Immigration Sweep Fears Spark Cancellation of Virginia Cinco de Mayo Festival

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

Immigration Sweep Fears Spark Cancellation of Virginia Cinco de Mayo Festival

COLONIAL BEACH, Va. — Fearful of a federal sweep of illegal immigrants, organizers canceled a Cinco de Mayo festival scheduled for Sunday.

An organizer said she called off the traditional May 5 celebration of Hispanic pride after she said she received a phone call from the Fairfax office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"I don't want to be responsible for one single parent to be taken from their home, whether they're illegal or not," said Maria Roe, who launched the festival three years ago.

Roe, who writes a Spanish-language column for a local weekly newspaper, said she asked the caller why she was interested in the festival and didn't get an answer.

"What does that make you think?" Roe told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an interview published Friday.

Gloria Williams-Brevard, an Immigration Services community relations officer, said the call was simply intended to find out more about the festival and its location. She had an interest in attending the festival to offer information on how her office can help immigrants with visa applications, citizenship requests and other support.

"We're not the enforcement component" of immigration, she said. "If nothing else, it sounds like there is an opportunity for outreach there."

Roe said she communicated her concerns to the Colonial Beach Foundation, which was organizing the event. This year's celebration was to feature Hispanic pop bands, vendors and a parade. It had been renamed the Hispanic-American Festival of May.

"It's been gaining in popularity the last two years," said Peter Fahrney, foundation president.

Roe's fears of an immigration crackdown "rattled a lot of people in the area," Fahrney said.

"There was anxiety in the Hispanic community that they were going to be hassled or singled out in some way" at the festival, he said.

Workers from Mexico and Central America are becoming an increasingly important part of the economy in this tourist community on the Potomac River and in the rest of the Northern Neck. About 950 migrant workers are employed by the region's farms, nurseries, lumber mills and seafood processing houses, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Fahrney said he hopes the foundation will hold its Hispanic-American festival next spring.

"It serves to integrate a nonparticipatory minority into the mainstream culture of our small community," he said. "We'll have to see how it pans out next year."

[hmm1 0]

Immigration Sweep Fears Spark Cancellation of Virginia Cinco de Mayo Festival

COLONIAL BEACH, Va. — Fearful of a federal sweep of illegal immigrants, organizers canceled a Cinco de Mayo festival scheduled for Sunday.

An organizer said she called off the traditional May 5 celebration of Hispanic pride after she said she received a phone call from the Fairfax office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"I don't want to be responsible for one single parent to be taken from their home, whether they're illegal or not," said Maria Roe, who launched the festival three years ago.

Roe, who writes a Spanish-language column for a local weekly newspaper, said she asked the caller why she was interested in the festival and didn't get an answer.

"What does that make you think?" Roe told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an interview published Friday.

Gloria Williams-Brevard, an Immigration Services community relations officer, said the call was simply intended to find out more about the festival and its location. She had an interest in attending the festival to offer information on how her office can help immigrants with visa applications, citizenship requests and other support.

"We're not the enforcement component" of immigration, she said. "If nothing else, it sounds like there is an opportunity for outreach there."

Roe said she communicated her concerns to the Colonial Beach Foundation, which was organizing the event. This year's celebration was to feature Hispanic pop bands, vendors and a parade. It had been renamed the Hispanic-American Festival of May.

"It's been gaining in popularity the last two years," said Peter Fahrney, foundation president.

Roe's fears of an immigration crackdown "rattled a lot of people in the area," Fahrney said.

"There was anxiety in the Hispanic community that they were going to be hassled or singled out in some way" at the festival, he said.

Workers from Mexico and Central America are becoming an increasingly important part of the economy in this tourist community on the Potomac River and in the rest of the Northern Neck. About 950 migrant workers are employed by the region's farms, nurseries, lumber mills and seafood processing houses, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Fahrney said he hopes the foundation will hold its Hispanic-American festival next spring.

"It serves to integrate a nonparticipatory minority into the mainstream culture of our small community," he said. "We'll have to see how it pans out next year."

Ok...sucks for them, however if they are legal, they have nothing to worry about.

[Fandango 1,439]

If they're illegal, they should be living with some sort of fear of being deported.....

[Jasman0717 9]

If they're illegal, they should be living with some sort of fear of being deported.....

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yeah, cancel the Cinco de Mayo festival. That'll teach us...

Sunday is the 6th of May, anyway.

[Caladan 19]

Gringos can't count.

[Jasman0717 9]

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!

[Fandango 1,439]

Gringos can't count.

only gringos use the word 'gringoes'...it's 'gabachos'

[Caladan 19]

Hey, I never claimed to be Hispanic. Gringos it is!

[Fandango 1,439]

Hey, I never claimed to be Hispanic. Gringos it is!

lawlz

[eric&gen 0]

All well too bad lol.

[athena_ny 1]

Gringos can't count.

only gringos use the word 'gringoes'...it's 'gabachos'

Yeah except my husband always calls me gringa. Let's remember that each country has it's own slang.

[almaty 19]

man., i was ready for the 5th of may too...

[isleta521 5]

Gringos can't count.

only gringos use the word 'gringoes'...it's 'gabachos'

Yeah except my husband always calls me gringa. Let's remember that each country has it's own slang.

I'm Mexican American and they call me a gringo in Brazil - I found that strange but even people from other SA countries are called Gringos if your not from Brazil.

[Alex+R 0]

Gringos can't count.

only gringos use the word 'gringoes'...it's 'gabachos'

Yeah except my husband always calls me gringa. Let's remember that each country has it's own slang.

Mine too. It's weird to think of "gringa" as a pet name, huh?