LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE AT IT AGAIN
Am I the only one that cringes when the Louisiana Legislature convenes?
Am I the only person that sits back and wonders “who are these people who supposedly represent the citizens of Louisiana” and, more importantly, who elected them?
In a state with such pressing issues as economic development, education, healthcare, roads, etc., it seems that every time the legislature convenes we end up spending time, effort and resources on issues that are either ridiculous or issues that should never be taken up by the Louisiana Legislature.
In this session, not only have we spent time and effort dealing with the official cocktail of the state, but now several of our representatives are engaging in a flurry of anti-immigrant bills which are working their way through the House and Senate in Baton Rouge.
Suffice it to say that even as recently as a couple of weeks ago a similar anti-immigrant bill dealing with renting to persons without the proper documentation was held unconstitutional in a suburb of Dallas.
Repeatedly, local and state initiatives to interfere with immigration matters have been held unconstitutional and preempted by the Federal Government. Nonetheless, we have bills that have been introduced in the legislature to criminalize transportation of undocumented aliens, housing initiatives that would bar renting to undocumented aliens and even restrictions on access to courts and damages in medical malpractice cases by undocumented aliens. Separate and apart from the fact that these hastily-drafted and ill-conceived measures are a xenophobic slap in the face of the workers who rebuilt Southeast Louisiana after the hurricanes, in the long run they are a waste of time and resources for the State of Louisiana. Even if any of these bills pass the litigation that will follow will be paid by the taxpayers and will produce unwanted publicity and negative stereotyping once again for the State of Louisiana.
Maybe instead of bashing immigrants with unconstitutional legislation, the legislature could look into the Department of Transportation which in the last couple of weeks has been shown to be negligent in their maintenance of not only raised bridges, but also in tunnels. People are dying on the streets of Louisiana and on bridges that are failing and in tunnels whose telephones don’t work, but instead the legislature is looking at the official cocktail and hateful legislation aimed at immigrants.
Enough is enough!!!
Tags: hispanic community louisiana, hispanic community new orleans, latino community new orleans, latino leadership, latino new orleans