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First Coast News – Nov. 4, 2004

America mending political wounds

By Jennifer Brice

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Both President Bush and Senator Kerry are speaking out about putting the country back together again after such a divisive campaign. Now, community leaders are doing the same.

Now, the election is over and healing is the focus, says voter Charles Hartwig. He says looking to community leaders may help. "We have to look to our leaders, of faith and government."

Parvez Ahmed, with the Council on American Islamic Relations, says it's a driving force behind why he organizes inter-faith gatherings like the one held at the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida Wednesday night. "If we want respect for our viewpoint, then it is incumbent that we respect other viewpoints. That is the nature of democracy."

The gathering Wednesday night brought political and several faith-based communities together to share time, conversation and prayer. Wednesday night's celebration was attended by Mayor John Peyton who says this presidential race was particularly divisive.

"Now, it's time to really come back together as a community and find common ground for where we share our values and vision for moving forward."

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=26997

Bradenton.com – Nov. 4, 2004

Election disappoints groups of minorities

By Sylvia Lim

MANATEE - Muslims living in Florida also were apprehensive about Tuesday's election results. Discouraged by the Bush administration's policy on the Middle East and alleged racial profiling, Muslim-Americans mobilized a record turnout at the polls.

"This is just the beginning for us, the Muslim-American community is new to politics," said Altaf Ali, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Florida. "We saw the difference what a swing vote can make, and the Muslims and the country now see us as a whole as swing voters."

Out of 380 Florida Muslims who voted Tuesday, 369 voted for Kerry and only 10 voted for Bush, the council reported.

"We are disappointed that the country is not graced with new leadership," Ali said. "America has chosen to re-elect Bush, and we support it."

But Ali placed the responsibility of improving ties between the Bush administration and the local Muslims on the president. "He had a chance to see firsthand the issues brought up by people who did not vote for him," Ali said.

Local Hispanic voters hope that the Bush administration would review its immigration policies and settle the fate of migrant workers all over the country. Jim Delgado, a Palmetto-based lawyer and chairman of the local Latin Chamber of Commerce, said he thinks the Bush administration is not likely to grant amnesty to migrant workers who have been here for several years. "It would be a bold move on the Republicans' part to make it happen," Delgado said, "but it would be a political suicide."

Echoing the sentiments of several minority groups in the county who supported Sen. John Kerry, Roger Robinson said he and his partner were disappointed at President George Bush's re-election.

As members of the county's gay community, Robinson said he and others also were concerned about voters in 11 states banning gay marriages in Tuesday's election. "There's nothing we can do," Robinson said.

Robinson, who decided to go to Holmes Beach to relax after Wednesday's announcement about Kerry's loss, said he feels sad that people are afraid of gays and lesbians.

"Any votes involving equal rights is not popular," said Bruce Fornier, the Church of the Trinity's AIDS awareness educator. "I'm not worried, I'm just disappointed. But I accept that people always don't understand." As for now, Robinson and Fornier are just waiting for the issue to be picked up by the judiciary….

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/10093521.htm

San Diego.Com – Nov. 4, 2004

U.S. officials unsure if pre-election terror plot disrupted

By Curt Anderson

WASHINGTON - More than 700 people were arrested on immigration violations and thousands more subjected to FBI interviews in an intense government effort to avert a terrorist attack aimed at disrupting the election.

As with past unrealized al-Qaeda threats, law enforcement officials said Thursday they don't know for sure whether any of those arrests or interviews foiled an attack.

"It's very hard to prove a negative," Michael Garcia, chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview Thursday. "We did cases and operations for people we thought posed national security concerns. We didn't arrest anyone who had a bomb."

For example, ICE agents arrested a 23-year-old Pakistani man in late October who had illegally entered the United States through Mexico in 2000 and was working as a fuel tanker truck driver with access to a major U.S. seaport. The man, who was not further identified, is charged with making false statements about how he entered the country and remains under investigation for any links to terrorism.

He was one of the 237 people arrested in October alone on immigration violations, for a total of over 700 since the enforcement effort began last year, Garcia said. "It was a broad approach that led us to have a very disruptive effect, we believe," he said.

Although the election season passed without an attack, officials say al-Qaeda remains a dangerous foe intent on striking the United States again. The day after the election, Attorney General John Ashcroft told his senior staff to not let their guard down.

The Jan. 20 presidential inauguration heads the list of upcoming high-profile events that officials say could draw terrorist interest. Others include the Feb. 6 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., and the December holiday travel season, which last year saw several threats against trans-Atlantic flights.

There still is concern the Osama bin Laden videotape aired last week could be a signal for an attack. And despite asking for help from the public, the FBI still has not identified a man calling himself "Azzam the American," whose lengthy videotape aired last month promised attacks that will make U.S. streets "run red with blood."

The FBI interviewed about 10,000 Muslims and Arab-Americans in the months prior to Election Day in an effort to gain intelligence about people who might pose a threat and to build bridges to those communities.

Many of those interviews led officials to individuals in the United States who might be linked to terrorism but had previously escaped government detection, said a senior Justice Department official speaking on condition of anonymity because of national security concerns. The official did not provide any details.

Still, there were reports of heavy-handed tactics in some places. The Council on American-Islamic Relations provided several examples, including a young Pakistani man who was held for five hours in Las Vegas after books on the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and Arabic grammar were found in his possession.

"This was viewed as an extension of the ongoing policies that have been targeting Muslim and Arab-American communities," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. "These communities view themselves as law-abiding and contributing to society in a very positive way."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20041104-1342-terrorthreat.html

The Arizona Republic - Nov. 5, 2004

Prop. 200 vote panics Mexican immigrants in Arizona

By Elvia Díaz

Arizona Latino leaders say they have been inundated with calls since voters approved Proposition 200 Tuesday, asking whether immigrant parents should send their children to school or whether it's safe to go shopping.

Representatives of the Valley's Head Start program said attendance dropped substantially Wednesday as worried parents kept their children home from school. In one classroom, only two children showed up. Normally, there are 20.

Rachael Schultz, spokeswoman for Maricopa County Human Services, said Spanish-speaking teachers and staff members immediately called the parents to assure them their children are safe at school. By Thursday, attendance was back to normal, she said. The agency oversees the Head Start centers.

She said there are roughly 2,700 children enrolled Valley-wide in the federally funded Head Start program, which has served children in the Phoenix area for decades. Citizenship isn't a requirement.

Representatives of Latino organizations said Thursday that they are urging people not to panic or overreact to the passage of Proposition 200, which should not prevent people from shopping or carrying out most other daily activities. "It's a very reasonable fear," said Thomas Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The group has said it will ask a judge to issue a preliminary injunction against Proposition 200 after the results are certified Nov. 22.

The initiative requires Arizonans to prove citizenship when seeking public benefits or when registering to vote. Government employees will have to report to immigration authorities suspected undocumented immigrants seeking public benefits.

Some of the nation's most prominent Latinos, including Janet Murgia of the National Council of La Raza, will be in Phoenix today to try to reduce immigrants' fears. Their strategies include working with Spanish-language media to get their messages across.

Martin Delgado, a legal resident, said he fears for his wife, Antonia, because she's here illegally. She is among the estimated 300,000 to 350,000 undocumented immigrants in Arizona who, Latino leaders fear, may be forced to go further underground.

A decade ago, similar fears prompted many undocumented immigrants in California to keep their school-age children at home and miss doctor visits after voters in that state approved Proposition 187.

Unlike Proposition 187, which was put on hold by a federal judge almost immediately, the Arizona initiative won't be challenged in court until election results are certified Nov. 22….

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1105pan05.html#