Cupcakes, Dating & more
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A student’s experience with Internet activism
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Hollywood Comes to Call
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City High School1900 morningside drive, iowa city, iowa 52240 issue four/volume sixty-nine - 1.28.11 www.thelittlehawk.com
Iowa City’s Choice: An ordinance that would protect illegal
immigrants is on the City Council’s agenda. by Nora Holman & Emma Gier able to demand papers from somebody because of simply the color of their skin or the sound of their voice,” Massey said. “We don’t need concentration camps and fear mongering [to have a safe community]. The City Council has the authority to approve this one step for justice.” Sarah Swisher, an activist for sanctuary cities, believes that illegal immigrants have a natural right to feel safe. Sanctuary cities fufill this right by “allowing immigrants to fell feel safe working with the police and other city workers because the city staff will not inquire about their immigration status.” However, not everyone agrees with the ordinance. “I have no problem with illegals feeling uncomfortable…they ought to,” J.J. DeRyke, an opponent of sanctuary cities said. DeRyke said that he doesn’t oppose immigrants, just illegal ones. He also argues about the fairness of the proposed ordinance. “I don’t think it’s fair to the people who go through all of the work of getting here legally, meet all of the requirements, and suddenly others just sneak in the back way.” DeRyke also believes that passing the ordinance would attract more immigrants. “Remember the old movie ‘The Field of Dreams’? The line: ‘If you build it, they will come’. If you set up a sanctuary city, they will come.” Whether or not more immigrants will be attracted to Iowa City, supporters of passage maintain that ethical obligations to fellow humans should not be ignored. The eyes of supporters, opponents and the rest of the world will be on the city council next week when the important vote will be cast.
art by julietteENLOE
Postville, Iowa was the target of the largest immigration raid in U.S history on May 12th, 2008 when U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stormed Agriprocessors Inc., a kosher slaughterhouse. The agents arrested nearly 400 workers. The workers, who were mostly immigrants, were charged with identity theft and document fraud because of their possession of false identity papers. Hundreds served months in prison and were then deported. Despite a heated national debate about immigration and near-daily coverage of the topic, Iowa’s collective consciousness was shocked by events so close to home, such as the Postville raid. Considering that personal stories are missing from the constant stream of rhetoric spewed by some Congressmen and women, it’s easy to forget the human consequences of bureaucratic strife. As a result of this, some community members in Iowa City are advocating that the community should become a Sanctuary City for illegal immigrants. There are more than 50 sanctuary cities in the United States, however there are none in Iowa. Within the Midwest there are four sanctuary cities: Madison, Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Paul. The term sanctuary city is given to communities that don’t require people to disclose their immigration status when reporting a crime. On January 31st the Iowa City City Council will decide whether or not to become a sanctuary city. The Sanctuary City Committee drafted the text of the ordinance and components were borrowed from other sanctuary cities. Sam Massey, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City, believes that passing the ordinance is an issue of human rights. “Neither the police nor anybody else should be