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Illegal Immigration: Are They Coming Or Going?
The immigration scenario seems to be getting twisted. On one hand, there is the Immigration Bill that is presently being pummeled in the Senate. The government states that they want to give illegal immigrants some sort of legalization which some call amnesty. On the other hand, there are raids going on in several parts of the country. Hundreds of illegal immigrants are being arrested and sent to jail with the promise of deportation. Now, there appears to be a contradiction here. If this bill is going to survive and eventually be passed into law, why are the raids occurring? If it is a matter of time before illegal immigrants are given some sort of legal status, why the rush to arrest and deport them? There is something underhand going on. This order, to raid corporations like Del Monte in Portland, Oregon, and arrest illegal workers slicing vegetables, does not make sense. This order has come from the top. There is a bad conflict going on here. And it has to stop. The current policy seems to be saying that we need to throw as many illegal aliens out of this country, before the Immigration Bill comes into existence. This makes no sense. Yes, many of the workers at Del Monte had false and stolen social security numbers. Yes, they had violated the law, but then every illegal alien has violated the law, just by being in the United States. Why the mass raids? Why now? If individual states are going to conduct raids with the secret blessing of the federal government, then let there be raids throughout the country. The sanctuary states will not allow it. So what happened to Federal US. Law, which has to be universally followed?
AND THE BORDER HAS NOT BEEN SECURED, NOT YET
The Catholic Church has also got into the immigration debate, openly stating that they will flout the law and give sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Obviously, the Pope has cleared this and decided that Catholicism is going to bypass the constitutionally required Religion and State separation in America. The Catholic Church is essentially challenging the constitution. This is amazing.
AND THE BORDER IS STILL WIDE OPEN
Now what happens when all the illegal aliens have been given Z cards, or whatever they are going to call the new legal permits that are going to be issued? Will that stop the flow of brand new illegal aliens coming in?
THE CIRCLE KEEPS ON TURNING
If and when the current lot of illegal immigrants do attain legalization, big corporations will by pass the newly legalized workers and opt for the latest wave of new illegal immigrants because they can pay the new comers a pittance under the table. No talk of a union, minimum wage, medical benefits, overtime or any other compensation. It is easy cheap labor. The demand is there, economic law dictates that the supply will continue. Big corporations have repeatedly stated that if America wants cheap domestic goods, the price of labor has to stay under the minimum wage bar with no overheads like insurance, or lawsuits And that means illegal workers. And so the flood across the border will simply resume, not that it has stopped. Fifteen years from now there will another 20 million illegal immigrants.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Legalize the current lot of illegal aliens. Secure the border between Mexico and the US. Have iron clad monitoring at the Canadian border and keep an eagle’s eye on people whose visas expire and who stay behind. And if a corporation is found to be hiring illegal immigrants after the immigration bill is passed, the CEOs of that company should be put in jail and fined heavily. The jail time may not hurt as much as the hit to their deep pockets. The question here is what is happening to the laws of the land? A slew of cities like Detroit have decided to flout the law and join the list of sanctuary cities. The Minute Men operate an independent Border Patrol and their numbers are growing every day. There is a mini civil war taking place where immigration issues are concerned, with some states and the Catholic Church deciding to openly disobey and by pass federal laws the country has in place not to mention bucking the Constitution. They are openly running with their own agenda. Sanctuary to illegal aliens has taken on a Robin Hood mentality with morality over riding legality. Besides Detroit, the other sanctuary cities are:
An August 14, 2006 report produced by the Congressional Research Service listed 31 cities and counties that have sanctuary policies in place. They are:
Anchorage, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Chandler, Arizona
Fresno, California
Los Angeles, California
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
Sonoma County, California
Evanston, Illinois
Cicero, Illinois
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Orleans, Massachusetts
Portland, Maine
Baltimore, Maryland
Takoma Park, Maryland
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Durham, North Carolina
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Aztec, New Mexico
Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Sante Fe, New Mexico
New York, New York
Ashland, Oregon
Gaston, Oregon
Marion County, Oregon
Austin, Texas
Houston, Texas
Katy, Texas
Seattle, Washington
Madison, Wisconsin.
Wherever you may stand on the issue of illegal immigration, the fact remains that the laws that have been laid out in stone, are being shattered with impunity everyday, and the most powerful nation in the world is paralyzed into abject submission. Despite 9-11, and a host of other dangers, our borders are still wide open. We need more than an immigration bill. We need tough politicians who do not fear a backlash from the Latino community, or a backlash from big corporations, when the laws of immigration that are already in place are enforced. The United States would not be having this debate or problem if the existing laws were to be enforced. So what is the sense in a new immigration bill? Besides granting legalization to thousands, the bill cannot say anything new. The problem has always been enforcement of the law.
The Fence that they are building is not going to work. The Mexicans have time on their side. If it takes two years or five, they will dig tunnels under that fence. They will scale the fence with ladders, cut the razor wire, some will be arrested, and a majority will slip through.
So what happens now?
The Coyotes in Mexico would like to know!
Comment by Daniel Sanchez
Posted on June 21, 2007 at 10:07 am
In the first place, it is not only hispanics who are illegal immigrants in America. People from all over the world are here illegally. True, hispanics are a majority in the illegal population but there are others, hombre, many others. So please don’t talk only about Mexicans.
Now let us look at this simply. The great American public want their vegetables and beef, strawberries and oranges and other items in their supermarkets and they want them cheap. Now the illegal immigrant gives it to them for cheap. How? The illegal immigrant works for pennies, does not sue his or her employer, does not ask for a raise and is an honest hard working man who works long hours. It is called working for a living, my friend. An honest living.
Now, what the lawmakers and certain American people are saying, basically Get Out because you people have broken the laws of the country. Amigo, we may have a moral dilemma here. The illegal immigrant works to keep body and skin together. Americans talk of how much the illegal immigrant is costing the health care system. But look at the savings that the illegal immigrant is giving to millions of Americans every day in the form of cheap goods. People never talk of that.
And let us look at the practicle side of things. Is the American government going to round up and arrest 20 million illegal immigrants and send them all back? Amigo, come on, let us not kid ourselves. This cannot happen. There will be chaos and there will be violence because families will be torn apart. When you snatch the bread from a man’s hungry child the man is going to get very angry, no. And it is not only the illegal immigrants who are breaking the law my friend. All the big companies have been breaking the law too, no. They make huge profits by hiring illegal immigrants, their stocks are strong, because their overheads are not dragging them down. See, the illegal immigrant does much good work by offering America his cheap labor. So what is the problem? I say, give them Green Cards. I say ,America must have better border control because many bad people want to destroy America. That border fence is not going to work my friend. It is a loco idea. A fifteen foot fence needs a fifteen foot ladder. You simply climb over, or dig a hole under the fence or cut the bars. There are so many simple ways to defeat the fence. America cannot have people watching the fence all the time. The hi tech cameras are a joke. A person can get over fast and before anyone can arrive at the scene, Amigo, he is gone like a fox into a hole. So immigration has a photo of him. Yes my friend, then try finding him in Miami. Know what I mean! The fence is not going to work. All that money for building it, down the hole. In the end I do not know what has to be done. I am a simple man but I am a hard working practicle man.
Let us assume that they send all the illegal immigrants home. The price of essential goods will hit the sky. Stocks will suffer, companies will close down, now is the American economy ready for that. Where are the Americans, black, white or brown, who will pick oranges at $5.50 an hour, with no overtime and no benefits. He gets nothing my friend. He picks the oranges, works in the factories making the juice, loads the juice in the big trucks, cleans up all the garbage and he does not ask for more money, he cannot ask for anything because he is an illegal immigrant. Do you see what I mean my friend. He is needed in America. The country takes advantage of the fact that he is an illegal immigrant and then some people want to throw him out. Do you think that that is fair my friend? Unfortunately the poor illegal immigrant is caught in the middle right now. As long as America is the richest country in the world there will always be illegal immigration upto a certain level.
See, if we are neighbors and you have many carrots in your garden and turnips and many pigs and chickens and I all I have is one goat. Amigo, at some time, you will need some help to take care of all your animals. I tell you that I will take care of it all for very little money. I just need work to feed my family. It would be wise for you to say yes, because if my family get very hungry, then maybe I steal a chicken to feed my children. See, what I mean. I do hope that you understand my friend. You may say, that we are poor, and that is not your problem. You may say that we have broken the law and now please get out. Amigo, the problem is that Americans do not know what it is like to go hungry, month after month, year after year. By crossing the border, immigrants can provide their children three meals a day. If you were in that situation, would you not cross the border? Tell the truth!
Comment by Patricia Sinan
Posted on June 22, 2007 at 11:01 am
It is easy to get emotional about the immigration issue. As always, there is the moral side, and as always, there is the legal side. Let us face the facts, after 9-11, our world changed. We cannot afford to have all these people crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. The whole world by now, knows how easy it is to cross the border. I mean, there are regular Mexican agents who smuggle people accross the border. It is a lucrative business. That is how good things have become for them and how bad things have become for us. What stops terrorists from coming into this country? Nothing.
Recently all the major networks showed some terrorist camp where suicide bombers were attending their graduation ceremony. These suicide bombers stated that they were going to try and get to England, Germany and the United States. Despite all this, President Bush does not see the necessity of sending troops to protect our borders. The fence is a joke. What we need along that border is boots on the ground. That is the only way we are going to protect ourselves here at home. It is all very well to talk about humanity and morals where the illegal immigrants are concerned but what about the fact that our borders are open and anyone can cross at will. This idea of open borders is a fools concept in the world that we live in. By closing our borders to illegal immigrants we also close our borders to terrorists. And that is a good thing, any which way you look at it. This present government is bogged down in Iraq. Illegal immigration to this country has to be stopped. I know that there are honest people who cross the border just looking for work so that they may feed their children. But you have to remember, there are also criminals crossing over and also terrorists who come here and live underground as sleeper cells.
We will pay a high price for our unguarded borders unless something is done real soon. I have been following the border debate and it has become mired in a political bog. And as always, when that happens, the politicians play their games to appease their vote banks. These politicians have to remember that they are playing with the lives of Americans here. If closing the border is going to anger the Mexicans, the entire Latino population, the so called keepers of the moral flame, and the rest of the world, I don’t care. I would rather be alive. If we are attacked tomorrow, White, Black, Latinos and Asians will die, as we seen on 9-11. There are people out there who are looking for any opportunity to attack America. They are looking to wreak havoc bigger than 9-11.The government of the United States knows this and they are doing nothing about it. I find that morally offensive.
Comment by Joeseph Johansson
Posted on June 22, 2007 at 4:14 pm
They are known as illegal immigrants. The key word here is illegal. How difficult is that to understand? We have people who are illegal here in the United States, holding demonstrations on the streets of America, daring the government to arrest them! What happened to our laws? What is happening to this country?
The US government has never said that it does not want more immigrants coming here and working. The laws laid down clearly say that you have to apply legally to get into America and once you are processed, hey, welcome to the American dream.
The folk who apply to come here legally wait years and spend a great deal of money. They wait in line. On the other hand, the illegal immigrants, come here, break the law and then demand legalization. They say that it is unfair if they are not granted legalization. Hey, what about the thousands who are waiting in line all these years. The illegal immigrant DEMANDS to jump the line, he or she does not ask, they DEMAND… this is appalling. The illegal immigrants talk about unfairness all the time. Are they not being unfair by jumping the line, just because they happen to be here, illegally, I may add. And then they flaunt it all by marching in the streets waving the flags of their countries, demanding that the government do something. And the law, all the laws that we already have in place are put aside for reasons everybody is aware of by now. Illegal means illegal. Only in America, it means something else, or so it seems.
Comment by Maria Sanchez
Posted on July 30, 2007 at 11:51 am
What this all amounts to is a hatred for Latino people who make up the largest percentage of people coming into America. If you watch the news, there are people talking about how the illegal immigrants are taxing the systems, how they are sucking the life-blood from America, how they are killing the medical systems. These illegal immigrant workers do not pay taxes they say.
Now let’s look at the other side. The illegal immigrant wakes up at five in the morning to go to work. He or she has no car, so they have to rely on public transport or their legs to take them to their work place. Then they work, picking oranges, strawberries ect, ect, they pick vegetables, dig ditches, clean barns, chicken coops, horse stables, cow dung and a million other jobs.
They do not ask for a living wage, they do not strike and they do not complain about the lower than minimum wage that they are getting. And they do not sue their employers. They work in heat, cold rain or snow. The cost of vegetables and fruit, meat and fish in the Supermarkets stay low because of the illegal immigrant. Yes the illegal immigrant is paying taxes— in blood and in life.
You reap the benefits of his labor, you save money from his labour and then you cry about how he is sucking the blood out of the American system.
The argument has often been made that Americans can do the jobs that illegal immigrants do. Let’s take one such job. Cleaning chickens, cleaning out the guts and other things. Smelling it all, day after day after day. How many Americans are willing to do this job and for how much money? If the illegal immigrant were not around the Supermarkets would become very expensive places.Are people willing for this to happen.
Sure, there are illegal immigrants who are criminals. The ones who sell drugs and do crimes, but they are a small number compared to the thousands of workers who are honest and hardworking. Everyone in American knows that. In this great debate on immigration how many of these journalists bring all this up? It is easy to say send them all back. Think about this while you eat your strawberries. While you are eating this delicious fruit, that you bought dirt cheap, the man who made that possible for you to do is sitting in a one bedroom apartment with seven other people. He is eating pig’s fat mixed with onions because he cannot afford to buy the strawberries that he picked. He is lowering the American standard of living you say. The Americans want it both ways don’t they.
The illegal immigrant does not complain. He goes to bed on a mat on the floor and he wakes at five the next morning and he goes to work. He is paying his taxes everyday of his life.
Nobody forced him to come here to America, you say. That is true. What is also true is all the illegal immigrant worker want to do is work, so that his family may live and have two meals a day, so that his daughter may go to school. That is his American dream. If you find that offensive, that is sad.
Comment by Ramesh Singhania
Posted on July 30, 2007 at 12:34 pm
It is great for people to want sympathy once they are here. But let us look at the facts. The people who are here, the people who have come into this country without proper documentation are wrong on so many levels.
First, they have broken the law and that is a federal offence. Second there are thoussands who have beeen waiting patiently in line to come to America. They wait for ten or more years to come. What the illegal alien is doing is jumping the line, breaking the law and then demanding that he or she become legal because they came into this country illegally breaking all the laws. Is that fair? Lou Dobbs from CNN, who has been talking about the illegal alien problem for oover a year now says that America is not against anyone coming here legally. All races, creeds and religions are welcome in America, as long as they come here legally. What most Americans have a problem with is the illegal aliens pouring in. Besides the security problem, it is a problem for the law. America is a country of laws, like any other civilized country and these laws are passed and they have to be followed. The illegal immigrants obviously have no regard or fear of the law of this land. They are out on the streets, protesting, waving the flags of their respective countries. This in your face attitude that they are showing is not a good sign. What they are saying is we are here, we have broken your laws and your rules and there is nothing that you can do about it. We are here illegally, what are you going to do about it? We dare you to do something about it? You do not have the guts to touch us. That is the stance that the illegal immigrant has taken. We will see what happens next.