July 14, 2006

You Don’t Speak for Me! a coalition of American Hispanics, accompanied by two Texas border sheriffs will arrive on Capitol Hill next Tuesday to counter a lobbying effort by illegal aliens and their supporters pressing for a sweeping amnesty. They will be carrying a simple message for Congress and the Bush Administration: Secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. Sheriffs Arvin West of Hudspeth County and Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County, and You Don’t Speak for Me!, will join Representatives Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), Virgil Goode (R-Va.) and other House members for a Capitol Hill news conference to discuss the urgent need for immediate enactment of immigration enforcement and border security legislation.

The news conference will take place on July 18 in Room 2456 Rayburn House Office Building at 11:00 am.

“On Wednesday, members of Congress and the media will hear from illegal aliens and their supporters who will be demanding an immediate amnesty for millions of immigration law violators,” said Col. Al Rodriguez, chairman of YDSFM and the organizer of the new conference. “Last week, another border sheriff, testifying at a congressional hearing held in San Diego, described the ‘war’ that is raging along our southern border. We believe that the first and only order of business for Congress must be to address this security crisis, not a massive amnesty and guest worker program to satisfy the demands of illegal aliens and their employers.”

Sheriff West, whose deputies battle organized crime gangs and even incursions by Mexican military personnel believed to providing support to cross border smugglers, will describe conditions along the border and provide photographic documentation of the crisis his department is dealing with. Sheriff Gonzalez will detail the violence and crime in Zapata County and the threat to national security resulting from the border crisis along the border. The two law enforcement officials represent the 16-member Border Sheriffs Coalition, which was formed as a result of the federal government’s failure to protect the borders.

“America’s security is being compromised, our citizens along the border live in a state of fear, and our law enforcement personnel are under assault. It’s time for action, not talk; enforcement, not amnesty,” said Claudia Spencer, vice chair of YDSFM. “The voices that Congress needs to be listening to are those of people like Sheriffs West and Gonzalez who are on the front lines of what their colleague has described as a state of war. The Hispanic voices that Congress needs to hear are those of American citizens who live under a state siege, or who have lost jobs, wages and opportunities to illegal aliens who are pouring into our country. Congress and the White House need to protect our interests and security, not reward millions of illegal aliens with amnesty.”

The sheriffs and representatives of YDSFM will join Representatives Jones, Bilbray and others in urging the immediate ratification of H.R. 4437, the House immigration enforcement bill, by the Senate. “What Sheriffs West and Gonzales and their deputies are encountering on a daily basis is a threat to our homeland security of the highest order. We can see no higher order of business for Congress other than to address what can only be described as a national crisis,” Rodriguez stated.

For more information please contact Ira Mehlman (213) 700-0407.