Town bars foreign flags in swipe at immigrants http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarti...TRUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION-FLAGS.xml&src=rss PHOENIX (Reuters) - A Nevada town passed a law this week making it illegal to fly a foreign nation's flag by itself, the latest swipe by a U.S. community at illegal immigrants. The town council of Pahrump, which lies in the Mojave Desert west of Las Vegas, voted 3-2 on Tuesday to make flying any foreign flag above the U.S. flag or alone an offense punishable by a $50 fine and 30 hours' community service. The meeting also pushed through measures to deny services to illegal immigrants and make English the official language in Pahrump, a commuter town of 40,000 residents some 60 miles (97 km) west of Las Vegas. Supporters said they passed the measure to hit back at Hispanic demonstrators who carried Mexican flags when they marched in U.S. cities earlier this year to press for rights for 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows. "All of the illegal alien protesters are waving Mexican flags, and we just got tired of it," town board clerk Paul Willis told Reuters in a telephone interview. "This is the United States, and the Stars and Stripes should fly supreme," he added. Hispanic groups slammed the flag ordinance as a blow to first-amendment rights to free speech but thought it unlikely that the community would enforce it. "It is clearly unconstitutional, but given that Pahrump that is such a small town, I don't think they are going to be hiring any flag police any time soon." said John Trasvina, the president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In passing the bylaw, the town joined several other communities from California to Pennsylvania that have passed laws curbing illegal immigrants in recent months. Among them are Escondido, in southern California, and Hazleton in Pennsylvania, where councilors barred landlords from renting to undocumented aliens and denied them access to services. In Texas, which has a large Hispanic population, the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch this week enacted laws fining landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and making English the official language, media reported.
while they're at it, why not destroy or demolish any structure which is built with an illegal immigrants' hands..
This is just really sad. There is not much more i can say about it. There are ust unbelievable stupid and ignorant people in the world.
actually, that is a law iirc If you have multiple flags flying, the Amercian flag should be highest of all. I think the law applies only on US Gov properties, but most folks take it as law everywhere. It isnt that they can't fly it...it is that it must not be higher than the US flag.
O RLY? Which part? the bit about not flying foreign flags as high or higher than the US flag? (didnt say you cant fly them, just not higher) the bit about making English the official language? (doesnt say you cant speak other languages, just that English is the official language used on government forms...which is all it means) the bit about denying services to non-citizens? (got no problem with that, I can barely pay for my own families services, why should I help fund someoine who isnt even here legally?) remember....to be unconstitutional, it needs to adversly affect people who enjoy the protections of our Constitution (generally speaking...American citizens)
And they can't fly it by itself. By the way, the "Flag Code" is not law. And the part about the Texas flag being able to fly at the same height as the U.S. flag is a myth.
eeehh...code...law...I did say I wasnt sure about the specifics of it...right? and afa the Texas flag thing...thats what I had always heard, never bothered to look into the validity.....it just seemed soo......right. Its a much more deservng myth than the one that says Bonzi isnt playing due to the coach hating him.
Well, let the flames begin. As an American of Hispanic heritage, I applaud the Pahrumpians. If a person wants to celebrate another country's flag and show their patriotism for that flag and nation, fine ... as long as they do it in that other country -- not here. Other threads decry our inability to provide first rate education and national medical care, and rightly so. However, we cannot do this while carrying the burden of 10 to 30 MILLION illegals. Continuing unchecked illegal immigration is a threat to our sovereignty.
thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. As a Chinese-American born in China, I also feel that it's important to recognize and be loyal to the place that you are calling home. I don't see how this is unconstitutional or whatever. If someone has a good argument and can provide it without sarcasm or the usual condescending bravado, I'd really like to hear it.
My opinion on it, though, is that we might well have more money to pay for essential services if we didn't keep passing laws like this that end up requiring municipalities to spend a not-insigificant amount of money defending them in court only to, very often, lose. Especially given how laws like this one specifically don't seem to offer anything in the way of solution to the problems reportedly caused by illegal aliens. I hope you continue to be as open-minded when legal Hispanics figure out there are more of them than anybody else and start running for election, winning and passing "Spanish-only" laws in towns all over Texas.
Well, we have a litany of case law that says that speech includes things beyond speech. If a black armband is protected speech, then a flag very likely is, as well. To win in court, I would assume the city who passed this law would have to prove that their reasons for infringing people's right to this particular form of speech (and flying a flag is very likely to be considered "speech" based on previous court cases) outweighs the rights of people to enjoy their first amendment right. I personally think it's going to be an uphill battle to get the courts to agree that "we just got tired of it" is enough to trump the First Amendment.
wouldnt raising another flag alone without the American flag be close to declaring loyalty to another country? It's been a while since I took my citizenship vows but I distinctly remember there being a line or two about loyalty to the USA. "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen"
I would venture to bet that the courts will not agree, just based on previous decisions regarding in other free speech cases. I mean, one could argue that burning an American flag is violating a loyalty oath, but flag burning has been found to be legal. ETA: Also, I'm not entirely sure, despite the language in the oath, that being loyal to another country is against the law. The vast majority of us who live in the U.S. don't take any oath, either, but would still be subject to the flag law.
