LaPorte mayoral candidate runs on illegal-immigration platform

By Stan Maddux, For The News-Dispatch

LaPORTE - A man who led a recent push to deport illegal aliens in LaPorte has announced he's running for mayor.

If elected, Michael Strauss said one of his priorities would be coming up with a local solution “to our illegal immigration problem.”

Another major goal is “creating not only service related retail jobs but factory jobs as well,” he said.

Strauss, a 2000 LaPorte High School graduate, also cited a need to improve the quality of the work force by providing more educational opportunities to unskilled laborers.

A former member of the Libertarian party, Strauss said he's running as an independent. “I believe a candidate is elected by the people and for the people and not to represent their own views and the even stronger views of party bosses.”

In December, the LaPorte City Council voted down a measure to empower local police to find illegal immigrants and detain them for possible deportation by the federal government. The measure also called for a hotline that residents could use to report suspected illegal alien activity to be investigated by the police.

Strauss was at the forefront of the failed effort and helped stage a demonstration outside LaPorte's downtown courthouse in the fall trying to drum up support.

After the measure's defeat, Strauss pledged to continue working with city Councilman Tim Stabosz to revise the proposal and bring it back for reconsideration.

The deadline for Democratic and Republican candidates to file for the May primary was noon Friday. Independents, though, have until July 16 to register for the November general election, said LaPorte County Chief Deputy Clerk Betty Conroy.

But, first, independents like Strauss must collect signatures from 2 percent of the LaPorte voters who cast ballots for Indiana Secretary of State in the November general election, she said. Those signatures must be verified by the LaPorte County Voter Registration Office by July 2.

Current mayor Leigh Morris, a Republican, is unopposed in the May primary. The Democratic candidates are former mayor Kathy Chroback, Robert Ott and Ronald Zimmer.

Le estan diciendo que: "You're under arrest"?

As you may know, I write relatively often about illegal immigration. Increasingly, in fact, given the, uh, "increasing" nature of the problem.

But today, I get the distinct and rare joy to report that at least of few of these freeloaders got their comeuppance. Kind of. In order to understand, though, you may need a little background. Read on...

Nowadays, it's a common practice in any U.S. city you care to name for illegal immigrants to gather every morning at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and others. Their goal: To solicit cash day-work from the throngs of van-driving contractors who file into such places for a cuppa Joe or a doughnut on their way to their jobsites...

However, a group of two dozen illegals in Baltimore got more than they bargained for when they propositioned the unmarked vehicles of a group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents! The ensuing bust netted the agency:

* 6 men with U.S. criminal records - even though they aren't even citizens

* 8 who were in violation of "final removal orders" from immigration judges

* 1 that had been caught crossing the border FOUR TIMES.

How many of these men will be given paying work details in prison (at around a buck a day) remains to be seen. It should be all of them, but I'm betting it ends up being ZERO.

Why?

Because already, at least one immigrant advocacy group has started raising a stink about how the agents involved in the bust somehow unfairly targeted Hispanics - even though the bust-ees solicited the officers! All of the arrested men were Mexican, Honduran and Salvadoran (with one Peruvian in the mix).

The group, calling itself CASA, has declared the raid "illegal" in a press conference held at the 7-Eleven store where the bust took place. The fact that no actual ATTORNEYS appear to have made this claim on the group's behalf seemed unimportant to the newspapers reporting the story. Keep reading...

Of course, the newly-elected Mayor of Baltimore (Democrat Sheila Dixon) - instead of openly applauding the bust as a long-overdue first baby-step in controlling Baltimore's rampant illegal immigration problem - is using the incident to highlight what she calls the need for a "designated day-laborer center" in the city, according to a Washington Times article on the arrests...

Why doesn't she just come out and say what she means: That illegal immigrants should have a way to access all the benefits of being American - work, wages, entitlements, and equal protection of the law - without having to make any of the sacrifices?

Like paying taxes, learning the English language, and abiding by the law.

Fittingly, the spontaneous bust came on the same day that ICE announced more than 750 arrests of illegals over a one-week span in Los Angeles. The Times article also cites the fact that the ICE removed more than 190,000 illegal aliens in 2006 - with 45% (90,000) of these having U.S. CRIMINAL RECORDS...

Now that's what I call a good start.

Reporting on deporting,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

Candidate says his platform is about more than illegals

By Stan Maddux, For The News-Dispatch



LaPORTE - He's been called a bigot and a racist, but Mike Strauss insists his campaign for mayor is not entirely about deporting the illegal aliens in LaPorte.

Illegal immigration, though, is a major part of his campaign platform, one that Strauss, 24, feels will produce good results at the polls.

“Voters in LaPorte do feel strongly about that issue,” Strauss said.

Because he's running as an independent, Strauss must collect 2 percent of the votes cast in the city for Indiana secretary of state in the November election to appear on the ballot. Over a two-day period, Strauss said he collected 33 of the 119 required signatures.

The signatures must be presented to the LaPorte County Voter Registration Office and verified by July 2.

“I actually plan to get a little bit more than that,” Strauss said.

In December, the LaPorte City Council voted down a proposal to empower local police to go out and detain illegal aliens for deportation by the federal government. Strauss helped craft the ordinance and is helping to make changes in the measure so it can be presented to the City Council again, possibly before the November general election.

If nothing is adopted then, Strauss said, the “illegal alien problem” will be a major priority of his if elected mayor.

“A lot of people have already labeled me a racist. I'm not too worried about that,” said Strauss, who denies feeling any hatred toward illegals.

Instead, Strauss said his view on the issue is simply about upholding the law, maintaining civil liberties and extending relief to overburdened local governments and schools.

“It puts an even stronger burden on the school system to not only teach their teachers Spanish but to teach other students Spanish and to teach the Spanish students English when those funds could be used to produce a higher quality education for those here legally,” he said.

The 2000 LaPorte High School graduate, who describes himself as a small business entrepreneur, said the biggest reason he entered the campaign is to get a handle on what he believes is overspending by the current administration.

He said costs can be cut to free additional money to fix more of the city's deplorable roads and sidewalks.

“Businesses aren't going to want to come into a community that has bad roads and bad sidewalks. They just look bad,” he said.

Other priorities of his include upgrading the skills of the local workforce and giving back control of local government to the citizens.