He’s out to make sanctuary cities pay – and he only needs 62signatures to get startedJoseph Turner has figured out a way to take out the two
things he seems to hate above all else – sanctuary cities and taxes – in one
fell swoop, no looking back. And though he’s selling his idea as a tax relief effort for
the low-income residents of the various cities he’s getting ready to target, he
is happy to tell you that it’s really all about punishing them for protecting
their undocumented immigrants.
FAIL! Turner is punishing the city and its corrupt leadership, not the residents.
“Sanctuary cities by definition allow lawlessness to take
place,” said Turner, founder and executive director of the nationalist American
Children First, which invites all those who agree with its masthead of
unapologetic “American exceptionalism” to donate to its grass-roots campaigns.
“Our politicians are importing millions of illegal aliens and refugees – many
of whom do not share our American values and ethos. Many of whom come here
simply to better their own lives without a care or thought toward making America
better.”
His website features a list of goals, including ensuring
that President Donald Trump’s promises made on the issues of “illegal
immigration, border security and trade are kept.”As of May 30, this mission includes cutting the tax bases of
several small cities, starting with Cudahy, a 1.2-square-mile sliver of
southeast Los Angeles County. To that end, he’s pressing to put an initiative on the next
citywide ballot – one that would repeal the city’s utility user tax,
effectively stripping Cudahy of 13.5 percent of its yearly revenue. That’s
about $1 million.
FYI: Cudahy is essentially bankrupt, with only $500k in the bank. That is really really low, even dangerous for a city of its size. Turner plans to pursue the measure unless and until the city
changes its sanctuary status. The possibility of lost funding is not a threat,
he says, but a promise.
Finally, more people are stepping up and disciplining outlaw cities. I would like to see this initiative not only succeed, but sweep across the country!
“I feel like the community is receptive to the idea of
lowering taxes,” Turner said, referring to a March vote that struck down a
parcel tax proposal in the city and re-elected conservative Councilman Jack
Guerrero to the Cudahy City Council. “It’s a lower working class community who
is struggling to make ends meet …”
Notice that the newspaper does not report the finally voter tally. The Measure to raise the parcel tax failed 75%-25%. It was an epic blow out. Cudahy, population 24,000, is one of some 150 cities in
California that rely heavily on funds gathered by taxing the utility bills of
their residents and businesses. Its residents pay an estimated $181.77 per
household – $44.22 for single residents – each year for services that include
park development, youth and mental health programs, and fire and police
protection.
Again, the article leaves out key details, such as the city’s contract with the LA County Sheriff’s Department to ensure safety. The city cannot afford its own police forced. Let’s also mention that city employees are working 10 hours days (overtime!) and do not work on Fridays at all.
“I doubt he’ll be successful,” said city spokesman Robert
Alaniz, “but if he were, the folks who would suffer would be not only the folks
he intends to hurt – which are the people who may be here on undocumented
status – but also legal residents who live in these cities as part of a working
class community. Whether the intent is there or not, that’s who would be hurt
by a successful movement to go after utility taxes.”
“May be here”? What?! Men and women who have entered this country are in Cudahy–and they are in the city, in the country illegally. This is not a matter of suspicion or possibility. Despite the resistance he’s faced from the City Council and
local activists, Turner doesn’t think he’ll have any trouble getting the
proposal on the ballot. He only needs 62 signatures on his petition.
62 signatures, folks! That’s all Joseph needs. I have spoken to numerous residents in the city, and they are ready to sign! SANCTUARY CITIES BY DEFINITION ALLOW LAWLESSNESS TO TAKE
PLACE. American Children First founder Joseph TurnerCity leaders, however, point out that Turner is still
politically outnumbered in Cudahy, where 331 of 4,443 voters turned out for
Trump in the November election.
Someone remind me: who cares what the city leaders think? The current mayor, Chris Garcia, called men and women of all backgrounds “White supremacists” because they opposed the racist, corrupt, and lawless sanctuary city policy.
“Given the 96 percent Latino population makeup of our city
and the xenophobic agenda of Mr. Turner, I find it hard to believe that many of
our residents would support his measure,” said Christian Hernandez, vice mayor
of Cudahy. “It is ultimately designed to eliminate funding for critical city
services that protect and improve the quality of life for all our residents.”
What services? The big pensions and benefits for the city employees? The slush fund for Corrupt Chris Garcia and his fellow cronies in crime? Turner’s proposal comes after months of warnings from Trump
and U. S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has sent notices to prominent
cities insisting they let their local police officers cooperate with federal
law enforcement and U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or lose
crucial federal law enforcement funding. Cut the funding, Jeff! Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department
of Justice will stop awarding grants to sanctuary cities during a White House
press briefing. “Unfortunately some states and cities have adopted
policies designed to frustrate the enforcement of immigration laws,”
Sessions said. “These policies violate federal law,” he said. In 2015, Cudahy joined a protracting list of municipalities
around the country that called themselves “sanctuary cities,” places where
local law enforcement could refuse to comply in the deportation of undocumented
residents. During Trump’s first 100 days and following his initial executive
orders on immigration enforcement, the agency says it made 37.6 percent more
immigration-related arrests nationally than over the same period in 2016.
“Could refuse”? No, they have to refuse, according to the direction of the city council which enacts the policy. In response to the crackdown, a bill that would restrict
state and local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE and federal
law enforcement is now moving through the California Legislature, championed by
Sen. President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood,
who represents Cudahy and its surrounding cities.
Let’s see how long this legislative kabuki theater lasts … Opponents of the measure, such as Sen. Jeff Stone,
R-Temecula, have the same concerns as members of Turner’s camp – that Senate
Bill 54 “is designed to make California a sanctuary for certain dangerous
criminals,” and that the loss in federal funding might be too great a risk. It will be too great a risk, Senator! It is already endangering this state!
But Hernandez, Cudahy’s vice mayor, calls pressures from the
Trump administration and initiatives like Turner’s “nothing more than a
desperate attempt to hurt people who don’t look like him or follow his mantra
of prejudice and hate … It’s misguided, misdirected, and it’s based on hate.”
Wow! Still playing the race card, there, Cristian? Really? Boring! Still, Turner thinks he could succeed in a community like
Cudahy, where voter turnout and community political involvement is low. The
number of signatures he needs – 62 – is so low because the number is set at 5
percent of the voters who turned out in the last gubernatorial election. In
Cudahy, only 1,238 people cast votes in November 2014.
62 signatures! That’s all that is needed. He’s also encouraged by the addition to the City Council of
a conservative like Guerrero – who has drawn activists against illegal
immigration to the meetings – and a community distrust of a government that has
been marked by corruption in the past. In 2013, a former mayor, city councilman
and city manager were convicted for taking bribes.
FAIL! “Who has drawn activists against illegal immigration to the meetings” — that is not true. I cannot recall any time when I or anyone else had received call or warning or invitation from anyone in Cudahy to come to the meetings.
The first meeting I attended in Cudahy was January 11, 2016. I had been targeting the city because it was a sanctuary city, and the mayor who had initiated that sanctuary city policy–again, Corrupt Cudahy Chris Garcia– had gone to great lengths to play it up for the media. That was all that was needed to goad me and others in We the People Rising to go after the city council.”I’m sure they’d rather have more money in their pockets
than going to a government that is corrupt, where you’ve had elected officials
incarcerated …,” Turner said.
YES, especially with the cost of everything skyrocketing in the state of California. All of those factors inspired Turner to target Cudahy first,
and inspires some fear over the future of the city in its activists and council
members.
It’s a small city, so easy to collect the needed signatures and take away their funding. Alan Garcia, community activist and 30-year Cudahy resident,
campaigned hard against Guerrero’s re-election and has publicly spoken out
against Trump.
This guy is a laugh riot! Now he wants to seem professional:
He has had a few run-ins with law enforcement, too:
Check out his unprofessional conduct toward We the People Rising in February, 2016:
Check out how out of control he was following the April 2017 swearing-in ceremony:
It’s crystal clear about his hatred of Councilman Jack Guerrero:
“It was disturbing to me that (Guerrero) got re-elected,” he
said, “and now I’m looking at this initiative and it’s difficult to say whether
it has any legs or not because of how confused some of the residents seem to be
about what’s going on. When it appears that somebody is going to try to save
money in their pockets, of course they’re going to want to sign up for that.”
Turner’s plan is brilliant. Save money for residents, and defund outlaw cities. Guerrero also appeals to the larger Spanish-speaking
population of Cudahy, some of whom Alaniz suspects do not understand the aims
of the groups like Turner’s. Yet they’ve banded together to argue that
corruption still afflicts the city and to support Turner’s initiative.
It doesn’t matter what people say to the residents, the hard-working taxpayers who are getting tired of the financial costs.
“I don’t know that many of those individuals who are Jack
Guerrero’s supporters would support a retraction of the sanctuary status of the
cities,” Alaniz said. “I’ve never heard any of those individuals come up and
address the city’s status, but what I do hear is, ‘You guys are corrupt.’ He’s
trying to link corruption with the sanctuary cities status and somehow allege
that our council members must be corrupt because they’re protecting illegal
immigrants.”
The city is corrupt, the city council is pay-for-play. They don’t deserve one dime.
Guerrero, who abstained from the 2015 decision to label
Cudahy a sanctuary city, has not come out in support or in opposition of
Turner’s initiative, but said he regrets the city’s move: “It was like we put a
banner in Cudahy that said ‘historically corrupt and home of undocumented
immigrants.’ “
Who cares whether Guerrero suppports the initiative or not? I AM, AS A RESIDENT, GOING TO FIGHT FOR THIS INITIATIVE NOT
TO PASS. IT HAS CRUEL INTENTIONS. Cudahy businessman Edin “Americans are Wetbacks” EnamoradoEdin Enamorado, a local businessman, says he’s experienced
the waves of change that have hit Cudahy over his 27 years as a resident. He
says taxes are now going where they need to go and he vows to fight Turner’s
initiative to the end.
I had confronted him about this hateful rhetoric, but he ran away:
His latest outrage?
Edin compared the crimes of illegal aliens with the plight of black slaves, while justifying the denial of First Amendment rights to American citizens:
And what changes is Edin talking about in the city of Cudahy? Any changes that have occurred, have turned the city from bad to worse.
Oh and this is how he behaves in public:Violent Edin
So, what’s going on here? Why do the press agents reach out to these two individuals?
They want to play up the immigrant rights, Millennial activism that is supposedly permeating Cudahy.
Not true. For all their pretensions to being progressive, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has developed a strong strain for establishment-linked cronyism.
I would further submit that these two individuals want to run for Cudahy City council–and as a slate.
Oh brother–how selfish can one get?!
“The city’s making progress,” Enamorado said. “We’re getting
brand new street signs, repaved roads. We have a beautiful park and we’ve had
one of the safest years in our history. I don’t see Turner and his people
giving up, but I am, as a resident, going to fight for this initiative not to
pass. It has cruel intentions.”
Yawn. What a crock. The streets are not getting better, in fact, and whatever improvements have emerged, have all come from the federal funding which Sessions plans on cutting very soon. Turner won’t be giving up any time soon, either. On Monday,
he filed his next initiative to cut funding from Huntington Park, a city that
never declared itself a sanctuary city but has appointed two people without
legal status to its city commission – a much greater offense to Turner.
Repealing the utility user tax there would reduce the city’s general revenue
fund by 23 percent, or by $6.25 million each year.
Huntington Park is a de facto sanctuary city, refusing to comply with our nation’s federal immigration laws, and brazenly defying the meaning and spirit of citizenship. All he needs is 106 signatures to get it on their next
citywide ballot.
Here’s the entire video of Joseph Turner filing the paperwork with two Huntington Park residents to repeal the city’s utility user’s tax:Final Reflection
I thank God for Turner and his incredible, creative initiative proposals.
This is what was needed. We needed to go after the funding in this very powerful way.
Other initiatives are available, too, which would ensure that outlaw cities like Cudahy, Huntington Park, and other cities within the activists’ reach will think twice before defying federal law and undermining our country’s culture and national sovereignty.