Fighting Illegal Immigration: Victory in Indiana

How do you achieve victory in war? By winning a succession of battles.

Last week I posted this about a march planned in Indianapolis on December 12th to protest illegal immigrants being denied driver's licenses in Indiana.

Then someone at the Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement got wind of a meeting planned for November 30th at a local school. The meeting's agenda would purportedly include discussing the Indianapolis protest and how to help illegal aliens obtain driver's licenses.

From the 11/30/05 IFIRE newsletter (I will link to the newsletter as soon as its posted...it wasn't yet available online as of this posting):

We went in to action. We emailed the following letter to the principal of Washington Community School notifying him of the possible illegal activity and asking him to investigate. If he determined that the November 30 meeting would be used for an illegal purpose (to aid and abet illegal immigrants to stage a protest march in an effort to procure driver’s licenses) then we requested that the meeting be canceled.

November 28, 2005

Dear Principal Burke,

You may not be aware that Washington Community School is being used for illegal purposes. I have been informed by Indianapolis residents and I have read in La Voz de Indiana, that plans are being made to hold a protest march on December 12, 2005 to demand driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. Apparently, hundreds of people already attended one organizational meeting at your school. It is our belief that the November 30 meeting arranged by Veronica Guerrero will also discuss this protest march and how to help illegal aliens obtain driver’s licenses.

Federal law is explicit. Section 8 of the U.S. Code regulating immigration identifies as felons any person, employer, church, organization or local government who harbors, assists and encourages illegal aliens without proper documentation.

Those who are here in violation of our laws do not have the proper documents and should not be able to obtain driver’s licenses which help them avoid detection. Do not be fooled by attempts to describe this as a benign attempt to help a particular ethnic group. This is used as a ruse to obscure the fact that they are really helping law breakers. Law-abiding people of all ethnicities have, or can obtain, proper documentation to get a driver’s license.

We believe it is both irresponsible and risky for public buildings and funds to be used to further illegal activity. Our understanding of the RICO Act is that private persons may initiate civil suits to obtain injunctions and treble damages against enterprises that conspire to violate federal alien smuggling, harboring or document fraud laws.

Based on the law and potential exposure for the school and its employees, we believe that the November 30, 2005 meeting should be canceled.

We request that you investigate our allegations to determine what the previous meeting covered and find out what the November 30 meeting will cover. Any discussion of the December 12 protest march should not be allowed. Discussion on how to subvert our laws in order for illegals to obtain driver’s licenses and thus avoid prosecution must not be allowed. If these meetings are being conducted in foreign languages where the school cannot adequately monitor what subversive things are being discussed, then these meetings should be stopped.

We look forward to your reply regarding this matter.

IFIRE then notified other activists and asked for their help. And help they got.

Other activists and organizations got involved. Some sent emails to the school, others contacted school board officials. A candlelight vigil was planned for outside the school to protest the Nov. 30 meeting, if it was held. Since only women had committed to being at the vigil in an area that has been compared to East L.A., we joked about calling ourselves the Vigil-Aunties. Local police were contacted. Flyers were made to distribute to the public. Scanned copies the article from La Voz de Indiana were distributed. Blogs were typed. People called or emailed various state officials including the Governor, his Latino Advisor and various other legislators. At least one state representative made phone calls on our behalf. A press release documenting our concerns and the candlelight vigil was prepared.

A series of e-mail exchangesbetween the attorney for the Indianapolis Public Schools and IFIRE ended with this message from the attorney.

I have just learned that the meeting for tomorrow has been canceled.

Hudnall A. Pfeiffer

Victory! This is how it works, folks. It seems like a small victory-- and it is, relative to the scope of the illegal immigration problem -- but this is exactly what it takes to make things happen. We live in a huge country with a huge illegal immigration problem.

Imagine if people in communities across America started paying attention to, recognizing and addressing these battles right where they live. Doing all they can to win these battles when they are still small, rather than waiting until it's a problem of state or federal size. Every battle won is a step toward making those we have elected do their jobs and protect this country.

Let's take a lesson from Indiana. Do something. You'll be so glad you did.

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