LIMA (Ohio) NEWS April 5, 2006 FLOC leader talks immigration at Bluffton U
By BETH L. JOKINEN
BLUFFTON —A farm labor organizing leader said after speaking at Bluffton University Tuesday that Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck’s response to illegal immigrants is counterproductive.
“He is misguided and I think he has really forgotten where he came from,” said Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.
“If you have any laws in the books that make immigrants lawbreakers, he at some point would have been in the same situation with his forefathers.”
While Velasquez, of Toledo, didn’t talk about Lima during his address, he did answer questions about it from the media, saying he has heard some about the sheriff. Beck announced plans last summer to increase efforts in identifying illegal immigrants.
Velasquez, a Bluffton College graduate, said some of the outward racists are backing off now that there have been so many demonstrations in larger cities in support of immigrants. It is not always the case in smaller communities like Lima where there are not as many immigrants, he said.
“It’s easy for someone like that who is around mostly people who agree with him to say some nasty things and blame immigrants for a host of problems,” he said.
Beck said Velasquez’s comments just give him another chance to talk about the illegal immigration problems.
“I think probably what he is concerned about is that my law enforcing is counterproductive to his aims and goals to make this issue of illegal aliens seem to be right,” Beck said. “He is trying to make some noise and create some interest in his program.”
Velasquez formed FLOC in 1967 in Toledo and has devoted his life to campaigning for equal rights in the farm labor industry. He was instrumental in leading more than 2,000 workers in the largest agricultural strike in history in 1978.
During his speech, Velasquez said if the country’s leaders are going to talk about free trade and free markets, then they should include the labor market in the same principle. He supports a visa to allow people the freedom to travel and work.
“We can’t argue for free trade, free markets, and not include the idea of a free labor market,” he said.
Velasquez also criticized President Bush’s hope to expand the guest workers program, saying it can’t be done without a union and giving migrant workers rights.
“They end up being slave trade programs,” he said. “There is going to be so much misery. There is going to be so much exploitation. … You have to give people rights. You have to give people due process. You have to give people justice.”
Velasquez also turned to a religious argument, saying that there are three dominate themes involving illegal immigrants in the Scriptures: Don’t mistreat them and govern them with the same laws as everyone else.
“And three, if you mistreat them, I’m going to get really ticked off,” he said.
Velasquez encouraged the students to get involved in the immigration issue, including by participating in marches and contacting elected officials.
“Now is the moment in time to compel our Congress to change the law to fit the human reality,” he said. “And human reality is that we have 12 million people in this country and there is no way we are going to go out and throw them all out of the country.” |