GREEN FOREST - An informal group of Carroll County Hispanics is planning to gather on the Green Forest Public Square at 11 a.m. Sunday and sign petitions on immigration reform.
Advertisement
Carroll County Justice of the Peace Juan Chavez and Berryville businesswoman Maria Brito told reporters Wednesday that they expected 100 to 150 people at the low-key gathering.
Green Forest Mayor Richard Deweese was quoted in the Carroll County News Wednesday as saying, "we don't want to see people from other towns, like Springdale, coming over and driving a racial wedge and then going back home."
A number of Hispanic organizations were involved in an immigration reform rally that attracted crowds estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 at Springdale April 10.
There were no reported problems, but Chavez and Brito said no out-of-county organizations were involved in the Green Forest event.
The mayor could not be reached for further comment Thursday morning, but Police Chief John Bailey said he had been notified of the planned gathering and didn't expect any problems.
The chief said he had talked with Brito "and she seems like she doesn't want to damage any bridges that have already been built in our community."
He said he would be at the event but didn't expect to beef up the police presence unless the crowd was bigger than expected.
The Green Forest event was first planned as a walk on the same day as the city's annual Cinco de Mayo celebration May 6, but organizers of that celebration said they would cancel their plans if an immigration event went on that day.
The immigration event was moved up to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., which Chavez and Brito said would be after church on a non-work day when businesses around the square were closed.
Chavez estimated that Carroll County had 3,000 "invisible" undocumented immigrants. He said he couldn't estimate how many Hispanics were in the county legally.
The 2000 census, which didn't distinguish between legal and illegal residents, showed 2,471 Hispanics among Carroll County's 25,357 residents. Chavez said he knew of cases in which a Hispanic citizen might tell census-takers about himself but not the five illegal immigrants living in his home.
Chavez, Brito and Maria Moroles translated for seven Green Forest women who were present in city park for the announcement Wednesday night.
They did not give their names because they are in the country illegally but said they were from Mexico and Guatamala, worked in the poultry and tourism business in Carroll and surrounding counties, and their main concern was getting some sort of document that would allow them to continue working and paying taxes.
A Republican bill approved by the U. S. House of Representatives would make them felons but they argued that they weren't criminals and their hard work contributes to a strong U. S. economy.
Their concerns included being separated from their families because only some family members were citizens.
They said they feared being stopped by police while driving and some said they believed Green Forest and state police were more likely to stop them because they were Hispanic. They said they didn't believe Berryville police were using racial profiling.
Chavez said they were not asking for amnesty but for hope.
He said he supported a bill by U. S. Senator John McCain. The bill would provide money for border security and technology but allow employers to hire foreigners under a temporary visa program if they can prove they are unable to hire American workers for the same jobs.
The bill would put visa holders at the end of the line but after paying fines and back taxes they could try for citizenship.
About Me
- patsy
- born in arkansas, lived here all my life, 75 years old. keep chickens and I like to read.
4 comments:
Well it sounds like our town is satisfied with the immigrants we now have since we can keep them in line with Profiling and such. But we not want other immigrants coming from other towns because it will be hard to keep them in check since the Police will not be able to hound them after Sunday to try to keep them in line.
Do you know Richard Deweesee is mayor, works at tanners? so they said they couldn't get hold of mayor so i did. told him just how sorry that cheves in the paper is. his mama and daddy work at tyson for 6 years and had to support the son because he wouldn't work. then they fired his daddy for being illigal! so i guess he know illigal , maybe he is too. gave old richard a ear full. guess richard isn't answering the phone cause they ask me my name and richard took the call probably thought i wanted to buy another 1000. oo lawn mower. ha, ha!
Patsy I think that is funny that you called Richard I think he trys to ride each side of the fence for political reasons. The school has had to really adjust the courses that are taught because of the hispanics. We had french as a foreign language for years now its Spanish. Then we have some that we have to have in a class as english being there second language. And everything we do we have to have in both english and spanish. I wonder if I moved to Mexico if they would learn to speak english for me.
Of course he tries to ride the fence but he knows i know his feet are dirty! I didn't expect anything just having fun out of ricard d. but when i found out he wasn't takeing calls i thought i would fix him!
Post a Comment