An anti-immigration group in Iowa by the name of the “Minuteman Patriots” has begun collecting signatures as part of a statewide petition to get the state legislature to pass a tough immigration law similar to Arizona’s SB 1070.
On Saturday alone, the group collected 400 signatures outside a post office in Council Bluffs. The group’s strategy involves gathering a total of 200,000 signatures on the petition and sending it to Gov.-elect Terry Branstad and lawmakers to pressure them into adopting controversial anti-immigrant measures.
“We have illegal aliens working here and they are taking the jobs of American citizens in Iowa,” Craig Halverson, national director of the group, said.
On its website, the group says it is an affiliate of the Patriots Border Alliance, another anti-immigration group that says it conducts “civilian border watches, day labor site watches and illegal immigration informational rallies in various locations, illustrating the lack of border security and the effects of illegal immigration on the nation as a whole and critical infrastructure.”
Halverson claims that undocumented immigrants are draining tax dollars that could be used to reduce the state’s budget and stop tax increases. However, a 2007 study by the Iowa Policy Project proves the exact opposite. Undocumented immigrants actually contribute about $40 million to $62 million in state and local property, sales, excise and income taxes every year to the state, according to the research group. They also don’t use as many public services as many have erroneously been led to believe.
“I would not like to see that type of governance in the state of Iowa,” Sal Alaniz Jr., a businessman and vice chairman of the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs, said. “Iowans should instead work to honor the dignity of human beings worldwide and assist immigrants who are “becoming more and more a part of the fabric of America,” he added.
people that believe that illegal immigrants are taking thr jobs of the american people are wrong the jobs the jobs that immigrants have are the ones that pay very little and have no benefits and to be honest the job that americans don’t want and wouldn’t do especoally for the price that immigrants do it for.