Apr 3, 2006 7:24 pm US/Central
Largest Ever Dallas Immigration Rally Planned
by Steve Pickett
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Immigration reform opponents in Dallas are planning a public march for Sunday. The demonstration is being touted as the largest public protest ever for the city.
Local Hispanic business leaders are pointing to jobs and money as reasons enough to steer clear of tougher immigration penalties.
There are more than one and half million Latinos that call Dallas-Fort Worth home. The residents are part of the north Texas workforce, live in local neighborhoods and have students of all ages in school.
Edward Rincon studies the lifestyle trends of the Dallas Hispanic Community. Officials there look at everything from the growing immigrant population's impact on public health, and public schools, to how public safety is affected.
"There's no question that the surge, the population has impacted those areas. However we also know that immigrants, both legal and illegal have brought a lot of economic prosperity," Rincon said.
That prosperity comes in the form of job and business development.
The Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, for example, has 1,900 members. Sixty percent of those members are small businesses, who see a big problem on the horizon.
Victor Zepeda is the chairman of the Hispanic chamber. "Mexico is the second largest trading partner with the U.S., and when you have something like that and you have a lot of business flowing between the two countries, you don't put up walls," he said.
An estimated 30% of Latino families in north Texas could be directly affected by tougher immigration rules.
Those watching the economic winds of the region say the indirect affect would be wider than DFW's Hispanic community.
(CBS 11 News)
