Illegal Immigrants: Should They Have Rights?
It’s time to revisit the illegal immigration subject. In Texas, the state legislature is considering several new bills to counter the effects of illegal immigration in a state with porous borders and little help from the federal government. The most controversial bill to date is House Bill 28 which would deny state services to U.S. born children of illegal immigrants. The author of the bill realizes how it will challenge the 14th Amendment that provides birthright citizenship. But he is hoping that it will become a test for the U.S. Supreme Court to interpret illegal immigrants rights. My question is, since when did people who break the law and enter the country illegally deserve the same rights as those of us who are legal American citizens?
It’s not only the question of citizenship and all the rights and benefits that accrue, such as education from K-12, social services and health services, but it also entails “in-state” tuition fees. In other words, illegal aliens pay the same reduced tuition as an American citizen with established residency in the state. In 2001, California and Texas were the first states to enact legislation allowing in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. New York and Utah followed suit in 2002. In 2003 and 2004, Washington, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kansas enacted similar legislation.
What is peculiar about these in-state tuition laws is that they are in direct violation of a federal law prohibiting it. Federal law (Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623) states:
“an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”
These state laws opposing the federal law were instituted due to a concern for the cost of not educating the illegal immigrant population by not helping illegals attend college. With more than 1.4 million illegal immigrants in Texas, they argued that it results in much greater costs to the state and contributes to an uneducated workforce. This is the same argument used for offering education to illegal immigrants’ children from kindergarten through 12th grade. What is disconcerting to me is that we are always on the back end of this issue tying to fix an already aggravated condition of not enforcing laws. My question is, where are the consequences to law breakers? Are we going to continue to allow those who break the law to enjoy more and more rights and not impose any kind of penalty because it is financially expedient?
With the outcry of some American citizens regarding the unfairness and impact of these laws, states are beginning to reconsider whether these laws are in the best interest of the state and its citizens. In this area, Texas is looking at this whole issue anew. They are considering many new bills that address the problems imposed by illegal immigration. Some of the bills that will be introduced would tax money transfers to Mexico and Latin America, repeal a state law allowing in-state tuition, enable local law enforcement to enforce civil immigration laws, require lawful presence for state licenses and the bill that would deny citizenship to illegal immigrants children.
With state budget cuts and overwhelming numbers of the influx of illegal immigration, some legislators are concerned that allowing these rights to illegal immigrants will take away opportunities from U.S. citizens and “legal” immigrants. But what I am more concerned with as far as illegal immigration is concerned is, that we have laws — either we enforce them or we don’t. But if we say we are a nation governed by laws, then there should be consequences for breaking them. If we don’t reverse this trend of looking the other way and actually encouraging more illegal immigration, then we will continue to see problems with over population, the continued drain on social, health and education services and the real drain on our precious natural resources. I am all for legal immigration but the illegal component must be stopped.
Other resources for information on immigration:
VIDEO — Are Immigrants Ruining Our Future?
America: Pro-Immigration? Then Pro-Oil Dependence!
When I get pulled over by the police I tell them, just because I don’t have a driver’s license or insurance or registration, doesn’t mean I’m a criminal, I’m just an “undocumented driver”. Sometimes I like to steal things. If someone calls me a thief, I tell them I’m really just an “undocumented owner”. If I rape you will you take pity on me, since I’m just an “undocumented lover”? Kidnap a child? I’m not a kidnapper, I’m an “undocumented guardian”.
Now, you got me on this one! At first I thought you were trying to make a point about illegal immigrants not being criminals. Then after a couple of more lines, I figured out what your message was. Very funny, and cleverly explained. Thanks Beansworth.
I can not beleive the U.S. citizens who are for illegal immigration. The very title itself, “Illegal immigration” has the word ILLEGAL in it. How is this felony different from any other such as murder or rape or anything else. Not only are we letting these damn illegals stay in our country, but now we want to pay for their education and houseing? this is absurd!! THe issue is that too many AMericans are afraid of what people will think if they say they are against people coming into our country illegally. This issue has to be stopped and its a disgrace that it is an issue in the first place.
I am at a complete loss. I need more information. Can one enter, say Denmark or Germany or Russia illegally? How do other countries handle a situation like ours. Or are we alone caught in our own stupidity?
okay .. first of all .. going against the 14th amendment is wrong because the children are born here just like how you were. YOU ALL are SOOOO lucky to be born in the united states .. but what if you were’nt so lucky, what if you were born in mexico where your life was threatened every day …. so the only way you can servive and have a chance for a better life was to move into another country. these people arent bad people! they just want to have something to eat every nuight for dinner and the ONLY reason why they are illegal is because we make it so hard to come here legally? so wouldnt you rather make citizenship more easy so when people cmoe here they WONT be undocumented? duh … you people are so stupid I am ashamed to live in this country so selfish
these people would give anything just to own something … who wants to own things illegaly? no one you feel like a complete failure inside. yes of course punish people who do crimes but what about the good people who just want to be a citizen and pay taxes and help the community what about those people?? nooo send them back because they dont belong here .. no thats messed up what kind of humans do that .. everyone in this country has origins from another country its not there fualt they were born in a not so stable country and they do axactly what your ansestors have done … ugh i cant stand it i might loose my bf who i love over this .. and he just wants to be a normal person but none of you let him be!!!! sick ..
Hey Cass, first of all, please calm down. This will solve nothing if we continue to think with emotions instead of logic. I will say it one more time… IT IS NOT IMMIGRANT PROBLEM, IT IS A NUMBERS PROBLEM. I have nothing against Mexicans or illegal aliens personally. What I do have a problem with is how our country is going to become overpopulated, and we will not be able to support the people in this country. We will bankrupt our country of its resources… then what?
Mexico being a third world country is not an American problem, it is a Mexico problem. If you want help, go to the Mexican government, or ask America to help out Mexicans in their own country.
With over 2 million people legally coming into this country and then 1 million or more coming illegally, that is too many people. We do not have the infrastructure to support these people plus the natural resources will be exhausted.
Please read the following articles. Then you may understand what we are meaning when we say that immigration will ruin this country…
VIDEO — Are Immigrants Ruining Our Future?
America: Pro-Immigration? Then Pro-Oil Dependence!
For God sak, read these articles, then come back and we can discuss the real issue with immigration. If you do not read these articles then I can’t help you. We need to educate ourselves outside of just basic emotional behavior. Running a country is not able being nice or letting stuff slide because someone has it tough. It is about looking out for what is best for the American nation, and its people. We cannot and should not ever help anyone at the expense of our own.
I appreciate your comment and hope that we can continue this dialogue, but first, please gather all the information to this issue before we move forward. Thank you and have a great Easter Holiday.
It is incredible reading comments that are completly Hypocritical. Everyone! Please listen. Your emotions bring out anger on this issue. What happens than, the reality of the immigration issue becomes clouded. I say this only, because I am a “realist”. I will bet any of you, that you are sitting in a house that was built by immigrants, or have lawns that were installed or maintained by and immigrant, or eat at resturants where the Cooks, dish clean-up are there serving you hand and foot. Think of the affordability of the meal, house, car wash what they would be without an immigrant force. Stop the Hypocrisy!
Immigrants is what made this Country the most powerful country on the planet. Folks get REAL! We need a comprehensive immigration plan to yes give everyone rights in this beatiful country of ours. USA.
Hey Ron, I appreciate you comments, but are you sure that is the logical response to the 2 million legal immigrants and the 1 million illegal immigrants? You talk about getting real, but are you sure you are educated in this field of political policy? What you mention as good things that illegal immigrants do is actually a negative thing when it comes to this nation’s economy, employment and workforce.
Yes, everything is cheaper because of them, but is that a good thing? Is that what we need — cheaper? Walmart makes everything cheaper. Does that mean they are a positive influence to this nation?
Since you were so matter of fact with your comment, I will reply in the same manner. Have you fully informed yourself on this issue? Have you done the math? If you have, you would realize that this is a real issue with this country. So far, illegal immigration has slashed wages, cut benefits, lowered the quality of employment practices, pretty much as had a complete negative effect on our nation besides cheaper crap.
Which to me, I would rather pay a couple of bucks more if it means I am helping my fellow citizens grow stronger, healthier and more wealthy. I actually cut my own lawn and I don’t shop at Walmart. Why, because I fully understand what it means to support such destructive forces. I shop at locally owned businesses and support the smaller guy.
One of the biggest problems with America is we are too concentrated on money. We are a materialistic, shopping crazed nation, and that is why cheaper has become so valuable today. Is it so important to have cheap things, even if it means selling the workforce to another country, robbing people of their benefits and using third world countries for profit? No one benefits in the long run if we continue to export our employment, industry and income to non-Americans.
Have you realized our foreign energy dependence? Do you realize that every person that comes into this country takes natural resources and infrastructure to accommodate them? Yes, we are a country made up of immigrates, but that does not mean that we should just have a borders open to anyone and everyone shotting ourselves in our foot because of our ignorant absorptive ways.
People just don’t realize that running a nation is much bigger and more dynamic than they think. It is not a simple and easy as “just be nice, it can’t hurt anything”. There are major consequences to every action whether it is small or large, there is a consequence. Yet, here in America, we don’t like to think about consequences, or accountability.
When are we going to stop taking care of other people and other countries and heal our country from the inside. Please, I urge you to inform yourself on the other articles that I have written on this subject. Once you do that then we all can discuss this issue. But, if we continue arguing over semantics of being nice or playing fair, we will get nowhere.
VIDEO — Are Immigrants Ruining Our Future?
America: Pro-Immigration? Then Pro-Oil Dependence!
Again, I hope you read these articles. If you want to get REAL, then get REAL by reading these factual non-emotional articles about the REAL issue surrounding immigration. Thanks for your involvement with this site. Hope to hear from you soon.
Cerebral has it sooo wrong, as does Ron. This country was founded on violence, and lack of law. Simple. And, we live in an individualistic society,and that’s what has made america successful (materially).
Offshoring jobs is a great thing, otherwise, our toys wouldn’t be so inexpensive…I mean, a $20 DVD player? Come on…if it were made in Cleveland it would be 5X as expensive.
So, screw the american middle class…they don’t care about me, and they never have.
Also, we now have a form of 2nd class citizenship. This is the price illegal immigrants pay for working outside legal boundaries. Don’t feel sorry for gardeners or dishwashers or anyone. They made their choices.
Giving away free social services is ridiculous. It will bankrupt the system. It already has with many healthcare services. And, this will lead to resentment. It already has.
As for feeling like we owe anyone anything…it’s pointless. Half the world is in dire poverty…can we accept all of them? And yet, maintain our standard of living? No way.
The way to go is our current state, minus some social services. Health care and education are the main issues. And, we need strong borders/security/etc.
Offshore Boy – Are you sure you read our stance on immigration correctly. We are against giving them amnesty and allowing them into our country. The only things I don’t agree with is exploiting them and exporting jobs to offshore companies. Plus, the middle class has done more for you than you may think. The middle class is what supports this country. Without a middle class our economy would implode, and we would become a third world country.
I strongly believe we should heavy penalize the corporations that choose to employ illegal immigrants. We need to remove the reasons immigrants are trying to come over here — jobs! If we can remove all the jobs, they will not be as motivated to come over.
I agree with most of what you say, so why do I have it wrong again?
Maybe maintaining our standard of living shouldn’t be our only concern. Maybe some Americans think that people are more important than material possessions. Your right we cannot keep our standard of living and bring the world anywhere near equality. As long as you have massive inequality you can never have real security, you can spend a trillion dollars a year you will not be safe if you give the world a constant reason for resentment. Oh and you won’t keep your standard of living for very long if you need to borrow money from China in order to pay for that illusion of security. Go ahead and sit on your high horse, look down on those people who make less in a week than you make in an hour. no empire has ever stayed on top forever.
Oh and the notion of an individualistic society is a joke. The grouping of the words alone is the silhouette of an oxymoron. Society cannot be simply a group of individuals. There is always interaction or else its not a society. No one can claim to be a “rugged individualist” in the modern world. You could, you could move to the woods, build a cabin with your bare hands, maybe some simple tools crafted by yourself, and become a hunter/gatherer or a subsistence farmer. But even then you will probably need help, and if you get sick you’ll die. Which of course means your not in the modern world anymore. Anyone who doesn’t fit into that category is being supported by the efforts of others wither you like it or not. No one gets rich by their actions alone, those who get very rich do so on the backs of thousands of people directly, and countless others indirectly.
Ok honest question here.
“The way to go is our current state, minus some social services. Health care and education are the main issues. And, we need strong borders/security/etc.”
Are you saying that we need to reduce health care and education? or are those issues as in important to fix?
As you said we basically need to continue as is with a few changes, apparently you think things are pretty good, not perfect of course but things are decent. I personally see a society on the verge of collapse. We are borrowing money from countries that are trying to beat us economically, which obviously give them an unneeded advantage. We no longer manufacture much of anything, which makes our economy far less stable. Then there is our military, to steal a line from a movie, “When a country has five percent of the world’s population but spends fifty percent of the world’s military spending, that country’s persuasive power is in decline.” That should be a concern if you care about security. We spend more on health care per-person than any other nation on earth and yet our health-care is middle of the road at best compared to other developed countries. Same deal with our education. And I’m not even going to get into the fact that we are destroying the environment to increase the profits, we are killing ourselves off and no one is willing to stop it because it might interfere with the all important capitalism. Who cares if we all die, at least we starved to death as capitalists.
I could continue on this rant but its beginning to seem pointless. If you came back to this site then you might check this comment, but even so you probably stopped reading a while ago as this is a typical liberal rant that you will simply dismiss out of hand, in the same manner as I stop listening to fundamentalists shortly after I realize what they are. My final bit will be a law from America prior to European control,
“In every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
– Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy
Holy crap. What a comment?! I was thinking all that just never said it. Thanks for reading my mind, oh, and I think he meant concentrate on health care and education.
I also think he meant that we should not introduce any new policies that has to do with non-domestic issues. Keep everything the way it is, so we can work to heal the country. Then we can worry about non-domestic issues. At least that is what I am hoping he meant.
Talk to you later!
I hope your right, but I’m not terribly optimistic.’ll wait to say any more until he clarifys his position, if he comes back.
I “lean to the left” on many social issues, but most certainly not on this one! As a 30-year resident of Phoenix, I’m going to address only ONE issue which we Arizonans face every day in regard to illegal immigration:
Every single ER in this state is over run with illegal immigrants who receive FREE medical care. My seriously ill mother - an American citizen and daughter of LEGAL immigrants - consistently had to wait hours upon hours for medical attention at the local ER Trauma Center because the place was filled to capacity with illegal immigrants whose children had runny noses. They come to the ER for colds, flu, and other trivial matters because they do not have health insurance or money to visit the regular GP. And yet, scores of legal tax-paying Arizonans (which include many of my personal friends and acquaintances) are billed thousands of dollars for ER visits when they earn too much for government assistance, but too little to afford health insurance. I have no problem helping people who are less fortunate, but let’s take care of our own families first, before we tend to the needs of the rest of the neighborhood!
And to Cass: You are dead wrong, my child! If you think emigrating here LEGALLY is difficult then you have no idea what transpires among those who come here ILLEGALLY. These people will walk though the inferno of the Sonoran desert in the middle of July after paying many thousands of dollars to a “coyote” who most certainly will strand them there if he senses trouble. They are very likely to be robbed, raped and/or murdered before they arrive, or held for ransom by their “guides” once they get here. Coming legally may take a bit longer, what with paperwork & waiting lists, but it is worlds less difficult, less dangerous, and a heckuva lot less expensive!!! And YES, I feel very “lucky” that I was born in the U.S. If my grandparants had not COME HERE LEGALLY 70 years ago, I might be living somewhere else. And if you imagine it was easy for Italians to emigrate to the US in the 1920s-1930s, then you need to seriously brush up on your history!
Vera, impressed like always with your very logical intelligent comments. I like how you are seeing the logical economic burden that not regulating illegal immigration has on our nation. All too often people let their guilt of having a better life overcome their ability to look at the situation logically. Have you seen our video that was produced by NumbersUSA? It is really fantastic! If you are interested check it out here. Scroll down to the bottom to watch the video.
Well, thanks again for such a wonderful addition to our site. Talk to you later.
[…] After reading through the current Ode Magazine, I was quite shocked regarding an article promoting amnesty to the illegal immigrants. The author’s whole argument was for politics of compassion, and he was disproving alleged myths of why we should be anti-illegal immigrant. I have written many articles about why continuing to allow immigrants to flood into this country without any regulation could “bankrupt” our country. ( Illegal Immigrants: Should They Have Rights?, America: Pro-Immigration? Then Pro-Oil Dependence! and VIDEO — Are Immigrants Ruining Our Future?) Here is what Ode has to say about immigration into this country in general: “The advantages of freer migration could be huge. Rich countries have much more capital — machinery, buildings, infrastructure and so on — and far better technology then poor ones. This makes workers in rich countries far more productive than their equivalents in poor countries. But when workers from poor countries move to rich ones, they can make use of rich countries’ superior capital and technology. This not only makes them, but the world as a whole much better off.” […]
I live in rural upstate New York, we don’t have illegal immigrants at least not enough to notice. So I do not have the experience with this directly that some of the others here have. That might very well be why I am more lenient of the immigration issue.
But every time I hear about the problems of illegal immigration I can’t help but think that the cause of the problem not their being here, it is that they are illegal. I do NOT support amnesty though, we should give them a route to citizenship but not a free pass. Also given what you have just said about the lengths that these folks will go to enter this country I have a very hard time believing that a wall is going to stop them.
The other issue you inadvertently (maybe it was intentional) brought up Vera is why we need universal health care. Legal or not people with no insurance are using our ER’s as their primary care. This is a horribly expensive way to get health care, plus as Vera pointed out it makes the ER inaccessible to those who need EMERGENCY care. This is why universal health care may actually be less expensive than our current set-up which leaves millions without insurance. Sorry that was a bit of a tangent, but thats what I do.
Peace!
Kilgore Trout
I kind of thought I might be opening another can of worms with my little rant about the ER issue. If I may quote The Fixx “One thing leads to another.” 
:) 
I don’t know what the answer is regarding the medical question, but I agree it cannot go on the way it has been. I have dear Canadian friends, and listening to them regarding their country’s universal health care, I’m not sure that’s the answer either. I wish I was smarter! I’d love to come up with something brilliant that hasn’t been tried before, but…..
I certainly don’t have any problem with people coming here legally. My own family - both sides - emigrated from Europe, so I completely understand & am sympathetic to the concept of wanting a better life for oneself & family.
“The politics of compassion” argument is flawed simply because we cannot save the entire world. We can’t. As much as I hate thinking it, and am ashamed to admit it, I believe it’s true. We should do as much as we can to help, but we need to draw lines, have boundaries, or else we will “drown” and we’ll be in no position to help anyone, even our own selves. Until and unless the world’s population becomes manageable (oh, no! another totally separate issue - or is it??!!) there will always be people who are less fortunate than other people, and who lack basic food, shelter, education, medical care, etc.
I think some of the newer ideas (new to me, anyway!) that encourage micro-loans to individuals in poor nations to open their own businesses is a great starting point. If their governments cannot be trusted with grants & loans from richer countries to operate programs that teach people self-sufficiency, then we need to go directly to the people. This is, I know, a teensy first step, but every solution starts out that way. If we help people become financially sound in their own coutnries, they won’t need to sneak in to richer countries and live in fear - working like mules for a pittance, and constantly afraid of deportation.
And again - a different but related subject - birth control is the single most effective tool against poverty. I don’t care how much money you earn, if you have a bigger family than you do an income, you’re going to be poor. It’s simple math. So, how do we get rid of the religions & customs which refuse to accept this reality? (Uh-oh! Did someone say “tangent”???)
Cerebral: Shucks, thank you for all the nice comments! I appreciate blog4brains allowing me a little forum for civilized debate, where I’m sure even if someone disagrees with me, I probably won’t be called mean names or threatened with a violent end & eternity in hell.
OH man I was just about to damn you to hell then I read the end of yours and I’d feel like a fool if I did, dagnabit.
The only part I truly disagree with is the idea that there is no way everyone on earth can have the most basic necessities of life. Birth Control/Family planning is absolutely essential. Keeping the world population in check, also critical, actually those are almost the same issue. As long as our environment doesn’t go belly up (a distinct possibility though) we have the ability to feed every person on earth, and yet as a world society we choose not to. This is why I advocate a one world government. I just got into this a little on another post on this site about immigration, we might want to stick with just one comment trail in the future. and that way you and Justin can gang up on me.
As for universal health care, yeah its not perfect, but by almost any measure it comes out better than what we currently have. I can’t find the exact article now, it showed that we were most efficient but worse than the various Universal systems in every other aspect. I don’t know what the solution is but in a nation as rich as our everyone should be able to go to the doctor.
Kilgore – My response to your comment will not only be political but also on the lines of philosophical. I find it nearly impossible to remove extreme poverty on this entire Earth. As long as we have the extremely rich, we will have the extremely poor. It is just a part of life. When you speak about having ALL of the world’s population on a level playing field, and us (U.S.) lowering our standard of living so the rest of the world can raise its standard, this sounds really close to socialism (except on a global scale, which sounds even more impossible — IMHO).
Socialism is not the most sound of political movements. I think it goes against general human innateness to want to perform and compete against another. Even China had to remove its traditional communist ways (which is a socialist doctrine), so that it could prosper (which may be what you are against — prosperity over another).
I have just never seen this type of doctrine work within a general social framework. I believe it takes the commitment of everyone before it has a chance of being successful, but yet one would have a hard time getting the majority to believe that the removing of personal freedoms and rights to improve the life of another on the other side of the world — especially when implemented in a global sense. My fear is this pie in the sky type belief could blind someone from the reality of truly positive alternatives.
In my experience countries that become more isolationist in terms of foreign policy, immigration and militarism become more successful and fruitful — Norway, Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland… My suggestion is that we do the same, so that we can heal our country from the inside. Once we become strong and sustainable, we can then reach out and do more good being a moral, economical superpower.
Vera and Kilgore — In other words, our country could do more good as a separate nation that has the means to reach out, and NOT help by bringing a measly 1 or 2 million into the country, BUT BY establishing economic aid and resources to help people in their own country. When there is more than 4 billion people that are extremely impoverished this is not a realistic option. If we just try to help by opening up our borders we are only going to help out 0.00025% of the world poverty.
Let’s say we quadruple our immigration, then we could help 0.001% of the world poverty. Does this sound like a realistic, viable option to actually make a difference? Especially while it just puts more of a strain on our own Nation creating a more unstable and unsustainable country.
In my opinion, we could help by reducing our military budget by half, freeing up approximately $250,000,000,000 a year. Use the majority for domestic purposes for the first couple of years for our own healing. Then, we turn it around and use it to help build infrastructure, agriculture, industry and sustainable living for other countries. Yet, we will never be able to do this if we are allowing ourselves to drown in domestic overpopulation. And that overpopulation would require that all freed up governmental spending be allocated to building more infrastructure and resources to support our “measly” effort in helping 0.00025% of the world’s poverty. This would render immigration the only measure for helping the world’s poverty.
Bottom line, we can do more good as more of an isolationist country then as a socialist country pushing for a global socialist movement.
Yet, what the hell do I know?
You are so wrong.
Immigrants aren’t here to harm anyone, they’re here to work and to provide a better and secure future for their families.
Immigrants are providing a GREAT part to this country’s economy, therefore they have the right to recieve help.
Immigrants have the jobs that no one else wants, like cleaning animal crap at the zoo, washing dishes at the restaurant, picking after all the fat-ass bosses after meeting by cleaning the meeting rooms, working in factories, working their butts off in farms to deliver the produce YOU eat to the stores were you go to buy it.
And they work all those shoddy jobs for MINIMUM wage with no benefits!!!
It’s NOT illegal to be different or not to speak english, if it is, tell me where you found it because I’m pretty sure it’s not.
They also have to pay taxes, just like you do.
Immigration has been going on for thousands of years in history, and immigrants, or “aliens” as you call them, you prejudice bastard, are HUMANS, like you and me and all the other ignorants who believe all the crap you wrote in your blog.
Immigrants are NOT a threat to the country, in fact, they are HELPING.
And you know, maybe the “Pledge of Allegiance” and the national anthem should be re-written, because according to other fellow PRO-immigrants, this is NOT the land of the free, nor the home of the brave.
And apperantly, there is NOT liberty and justice for ALL, including immigrants.
By the way, didn’t really mean to call you a “prejudice bastard”, it came out of anger and disgust at your opinion on immigrants, I guess.
Yoda – I am sorry you are angry at me, but did you even read what I wrote? I gave precise examples and full explanations as to why I have come to my conclusion. Plus, the whole racial thing, it doesn’t work for me as I have married a Mexican. She is obviously a natural citizen, but Mexican by heritage none-the-less. Even she has the same stance on immigration as I do.
If you believe illegal Mexicans help the economy then read this article. It gives a full explanation of why illegal immigration and unregulated legal immigration can bankrupt our country. Unfortunately, I, the prejudice bastard, have done a lot of studying as to why we cannot allow such high unregulated numbers into this country. It is purely logical and not emotionally fueled unlike your perspective.
If you would fully read my articles and comments, you would find out I am more interested in helping people that are impoverished in their own country where we can help them build a sustainable living. This will help for generations to come, not just one person at a time through immigration.
When we take a look at immigration with a larger perspective and more global stance, we can see that there are alternatives that serve humanity in a more powerful way. Thanks for commenting…? I guess.
Yoda, just calm down, this is an emotional issue, but this here is a pretty laid back place. There’s no need to get upset and irrational.
Justin, Who called for socialism? I’ve never called for absolute equality because we’re not all equal. Some people work hard some people are lazy. There should be, no there needs to be, a noticeable difference between those two groups. But I don’t see it as some socialist Utopian wet-dream to ask that everyone has enough food to eat. We could do it if we wanted, but we have more important goals for our resources, namely killing people. All I am looking for is a sustainable earth where everyone has access to the basic necessities of life. If that makes me a pinko commie then so be it.
And if I was calling for socialism I would point out that of course you can’t have a single powerful socialist country in a sea of capitalism, in the same way that a capitalist society would fail if everyone else was socialist. In other words China becoming capitalist doesn’t prove anything.
Justin you’re an intelligent person, how can you honestly call for an isolationist movement? Especially as your opposed to lowering our standard of living to a sustainable level. Do you really suggest we stop trading with other countries? That would affect our standard of living because you wouldn’t be able to buy ANYTHING! As for your examples of “successful” countries, what makes a nation successful? Is it simply wealth, if so those are good examples, of course Japan in particular is about as non-isolationist as possible, trade is everything for Japan. My point is simply that maybe we need to look at more than stock prices to determine how a country is doing. Every economic superpower has had massive disparities between rich and poor from the Egyptian Pharaohs to Roman Caesars, Russian Czars, European Kings, Asian emperors, and every one has failed. This is not a call for absolute economic equality, this is saying that wealth should be based on work, work twice as hard get twice as much. But when in our own country the average CEO now makes 500 times as much as their employees then something is wrong.
We haven’t been isolationist for 150 years, if we ever were. WE can’t go back, its simply not possible.
OH and when did I ever talk about taking away freedoms? I can fully understand why you would have thought that I was calling for socialism but I never came anywhere near communism, which seem to be what you were suggesting. I’m just going to assume everyone knows those are two separate things.
I gotta run, Peace.
I never and will never suggest you are a commie. Plus, God knows how many times I have been called a commie. Please understand, I mentioned how it sounded close to a socialist idealism. I never said you were a socialist. When I say things, I don’t mean them in the most strict and extreme forms. The point was that if there is the extremely rich, you have to have the extremely poor. I don’t know how you would achieve global health care, birth control and family planning without it being near a socialist doctrine. Maybe it is my ignorance of what you are trying to convey, but it sounds a little far fetched.
Again, I am not meaning isolationist in terms of everything. Right now we are the extreme opposite of isolationist, and swinging the other way would be just as bad. What I am trying to say is for us to become more regulated in terms of immigration and militarism (closing down bases and bringing troops home, creating more of a military of defense, not offense). In terms of trading, I would never suggest we discontinue trading, but we should — yet, I don’t even know if this is possible — bring some of our exported industry and outsourcing of employment back to domestic soil.
We may have passed the point of no return where we can never reverse all the “globalization” of our outsourcing, but if we could, it would help, in my opinion of course. In other words, we are selling away our country piece by piece. The benefiters are the disgustingly wealthy 5% of the country and the people who end up paying and suffering from it is the remaining 95%. Just look at Walmart, it is a perfect example.
And as far as Japan, if you do some research on their history, you will find a period of 250 years of peace, philosophy and education. This is when the country created some of the best art, writing, and healed itself after all the chaos and warring with the Spanish and Portuguese. They regained and honed their national pride and spirit. This is where Japan became united in country. Then of course they became open again and then killed of all the samurai removing one of the most wondrous relics of history. I was talking about the Japan of old. And yes, I know we cannot do that, but it is something that we can learn from.
This is preaching to the choir, and I am very much with you on this rant. So, rant on brother!
Like I said, I am not saying we go isolationist in the “fundamentalist” sense. I am just saying we should start regulating what we are doing. Right now we are balls to the wall without considering consequences to our actions. I have been and always will be a moderate in every sense of the word. If I say something, realize that I mean it in a very moderate sense. I used that term because I had no other one to use, but I do understand why you would react to it the way you did.
The only reason I said that is for you to suggest for us to do what you proposed to do, we would have to regulate how much money people made and their standard of living. This would entail removing some freedoms, not all, but some. That is all I meant. Again, trust me, I don’t think you were saying to become communist. I know you better than that. Have a great weekend Kilgore. Talk to you later.
YOU PEOPLE WHO POST THOSE STUPID ARTICLES SAYING HOW ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SHOULDNT BE HERE, OR HOW THEY ARE DESTROYING THE ECONOMY, AND ALL IS GOD DAMN REDICULOUS! and anyone who thinks about telling me to calm down, just take that and shove it up your ass ok! there’s is nothing i need to calm down about, its just you people are annoying and cruely absurd! Cass, and Yoda, etc. are exactly right! even though the immigrants who came here illegally, (WHICH IS NOT RIGHT, I ADMITT)have helped this great country so much! i am an american, and i love my country to death, but i can’t stand the ignorant bastards like you all. oyu all say how its not fair that they come here and dont have to pay tames, well you know what if the system wouldnt make it so damn difficult to get a green card or a visa, and they could come here legally, they would pay taxes. i have a friend who is an american, and she married a mexican man, they have been married for 10 years, and they have been trying to get his parents a visa or green card so they can come here from Mexico, and they have been denied that right for 10 YEARS! you think its not hard to get a visa or green card, or it doesn’t take that long?? BULL SHIT!!! ten years and still nothing!! these hard working hispani8cs are over here taking any job they can, it doesnt matter how small or whatever, that some stuck-up lazy ass americans wont take! they risk their lives to come over to this country for THEIR FAMILIES!! for their children who are basically starving at home, and the babies who go around naked because their parents cant afford clothes for them! the amount of money they get for say a 12 hour days work in mexico, isnt even half of what people working as a waitress get in a day or 2!!you people just dont understand what its like down there! i have been to Mexico 5 times, Guatemala 3, and to Honduras 2. IT MADE ME BREAK OUT IN TEARS! And i even took some people that i knew who were saying exactly what you people are, and when they saw what those poor hispanic people were living like, they completely changed their mind! illegals do not come to this country to harm or do anything wrong to anybody!they come here to work hard, send as much money as they can back home, and try not to get into any trouble caused by some ignorant, dispickeable americans that are greedy and selfish.
that video by Ron Beck, is completely, and utterly incorrect and cercumstancial! he doesnt know 100% what the population will be in the future! he’s making that bull shit up to try and make americans hate and reject the rights for immigrants! as said before, this country has no 100% pure american! because this country was built for millions of immigrants from all over the world! people say why should illegall immigrants have rights when they are not legal american citizens, but what if they were born in mexico, and had to live in a horribly poor, and full of massive crime country?! they would do exaclty what the illegall immigrants are doing. these people are trying to survive in this hard, cruel, and unfair world that all humans live in, and you people are making the world an even harder place to live!! i do agree that they need to be legal to come here, but if the people who grant visas and green cards, gave them a chance, instead of rejecting an extreme amount, then they wouldnt have to be here illegally! someone said “dont feel sorry for those illegals who wash dishes, do yard work, do hard construction, cook food, clean up dirty places, or clean animal shit just to make better money than they did in mexico”, “THEY MADE THAT CHOICE” yeah they did make that choice, and they made it so they could send some money back to their country and actually have a house to live in, some food so their children, spouses,or relatives wouldnt have to starve, and get some descent clothes instead of shit like a loin cloth to try and cover their selves with!!! they would kill to be able to have all the rights, freedoms, and priviledges that us americans do. and another thing, you know americans dont have to have a VISA or GREEN CARD to go to a forgien countries! we just neeed a f*cking PASSPORT!!! but mexicans, and other forgieners need sooo much shit to be here legally, and IF they even do get here, you people just spit on them anyway because they’re mexican or hispanic or whatever!and the whole thing about them not knowing english… well maybe if there were places that could teach them, or something that can really help them learn but well I DONT SEE A DAMN PLACE OR ANYTHING THAT THEY COULD GO TO FOR HELP ON HOW TO LEARN! you people need to stop telling others to read your stupid articles that you wrote, it doesnt matter, we know all the same shit, problems, or reasons on this issue as you do, man! just because you wrote a few articles you think you know all about this issue, but the thing is you dont, you only know the side of lies that people make up, and guesstimate reasonings why THEY think forgieners shouldnt be here! you will never know how hard it is or what its like on this issue becuase you are not the ones who are being treated like savages, or animals, they are! and even though they hear and know what you think and say about them, they still risk their lives to come here, so they can make a better life for their families, and even help america! we have maasive debt, but you know what blame that on the real problems, not these hard working human beings who value, and appreciate life!!! one last thing, is if anyone is going to comment on my words, you need to really think about what your saying, what your doing, and think hard cause you dont know shit until you know what those people go through to be here!! them and us…look at them, they are us, what differences do you see?? they are human being just like you and me! what would you sacrafice to help your family???!!!
thank you
Nicole, I always try to “really think about” what I’m saying - especially when it’s on the internet for all the world to read. It seems to me that you are the one who is running on emotion instead of logical thought. To assume that others “don’t know shit” about this subject matter is awfully grandiose on your part, isn’t it? How could you possibly know whether posters on this blog - people you haven’t met and know nothing about - are informed or not on this issue? Just because we may not agree with your assessment of the situation doesn’t mean we are ignorant about it.
And, to set the record straight, Americans need only a passport to *VISIT* other countries as tourists. If we plan to stay in a foreign country for an extended period of time, or wish to get a job there, or wish to become a citizen there, we have to jump through just as many governmental hoops as resident aliens do in the US. Actually, many countries make it even more difficult. Have you read what one must do in order to become a Dutch citizen? If you think the US makes it difficult for emigrants, please - do some reasearch. You will find that you are sorely mistaken.
Very few rational people object to immigrants in general. What we object to is those people who come here illegally. We, as a nation, have every right to allow and/or deny entry to anyone we choose. Do you open up the door to your home and let ANYONE inside? Or do you pick & choose who to allow to enter by considering that person’s effect on the safety of youself, your family and your possessions? What if some needy person was to break into YOUR house, eat your food, take your medical insurance card, sleep in your bed and insist that they have a right to be there because you have a better standard of living than they do, and that they should be entitled to it as well? Tell me, how many homeless, indigent people do you share your house with, Nicole? And if you don’t, then why not?
I respect your point of view and your passion regarding those less fortunate. But for you to insist that your intepretation of the facts is the only one does nothing to solve this problem. Helping poor nations to be self sufficient would be a much better, and more long-term solution to this issue than to continue the status quo. We are NOT helping these people by keeping them in low-paying, back-breaking jobs, and exploiting them.
Peace out!
Holy crap Vera… that was fantastic reply and deserving of a medal! I have nothing to say after that as you have covered it so well. I am immensely glad that we have you in our wonderful community. Thanks for being here.
Nicole the reason we keep saying calm down to various posters is because it hurts your case if you get angry. You had some good points but if you can’t express them in a way that people in disagreement will listen to then you’re wasting your own time.
The key for me is a sustainable world, there are many many pieces in that puzzle, but without it nothing else matters.
Vera, while I’ve disagreed with much of your stance before, I will admit that was an excellent response. Actually I don’t think there was anything I disagreed with in that last comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIW-BZ8oLrk
LISTEN TO THEIR OWN WORDS FOR AMERICANS
FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE AMERICAN AND FAVOR THIS GROUP OF ILLEGALS
LISTEN TO THEIR OWN WORDS FOR YOUR FUTURE
GOOGLE- AZTLAN MOVEMENT TO LEARN MORE
THEN COME BACK ON HERE AND TELL ME THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE THEIR MOVEMENT
WITH YOUR HELP
Hey Dee, I watched the video, and it was disturbing, but I think saying all immigrants are like this is a little too general of a statement. I don’t think all of them are behind this kind of political statement. A lot of the immigrants just want to stay to continue making money for their family at home.
Personally, I don’t think the problem is the individual immigrants. I believe the danger is with the shear numbers. I have more of a problem with our government allowing such actions, then the actually individual immigrants taking advantage of such an opportunity. Anyway, take care Dee and thanks for speaking your mind.
YOU ARE RIGHT THEY ARE SOME THAT DO REALLY COME HERE FOR A BETTER LIFE AND DON’T AGREE WITH THIS NEW BUNCH
BUT THAT NUMBER IS SO LOW THAT THEY ARE IN A MINORITY
THIS NEW GROUP ARE NOT HERE FOR THAT
IT WOULD BE GREAT TO BE ABLE TO DIVIDE INTO 2 GROUPS
BETTER LIFE ONES AND THEN THE ONES WHO ARE HERE TO TAKE IN A EVIL WAY
I HAVE SEEN GIRLS THAT HAVE CROSSED THE BORDER PREGNANT COME 3000 MILES AND BEFORE 30 DAYS HAVE FOOD STAMPS AND SERVICES TO HAVE THAT BABY
ONE GIRL HAD 4 NAMES, 4 ADDRESSES AND GOT FOOD STAMPS IN 4 COUNTIES
2400.00 A MONTH IN STAMPS
HER SS# WAS OOO-OO-0000 IN THE SYSTEM, I SEEN THAT WITH MY OWN EYES, NO PERSONAL ID NEEDED, RENT RECEIPTS, LIGHTS,NO INCOME RECEIPTS WERE ASKED FOR EITHER
THAT SAME DAY 12 GIRLS WERE THERE FOR FOOD STAMPS AND SERVICES AND ALL 12 APPROVED
NOTHING WAS CHECKED OUT
ALL 12 HAD COME HERE STRAIGHT FROM THE BORDER JUST FOR THE FOOD STAMPS AND SERVICES
AND TO HAVE A BABY HERE TO ANCHOR THEM INTO THE SYSTEM
WHAT ONE SAID TO ME WAS AMERICANS ARE RICH AND WE WANT TO TAKE THEM DOWN AND THEY WON’T BE RICH NO MORE
SHE SAID WE DIDN’T COME HERE TO BE AMERICAN
WE ARE MEXICAN AND WE DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW THE RULES HERE
JUST AMERICANS HAVE TO FOLLOW THE RULES
I HAVE HEARD OVER AND OVER HER SAY THEY ARE ONLY HERE TO BETTER THEIR FAMILY
WHEN THE PERSON SHE WAS TALKING TO WAS HAVING COMPASSION FOR HER
THEN TURN TO ME AND SMILE
THEN SHE WOULD SAY SEE, AMERICANS FEEL SORRY FOR US
SOME HAVE SAID THEY CAME HERE TO BE HERE WHEN THE AMNESTY HAPPENS, I ASK BECAUSE YOU WERE POOR FROM WHERE YOU COME FROM, THEY SAID NO I HAD A GOOD JOB THERE, SAID WHY WOULDN’T SOMEONE COME HERE AND GET THINGS FOR FREE, I GET THE BETTER FOR MY FAMILY, SAID PEOPLE CALLED ME AT HOME I KNOW HERE, AND I COME TO GET FREE THINGS
SHE HAD A JOB WORKING WITH AMERICAN TOURIST SOUTH OF THE BORDER
SAID AMERICANS HAVE A GREAT SYSTEM FOR THE ILLEGALS, IN MY COUNTRY YOU HAVE TO WORK, NO FREE THINGS ARE GIVEN
AMERICAN CHILDREN’S SS# TAKEN
A 3 YEAR OLD THAT HAD BOUGHT A HOUSE CARS ETC. AND THEN WHEN SOMETHING COMES UP FOR MEDICAL REASONS DENIED SERVICES BECAUSE HE OWNS TOO MUCH
WHEN A MEMBER OF MY FAMILY NEEDED HELP BECAUSE OF HARD TIMES BECAUSE OF HAVING TO BE OUT OF WORK TO SEE TO A CHILD THAT ALMOST DIED, THE HOSPITAL THAT SAVED HIS LIFE WAS 3 HOURS AWAY HOME
THE SERVICES OF HELP WAS DENIED
IMMIGRATES LIVE HERE LEGALLY
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE HERE ILLEGALLY
TRUE IMMIGRATES ARE ALREADY HERE LEGALLY, OF COURSE THERE IS NOT A PROBLEM WITH THEM THEY FOLLOW THE RULES ALREADY AND HAVE REAL SS# AND IF THEY ASK FOR HELP THEY HAVE TO HAVE REAL SS#
THIS BUNCH THAT IS THE PROBLEM IS LAUGHING IN THE STUPID AMERICANS FACES BECAUSE WE HAVE COMPASSION
I’VE LEARNED MY LESSONS AND NO LONGER THINK THE WAY I USED TO DO
WHEN REPEATEDLY SEE THE SAME ATTITUDES FROM THE ILLEGALLY HERE
I HAVE BEEN AROUND THESE PEOPLE 11 YEARS, AND THESE NEW ONES INTO THE COUNTRY THE LAST 5 OR SO YEARS ARE NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR.
FOR ALL THOSE ON HERE THAT STILL HAS COMPASSION, IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO LEARN YOUR ENEMY
BECAUSE THEY WILL COMPASSION YOU AND YOU WON’T SEE IT COMING
SO PEOPLE COMPASSION YOURSELVES INTO THE NEW AMERICA
Dee — I am curious where and how you observed all of this you are writing about. If what you say is true it is something that I have never witness before over here in Texas. I guess they are not as politically vocal over here compared to California. I am kind of speechless after your comment. You sound like you know what you are talking about, but I hope you are wrong. If you are right, we need to seriously, politically debate this subject of deportation versus amnesty. Thanks again for sharing your information with us.
I was working helping someone suppose to be here legally to get food stamps. Turned out she was one of the illegals. After getting my compassion kicked. I started to listen and learn. This one asked me for help and gave me all kinds of stories, why she deserved the help. Said she was American, down on here luck. Through her the others I spoke of came out of the wood work. Friends of her’s. So I played stupid, and started asking certain questions.
This started in the late 90s.
I was in the produce business, selling vegies. So I was easily found.
I am grateful I ran into the bad ones first.
In truth the good ones, wouldn’t have asked me for help like this.
The id theft of the 3 year old American comes from my work with handicapped children. A father of one who was having to get services. He was denied because of all that had been bought with his son’s SS#.
I have since stopped all my work, because of my own health reasons.
I don’t know what happened to all these people I speak of.
You are right we need to take a closer look.
These people who have come here starting around 1998 are not the good hard working people. Their agenta is not that. It is to rape the system.
The anchor babies are to build an army of hispanic size that they will out number Americans.
Also learned by playing dumb. Aztlan movement.
I am 3000 miles away from the border.
Some have real ID and support this movement. They came in and learned the system, then called home telling the others I have a job for you when you get here.
Some started as farm workers then moved across the country in search of jobs that would be able to easily hire an illegal without questioning ID, but on their word they were a good worker.
The snow ball started to roll.
I am not racist at all. I would break my back helping a true good person. And I have, one man I helped to get citizenship.
He loved the USA and wants to die here.
He is so sad that his people are doing this.
I asked him a lot of questions about this. He came here, because of love of the USA. Until this day he has not changed. He said when he took the oath he cryed in pride for being able to be an American. I know I was there.
These type of men is the only ones I will support.
In your learning, sart with the national anthem of Mexico.
Read the Mexican anthem. It tells you about movement also.
It tells you about the anchor babies and why they are being made. Look at the numbers usa web site to get the numbers totals.
Pay attention to the numbers.
I kid you not, America is in so much trouble with this.
Don’t believe me, trust yourself. Then come back with a picture of it as a whole. Think in terms of 100 years, not 2007
I’m not sure which country it was, I am thinking one said Lebanon, but the illegals were taking over the country, the legals would go to work and when they came home the illegals had moved into their homes, taking what they wanted. Making the legals homeless. Another Aztlan plan, so she says. She says we will have strength in numbers.
This is going to be our future.
Think about it as a whole picture,
I no longer fall for the compassion so easily.
Use google to learn, the internet is fantastic to learn.
I for one want to remain in one piece an English America.
Not Aztlan America
Two things:
1) Illegal immigrants who come here to work and have families still in Mexico can wire them $200 to $400 a month. Now as for the illegal immigrants who work here and have families here, they do have a higher cost of living for those famlies, but couldn’t they pay something for services like $5 for a doctor’s office visits or out-of-country partial tuition for their kids in school since they wouldn’t be supporting a family back in Mexico? Maybe it wouldn’t be much for an individual famly but multiplied by the (what is it?) two million in this country? And it would set a beginning for something that could be raised down the line.
2) Illegal immigrants is a loaded word term — let’s not use that term. Instead, call them “guests”. Guests is a word with direction that gives a whole new insight to the problem. For example: what do you do with an uncle who comes to stay with your family and seemingly will stay forever? How do you get rid of such a guest? Apply that to foreign guests. Who are visiting here! See what I mean? Now go back above and take an angry comment either pro or con and substitute the term “guests” for “illegal immigrants” and see if visas and insights don’t open up the discussion with new meanings.
–30–
http://www.numbersusa.com/index
20 million being added to the system at one time
“guests” would be asking to much,
besides guests are invited, and when asked to leave would have to go home,
these “guests” are going to bankrupt you, and leave you hanging.
Congress has plans to raise your taxes soon, to cover your “guests”, I’ll see if I can find an e-mail I received about this and post it here,from the congress in my state.
Straight from the mouths of Congress
Add to the total costs of your home budgets, there will be a lot who will need to get another job, to keep paying, unless there is a salary raise to cover this large amount of money.
This tax increase is there because it costs more to support your “guests” than is in the system, whatever ever money the “guests” put into the pot won’t cover the costs.
So that means Americans will have to have higher taxes,
Don’t forget to add in 4.00 to 5.00 gas prices, if not more by 2011.
Think about it before you invite 20 million “guests to your” homes.
Do your own personal home budgets, then think about the American families that are poorer than you are, and can’t afford this. AAMERICAN FAMILIES NEED OUR COMPASSION TOO.
FROM SUE MYRICK:
The budget that the new majority passed in the House last month, over my objection, would create the largest tax increase in American history; $400 billion over 5 years.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that “we must share the benefits of our wealth beyond the privileged few”. That used to be called communism.
If you are reading this letter and you are married, this budget will cause your taxes to rise an average of $466 in 2011. It’s estimated that 23 million tax payers fall into this category.
If you are reading this letter and have children, you and 31 million other taxpayers will see an average increase of $859 in 2011.
Are you in a family of four making $60,000 a year in salary? Expect your taxes to increase 6% in 2011.
Are you an older couple with a $40,000 income? Expect your taxes to rise 156% in 2011.
Do you own a small business? Under this budget, you and 26 million small business owners will see your taxes increase an average of $3,960.
Welcome to the new majority.
Every day in Washington is a battle. Every day I fight for all that we have worked so hard to achieve. Every day our ideals are assailed and common sense is insulted by the decisions of the new leadership.
I recently announced my intentions to seek re-election. I am still up to the fight. Are you? I need your support to keep on fighting for you.
CLICK HERE to contribute online!
If you are uncomfortable making a contribution online, please click here to download a printable contribution form, which you can mail to PO Box 37091, Charlotte, NC 28237.
Thank you in advance for your contribution and your continued support. I sincerely appreciate the trust you place in me and I assure you that I will keep fighting for your best interests. May God bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
Sue Myrick
HERE IS WHY ONE GIRL CAN GET STAMPS IN 4 COUNTIES
From: A Mexican-American Social Worker [Name Withheld To Protect His Job]
First and foremost, let me thank Allan Wall for his honesty and great courage. Today I came across VDARE.COM quite by accident, but was pleased with what I observed.
I am an American living in Northern California. I have a wife who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, she came here as a young girl, and is completely bilingual, as am I. I was born in California as a 5th generation Mexican-American. My parents do not speak Spanish, therefore I am not a native speaker, but I learned Spanish in school.
I am a social worker, employed by the County Human Services Agency. I am not a racist, nor am I a “Hater of Mexicans”it is my heritage.
I have been a social worker for 23 years, and remember Prop 187.
In my time here, I have grown increasingly frustrated. I cannot believe how our broken system is taken advantage of by the large influx of immigrants.
Billions of dollars are distributed to immigrants, many of them illegal!! YES, undocumented people.
EVERY welfare agency in the United States is considered a “non-reporting agency” This means, that every applicant/recipient of public welfare programs has the right to apply and receive benefits with dignity, respect and CONFIDENTIALITY.
We are forbidden to breach these rights. When a family of seven undocumented immigrants applies for welfare, and openly admits to having fake immigration cards (I-551) we CANNOT call the INS office and report them.
For years, we have flooded the illegal community with taxpayer dollars. Cash, food stamps, and Medicaid benefits equating to BILLIONS of dollars. California even has the CAPI Program (Cash Assistance program For Immigrants)
I can tell you of countless situations where the system continues encourage people to immigrate here illegally. We give automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented parents. Free money, free training, and free education. When I went to college, because of my Latin surname, I was offered fabulous grant opportunities designed for children of migrant farm workers. It’s incredible!
The administrative cost alone to hire bilingual employees, pay them bilingual pay, have them prepare non-English forms in language is millions in California alone.
Because some of the other countries lack welfare systems, and individuals have no “entitlement” rights, they come here to rape our system. I have worked with many Senators, Congressmen/women who are afraid to tackle the issue for fear of being tagged as “anti-immigrant” It’s all about the vote
I have a colleague at the local Social Security office who shared with me this tidbit: Any legal immigrant who lives here for 5 years, and is 65 years of age, can apply for Social Security Benefits. They will be denied SS benefits, due to not paying into the system, but will receive SSI benefits equaling $700.00 each. Per couple $1400.00 !!
Most often what happens is this: They come to the US to live (age 60 well-planned out) with an adult child that is here legally. The adult child agrees to sponsor them, then conveniently in five years claims to be a hardship situation and can no longer sponsor them. Because they are now 65, they can apply for SS benefits. My colleague reports that many of these people only keep a few hundred dollars, give some to the adult child for living cost, but send hundreds back “home” for support of other family members!
I have been to Mexico many times…The rich are rich, and the poor are poor. No social benefits, no pity, no mercy, no liability suits (very hard to prove there) no rights to protest poor living conditions. “You want that…go to the United States, those fools are afraid to be viewed as ‘heartless’ and will give us the shirts off their backs…after all that’s their nature. If they deny us, we can sue for discrimination.” I have heard this!
Fortunately I was raised to be an American, and love my country, not to hold on to the fact that my ancestry was from Mexico, and maintain allegiance to Mexico.
Can you imagine Americans living in Mexico, marching down the streets, demanding English speaking schools, property rights, welfare benefits with forms in English and English-speaking workers, college grants for immigrants ? You’d be shot, put in jail, or deported. No que no?
CEREBRAL- I’VE TRIED TO ANSWER YOU
I COULDN’T FIND INFO FROM MY STATE ABOUT SS
BUT DID FIND THIS FROM CALIFORNIA
FROM A WORKER, HE PUT IT STRAIGHT WORDS, SHORT BUT THERE
THE LAWS ARE THE SAME ALL THE WAY ACROSS
I AM 3000 MILES AWAY FROM CALIFORNIA
THE COUNTY OFFICE HERE
HAVE FOLLOWED THE SAME LAWS
HOPE THIS HELPS YOU TO SEE WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY
IF I FIND THE ACTUAL STATE LAWS I’LL POST THEM
SOMETIMES THEY ARE IN PDF. FILES AND CAN BE READ TO CONFIRM A LAW -HERE ON THE INTERNET
ANYWAY I AM STILL LOOKING SO THAT I CAN GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO VERIFY THAT IS ON THE BOOKS, LEGAL BOOKS
Dee — Thank you so much for sharing such rare and interesting information. You have definitely sparked an interest in writing an article about what you presented here. If I can confirm what you say with multiple sources, then I will write an article about this Aztlan Movement that you mentioned above.
Thanks again for all the information that you have shared with us. Please keep the lines of communication open as I hope to hear from you again. Take care.
vera, i cannot believe you had the nerve to say that trying to come here from mexico or anywhere else isnt hard! it is extremely difficult. my friends parents have been denied for 10 YEARS of a visa to come here! there’s no reason for that absurd non-sense! and the senario about the homeless thing??? umm, that was probably one of the most stupidest, ignorant, and dumbest thing i ever heard! and you cant even compare a homeless person to these illegal immigrants, thats just porpostorous! it made no sense! these people who come here arent homeless, or anything of the sort. they are just trying to make a better life for their families. stop all of your rediculous non-sense. don’t tell me that im sorely mistaking on this issue! ive been reading about this matter for longer that you have i’ll bet. you’re probably just angry that these illegals get paid more than you, and that they arent lazy, and completely idiotic!and you trying to sound all intelligent and sophisticated and what not. you don’t know anything of this sort, because you havent seen how they have to live! most of my family and friends are illegals, so dont tell me that i dont know what im talking about. i know more about how these poor people have to keep being denied the right to come here for a chance at a better lifeand all of the stupid problems they have then you ever will! you would do exactly what the illegals are doing if you were in their situation!: trying to get a better job, an actual life to live, and trying to make better for your spouse, children and relatives! do not reply to my blogs anymore, they will only be completely [edited because of breach of commenting policy] Good Bye.
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Read Sue’s Remarks About the Senate Immigration Proposal!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
By: Sue Myrick
I will not support the Senate immigration bill.
It is amnesty wrapped up in 1,000 pages.
It doesn’t take 1,000 pages to say…illegal.
Illegal immigration has been out of control for at least 10 yrs.
The feds chose to ignore it because not enough states were affected—only border states.
Finally a few years ago there were enough states with the problem that it created critical mass in Congress and we began to address it.
The House of Reps. passed a tough border security bill which also made illegal border crossing a felony to put some teeth into the law.
The Senate refused to pass it.
So the House put tough border security measures in DHLS and Defense bills, which passed last year and became law - but still couldn’t get felony status.
Those security measures are currently working in areas with a fence, as border crossings are down 30%. But other areas are wide open!
Back to current Senate bill
Enforcement provisions are better than before, but it is unrealistic that those measures will be implemented in 18 mos. as things authorized 2 years ago still are not finished.
No way to verify who was here before Jan. 2007 that opens the door for more illegals to pour across the border before security is in place.
Illegal behavior is rewarded with a Z visa that would allow illegals to live and work legally in the US and put them on a path to citizenship - which is a slap in the face to 4 million waiting in line for legal citizenship.
The FBI has huge backlog for background checks for those already in line how will they process another 12-20 million?
At current rate, it would take 40 years to process 12 million! 40 years!
How will feds process new Y and Z visas when they can’t handle current workload? Duh!
Nothing will work w/o fixing current system it is not practical.
Z visa holders will be eligible for social security benefits as SS cards will be given them with the visa.
We have a collapsing SS program now how can it support 12 20 million more? It can not!
Spouses and family members will be eligible for legal status as well. When head of household goes back to his country to become an American citizen, family stays behind. Does that mean they are now eligible to receive welfare since they will be considered legal residents? Spouse will have social security card. Did we just add 12 -20 million people to the welfare rolls? Yes, it can be crammed into some remote bill in the middle of the night!
The bill calls for 370 miles of fence on Mexican border. Our bill last year authorized 700 miles. Did we just lose 330 miles of fence?
No provision in bill to end anchor babies (automatic citizenship for children of illegals born here). Why?
The bill calls for only fifty 287g programs nationally. There are 3,200 jails in American that need the program. 50 out of 3,200. Whoopee!
The bill calls English the language of America; not the official language, so it has no teeth.
It grants federally backed student loans will this presume to open up states to granting them in-state tuition as well?
The only thing the Z visa holders can’t do is vote. How long will it be before some liberal activist judge grants them the right to vote? Come on get real.
This bill is amnesty and a slap in the face to the sovereignty of the United States of America.
As a reminder, we have worked hard here in this region to make a difference. The Sheriff has implemented the 287g program to help the feds and we will have an immigration court by the end of the year and are working on a detention center.
Another subject that is tied in to immigration - so bear with me.
The American way is to be reactive - not proactive
Remember the so-called war on drugs?
20 years ago when I was mayor, people said I was crazy because I said there were billions of dollars in cash leaving the US yearly to finance illegal drug trade; which was destroying us from within, and financing terrorists.
Now it is estimated at $322B a year, and it is known that a great amount of that goes to terrorists.
Comparison: According to GAO, $300 B has been spent in 4 years on Irag war.
$322B per year - illegal drugs! - $300B over 4 yrs on war. You hear about the war costs all the time. How often do you hear about the illegal drug money financing our enemy?
This is tied to what I am going to say next. These are things that you must know.
It does not diminish the importance of this huge immigration problem but I want to make you aware of another problem - that is America’s greatest threat - and the feds have ignored it for the past 20 years. And, yes, it relates to immigration.
Radical Jihadists are infiltrating our education system, military, media, State Dept., legal system, etc. It is a stealth infiltration meant to do us harm and they are doing it in broad daylight.
Radical Jihadists tell us all the time what they intend to do. They want to kill us and take over. In their words: “you will be an extremist Muslim or die”. Period. They target anyone who does not think like they do - including moderate Muslims. Women would be veiled from head to toe - we would live by Sharia law. We would return to the dark ages. When will we listen to what the Radical Jahadists say? This has already happened in parts of England. Check it out.
Terrorist cells and terrorist supporters are all over America. Remember the Hezbollah trial here in Charlotte? That money was going to finance Hezbollah in the mideast.
The Fort Dix terror plot in New Jersey demonstrated that illegal immigration is a homeland security issue. It is reported that three of those terrorists came into the US across the southern border.
Many Americans are admitting defeat on illegal drugs, illegal immigration and Iraq and, by omission, admitting defeat to the radical Jihadists as well.
We will be lost as a sovereign country.
Too many Americans don’t want to get involved the attitude is ‘let George do it’. But George ain’t doing it.
If we want to save our country we must stop depending on other people to do it and get involved ourselves. In unison we must say how we feel and vote out of office any politician who chooses not to listen. Have you ever considered the fact that 535 Washington politicians control the lives of 300 million people?
Talk to one another personally, by phone, email or call in to talk shows, etc. We must insist that this is our country: of the people - by the people - for the people and declare that no one will take it from us. Ever!
Over 5 years ago I went to everyone from the President on down and told them “we need to get the American people involved like we did in WWII. They need to be informed and involved. The response - “we don’t want to frighten the American people”.
I waited for someone to do something. No one did. So in January I started the Congressional Anti-terrorism/Jihad Caucus. We are now 106 members, and growing.
We’ve interviewed dozens of experts and have programs to educate members of Congress twice a month. We have just gotten the Ethics Committee’s permission to start a website. I will announce when it is up and running so that you can be kept fully informed.
In the meantime, “Speak Up America”!
THIS IS FROM CONGRESS WOMAN SUE MYRICK
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL YOU LOVE
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Hey Dee, it is good to hear from you again. That is quite the quote, I agree with most of it. I think people are just too afraid no-a-days to speak out against anything. If you are anti-illegal immigration, you are a racist; if you are anti-Iraq war, you support the terrorists; if you are anti-Zionism, you are anti-semitic. When will this polarization stop? There is a massive grey area that exists in the middle of all this ridiculousness, why can’t we occupy it without being called one thing or another?
“Many Americans are admitting defeat on illegal drugs, illegal immigration and Iraq and, by omission, admitting defeat to the radical Jihadists as well.”
-DEE
There isn’t a bomb invented that can kill an idea.
-Me (but not original)
The only way you can deffet drugs immigration or terrorism is to change the minds of those engaged in those acts. In the words of Noam Chomsky IF you want to reduce the level of worldwide terrorism then stop engaging in terrorism, that would reduce it quite a bit.
Of course thats a big IF.
I wanted to thank Justin for pointing out the dangers of being so polarized, the world is not black and white, its a series of grey’s. If everything is all or nothing then expect a lot of nothing.
Enjoy the long weekend.
Thanks Kilgore, all good points as well. You have a great weekend as too.
Undocumented Immigrants and Driver’s Licenses.
New York Governor Spitzer has rekindled the debate on immigration by issuing driver licenses for undocumented immigrants in New York, leading other states to consider the same.
I would like to point out two things:
1) I believe it is of prime importance to include everybody in the computer data banks. ID is done by driver’s license or state ID card //here in Calif.// and not by Social Security Number. SS# was never meant to be used for identification purposes and this practice is frowned upon by Social Security itself; it’s a no-no. So, let’s give them a driver’s license and at the same time, key data enter them. Because….
2) I believe the amnesty/no amnesty debate will be outmoded by the invention of more, extensive farm mechanical equipment that will replace cheap, backbreaking farm labor and immigrant laborers. No one will readily take a job no American would do because there won’t be any such jobs.
Example: For years, cranberry bogs can be harvested by 2 men with special lawn-mower-like machines, after the bog is drained. period.
Opportunity is knocking! This mess should be a major incentive to invent new farm harvesting equipment. Mega-Big Bucks can be made by some practical engineers or just the kid on the farm.
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A second approach re the invention of farm mechanical equipment that will replace cheap, backbreaking farm jobs, where no one will have to take a job no American would do because there won’t be any such jobs: Instead of inventing new harvesting equipment, what about different farming methods in crop growing? Methods which make for easy harvesting with fewer laborers?
There may be many examples, but for one example: semi-hydo-farming. Take a bog, lay gird-net wire fence flat atop of water. Plant potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., //you may not need to enrich water in a good bog with nutrients// Then roll up fencing to harvest crop. //would that work? /nr?/ - needs research// Can two crops be grown intermingled together for one harvest instead of separate harvests in separate fields?
I think you get the vague idea here. Can you make it work? What else? I don’t know if one can patent a new farming method, but if so, Big Bucks also can be harvested. And — Look, Ma, no hands. No labor hands!
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H-2A Visa Hole In Wall Between U.S. and Mexico. Unharvested fruits and vegetables will rot in fields unless harvested. There’s a severe lack of farm workers everywhere. Sooo, the Bush people are rewriting the law //H-2A farm worker visas// that restricts number of farm workers who can be legally brought into the U.S.
“Other changes under consideration would simplify the detailed H-2A housing requirements, extend the definition of “temporary” beyond 10 months, and expand the definition of “agricultural” workers to include such industries as meatpacking and poultry processing.”
For the full news story, click on:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-farmworkers7oct07,0,7492249.story?coll=la-home-center
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Harvesting Folklore. Ask the immigrant farm labors, ask their children how their father and grandfather raised, say (name a vegetable or fruit grown in Mexico or elsewhere) how they raised things on the farm. How seeded, watered, weeded, and most important, how harvested. Ask them to write it down as an essay in their own words. Offer a prize. You must might be astounded to learn new ways to harvest better and different than your own.
Example: How do you build a barn in one afternoon? Hold a barn-raising and a supper for everyone you know. That’s what the Penna. Dutch do to build a new barn in one day.
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New Immigration Tenant Law. Don’t ask, don’t tell immigration status to landlords. California became the first state to prohibit landlords from asking their tenants their immigration status. Landlords in Calif don’t have to play “Immigration spy and cop” in trying to catch illegal immigrants anymore for the feds. It’s now illegal for any communities in Calif. to pass those laws that brace illegal immigrant tenants for expulsion.
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The Department of Homeland Security is not happy about the State of New York issuing licenses to illegal immigrants but cannot do anything about it because federal law does allow states to decide the issue. The situation with New York in granting such licenses came about as a compromise. The state will issue enhanced secure licenses on a three-tier system, in addition to those licenses for illegal immigrants. Only those illegal immigrants with a valid foreign passport can obtain a license.
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hey guys just realize that its not just Hispanics comming illegaly, its portugues, asian, and many others. so dont just blame this all on “mexicans”. i dont hate the illegals, i just wish they would come here the right way. our nation is growing exceptionally fast, and identity theft is becoming a major problem. they risk everything to get over here. sometimes they pay thousands of dollars to get here, and sometimes they get caught and sent back. so why not spend that money and come here the right way. it might be just a little bit cheaper.
and those illegals take the jobs no one wants. i mean who wants and low paying job? they do the things that most of us americans would never even think about doing. we think we are too good for that. us americans are blessed to be here, and the immagrants just want that too. but please do it the right way!
one other thing…
you see all those people who are homeless? i guarentee you most of those people are not immagrants but vetrans or physically handicapd people. our own people. the people who are on social security because they dont feel like getting a job and making a living. IM PAYING FOR YOU and im tierd of it. grow up and get a job. lots of people have done it and you can most deffinatly do it too. ever seen the persuit of happYiness? that man was about to go homeless, but he wanted to be happy and so he busted his ass just for an internship (wich you dont get paid). and he ended up to be very successfull.
Come on guys use your brain you can do anything! so why be lazy and settle for homeless or broke? why not rich and healthy?
I don’t know the exact numbers but I know the vast majority are Latinos. This makes sense from a purely geographical perspective. It’s much tougher for a person from Portugal to sneak across than some one living in Tijuana.
As for homeless the majority are Mentally Handicapped, and yes a disturbing number are veterans. The idea of a single vet being left out in the cold should be a shame so great that no one in power would ever allow it to happen under their watch. But sadly this is not the case. Those we have in power know no shame.
Not everyone can be rich other wise rich would have no meaning. In order for there to be rich there must be poor. When one person become materially rich then thousands of others are sentenced to a life of abject poverty. Will Smith might have made an inspiring movie but that does not change the reality of the situation.
Hey Rachel, thanks for the comments. The only thing I would like to debunk about your argument is how you say that they do the jobs that Americans won’t do. This is a very short sided perspective to a larger problem of immigration. Here is a link to an article that I explained how these myths are bad judgements: Click here.
i clearly understand upon the fact of how illegal immigrants are lowering this country’s basis but what i want to know is that if they should be allowed to have standard of living in this country with rights>?
maby im not being clear but do yall think that illegal immigrants who snuck in be given Zero rights?
I think the illegal immigrants should get the same rights as any other foreign citizen that has lost their right to reside on US soil. That is, they are to be treated with respect as they are escorted back to where they have legal residency. It is very simple.
In other words, if you own a house, and someone enters your home, they have limited rights while on your property. But, they will never have the same amount of rights as the property owner, right? And, if you commit some act that is deemed wrong or bad by the owner, you get escorted off the property by the officials. So why would it be any different with our nation?
The key is to stop being so damn emotional about this subject and think logically. We have to put the health of the nation before the health of any foreign citizen, or why call Mexico, Mexico and America, America?
I’m all for a one world government because I care about the health of people not granfalloons.
(I know its a made up word, but I know of no other that captures its meaning)
Hey Kilgore, I know what you mean, but I don’t think what you are desiring is realistic. Until we see ourselves as humans instead of Americans, Mexicans, blacks, whites, we will never be able to see your grand vision. We are too caught up in the bullshit to see past our insignificant differences and realize our collective truths.
Unfortunately, this improbable grand vision of yours may blur your ability to see what is most effective in the situation that we have been dealt now, and that is separate nations with separate citizens. Plus, I strongly feel that we could do MUCH MORE GOOD if we used other avenues to help out people in need rather than just allowing them to illegally immigrant into our country.
If you think about it, it is extremely cost ineffective to use immigration as a tool for assisting the ones in need. It would be exponentially more effective to help them in their own country, assisting them in building actual infrastructure so they can help themselves in the future. Since we can only take in so many people before we bankrupt our country, using immigration is a poor choice, and a very limited one as well.
wow! i cant belive some people think they pay for ilegal immigants? what is thier problem no one pays for no one. well i think that immigrants should have the exact same rights! YOU whoever is reading this your great great great great grandparents or some like that wasnt born here in the US. I want the same enducation as everyone else in this country.
I am sorry, but your lack of objective knowledge in this topic is apparent. The tax payers pay for illegal immigrants. It is a FACT! They utilize our infrastructure, school systems, medical systems, energy demands, they add to our oil dependency. Illegal immigration serves as a significant drain on our economy. Sorry, but the facts, the logic and the objectivity of this topic supports my point of view.
But, to answer your statement above. Yes, immigrants should have rights. Illegal immigrants should not have the same rights as citizens, as they are ILLEGALLY here. Now they should have the same human rights, but not American rights. Yes, my great grandmother was an immigrant, but not an illegal one. Sorry.
IDs for illegal immigrants and others living in San Francisco will have increased security. The planned purpose for the city IDs is to ensure access to city services, financial institutions, and increase crime reporting to local police. The cards will include ultraviolet images under black light and laser engraving technology. Everyone who applies for an ID card whenever they’re issued will need to show one form of government ID, either U.S. or foreign.
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