However, the Cherokee Council may have been too quick to respond to this. I'm not sure which tribe requested the support and certainly don't know anything about the tribes in AZ. However, I do know about Southern California and what has happened there. I felt as though I lived in a foreign country, called Mexico. La Raza, tells high school students this is their country and to take it back, all speeches given in Spanish. I certainly don't want to learn Spanish, sorry, if I learn a language it will be Cherokee.
I believe most of the problems in CA Tribes stem from Hispanics in the early years of intermingling with the tribes there. A time when documentation was done mainly by the church. A good many Hispanics intermingled with the tribes because they believed, whether right or wrong, that there was less discrimination against the Indians than Mexicans, so by saying they were Indian they were pretty much left alone.
Fortunately AZ has stepped up to the plate on this one. We have drug lords firing at police, bullets shot into public buildings in AZ. We don't need Mexico's criminal element. We also have laws, that means if you're here illegally, go home, come back the lawful way! We certainly don't need Mexico's corruption in the US. These folks need to go back to Mexico and take their own country back. I should think Mexico would wonder why so many of their people would want to leave and try to eliminate some of the poverty and drug wars that drives them to the US.
Although as we continue to empathize with Hispanics, you need to realize as well, that Drug stores thrive in the border towns as more and more Americans go south for presciptions. I mean there is a drug store on every corner, dentist and opthomologists in between. This has raised the standard of living and border towns in general are far cleaner, with less poverty than say even 40 years ago. Not to mention prescription drugs are really cheap there.
I am puzzled over exactly how a Native American could get caught in this loop. Even if stopped at least someone in the Native American community is going to know this person, even if they don't have a birth certificate. Not to mention there is no evidence to date, anything like this has happened, most of the arguments against AZ are pure speculation and without evidentuary bases.
Where are they going to deport them to, the rez?
All Native Americans would step up to the plate if a Native American were set for deportation, however, let's not jump to conclusions that it will happen.
Tribal council unites against immigration law in Arizona
Tahlequah Daily Press
Tahlequah, OK
Teddye Snell
08/18/2010
TAHLEQUAH — The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council Monday night voiced its opposition to Arizona Senate Bill 1070, known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, one of the strictest anti-illegal immigration measures passed in decades.
Sponsored by CN Tribal Councilors Julia Coates and Chuck Hoskin Jr., the legislation passed unanimously, and supports measures already approved by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona and the Tohono O’Odham Nation.
Coates said many Indian people living outside of reservations in Arizona speak only their native tongue, and some are without birth certificates. Under the recently passed Arizona law, many believe Native Americans could be unduly profiled
by law enforcement as illegal immigrants.
The Arizona act makes it a state misdemeanor for an illegal immigrant to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents; bars state or local officials or agencies from restricting enforcement of federal immigration laws; and cracks
down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal immigrants.
The act was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer in April, and was scheduled to go into effect on July 29. But a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked most controversial aspects of the law from taking effect.
“This law raises all sorts of policy issues,” said Hoskin Jr. “It’s unwise to place an unnecessary burden on law enforcement when many departments are already being stretched to their limits. Also, many in the Oklahoma Legislature have voiced their support of the act, and are looking at possibly having a similar law here. This would set a precedent for the Cherokee Nation’s opposition.”
Hoskin said what moved him to support the bill was the fact that another Indian nation had asked for the Cherokee Nation’s support.
“I think there’s a good reason to speak out on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Arizona.”
In other business, the tribal council passed resolutions:
• Authorizing the department of children, youth and family services to submit an application for funding to the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs for emergency youth shelter services. The grant total is $273,628, and requires no matching
funds.
• Authorizing the Cherokee Nation Office of Environmental Programs to submit a formal grant application to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency for a Brownfields Job Training Grant. The grant total is $200,000, and requires no matching funds.
• Providing for the donation of surplus office equipment from the Cherokee Nation to Webbers Falls Historical Society Museum.
What’s next
The next regular meeting of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, Sept. 13, in the Council Chambers at the W.W. Keeler Complex west of Tahlequah.