Members of the Grassroots Rally Team of Ohio will gather in Painesville Saturday to bring attention to what they feel will be the next big national issue, immigration reform.
Arzella Melnyk, a spokeswoman for the group, said the team will join with Tea Party Patriots of Cleveland and Geauga County to hold a Tea Party Against Amnesty for Illegal Immigration on the Painesville City Square from noon to 2 p.m.
Melnyk said the rally is being held to coincide with rallies nationwide organized by Americans for Legal Immigration. The political action committee called for the rallies after U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez,D-Ill., announced plans to introduce comprehensive amnesty legislation by the end of November.
Although Congress is pre-occupied with health-care reform these days, Melnyk feels the amnesty issue will be the next hot potato Congress removes from the oven. She said they want to get their information on the street before the table is set for debate.
“My personal opinion is that we have immigration laws and they need to be enforced, our borders need to be secured,” she said. “Our economy right now is absolutely horrible, and yet we hear there are 12 million immigrants here. We could have U.S. citizens working in those jobs. That alone should be a wake-up call for us.”
The plight of Ashtabula County’s undocumented immigrants has been raised by the advocacy group HOLA — Hispanas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula — in the past month. The group has accused area police departments of racial profiling Hispanics for traffic stops, then turning over to immigration authorities those who are found to be undocumented.
HOLA’s executive director, Veronica Dahlberg, recently provided numerous examples of families who have been torn apart as a result of the enforcement of immigration laws. When the father and/or mother are deported, the parents face the difficult decision of leaving their American-citizen children behind.
Local News
Rally to focus on illegal immigration
- Local News
-
-
2-1-1 system aids people in need
Imagine being in this situation: A guy you met on the Internet shows up at your house and takes you for a ride in his pickup truck.
-
Woman climbs out of icy river
A Painesville Township woman is being treated for hypothermia after her car plunged into the Grand River near Vrooman Road Thursday morning.
-
Port project gets Pa. funds
A proposed warehousing/transportation project involving ports in Conneaut and Erie, Pa., has received a big financial boost from the state of Pennsylvania.
-
Ashtabula tax forms in the mail
Check your mailbox this week because postal carriers are delivering 2011 city income tax returns.
-
Conneaut woman, 89, hurt in crash
An 89-year-old Conneaut motorist remains hospitalized today in a Cleveland hospital with serious injuries suffered in a two-vehicle crash earlier this week.
-
Platinum workers aren’t being paid
Employees of a local health care provider aren’t being paid while the business is under investigation for fraud, an official at Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office confirmed Thursday.
-
Flu mild, so far
Coughing, sneezing, aching, nausea and fever are all symptoms of various flu viruses common this time of year, but according to area experts, flu activity in Ashtabula County has been mild.
-
State program designed to cut number of juveniles sent to ODYS
State funding is being finalized for training and implementation of programming aimed at reducing the number of juvenile offenders that Ashtabula County sends to the Ohio Department of Youth Services facilities.
-
Geneva American Legion remembers Four Chaplains
The story of the Four Chaplains is a solemn narrative of courage, sacrifice and selflessness.
-
Commissioners to help with sewer
Commissioners promised Linwood Drive residents that they will do all they can to reduce the financial burden of extending mandated sewers to their lakefront street.
- More Local News Headlines
-
2-1-1 system aids people in need
