Letter to the Editor / CRIMINALIZATION OF IMMIGRANTS

By Roger C. Kostmayer

Key West and Monroe County face looming economic, humanitarian and constitutional issues regarding immigration and enforcement.  Industries such as hotels, restaurants, agriculture, and the most unpleasant maintenance jobs are dependent on immigrant labor, which sometimes makes up 25% of a workforce.  Without the ability to attract and retain these critical workers, businesses in the keys will be threatened.

If this administration, the Justice Department and ICE (immigration and customs) agents force our “dreamers” and undocumented workers to retreat into the shadows, or be jailed and deported, the families, the businesses, our community, our police and our civil rights, will all be adversely affected.

At 6 PM on Thursday March 22, at the Harvey Government Center at Truman & White Streets, there will be a public discussion about the criminalization of immigrants, and how it affects all of us.  There will be panelists from the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Florida Immigration Coalition – plus immigration attorney Reggie Smith.

Reports of some of this administration’s enforcement and policing tactics, and their impact, are shocking: swat teams beating on the door in the middle of the night demanding documents from terrified legal citizens; police pulling over cars full of people without probable cause and jailing hispanics until they produce proper documentation; and students in KW schools who are emotionally distraught for fear a parent with no criminal record will be deported.

This event is a unique collaboration among 6 concerned organizations: ACLU, Women’s   March, Florida Immigrant Coalition, League of Women Voters, NOW, and the SPLC.  This is a remarkable group of non profits that is determined to help, support and protect the rights of our neighbors.  The SPLC, for example, is about teaching tolerance and one of its primary functions is monitoring hate groups.

If freedom and justice are denied to some of us, it’s denied to us all.

Roger C. Kostmayer