Addressing Anti Racism within the Immigrant Community

To: tupocc@yahoogroups.com
From: "Arabelle Malinis" <amalinis@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:20:49 -0000
Subject: {Disarmed} [tupocc] Addressing Anti Racism within the Immigrant Community

Hi my TUPOCC brothers and sisters,

I just wanted to bring this to your attention. In Orange County
(California) , we are facing internal racism within the immigrant
community. Last week an O.C. Republican candidate, who is a peson
of color , sent out a leter to the immigrant community, which warned
in Spanish that immigrants could be jailed or deported for voting. I
wanted your thoughts on how to combat anti-immigrant sentiments
within our own immigrant community?

In Solidarity,
Arabelle Malinis

O.C. candidate defends letter scaring immigrants
Tan Nguyen, a Republican seeking to unseat Rep. Sanchez, says he
won't quit the race despite mounting pressure.
By Garrett Therolf
Times Staff Writer

October 23, 2006

At a chaotic sidewalk news conference Sunday, Orange County
congressional candidate Tan Nguyen defended a letter his campaign
sent to 14,000 registered voters that warned in Spanish that
immigrants could be jailed or deported for voting.

"There has been no crime committed, so why is there a criminal
investigation three weeks prior to a very important election?" asked
Nguyen outside his campaign office in Garden Grove. It was his first
public appearance since the controversy erupted last week. "What is
going on? Who is fueling this investigation?"

Nguyen, a Republican challenging Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez in
the 47th District, said that he would stay in the race despite the
national uproar over the letter and calls by Orange County
Republican leaders for him to drop out.

"I am innocent, and there is no way in hell that I am going to
withdraw," Nguyen said. "I am not going to quit this race, and I am
going to win this race."

His speech was punctuated by outbursts from a crowd of roughly 50
that angrily demanded more information about the letter's
authorship. Nguyen maintained that the letter was sent without his
knowledge. But he added that, after firing the staffer he said was
responsible for it, he was asking her to return because he believes
the mailer was fair.

In the letter, registered voters with Latino surnames in Santa Ana,
Garden Grove and Anaheim were warned "that if your residence in this
country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal
election is a crime that could result in jail time…."

The mailer has sparked state and federal investigations over
possible voting rights violations. On Friday, Nguyen's campaign
headquarters, his home and a staffer's residence were searched by
California Department of Justice investigators.

A spokesman for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said Sunday that the
investigators were continuing to review the evidence and movement in
the case could come this week.

Orange County officials said they would decide this week whether to
send a second letter to the affected voters making it clear that
naturalized citizens have the right to vote.

Former U.S. Atty. William Braniff, a lawyer for Nguyen's campaign,
said Sunday that the controversy was caused by the news media and
others who inferred that the word emigrado, or immigrant, included
U.S. citizens. In fact, Braniff said, emigrado in the letter merely
referred to U.S. immigrants who have legal status but not
citizenship — and thus do not have the right to vote.

Braniff declined, however, to say why the campaign had used
letterhead closely resembling that of the California Coalition for
Immigration Reform without the group's permission and why it was
signed by a fictional "Sergio Ramirez."

"These are fair questions and could be answered if they were being
asked if this was a purely political forum, but there is an
investigation going on," Braniff said.

He also declined to comment on accounts by sources familiar with the
investigation who said an LAPD officer had paid for the $4,000

mailing of the letter.

Nguyen lambasted his opponent, Sanchez, saying she was "fueling this
hysteria," and said investigators were "terrorizing my family and
volunteers" and violating his right to free speech.

The candidate said his campaign had been crippled by the
government's seizure of his mailing lists and other material.

No representative of the Sanchez campaign was immediately available
for comment.

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