Christine Newman-Ortiz: citizenship test is like the poll tax

Posted Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 6:29 am

Last week the group Fair Immigration Reform Movement held a convention (link), and one of the attendees was Christine Newman-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera of Milwaukee. In addition to surrounding someone's house in an act of intimidation, that group is a member of FIRM, as is the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, whose executive director Josh Hoyt also attended. Another attendee was the Reverend James Lawson.

Now for the quote you've been waiting for:

Newman-Ortiz, who also attended the 'Black Brown and Beyond' sessions said immigrants face similar struggles to African Americans shortly after slavery. "The proposed entry tests for immigrants are similar to the poll tax and literacy tests that kept African Americans from getting voting rights," she said. "We want to make a statement that we oppose making these tests more difficult. We want to encourage more people to get involved."

I do too. If you're in Milwaukee, do your best to expose Voces for what they are.

Tags: 
voces de la frontera
fair immigration reform movement

Comments

perroazul del norte (not verified)

Fri, 02/09/2007 - 19:50

Horace,
You overargued in your repsonse to the idiot Newman. All that is relevant is that the US (like any other country) has as part of its right of self-determination the right to decide whom to accept as a member of its community of citizens and on what terms. What these nitwits don't realize is that are denying the basic human rights of the American(read: estadounidenses)people.

Horace (not verified)

Fri, 02/09/2007 - 08:00

Taken from their web page (http://www.vocesdelafrontera.net/), the following is an example of how Voces de la Frontera actively engages in aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in their quest for driver's licenses:

Get your driver license and identification card now!(2007-01-13- Spanish Version - down)

The legislation that was passed last year at a state level, known as AB 69, will take effect on April 1st, 2007. There are three months left for those people who don

Horace (not verified)

Fri, 02/09/2007 - 07:28

I will point out the problem with her argument, which is obvious to most readers.

1. Naturalization is not a Constitutional right, unlike the right to cast a vote.

2. It is not discriminatory. The test will be used across the board, for all naturalization applicants, regardless of race, country of origin, sex, or sexual preference.

3. Unlike poll taxes, the test doesn't impose a undue financial burden on the applicant.

4. The questions are fairly simple and not much of an intellectual burden on the applicant.

5. Passing the test is not too much to ask of legal residents who will have a good deal of time to prepare for it.

This is just another non-sensical demand of advocacy groups who oppose any standards for candidate citizens and wish to cheapen it. I'd be surprised to see that this complaint is taken seriously.