Back in November '07, two-time Irving school board candidate Manuel Benavidez sued that city, claiming its at-large voting method violated the Voting Rights Act. Today, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis, in Dallas federal court, issued a judgment in which he said, in short, Yup, it sure does. The order, in which Solis says the city can't hold further elections till it gets its house in order, is below. Says Bickel & Brewer's co-founder and Benavidez's attorney William Brewer III in a press release just sent to Unfair Park, "This victory gives the Latino community in Irving a voice in the political process and the opportunity for representation. We hope this result effects a positive contribution to the way in which certain municipalities approach a changing world."
Boot all the illegal immigrants out of Irving, no matter what country they come from. It is against the law folks to enter a country ILLEGALLY.
the greatest invasion of a nation the world has ever seen....without even firing a single shot.....
Manny, you are nothing but a trouble maker.
This is nothing short of political grandstanding, and judge Solis is obviously biased. Single districts are stupid in this town, and they notoriously tend to not get anything in city halls done. Just look how city of Dallas council is always on the verge of blowing up. It wont matter anyway because I virtually never see latino at the Irving polls, so you still wont get elected...Manny.
AND, 287G is the best thing to happen in Irving in 20 years!! I will continue to do what I can to get illegal aliens out of our community. Latinos are the worst neighbors in the world!! Loud, uncivil, trashy...I could go on. Its not racist its culturalism.
You latinos dont want to be Americans. You want to be Latino who live in America. We will fight against you!!
Thank you Manny Benavides for having the courage to stand up and do the right thing.
Thanks to Bickel Brewer for defending our community not once but twice and both times successful.
Thanks to the thousands who marched in Irving against a system that does not allow us to have a voice.
Judge Solis changed that.
Dear Friend and Believer in Christ,
Recently US District Court Judge Jorge Solis ruled that the City of Irving violated the Voting Rights of Latinos in that City. For almost 17 months we have fought a very public fight saying the same things.
We have seen more than 5,000 people deported, a significant number of them for minor traffic offenses, families have been separated. We have experienced racial profiling at its worst, police harassment complaints have skyrocketed. We have witnessed forced evictions of Hispanic residents, simply because a developer, who has received over 46 million dollars from the City of Irving, wants to build expensive homes that will move out low and moderate income residents. We have seen on TV and in the blogs the racial hate that has been projected against our community.
Hispanics constitute almost 43% of the population and more than 70% of students enrolled in its schools, unfortunately Irving does not one single Hispanic on the City Council or School Board.
The decision by Judge Solis calls for Single Member Districts, where it will be one person, one vote, as Democracy should be. Mayor Herb Gears and others now want to appeal that decision that could prevent Democracy from taking place and denying that Hispanics will have a voice and a place at the table. That discussion to appeal Judge Jorge Solis's decision will take place this Wednesday at 5:00pm, we should be there to make sure that this time they respect the law, we urge you to attend.
Please say a prayer, convince a friend to join you, join us in making our presence known. Send this letter to 20 of your friends and see that our dreams will come through and those we will be blessed and we will have a voice.
If you do not send this letter for the next ten years we will not have a voice on the Irving City Council or its School Board.
Pass it on, God Bless you. Don't Break the Chain, Spread The Word.
Not to worry Jeff W, religion of bacon, Iving Chicanos have won the grand prize and are now taking the first steps in taking over Irving. We will soon have single member city and school districts. With the help of our county early vote and mail ballot process and all those legal and as you call it, illegal Hispanics; we will soon have so many Irving Chicanos voting in both of those elections it won�t take long to have a majority vote on both the city and school boards. Carlos Quintanilla and Manny Benavidez are our heroes; they have helped liberate us Irving Chicanos from the racism that has existed in Irving for too many years. You my friends will likely do what many of your friends have already started to do and who will do over the next few years. What is that Jeff W, religion of bacon? Well, of course, put up your house for sale, sell it for less than you would want to because nobody but Chicanos will buy it anyway. And there you have it, another Chicano will moves to Irving and help make the take over of Irving even that quicker than expected. Or Jeff W, religion of bacon, you could just stay in Irving and allow for your kids and grandkids to get to know Chicanos a little better? Maybe in a few years you may even have a few Chicano grandkids that will call you Grandpa or Welo depending on what side of the family you're visiting that day. So, sit back Dave and Irving Resident, enjoy the ride because we're taking over one step at a time my friends. Thank you Manny Benavidez, I'm sure your Freemason & Scottish-Rite Mason brothers at your local Iving Blue Lodge will soon have a big celebration for you to honor you as the great liberator who fronted out all those Irving racist citizens who do not like you.
Carlos is our Hispanic Superman. Have you ever heard of Batman and Robin? Well, Carlos is our Hispanic Batman and Manny Benavidez is our older fat version of our Hispanic Robin. Don't mess with our heroes!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Hispanic Leaders Call For Celebration Rally at Irving City Hall
Hispanic business, community and religious leaders will convene today and are calling for a large presence at Irving City Hall on Wednesday July 22 at 5pm to celebrate the recent federal court ruling in favor of Manuel Benavides that charged the City of Irving with violating the voting rights of Latinos in that city.
The rally to be held on Wednesday July 22 at 5pm will invite residents from apartment buildings that have been demolished and who were evicted without cause, family members of the more than 5,000 persons deported, individuals who have been racially profiled, students who have no elected Hispanic voice on the school board and businesses who have no say on the Irving City Council. Mr Benavides will also be present and celebrated for his courage and commitment to Irving.
Rally participants will be encourage to voice strong and organized opposition to any attempts to appeal District Judge Jorge Solis decision.
A planning meeting is scheduled for today at 4pm at El Rancho Restaurant located at 1210 W. Irving Blvd to plan Wednesday 5pm Rally.
Contact Carlos Quintanilla @ Accion America Tels: 214-524-1011- 214-524-1741- Fax:214-484-6323
I read all the time that the single most consistent voting group is little old ladies, yet I hardly ever see any little old ladies on city councils and whatnot.
I think there's something up with that.
Lil Mike, I know he's on my side. The post was directed to the folks that don't want the single member districts.
Big Mike, don't get your panties all wet. I think Manny is the guy who brought you the lawsuit. He is on your side. Spells like shit but then again, that is another story.
Manny,
That was a great line:
"You come to Texas and you find Mexicans who'd thunk it??!!"
What is wrong with having single member districts? We have a representative demorcracy, if you are a registered voter, you should be able to elect someone from your neighborhood to represent you on the City Council. According to the 2000 census, there were 190,000 people living in Irving. You would think that they could create single member districts with that population.
Traveling man Manny? If so, you must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Guess our next U.S. Senator Bill White got it wrong, right? I think not.
olle vico
"Irving's participation in the 287(g) program will be in place for many years to come"
i dont know about that, it is under review from DHS after a sherif in TN. was deporting people for fishing without a license. Justin Epker Lost to a latina woman. i wonder where irving would be if they lost 40-50% of their tax base.
i am not willing to give up my freedom to privacy by having to 'proof' my status to every one with a badge. i hope that wise latinos will not do business or shop in places like irving, farmer branch or Carrollton until the fear mongers are voted out.
You come to Texas and you find Mexicans who'd thunk it??!!
Domingo, according to 2007 American Community Survey estimates, Hispanics make up 40.6 percent of Irving's population. However, 60 percent of Irving Hispanics who are old enough to vote are not citizens and therefore cannot vote. On the other hand, Irving's mayor and eight council members are all white even though whites make up only about 35.6 percent of the city's population. Look what Oak Cliff council candidate Justin Epker almost accomplished with an even lower white Oak Cliff council district? Make no mistake about it, with that 60 percent non-citizen reality, Irving's participation in the 287(g) program will be in place for many years to come. Kudos to Houston mayor Bill White and candidate for U.S. Senate for his recent request on behalf of his city to participate in the same 287g program the city of Irving participates in where designated law enforcement staff are trained to enforce certain federal immigration laws.
60% of Hispanics in Irving are citizens of other countries. They deserve to have their demands satisified!
Thank you Mr Brewer!
The motivation behind this lawsuit was pretty transparent. Some (not all) Hispanics in Irving are angry because the city participates in the 287(g) program. As a result, Irving has gotten a reputation as a city that is unfriendly to illegal immigrants. Make no mistake about it, "a voice [for Hispanics] in the political process" first and foremost means stopping all law enforcement efforts relating to illegal immigration.
Heh, a lawyer friend in Irving who just emailed me in response to this story included her opinion of Bickel & Brewer, basically an unprintable string of epithets including animal references...
Farmers Branch will become the bullseye, again, with someone filing a lawsuit there. The beat goes on........
so will the official name be changed finally to Las Colinas?
and if you think the real estate market is bad now, just watch it tank even further in Irving
Single member districts make more sense for a city of the geographic size of Dallas. For a city like Irving, it makes NO sense, at all.
ignoreLander, if I didn't know better I'd think you were questioning the judgement of a wise Latino.
Manuel Benavidez sued? And Jorge Solis ruled in his favor? Shocked, I am!
Expect Irving's current efforts at code enforcement to be declared "racist" by the next City Council, and Irving's participation in 287(g) to come to a grinding halt.
I'm thrilled. Single member districts have worked so well for Dallas...
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