Jupiter Florida's seamy, corrupt, "liberal" underbelly

FAIR is considering suing the city of Jupiter, FL over their plans to build an illegal alien hiring hall.

In "Jupiter ready to fight FAIR lawsuit over labor center", their Town Manager Andy Lukasik says to bring it: "If they want to test it at the court level, so be it... It will set the stage of how a municipality will respond to this dynamic. We are trying to address an issue that is derived from a fragmented national policy and address it in the most complete fashion rather than driving it somewhere else."

According to FAIR attorney Michael Hethmon: "We are not trying to put members of the town council in jail... but we are trying to stop the process. One of the avenues is anti-racketeering laws that were originally used against gangsters, but are now used against entities that violate Federal immigration laws... A labor center creates the impression that there is a 'free zone' where certain laws won't be enforced. If these people weren't prepared to work through the system to get into the country, then they won't pay attention to the laws and rules of a center."

Apparently a budget meeting will be held on Sep. 6, and the American side might be able to block it at that time.

On the other side of the issue is a group calling itself "Friends of the Jupiter Neighborhood Resource Center", which:

a non-profit support organization focusing on fund-raising and providing volunteers to help staff the Resource Center. The organization is comprised of community volunteers, church members and business and professional persons. For more information on Friends, contact Mike Richmond...

Richmond is a Lion, but, more importantly, he's also - surprise! - a member of the Jupiter Democratic Club.

Also on the other side is Councilor Jim Kuretski. Can you spot the many errors in his thought processes?

"I think this potential lawsuit is unfortunate because I consider this organization as a hate group that misinforms the public... This is a national issue. FAIR doesn't care what happens in Jupiter. They don't want to see success anywhere in the country; they want immigrants sent back home."

And, no surprises here:

John Levin, division director for the Palm Beach Diocese's Catholic Charities, said that a Martin County bank will provide financial services and Catholic Charities will be offering the services of their two attorneys and four paralegals, either at a reduced rate or pro bono, to help the day laborer with their immigration paperwork.

And, there's also a non-profit called "Corn Maya", headed by Tim Steigenga, a professor at Florida Atlantic University:

Steigenga is a champion of the Guatemalan immigrants in Jupiter. After researching their needs, he applied for and received a $23,000 grant to open the nonprofit migrant advocacy group Corn-Maya Inc... And it hasn't been easy. As Steigenga becomes more active in fighting for the immigrants, he's noticed he gets a few dirty looks at the grocery store...

Note the Bush quote at CM's home page:

"People are coming to put food on the table. They're doing jobs Americans will not do. And to me, it makes sense for us to recognize that reality"

As for those dirty looks Steigenga gets, here's testimony from one of the other residents, perhaps giving a clue why:

"We chose to live in a multi-cultural neighborhood, but now, the single family homes are barracks homes, housing large groups of men... The house next door to us has 15 men living in about 1,000-square feet with one bathroom, so the men come outside and urinate... A house near to me has drug deals going on and when I called the police, those involved threatened me and my family... We need to have better code enforcement and better police response — it takes 20 minutes for the police to arrive when we call, and by then the people involved are gone... I don't see how a labor center could help with overcrowding, code enforcement, trash all over the yards and illegally parked commercial vehicles in the street."

In April, Corn Maya hosted a visit from Guatemala's VP Eduardo Stein:

Mayor Karen Golanka presented Dr. Stein with the keys to the city and read a proclamation welcoming him and affirming the town's support for its immigrant community... Later, the Vice President spoke to an audience of more than 300 Guatemalan immigrants, stressing the challenges faced by his new government and the critical role that Guatemala's immigrants play in supporting their families and the Guatemalan economy...

["Community leaders" made requests, including:]

-- Support for Governor Bush's proposal to give drivers licenses to immigrants.

-- Banking reforms to make it less costly for immigrants to send home their remittances (as it is now, they pay to cash checks, pay to wire the money home, and their families must pay to pick it up at the other end.)

I have little doubt that Guatemala will do its utmost to enable as much remittance money as possible to be sent home.

As for what to do about Jupiter, I believe there are four possibilities:

1. The feds could step in and conduct an investigation looking for possible corruption and the like.

2. The residents could vote out those who support illegal activity.

3. The residents could make it very clear that the city should immediately stop any plans for this center.

4. The residents could sue the city - and the employers - and make supporting illegal activity unprofitable.

The first is never going to happen; the elders of Jupiter would need to be on the other side of this issue for anything approaching that to occur. The second might happen, or the other side might be in safe districts or have feckless opponents. Leaving the other two. Hopefully the third will happen, but if not let's hope for the fourth.

Immigration2005b · Tue, 08/23/2005 - 09:58 · Importance: 1