Thursday, December 22, 2005

The quiet assimilation of the undocumented

I keep saying, when immigrants have rights and succeed here, we all benefit. This community is thriving because the immigrants are assimilating into life there. They will become wonderful Americans someday. DP

IMMIGRATION: THE REAL WORLD
By Lydia Chávez, a professor of journalism at UC Berkeley and is researching a project on immigrants live.

Los Angeles Times, latimes.com : All it takes are salsa, chips and a healthy dose of pragmatism.

That's the city manager's recipe for democracy in Arvin, one of 12 California towns where more than half of the adult residents aren't American citizens. When Arvin needed to update its noise ordinances, it decided participation, not citizenship, should rule the day.

The Central Valley agricultural town, population about 14,000, held a community meeting — with snacks. The city officials asked a DJ to play music and measured the loudness with a decibel meter. When it came time to decide what noise level ought to be allowed, no one was asked, "Are you a citizen?"

"We asked them to raise their hands and their vote was counted," said Arvin's city manager, Enrique Medina Ochoa. The results went to the City Council for consideration.

Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

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