| Issue #49, March 16, 2007 |
Illegals Out!
Big Protest on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Proceeds Peacefully
By David Lion Rattiner
Protesters speaking out about illegal immigrants in the Hamptons hit the streets of East Hampton with nearly twenty men, women and children holding signs high in the air expressing their frustration with the immigration issues that have been such a heated topic for the community lately.
The location of choice last Sunday was The Bank Of America on Newtown Lane in East Hampton, a bank in East Hampton that has drawn a great many Latin American and illegal immigrant banking customers in the town because of their bilingual staff. Many of the protesters there have also been involved protesting illegals in Southampton by the 7-11 and in Greenport on the North Fork.
Cries such as, “When they jumped the fence they broke the law!” were yelled out loud and clear.
The protesters remained in front of the Bank of America all morning, until they were asked to move by police to another location, which ended up being on the lawn in front of the Old Hook Windmill in the center of town.
Because the illegal immigrant issue has been such a controversy for so many people, I thought it would be helpful to ask people their opinion on it. I also told the people I interviewed that I would not publish their names because many people are afraid to state how they really feel to the public. Here is what I got walking around East Hampton for just one hour.
One carpenter said to me: “I think that this protest is hilarious. What are they trying to accomplish here? Seems to me like they should be working and not protesting. But don’t quote me on that.”
A protester said, “They are not out here just picking berries any more. They are taking away masonry work and skilled labor work that requires things like insurance if you’re here legally.”
A Latin American bank worker said, “It’s sad because they are all here just to work in hard jobs and send money to their families.”
A mother of two said this: “To say that they are taking away jobs is absurd. It has become about racist people getting a voice now, which is dangerous. These people come here and are working their way up. It’s what people do in America last time I checked.”
One business owner said, “I just wish that they paid taxes somehow. They are bringing down our schools and our community because of it. You can’t come here, not pay taxes and have kids on the government’s dollar and not expect to make people angry. If they pay taxes, then they are fine with me.”
“It’s a Catch-22. We need them here because they fill the jobs nobody wants to do. Go into any kitchen in America and an illegal immigrant is washing the dishes. I don’t have a problem with that, but I also don’t want to see desperate people in my face,” said one woman on the street.
“I don’t get why any of this matters,” said a teenager.
“Anybody that says that this doesn’t have to do with racism is not seeing the reality. Service business owners are feeling threatened by legal Latin Americans who are running their own things now. Those are the people that they really don’t like and they see their race and attack them that way. If the illegals were up-islanders, they’d want a border patrol on the Shinnecock Canal,” said an older man.
“They bring down the area. It’s not good for us economically to have them here,” said a young woman.
“I just wish that they would try harder to speak English. It would make things so much easier for everybody,” said another woman.
“We should kick ‘em all out,” said a man.
“They are nice people who just want to work,” said one woman.
“It will be interesting to see what happens with this,” said another man.
“Our country would not be able to compete on an international level if we didn’t have illegals working for six bucks an hour. You don’t see big business saying a damn thing about the illegals,” said a man who works as financial advisor.
“We give these people every incentive to come here and then complain about it. If you don’t want them here, arrest the slumlords that house five families in one house. Arrest the contractors that hire them, require a social security number to get a bank account. That will have them out of here pretty quick because then there would be no reason for them to be here. That will never happen though,” said a retired schoolteacher.
“Our schools are really suffering from it because there are all of these children coming in who don’t speak English and whose parents are not a part of the school tax system. If they have a kid here they should have to somehow be forced to pay for school taxes or their kid shouldn’t be allowed to go to the school,” said a woman.
“It’s a problem that isn’t going to go away any time soon,” said a business owner.
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