well as the
\npatience of the natives, and generally bear watching.<\/p>\n

A curious coalition of hard-nosed businessmen
\nand soft-hearted do-gooders sees someone who needs protection from
\nill-informed and ill-intentioned elected officials.<\/p>\n

A fair number of inhospitable Arkansans see a
\nbrown-skinned, Spanish-speaking newcomer taking over a state that
\nrightfully belongs to white-skinned Anglophones.<\/p>\n

Gourmets see one who’s given the state
\nsomething it lacked \u00e2\u20ac\u201d good Mexican restaurants, even in small towns.<\/p>\n

To some, The Immigrant who doesn’t have all
\nthe papers he’s supposed to have is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153undocumented.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d To others, he’s
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153illegal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

All agree that The Immigrant is numerous and
\ngrowing in number, and that in one way or another, he’s changing the face
\nof Arkansas. That’s why he’s been chosen as the Arkansas Times’<\/em>
\nArkansan of the Year.<\/p>\n

In Arkansas, most immigrants are Latinos.
\nAccording to the state data center at the University of Arkansas at Little
\nRock, the Latino population of Arkansas as of July 1, 2006, was 141,000, or
\n5 percent of the total Arkansas population of 2.8 million. Some sources
\nestimate the Latino population as of Jan. 1, 2008, at 180,000 to 200,000.<\/p>\n

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation provides
\na statistical picture of immigrants in Arkansas. Half of them are from
\nMexico and another 20 percent are from elsewhere in Latin America. About
\nhalf of them are undocumented (to use the gentler word), which means they
\ndon’t meet the legal requirements for entry into the USA but they came
\nanyway. Most came to find work that pays better than what was available in
\ntheir home countries. They tend to settle on the western edge of the state,
\nand around Little Rock in Central Arkansas. Four counties \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Benton,
\nWashington, Sebastian and Pulaski \u00e2\u20ac\u201d account for almost two-thirds of
\nArkansas immigrants. Forty-two percent of the immigrants work in
\nmanufacturing \u00e2\u20ac\u201d far more than in any other field of employment \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and more
\nthan half of those with manufacturing jobs work at processing poultry or
\nother meat. Many of them work for Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale.
\nTyson is one of the founders of a new group formed to block anti-immigrant
\nlegislation.<\/p>\n

Cheap immigrant labor keeps manufacturers’
\ncosts down, according to the Rockefeller profile. Latino immigrants make
\nless money than natives, an average of about $8 an hour compared to $11.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153[T]he state’s manufacturing wage bill would have been as much as $95
\nmillion higher [in 2004] if the same output were to be maintained without
\nimmigrant workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the profile says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These labor cost savings help keep
\nArkansas’s businesses competitive and are passed on in the form of lower
\nprices to Arkansas and other U.S. consumers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Immigrant labor also keeps production up,
\naccording to the profile: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[W]ithout immigrant labor, the output of the
\nstate’s manufacturing industry would likely be lowered by about $1.4 billion
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201d or about 8 percent of the industry’s $16.2 billion total contribution to
\nthe gross state product in 2004.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Latino immigrants are substantially less
\neducated than native Arkansans; over three-fourths of those aged 25 and
\nolder haven’t graduated from high school. Latino children have poverty
\nrates over twice as high as whites, but lower than blacks.<\/p>\n

Immigrants (and their U.S.-born children)
\nhave a small but positive net fiscal impact on the state budget, according
\nto the Rockefeller profile:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The large and growing immigrant population
\nwas reflected in a fiscal impact on the state budget of $237 million in
\n2004 (taking into account the costs of education, health services, and
\ncorrections). Those costs were more than balanced by direct and indirect tax
\ncontributions of $257 million, resulting in a net surplus to the state
\nbudget of $19 million \u00e2\u20ac\u201d approximately $158 per immigrant. Though education
\nis calculated as a fiscal cost in this report, expenditures to educate
\nimmigrants’ children represent an important investment in Arkansas’s future
\nworkforce that could pay substantial returns to the state through increased
\nworker productivity and economic growth.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Eduardo Martinez came to the U.S. from Mexico
\nin 1985, invited by a brother who was already here. Asked the unavoidable
\nquestion, he says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I came in legal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He spoke no English at the time \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he
\nhad only a third-grade education \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but he’s learned it since. He came
\nalone, and now he has a wife and children. He started working in
\nrestaurants, washing dishes and waiting tables, and he worked his way up.
\nNow he owns a grocery store, a taqueria and a bakery, and he can afford to
\nsend his children to private, Catholic schools. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I learned everything from
\nyou [Americans],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I watched what you guys do. I’m part of the
\ncountry now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He knows that some Arkansans have a low
\nopinion of Latinos, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When Anglos see a guy working on the roof, they
\nchange their minds. People are impressed by hard workers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Latinos are<\/em>
\nhard workers, he says, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We like to own, we don’t like to borrow. Look
\nat how much money we bring to the state. We’re coming here to pick the
\ncountry up, not to destroy it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He says that he personally has not suffered
\ndiscrimination because of ethnicity, but he knows people who have. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know
\na person who can’t go to the university because he’s not legal. He’s
\nbroken-hearted, talking about leaving the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He refutes the notion
\nthat undocumented workers should be sent home because they’re taking jobs
\nfrom natives. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There’s a lot of open jobs. If the people without papers are
\nforced out, you won’t be able to find anybody else to do those jobs.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Businessmen much bigger than Eduardo Martinez
\nfret about jobs going unfilled if immigrants are driven out. Alltel and
\nStephens, Inc., joined Tyson Foods among those who announced in October the
\nformation of the Arkansas Friendship Coalition. Religious leaders and
\nliberal activists were other founders of the group. Rev. Steve Copley of
\nLittle Rock, the chairman, fits in both those categories. He’s a Methodist
\nminister and he’s worked in many liberal causes, most recently a successful
\nmovement to raise the state minimum wage. <\/p>\n

The coalition’s base may be wide, but its
\nfocus is narrow. The varied interests of the coalition founders probably
\nprevented any broader agreement. The coalition is opposed to the state
\ngovernment and\/or local governments enacting any immigration legislation.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Arkansas Friendship Coalition maintains that immigration is a federal
\nissue and that state and local money should not be wasted to fix a problem
\nthat is ultimately a responsibility of the federal government,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the
\ncoalition said in a news release. <\/p>\n

Copley said in an interview that some states,
\nincluding Oklahoma, have passed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153punitive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d immigration laws. In some cases,
\nit’s said, such laws have driven immigrants from those states. The
\ncoalition knows that there are state and city officials in Arkansas, mostly
\nin Northwest Arkansas, who favor the same kind of legislation. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reform is needed, but it has to come from
\nCongress,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Copley said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because that’s what the Constitution says, and
\nbecause it would be bad to have a patchwork arrangement, 50 states with
\ndifferent laws governing immigration.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The Arkansas legislature won’t meet
\nagain until January 2009, but coalition members are already arranging
\nmeetings with individual legislators.<\/p>\n

People who believe there are too many
\nimmigrants in this country and that some should be shipped home often argue
\nthat the debate is simply about legality. Why should \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illegal aliens\u00e2\u20ac\u009d be
\npermitted to stay here, they ask. The coalition pointedly avoids reference
\nto \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illegal aliens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Asked why, Copley said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I use the word
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcundocumented.’ It’s not a crime per se to lack the documents. It’s more of
\nan administrative issue, like taxes. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcUndocumented’ is a much clearer way
\nof describing it, and less inflammatory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Besides, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We feel that
\nif people are here, they should be treated fairly and with dignity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with
\ndocuments or without.<\/p>\n

Doubtless, Mayor Stephen Womack of Rogers
\nwould have no problem with an Eduardo Martinez. Not all immigrants are like
\nMartinez.<\/p>\n

Rogers is a city of 50,000. Latino immigrants
\nmake up 30 percent of the population. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The immigrant population commits a
\ndisproportionate number of offenses like stealing utilities, doing drugs,
\nand not paying taxes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Womack said in an interview at Rogers City Hall.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seventy-five percent of the citations for no driver’s license go to Latino
\npeople, and 80 percent of the citations for hindering government operations
\n[using false identification]. Now, when we catch these people we can send
\nthem back where they came from.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He’s referring to a new program in which a
\nfew designated Rogers police officers enforce federal immigration laws. The
\nBenton County and Washington County sheriffs’ offices participate in the
\nsame program. Latino spokesmen say such programs entail \u00e2\u20ac\u0153racial profiling,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nharassing people because they look like they might be illegal immigrants. These
\nprograms also cause immigrants to be even more afraid of local police than
\nthey already are, and thus to refrain from reporting real crimes, the
\nspokesmen say.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We’ve never racially profiled and we won’t,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nWomack said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That’s a lot of crap. The police don’t go out looking for
\nillegal aliens. But when they encounter a criminal act and they arrest
\nsomebody, many of those arrested can’t show identification, can’t prove
\nthey are who they claim. Then the police have a reason to detain them, to
\ndetermine the status of the person, to determine the removability of the
\nperson.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He said he didn’t hear much from Rogers’ Latino residents, but the
\nnatives support the program. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The comments I hear most are \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI don’t mind
\npeople coming here to better themselves, but I don’t want the illegality, I
\nwant the law enforced.’ Some add that they want English spoken.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know the program also brings out
\nthe worst in people who don’t like anybody who doesn’t look like them.
\nThat’s unfortunate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He may get unwelcome praise from that
\nelement, but, he said, he gets unfair criticism from another. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can’t
\ndiscuss the immigrant problem fully without people painting you as biased
\nand intolerant. I think we should be able to talk about it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

When the Mexican consulate at Little Rock
\nopened in April 2007, state and city officials were delighted, others not
\nso much. Reports of the opening that appeared in The Morning News, a
\nNorthwest Arkansas newspaper, elicited more than 200 on-line comments,
\nalmost all of them negative, many extremely so:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Contact your state reps and demand this be
\nstopped.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am not glad to see [Governor Mike] Beebe is a spinless [sic]
\nadvocate of illegal immigration.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is just one more nail in America’s
\ncoffin.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Polio was eradicated from the U.S., but now it reappears in
\nillegal aliens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Go Arkies go! Save your state from the Third World
\ninvasion. It’s too late for mine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s time for a revolution.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have you
\never lived in Los Angeles? It’s a toilet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to deport all of them
\nand focus on the citizens of this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Located behind a strip shopping center on
\nUniversity Avenue, near the southwest Little Rock neighborhoods where
\nMexican immigrants congregate, the consulate is an unimposing one-story
\nbuilding, easy to miss before a sign pointing the way was posted on
\nUniversity. Still, the mere idea of Little Rock having a consulate,
\nanybody’s consulate, would have astonished the city’s residents not too
\nmany years back.<\/p>\n

Mexican immigrants have poured into the U.S.
\nin recent years. According to Andres Chao, the Little Rock consul, about a
\nmillion of them live in the area served by the consulate. That’s Arkansas,
\nMississippi, eastern Oklahoma and western Tennessee. Protecting them is
\nChao’s job. He met with Womack in Rogers about the new police program. Both
\nmen say the meeting was civil, but they didn’t reach agreement. Chao says
\nhe’s still waiting for documentation that Womack was supposed to send
\nconcerning the alleged high crime rates for Mexican immigrants in Rogers.<\/p>\n

Immigration is a worldwide problem, Chao
\nsaid, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Europe, they’re tearing down the walls,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while some Americans
\nwant to build new walls or strengthen old ones. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We [Mexico] want to build
\nbridges instead of fences,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Chao said that his government too wants fewer
\nMexicans leaving home for the U.S. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to create well-paying jobs in
\nMexico,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chao said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A worker can make in a week in the U.S. what he makes
\nin a month in Mexico. If we don’t stop the loss of younger labor, in 10
\nyears we’ll have a serious problem. The two countries need to share the
\nproblem. There are costs and benefits to both sides.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As for the criticism that Mexican immigrants
\ndrive down wages and take jobs away from American workers, Chao said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The
\njobs are there. We don’t make the decision how much to pay.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The problem of people not speaking English
\nwill correct itself over time, Chao said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The ones who have been here
\nawhile say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI want my son to speak English.’ The younger generation now
\nspeaks more English than Spanish. It causes problems in the family. Old
\npeople have trouble learning English. The grammar is different, and many of
\nthem have low levels of education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Those younger, English-speaking people will
\nstay in the U.S., Chao said. Most of the older ones want to go back to
\nMexico eventually, even if they won’t know when they get there. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The
\nMexican government spent $5 million last year to help Mexicans be buried in
\nMexico,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chao said. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

http:\/\/ www.arktimes.com\/articles\/articleviewer.aspx?ArticleID=f9d31127-f651-4a90-8bea-e478a1bcc9c0<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n



\n<\/a><\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Don’t want to be lifted?  Get REAL.  We are sick and tired of being pushed around\/ down, stomped on, taxed to death, lied to – – – who are you going to believe Arkansas Times or your tired old eyes??                                        Sharon Stark, Little Rock \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming … Continue reading Arkansas Times acknowleges illegals working for Tyson & others ….proudly…where is law enforcement?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arkansas-friendship-coalition","category-illegal-immigration-facts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}