Committee for Fair Immigration Reform

Sonoma City Council Passes CFIR Resolution
Applauds Immigration Reform Effort

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 6, 2006

   Sonoma City Councilmembers voted 4 – 1 last night to send a Fair Immigration Reform Resolution to Congress and then thanked the ad hoc committee of local citizens for bringing the matter to them.
“Good luck and thank you for all your hard work!” cheered Larry Barnett as he voiced his hearty approval. Stanley Cohen, who had put the item on the agenda, agreed, along with Councilmen Ken Brown and Mayor Doug McKesson.

   The Resolution asks Congress to use the following eight criteria in enacting immigration laws:

1) Be fair to those who have applied for legal entry;
2) Have reasonable residency requirements;
3) Consider employment history;
4) Consider needs of employers;
5) Not inflict undue hardship or penalties;
6) Respect families;
7) Promote assimilation;
8) Encourage citizenship.

   The four Council members acknowledged that, although immigration laws are federal laws, the issue is important to the economy and lifestyle of this city and needs urgent attention.

   The single dissenting vote came from Joanne Sanders who explained that she feels the city should address only local matters. When Barnett replied: “The world is changing!” she countered with “The world may be changing, but I am standing still.” Brown, next to speak, shook his head, chuckled and quipped: “I don’t know what to say; I am trying to absorb just what that meant!”

   Elsa Lane Nelson, who with other members from the Committee for Fair Immigration Reform, was watching from the audience said she would have liked to have had unanimous approval from the Council, but was grateful for the strong support from the rest of the Council.

   “The next step is to get other city councils in the county to approve the same resolution, and then -- the rest of the country. Congress needs to hear from home-town America on this issue and enact immigration laws that are fair to everybody – businesses, workers, and families. “
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Supes Pass CFIR Resolution
Sonoma City Council Hears Presentation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2006


The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this morning became the first local government to adopt a different approach in telling Congress what it wants regarding the long promised reform of the nation’s immigration laws.

Other local governments across the country have sent messages to Congress supporting or opposing specific provisions and saying they want laws that are “fair”, but Sonoma approved specific criteria to use in deciding whether a proposed bill meets the definition of ‘fair.” Those criteria are:

• Be fair to those who have applied for legal entry
• Have reasonable residency requirements
• Consider needs of employers
• Not inflict undue hardship or penalties
• Consider employment history
• Respect families
• Promote assimilation
• Encourage citizenship

Wearing a large campaign-style button with the slogan “Let’s be Fair,“ Ann Vander Ende, spokesperson for Committee for Fair Immigration Reform said: “We are all descendants from immigrants. Let’s do what is fair for our businesses, our workers and our families.”

Craig Scheiner, also speaking for the Committee, said “It may be federal law, but it’s a local issue. Fair immigration laws are an investment in Sonoma’s future workforce because they would assure that the children of today’s immigrants will be the tax payers of tomorrow, just as yesterday’s immigrants produced the hard-working, property owning, investing American tax payers of today.”

Valerie Brown, Supervisor from District 1 which includes the city of Sonoma, introduced the resolution and the citizen committee that presented it, saying, “The timing of this resolution is very good because we have just received the Crop report from our Agriculture Department and, of course, the well-being of farming here in Sonoma County is very important to us. I was just at a conference of officials in the states bordering Mexico, and they all say their agricultural industries have expanded as a result of our immigrant workers.”

Mike Kerns, Supervisor from the Second District which encompasses Cotati and Petaluma, thanked the Committee for bringing the resolution to the Board and expressed his hearty support.

The Board also agreed to encourage other Boards and City Councils to send this same message to Congress and thereby promote a ground-swell of voices in support of the bi-partisan effort to enact fair immigration law.

On Wednesday evening, June 21, the Committee asked the City Council of Sonoma to pass the same resolution. “And then,” says Scheiner, “what we’d like to see, is every city council in this County to do the same thing so that a unified voice rises up, direct from here straight to Washington D.C. to let them know we want fair and workable immigration reform.”

The resolution is on the Council's consent calendar for Wednesday July 5, at 7 pm. At that time the Council is expected to pass the resolution.

6-12-06 The Committee for Fair Immigration Reform was created less than one week ago by Betty Ann Bruno. CFIR is a volunteer group of fair minded people from Sonoma who want to see reasonable immigration laws in the United States.

America is a country of immigrants although, from the beginning, the United States has experienced periods of hostility against certain groups of immigrants: early on, the Germans, Irish, Poles, Italians; later, the Chinese and Japanese. The Latinos are just the current group. In all cases, groups of immigrants have been absorbed and have become good American citizens and in some cases, anti-new-immigrant.

Polls show that the vast majority of American citizens want good immigration reform but, sadly, hardliners in Washington are drowning out the voices of reason and moderation.

What we need is for moderate citizens to speak out in favor of reform that honors our nation’s values and gives newcomers respect and due process. The question is: who are those people? Whose voices are ‘American’ enough?’

Those voices are in our city halls and county boards of supervisors. If these local officials would speak out, then maybe Congress, the White House AND the national media would listen.

It is very late in the game. Congress seems determined to pass ‘something’ before this fall, so local officials must speak out immediately and urgently.

At CIFR's request the Sonoma City Council and Sonoma Board of Supervisors have placed on their agendas a Resolution to the United States Congress endorsing the following Criteria for Fair Immigration Reform Laws :

That immigration laws should:

• Be fair to those who have applied for legal entry
• Have reasonable residency requirements
• Consider needs of employers
• Not inflict undue hardship or penalties
• Consider employment history
• Respect families
• Promote assimilation
• Encourage citizenship
  

Please come to the meetings and encourage our local officials to vote YES on the resolution. The times and locations of the meetings are: