http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.../608200359/1006
ARTICLE EXERPT:
QUOTE
'Riverside is going to be ours'
By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
RIVERSIDE
The organizer of a prayer rally expected to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of people to town hall today and says that if the township persists with its Illegal Immigration Relief Act, his group will fight back with more than rallies or lawsuits.
"For every immigrant who feels afraid and leaves Riverside, we are going to find an immigrant to volunteer to come live in Riverside," the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, said Friday.
"They will be staying at the homes of Brazilians."
And they and other Latinos will be working to obtain mortgages and purchase homes, Rivera said, with the help of at least three banks that his organization is speaking with.
"Instead of tenants, there will be owners," he said, noting that citizenship is not required to purchase property in the U.S.
"Riverside is going to be ours," he said.
Rivera's remarks, today's rally and a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Newark challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance were the result of the township committee enacting last month a measure that seeks to punish landlords who rent to or employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Township officials and residents who support the ordinance insist that it is aimed at illegality, not immigrants per se.
"Yes, we are all immigrants
...
By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
RIVERSIDE
The organizer of a prayer rally expected to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of people to town hall today and says that if the township persists with its Illegal Immigration Relief Act, his group will fight back with more than rallies or lawsuits.
"For every immigrant who feels afraid and leaves Riverside, we are going to find an immigrant to volunteer to come live in Riverside," the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, said Friday.
"They will be staying at the homes of Brazilians."
And they and other Latinos will be working to obtain mortgages and purchase homes, Rivera said, with the help of at least three banks that his organization is speaking with.
"Instead of tenants, there will be owners," he said, noting that citizenship is not required to purchase property in the U.S.
"Riverside is going to be ours," he said.
Rivera's remarks, today's rally and a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Newark challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance were the result of the township committee enacting last month a measure that seeks to punish landlords who rent to or employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Township officials and residents who support the ordinance insist that it is aimed at illegality, not immigrants per se.
"Yes, we are all immigrants
...
Boy was I wrong!