May 12, 2008 8:56 PM
I showed up at Legislator Schneiderman's office for our vigil today only to find that Mr. Schneiderman had invited everyone inside to talk about IR1105. The discussion was interesting and lively and included representatives from Long Island Immigrant Alliance, Long Island WINS, OLA, Spanish Apostolate of the South Fork, LION, Southampton Anti-Bias Task Force and concerned citizens. When we left, Legislator Schneiderman was still undecided, but at least we had shared our feelings with him.
Later developments in the day included a further compromise on Legislator Cooper's alternative bill. The new addition would include an 18-month pilot program that would mandate all contractors doing business with the County to use the federal E-verify system to check their employees work eligibility status. While I personally have mixed feelings about the E-verify database, this seems to be a more practical compromise and I commend Legislator Cooper for his compromise and resourcefulness...at least for now. I have not been able to read the new legislation so I say these opinions with some caution.
Below I thought I would share a couple of pictures from our meeting with Legislator Schneiderman today:
Thank you for sharing, Lisa. At least our arguments were heard. If all legislators could hear our concerns...
By Karla Mansilla May 13, 2008 12:15 PM