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those who knowingly broke the law. Since the Act would not allow those who gain citizenship through it to bring in relatives, it would not lead to “chain immigration,” with a host of relatives coming. Despite such clauses, the Act has floundered in Congress. Many Republicans and some Democrats want the larger questions of border security answered before passing any other immigration legislation. The act has come up for a vote several times since lawmakers first introduced it in but failed to win passage. In it garnered a bipartisan vote of - in the Senate but failed to reach the votes needed to break a filibuster. Some former Republican supporters of the act switched positions after coming under fire for supporting any form of immigration “amnesty.” Sens. John McCain, John Cornyn, Jon Kyl, and Lindsey Graham ended up voting against the law when it came up again in December . The law passed in the House but fell five votes short in the Senate. McCain said he sympathized with students, but securing the borders is the number one priority and a constitutional duty: “Once we fulfill this commitment, we can then address all of the issues plaguing our broken immigration system. There simply isn’t sufficient political support to do anything before we secure our borders and there won’t be until we do.” Five Democratic senators also voted against the bill, including North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan. In a letter to her constituents she said, “I do not support this bill as a
stand-alone measure. I oppose amnesty, and I strongly believe the United States must take the necessary steps to fix the way we handle the entire issue of illegal immigration.”
H
e about , miles from the Mexican border that has had an influx of illegal immigrants during the past years. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, North Carolina’s mild climate and its jobs in construction, textiles, agriculture, tobacco, and meat processing have attracted , illegal immigrants— that’s . percent of the Tar Heel state’s labor force. On Central Avenue in Charlotte, N.C., brightly colored piñatas line a wall at a Latin music store. Around the store sit bins of Spanish pop music cassette tapes and shelves filled with sets of telenovellas—Spanish-language soap operas. Positioned on the corner of a strip mall, the small shop is next to El Banco de la Gente and a supermarket that sells horchata, a cinnamon milk drink popular in Latin America. Signs all along the street advertise “Cambiar cheque (cash check),” El Salvadorean bakeries, and immigration services. In July, La Noticia, a Spanish-language newspaper sold in front of the supermarket, had on its front page the face of -year-old Erick Velazquillo. Driving home from the gym one night in , Velazquillo saw red and blue flashing lights behind him. Police pulled him over for having his high beams on. They asked for his driver’s license—and saw that it had expired two years earlier. (Velazquillo had obtained his license before North Carolina tightened its laws in .)
ALIENS WITHIN THE GATES: Claudia Pena teaches a children’s class at the Hickory Grove Baptist Church Latin American campus in Charlotte.
Lutheran parishioners— volunteers from local churches—to meet with area Hispanic families at a local school. Martin greets everyone warmly, switching seamlessly between Spanish and English. Beginners meet in the school’s library
where tutors and their students sit around square tables, and a teacher directs their attention to the screen at the front for that night’s lesson. Elsie Johnston, a volunteer from Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church,
says, “We try to keep it light.” The teacher has the students play games during the two-hour session, and tonight’s game is simple: In English, ask those next to you, “When is your birthday?”—and they answer you in English. Some of the Hispanic women whisper nervously to each other and laugh when one of them accidentally says a month in Spanish. Johnston says the games are integral to helping students overcome their fear of speaking. Martin, who taught in Mexico and Guatemala, said part of the reason he wanted to start this ministry was because he “realized most North American churches were entirely disconnected from the Latin American community.”
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