Saturday, March 5, 2011

Hispanics Met At Voces In Wake Of WI Governor Walker's Budget Cuts In Education And Health Services To Low Income Families

Photos: HNG

Issues discussed were Walker's budget repair bill, education cuts, and ICE Secure Communities

By H. Nelson Goodson
March 5, 2011

Milwaukee - On Saturday, Latinos and non-Latinos met at Voces de la Frontera on S. 5th St. in the predominately Hispanic community. Issues discussed were cuts in education, health care, in-state tuition for undocumented students, Food Share (Food stamps) for legal residents, Medicare and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secure Communities programs in all Wisconsin county jails, especially in Milwaukee County.
Voces Action has spent at least $8,000 in organizing and participating in protests against Walker's budget repair bill and union busting. Last Tuesday, Walker introduced his two year budget that cuts $4.2 billion in state funds to education, health care, and local governments. (Governor Walker's Budget Cuts $4.2 Billion In Over All Spending And $1.25 Billion To Local Governments Including $834 Million In Education http://bit.ly/ghCzTY)
On Friday, Walker sent out letters of his intent to layoff 1,500 state employees to 13 unions, Layoffs notices will be sent by next week. The layoffs will take effect on April 1st to save $30 million, according to Walker.
Unions and state workers have already agreed to Governor Walker's concessions, except giving up their collective bargaining rights.
14 Senate Democrats have left Wisconsin to stop the budget repair bill that eliminates collective bargaining. The Senate needs 20 senators for quorum to approve any fiscal bill, but it takes less senators to approve non-fiscal bills.
At least $74 million has been already slashed this year from Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), Larry Miller, MPS School Board member. Other cuts include school nursing, bilingual programs, breakfast, and numerous other programs affecting students.
Governor Walker's Office has stopped or is limiting to take phone calls or e-mails from the public due to a large volume of correspondence in the last two weeks and those calls and e-mails should be made to their district representatives, so they can be transferred to Walker's Office. Republican legislators have also experienced large volume of correspondence in e-mail boxes, which have been maxed, according to JoCasta Zamarripa, (D) 8th Assembly District.
Nurmerous speakers spoke at the event and a move to recall Governor Walker in seven months is underway.
Primitivo Torres, Voces Chair said, that at least 800,000 of undocumented immigrants under the ICE Secure Communities programs are expected to be deported per year from the U.S. Peggy West, 12th District Supervisor confirmed, the Milwaukee County Board has not requested to sign up on the Secure Communities program and that the program seemed to have been misused. The Secure Communities was intended as disaster relief program. Immigration enforcement was then included into the disaster program to expand its authority to enforce ICE laws. County sheriff's in the program send a copy of the digital fingerprinting of suspected undocumented immigrants processed at the jails to ICE.
Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department has a yearly $350,000 contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, which includes as a joint partnership with the FBI and ICE to hold undocumented immigrants being processed for deportation and crimes.
The Milwaukee Police Department doesn't have an ICE 287g program, which allows ICE trained police to ask for immigration status during traffic stops or domestic incidents and other violations, according to Officer Jesus Gloria from the 2nd Police District Station. Gloria reaffirmed that the department is not concerned about the legal status of victims when they report crimes to police and the residents should get involved in a block watch program in the community.
Next Saturday, Voces is sponsoring several buses that will take people to Madison to join thousands in protest of Walker's budget repair bill that cuts bargaing rights from most state workers. A press conference will be held at 10:30 a.m. and the bus will leave at 11 a.m. and will arrive at 1 p.m. in Madison. A scheduled march begins in Madison at 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and buses will return to Milwaukee by 6 p.m.

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