I was disgusted when the federal government staged anti-immigrant raids last December, just before Christmas, rounding up undocumented workers and sending them back to their countries of origin. Since that action, there have been dozens more raids, and today’s Times illustrates the full scope of these activities.
According to the Times, “Last month, agents raided eateries nationwide such as the House of Blues and the Hard Rock Cafe, filing criminal charges against three officials of a janitorial contractor and arresting nearly 200 illegal immigrants, including 50 in Southern California.”
The government is calling their operation “Return to Sender.” There must be an Elvis fan involved! They ought to call it “Destroy Families.”
Is there a better way to handle our immigration problems? The Times offered one: “Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said that comprehensive immigration reform, not more raids, is the long-term solution.”
Salas is right. Rounding people up and separating them from their families is divisive and ruinous to these people. Many of them have American children. Is the government worried at all about them? I doubt it. A better way would be to offer green cards to folks who are working here and have stayed out of criminal trouble for the past five years. Fine them $2,000, payable in payments, which ought to help pay for this program. And make them ineligible for citizenship – forever. That too would be a way to hold them accountable for coming here illegally.
The Times article I referenced article also mentioned some good news, in that “A network of legal aid and nonprofit groups is handing out information packets, holding town hall meetings and producing a DVD to prepare illegal immigrants for future sweeps.”
“The outreach is part of a broader effort by organizations such as the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, American Immigration Lawyers Assn. and other organizations seeking reforms.”
Ironically, the Minutemen are falling apart even as the U.S. government steps up their official anti-immigrant efforts. The Times reported earlier this month that Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist is at odds with his organization. They have accused him of stealing money from them. According to the Times, “more than $400,000 of the organization’s money was unaccounted for.” The matter will be settled in court.
[They have accused him of stealing money from them. According to the Times, “more than $400,000 of the organization’s money was unaccounted for.”]
This is old trick.
It happens to all popular movements.
I recall that Mothers Against Drunk Driving “MADD” founder was ousted too.
Going back about 90 years, even Iljic Lenin, founder of Russian revolution, was ousted by Stalin.
It is the takeover group which is usually the criminal element and not the founders.
After much thought, I still don’t know if it’s ethical or legal or moral to cross into another nation to live and work. But as a tax paying citizen who is trying to be responsible for myself, I am deeply offended that my government, the media, the Mexican government, and immigrants expect me to purchase healthcare, welfare, food stamps, and infrastructure for people who just got here.
Firstly, I am responsible for me. But my government increases my taxes, squanders my social security money, and puts my country in debt. If my government couldn’t balance the budget during times of plenty, how can it do it with more uneducated people whose numbers overwhelm the public systems? Specifically, how can the United States provide free first world services to millions of people with third world skills?
Debt is as bad for California and the United States as it is for a family’s own financial situation.
Is that the smell of money in the air I detect?
Chavez,
Never mind the undocumented – how much money did our President waste by pursuing a war with Iraq that was unnecessary? We’re talking BILLIONS…
Chavez – Your remarks clearly highlight your ignorance of this country’s history on migration, as it pertains to our neighbors to the south. I’ve posted Mr. Rodriquez’s column that appeared in today’s LA Times because it provides the historical backdrop that most Americans “choose” to ignore and/or dismiss.
Chavez, you want to erase the long and tangled migration history we share with our neighbors, fortunately, history, and those who are students of history, will not allow you to dismiss America’s dishonorable relationsip with Mexican immigrant labor.
This is your history lesson for the day. Pay attention.
********
Illegal immigrants — they’re money
Bank of American is right to treat them as legitimate participants in our economy.
Gregory Rodriguez
March 4, 2007
DAN STEIN, the premier American nativist and president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is shocked, shocked. He’s mad at Bank of America for issuing credit cards to illegal immigrants. He says that to BofA “and other large corporations, illegal immigrants are a source of low-wage labor and an untapped customer market.” You bet they are, and that’s the American way.
Sure, I’m proud to be a citizen of a nation that portrays itself as a refuge for the “tired,” “the poor” and the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But let’s face it, Emma Lazarus, the poet who wrote those words, may have laid it on a bit thick. The truth, no less beautiful in its way, is a little more crass and self-serving. But it wouldn’t have sounded nearly as poetic to say, “bring us your able-bodied, poor, hardworking masses yearning for a chance to climb out of poverty, establish a credit history and
America builds a wall on the border and now requires its citizens to carry papers on them.
Sounds like eastern europe before freedom leaked in.
405 Billion and climbing
Two recent studies have shown that immigrants raise wages in the US and are five times LESS likely to end up in the prison system than the native born (males aged 18-34). The prison numbers are even better for undocumented folks… google it.
Cook says: “America builds a wall on the border and now requires its citizens to carry papers on them.
Sounds like eastern europe before freedom leaked in.”
One big difference…and I hope your left-wing wacko eyes are paying attention: The Berlin Wall was meant to keep people IN……our walls attempt to keep people OUT. Big difference. You are free to leave this country anytime you like….
Art –
You made a mistake. This opening writing on this thread was attributed to you. Surely it was Seanny’s & not yours….right Art?
Art says: “A better way would be to offer green cards to folks who are working here and have stayed out of criminal trouble for the past five years. Fine them $2,000, payable in payments, which ought to help pay for this program. And make them ineligible for citizenship – forever. That too would be a way to hold them accountable for coming here illegally.”
So now Art puts the price of the most valuable thing coveted by people on planet earth…..residency in the US…..at $2K. In installments. I guess Art does not value living in America very much.
I favor amnesty for all illegals in the US. Make ALL of them legal residents & offer the opportunity to get a drivers license. They have 90 days to apply. $20,000 fine each in installments. Must sign a waiver to never claim government assistence in any way, shape, or form…no matter what. Everybody must pass a basic English fluency test within one year. Welcome to the United States!!
After the 90 days is up….jail for two months & then deport everybody IMMEDIATELY who did not take advantage of the amnesty or who illegally crossed the border after the amnesty period. No questions asked. No “but my children live here” BS excuses. No “second chances” or exceptions. Everybody gets jailed & then shipped back. Period.
Double 20ft. wall gets built on our border with armed National Guardsmen on 24 hr patrol to help the Border Patrol.
Have Los Angeles & other “sanctuary” cities get rid of their policy of “dont ask…dont tell”. No license or resident alien card? Fingerprints not in the system? Cant prove legal residency? You are GONE!!
I agree that we need to reform our immigration process. There definitely needs to be comprehensive reform. The ABSOLUTE FIRST step of the comprehensive reform needs to be securing the border 100% with fences, cameras, & much much more manpower. Then & only then can we be serious about whatever other steps need to be taken.
“The Berlin Wall was meant to keep people IN…”
Not true! The Berlin Wall was built for purpose of keeping western subversion and smuggling of western goods out of the East.
The every wall is built to protect against the intruders.
The problem is that once you build the wall to protect yourself you will find yourself isolated by it. Communists quickly used this phenomenon for their benefit to control the population.
The Great China wall protected China against attracts but it destroyed the empire. So did Iron Curtain.
You should notice that now USA is controlling who can go to Mexico as well because of the wall in San Diego.
The wall is wrong and if implemented it will destroy USA.
The wall and illegal immigration have nothing to do with each other.
It is the California socialism and welfare which is encouraging the immigration beyond the migrate workers crossing.
Slow your roll #5.
The article you posted is nothing more than an op-ed piece. It is merely the author’s opinion, not an impartial factual analysis.
Once again, the fact that immigration across any of our borders without permission is illegal, is conveniently ignored.
Many people agree with Chavez that the government has failed us. That doesn’t mean we should all look the other way and ignore illegal acts. It more likely means that we should do a better job of holding our government accountable, and demand that they do something to remedy the problem of too many people migrating here illegally.
By the way, Pedroza misrepresents the facts again. The minutemen are not “falling apart” as he indicates. The organization is alive and well under different leadership.
What is Loretta Sanchez, the so-called Latina champion, doing to bring about comprehensive immigration reform? Thats right, she is doing nothing!
Can I still “pet the cat” after this response?
#14 –
Rodriquez’s column is an op-ed article, however that does not diminish the historical data he choose to punctuate his message.
I bet you’re among the growing number of people that claim the Holocaust did not exist.
Art Says: “A better way would be to offer green cards to folks who are working here and have stayed out of criminal trouble for the past five years. Fine them $2,000, payable in payments, which ought to help pay for this program. And make them ineligible for citizenship – forever. That too would be a way to hold them accountable for coming here illegally”
I say – Wait a minute – just because you stay here for 5 years and do not commit a crime, you should have the right to become a citizen? Firstly, that is the lamest thing I have ever heard and secondly – they broke the law coming here illegally – so it would be null & void, since they already broke the law. Thirdly, since when do people get a “prize” for not breaking the law? We are ALL supposed to not break the law! I have lived 38 years here (since my birth) What “prize” do I get for never breaking the law?
#2/Chavez ..
Please define “my government.” Is your government different than mine? And how do you view the three most important words of the Constitution … We the People?
You’re careless when it comes to hurling words — you may want to be more careful. Write what you intend to convey.
Is this what our forefathers intended? My government??