At tonight's meeting, city council members in Farmers Branch unanimously approved strict new anti-immigration measures, including standardizing English as the official language of the city and imposing harsh penalties for landlords and business owners that deal with illegal immigrants.
The Dallas Morning News reports that inside the hall, supporters applauded as the votes were announced. Gathered outside were hundreds of protestors in opposition to the new measures.
WhosPlayin? has reported on startling irregularities at the meeting where the controversial immigration measure was passed. According to a source, Hispanics were being turned away from the meeting and a disproportionate number of Caucasian citizens were admitted to the hearing.
The Dallas Morning News reports that inside the hall, supporters applauded as the votes were announced. Gathered outside were hundreds of protestors in opposition to the new measures.
WhosPlayin? has reported on startling irregularities at the meeting where the controversial immigration measure was passed. According to a source, Hispanics were being turned away from the meeting and a disproportionate number of Caucasian citizens were admitted to the hearing.
It seems that although the crowd outside was 90% Hispanic and 10% White, the authorities only let about 10% Hispanics into the chambers for the meeting. According to one source, Hispanics were being turned away while whites were let in. The source estimated the attendees inside the chambers to be 90% white.
Farmers Branch is a Dallas suburb. According to Wikipedia's information from the 2000 Census, the city is 37% Hispanic. Demographics have continued to shift over the past six years.
5 comments:
I was at the rally and I was against the ordinance. However, it is unfair to say that Hispanics were not allowed into the council chambers. Up to 2 hours before the doors opened, people got in line to go in, knowing that the space was very limited (140 people max). Instead of waiting in line, the Lulac crowd decided it would be more fun to march around in circles with their bullhorns and witty slogans. When it came time to go inside the council chambers, the people who had been waiting in line got to go in, and those who had been marching and chanting were not. It was their decision, no one else's.
Oh, and it wasn't a 90/10 mix. I'd say more like a 60/40 with Hispanics definitely in the majority. However, the council could hear none of their protests. When it came time for the public speaking portion, the mayor called Hispanic name after Hispanic name, yet only a scant few took to the podium. It mattered not who was allowed inside the chambers because they announced with a bullhorn in the foyer for the people to speak. They left after the TV cameras shut off and weren't around to be heard.
Thanks for clearing that up. Like the post says, we did not witness any of this. A source reported that info to another blogger. But thanks for letting us know. Good to see that Farmers Branch tried to operate it properly even though the measures may be too strict.
I have heard that they did not allow debate... that's from the Dallas Morning News. Which was it?
They held the debate for this issue a month or two ago. If you'll do a Google news search, I believe the articles are still there. It was several hours worth of debate with the public speaking their minds. This council meeting was for the vote on the issue. It was on the agenda before the public speaking portion because it has already been debated with the public, discussed amongst themselves and pretty much decided on by all the council members. The Dallas Morning News is partly correct, there was no debate.....this time. They seemed to have left out that it was debated last time.
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