Citizen Alert!

A package of resolutions in support of illegal immigration is being considered by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in the Ways and Means Committee. These resolutions were to be introduced "from the floor" at the April 19 Ways and Means Committee meeting. One of the resolutions is for a $150,000 appropriation from the General Fund for "immigrant" services. Several right minded folks showed up for the public comment portion of the meeting to express their dissatisfaction with these proposals on various grounds including:

The County Commission should not be involving itself in US Immigration policy. 
It is not helpful to solve illegal immigration by supporting policies that will lead to MORE illegal immigration to Washtenaw County. 
Our taxpayer dollars should not be used to provide legal help to persons who are illegally in the County. 
These policies are an affront to those persons who followed the legal immigration system and are here legally.

There were some from the political left that spoke in favor of the resolutions. 

For the Commission's part, they defended their Govt. authority to help the residents of Washtenaw County. The Commission did acknowledge that the issue is divisive and delayed action on the resolution package until May 3rd at the next Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Comments were made thanking people for working on this package for "two months". It is interesting that after two months of work the proposals were introduced from the floor with no prior public notice or placement on an agenda.

Copies of the resolutions should be available online at www.ewashtenaw.org but are not up yet and are stated to be "distributed prior to meeting". Is the Commission avoiding notifying the public of what they are doing? 

Now for action -

Feel free to share this email with those who have an interest in this outcome. We may not stop it, but we may have a fighting chance to stop the appropriation of funds if enough people show up to speak against the resolution(s) at the next meeting.

May 3, 2017 6:30pm (be early, the room will be packed) at 220 N. Main, Ann Arbor. The County Administration building.

You will have about 3 minutes each to speak, so make your feelings known direct and to the point in a respectful but sincere way. Even simply standing and saying "My name is x, I am a resident of Washtenaw County and I oppose these immigration resolutions" will be meaningful.

You can speak to any of the resolutions, but I recommend we focus in on the use of tax payer dollars to expand services for illegal immigrants. Despite the liberal terminology, there is nothing in the language that forbids use of the money for illegal immigrants.

You can be assured that now that this is public, there will be a large contingent of open borders people there to speak in favor of the action.

Let's break the liberal gov't. echo chamber and make sure the Commission knows how you feel.

You can also call in advance to your Commissioner. Again, you can go to www.ewashtenaw.org and click the Board of Commissioners link to get their phone numbers. They need to hear your opinion!

William Gordon
Vice Chair- Washtenaw GOP