TexLaMex, November 2005, Page 2
On Thursday, November 03, 2005, a delegation from the Industrial Areas Foundations (IAF) network met with Senators John Cornyn from Texas, Mary Landrieu and David Vitter from Louisiana. Some of also met with Representative Lloyd Doggett of Austin. Fr. John Korcsmar went from Austin.
Our issues were around immigration reform, job training and relief for Katrina\Rita victims.
A smaller delegation met with some bankers in New York City the day before to see about raising money which might be used for a “Nehemiah” housing project. This particular project was done in East Brooklyn where they city provided land, church groups provided working capital, and the city worked closely with the construction people to build quality low income housing. This kind of project might be useful in some areas of New Orleans where low-income people live. It would rebuild the neighborhood and stabilize it with home ownership.
The IAF network has been concerned about immigration issues for a long time. There have been some drives for citizenship, citizenship classes, ESL classes, etc. When Sen. Cornyn was running we asked him to be collaborative with us and met with us on this issue. He said yes.
One of the big concerns for immigration reform that IAF is supporting is that there be a pathway to citizenship and that people not have to leave the country in order to apply for permanent residency.
We were concerned about Cornyn’s bill because it had a requirement that after five years of having a worker visa, immigrants would have to leave the country and apply for permanent residency from their home country. Of course, this would be difficult for people and would not be helpful to the stability of families, children in school, keeping a job, etc.
His responses were interesting. He seemed to back off from the requirement of leaving the country, but he said that there are many people who feel that those who had entered illegally acknowledge their error. He said that he did not want to have anything which is punitive, but that there cannot simply be an amnesty.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas had proposed that law enforcement officers all be required to enforce immigration laws. She is also supportive of the volunteer groups (sometimes known as vigilantes). Sen. Cornyn said that he would not support anything like that at all.
Sen. Cornyn has also visited some of the job training initiatives. He said that he has been impressed with them and he will meet with us concerning finding ways to develop more such projects. He seems interested in the job training because it moves people into living wages to support families. People come out of the program as taxpayers, rather than depending upon government help.
We met with Sen. Mary Landrieu. The main topic was the relief for Katrina victims and the rebuilding of New Orleans and other places.
Her concern was that the president and the Republican representatives do not feel that this is a federal responsibility. There is a need for federal money for hospitals, schools, and housing.
She believes that the federal government needs to take responsibility because Louisiana counted on New Orleans to raise the money that the state needed. Now that the city has been destroyed, the income is not there for the entire state.
One of her concerns is that the residents of various neighborhoods have not returned. They are not part of the discussions about what to rebuild, where, how, etc.
There have been meetings of pastors, leaders, and organizers from the various organizations concerning relief for Katrina and Rita victims. Jeremiah is the New Orleans IAF group; there are now “Jeremiah chapters” in several cities as people have gone to different cities. We are looking to build the political support for federal help to rebuild New Orleans and other places through job training, housing, health facilities, and schools. We aren’t there yet, but we are moving.
We do need to meet with her again soon because it was apparent that she did not understand the political nature of the group.
We met with Lloyd Doggett, the representative from Austin—McCallen. The leaders from Houston expressed concern about the Red Cross and their lack of response to the hurricane victims in Houston. They did not respond for about 5 days after people came there; they also would not translate the application forms into Spanish or Vietnamese.
IAF will bring some of the county judges and mayors in Texas where evacuees are still present to see what can be done for continued support. We are asking Mr. Doggett to invite the appropriate congressional representatives together.
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