Minutemen press immigration ordinance

KENNEWICK – City officials here thought they had put the issue of illegal immigration behind them when they tabled an ordinance in July that has been championed nationwide by the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.

Tuesday night, the Minutemen and their supporters were back before the City Council, largely because of one council member.

Bob Parks knows that Congress has the authority and responsibility to regulate immigration. He’s just not satisfied with the job federal lawmakers are doing.

He wants local governments, specifically his local government, to fight the immigration battle. His Minutemen supporters consider Kennewick the beachhead in this fight and Eastern Washington, with its large Latino population, the next battleground.

Kennewick, with a population of about 60,000 people, is the largest of the Tri-Cities. According to the 2000 census, it is 15 percent Latino.

Several Minutemen from as far away as Aberdeen surprised the council Tuesday night with testimony favoring Parks’ motion to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses who hire them.

“Why reward people for breaking the law?” said Parks, who would like city staff to keep track of what he sees as the burden illegal immigrants place on city’s services, schools and hospitals.

“Let’s see how much we’re paying for illegal aliens,” Parks said. “I’m tired of footing the bill.”

Parks’ ordinance is modeled after one adopted in Hazleton, Pa. It would fine landlords $1,000 for each illegal immigrant found to be renting an apartment from them and also fine businesses for hiring illegal workers. It would also mandate that all city documents be written in English only.

Federal courts have prevented Hazleton and a handful of other cities across the country with similar ordinances from enforcing the restrictions, pending lawsuits filed by the ACLU or other civil rights groups.

The Arizona-based Minutemen have been active in Washington state for more than a year, according to spokeswoman Shawna Forde, of Everett. In October 2005, the group was denounced as racist by the city of Bellingham and the state Democratic Party after Minutemen patrols took up observation posts near the Canadian border.

“Whatcom County is not friendly to Minutemen anymore,” said Rosalinda Guillen, director of Community to Community Development, a social activist group.

Guillen said the Minutemen attempted to harass Latino businesses in Whatcom County and even went so far as to enter workplaces and ask employees whether they had legal documentation.

When the ordinance came up last summer, several Latino rights activists showed up to speak against it. Tuesday night, only one voice was raised in dissent. Gabriel Portugal, of Pasco, told the council not to listen to a vocal “anti-immigrant” minority.

Forde said she came to Kennewick in support of citizens who oppose illegal immigration. She said they are not racist, they are advocates of the rule of law. She hopes the movement’s numbers will continue to grow in Eastern Washington.

“We have Minutemen in Spokane, and I know they would like to address the City Council there,” Forde said.

Parks has at least one other Kennewick council member on his side. Bob Olson said he favors the ordinance but doubts it will be adopted in Kennewick.

“The (city) staff says to stay away, it’s too controversial,” Olson said.

Forde said Minutemen membership in the state has quadrupled in the last few months, though she declined to provide a number, “because we have many that prefer to stay in the shadows.” She said enrollment has been particularly strong east of the Cascades.

She said she returned to Kennewick Tuesday night to remind the City Council members that they each took an oath of office to uphold state and federal laws.

“Some city officers take their oath seriously,” Forde said. “By ignoring illegal immigrants, you are not taking your oath seriously.”

The Minutemen believe undocumented immigrants, particularly Mexican immigrants, are a drain on hospitals, schools and social services. When reminded of the immigrants’ role in the state’s agricultural economy, Forde said, “Growers need to get on our side.”

The immigrants want more than field work, she said.

“They can go right into the community and take our jobs,” Forde said. “They are brazen.”