Zapata and Rivera: immigration bills take "anti-Hispanic undertone"

Representatives David Rivera and Juan Zapata, both Miami Republicans, may not sit on the House State Affairs Committee, but Tuesday afternoon both legislators waded through three hours of testimony during the committee's workshop on a series of proposed illegal immigration bills. Both were looking to weigh in on what they described as the "anti-Hispanic undertone" over taking the immigration debate.

" This immigration debate has taken an anti-Hispanic undertone that needs to end," Zapata said.

Zapata, the House's first Columbian-American legislator, and chairman of the Miami-Dade delegation, told the committee about his father having the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen after coming to the country on a student visa to attend Emory University in the 1950s.

"I've been an immigration advocate from the moment my dad told me this is the greatest country on earth," Zapata said. "I get emotional about this. I'm an American by choice, while many of you were born American. You're lucky that you are part of a country that people are dying to come in, not dying to get out."

Rivera, the son of Cuban exiles, told the group that undocumented workers pay into the state's tax system by way of sales tax, and property taxes through rent.

"They're paying for schools and hospitals,"  Rivera said . "They're also doing the jobs that not many other people are willing to do. They are being nannies...they are the ones picking vegetables...the ones cleaning toilets and bedrooms in hotels."

The six bills being proposed include a hodge -podge of legislation from checking the immigration status of someone pulled over for a DUI check to banning public funding of day laborer worker centers.

Responding to concerns from the Miami-Dade legislators Rep. Gayle Harrell, who is sponsoring one of the immigration bills said ; "I speak Spanish. I have a masters degree in Latin American history. I'm not anti-Hispanic. I'm anti-illegals."

Comments

just to show how obssesed the herald is with rubio! This article is about River and Zapata not Rubio and Zapata. But they wrote Rubio in the headline. This is so sick!

[FlyingL]

Well well well. A fracture in the strange bedfellowship between Dade Hispanic Republicans and the North Florida good ol' boys. You knew it had to come some day.

Zapata is an American by luck. He should have been deported with his father. The herald should find the backstory on that!

[Dems are clueless]

This is not and anti-hispanic issue like the race baiters would like you to believe. This is about deporting people who broke the law and should be sent back to the country they came from no matter their race,color or anything else.

[Danny]

Illegal is illegal. Deport the Swedish bikini team if they are here working illegally. It is not racism to enforce the law equally against all who are in the country illegally.

Illegal immigrants are flooding our schools, hospital emergency rooms, bringing disease into the USA (leporsy, Hep C, TB) and either not paying taxes or committing identity fraud to get phony SSN.

[Ginny]

What kind of lawmaker wants to defend lawbreakers? What are these people doing in office if they treat the law of the land so trivially? I strongly question the motives of a senator or representative who wants to reward lawbreakers. Is it that they feel that someone whose original language is the same as their parents is better than the average American citizen and therefore, above the law? Is it simply greed for power that drives them to want to buy votes? Why should we have to weed through false accusations of racism in order to get certain lawmakers to uphold the law?

[brad]

You call them Nannies or Janitors they are still Illegal Immigrants. Just cause my cat has kittens in my oven I don't call them biscuits!!

[geminga]

The government is allowing forced population growth at unprecidented levels in our history. Unfettered population growth by foreigners tends to dilute native nationalism into their respective this-American or that-American cultures. Look now at how we are separating ourselves by race,religion,politics,issues,etc.Remember
"divide and conquer". We are being played as pawns in a big globalist game and the consequences of continuance of complacency carries dier consequences. A country that cannot secure it's boarders is no longer free and cannot represent itself as law abiding. Those who are proponents of lawlessness should go to a place where that is OK. If we as a collective voice don't write and CALL those who represent us and tell them to enforce the law period,we will find ourselves looking down the throat of a massive re-distribution of income as Bush promised to do under the Security Prosperity Partnership. Do you see this in your life now?Is your income stagnant,replaced by H1B visa holders from a foreign country,industry in danger of heading south or east? DO SOMETHING.Call your State legislature,Congress,BE VOCAL! Join activists of like mind and support enforcement ONLY. The buzz word is "attrition through enforcement". Be heard.

[tom]

Why doesn't anyone sue our elected officals for not defending the constitution as they promise when they are sworn into their elected office?Since when does someone hired for a job get to pick and choose what rules they want to enfoce? They are taking this great country down,, it took over 200 years but we now have a corrupt goverment that does care about the brown terrorist that are stealing us blind!

[Kirt M. DeVecht]

Our great nation is populated with immigrates,legal immigrates.Illegal aliens make a joke of our laws,our forefathers,you&me.As my great grandparents stood in line at Ellis Island so should the rest.Politicians in the most part do not represent the citizens views but business that pay sub-standard wages to employees without a voice