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Backlash in the heartland: Tougher enforcement turns up heat on illegal immigrants
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH ^ | Sunday, September 7, 2008 | Jill Riepenhoff and Stephanie Czekalinski

Posted on 09/07/2008 7:24:40 AM PDT by Comparative Advantage

The young woman climbed into a van with a man she had paid $6,500 to take her out of El Salvador and smuggle her into the United States.

Destination? Columbus, where her brothers settled a few years ago to work.

Maria's journey began just after immigration reform imploded in Congress.

She crossed undetected in July 2007 and quickly learned that her new way of life is full of contradictions.

She and others working here illegally can pay into Social Security but can't collect benefits if they are disabled, retire or die.

They can collect workers' compensation benefits if they are injured on the job but can't legally work.

They can play the lottery but can't collect jackpots.

They can open a bank account but can't take out a home mortgage without valid identification.

They can buy a car and register it but can't have a driver's license.

"I knew it would be that way before I came," Maria said. "But one comes with the hope that she can find a way to enter the world of opportunities."

After a year in Columbus, the 25-year-old immigrant has yet to settle comfortably. She knows little English, has no savings and isn't sure whom to trust if she's in trouble.

"There are some things that you don't even ask, because you're afraid," she said.

Maria asked The Dispatch not to use her full name or identify her employer for fear of retribution. Like other Latinos living in Ohio illegally - as many as 145,000 - she worries that any encounter with a stranger could lead to deportation.

Consider what has happened in the past year:

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has increased the number of agents in Ohio from eight to more than 40.

(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; amnesty; borders; illegals; immigrantlist; immigration; mccainpalin
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1 posted on 09/07/2008 7:24:40 AM PDT by Comparative Advantage
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To: Comparative Advantage
She knows little English, has no savings and isn't sure whom to trust if she's in trouble.

Not to worry, our government will take care of you. Trust me.

2 posted on 09/07/2008 7:27:10 AM PDT by unixfox (The 13th Amendment Abolished Slavery, The 16th Amendment Reinstated It !)
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To: Comparative Advantage
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has increased the number of agents in Ohio from eight to more than 40.

And in other news, Cleveland Ohio has seen its violent crime rate drop significantly from last year's figures.

3 posted on 09/07/2008 7:30:29 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: unixfox

She should be very encouraged with this sign of things to come.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076375/posts


4 posted on 09/07/2008 7:32:12 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Voting Conservative isn't for the faint of heart.)
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To: All

Just wonder if this tough enforcement continues under Obama/McAmnesty?

Another pro-illegal/anti-American sob piece.


5 posted on 09/07/2008 7:32:29 AM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (Why Is It That The People Who Claim Ron Paul Is "Nuts"...Are Actually Nuttier Themselves..)
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To: Comparative Advantage

Sounds to me as though people would want to come legally and have none of those bad things signify.


6 posted on 09/07/2008 7:34:39 AM PDT by stevem
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To: Comparative Advantage

Sounds to me as though people would want to come legally and have none of those bad things signify.


7 posted on 09/07/2008 7:35:02 AM PDT by stevem
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To: stevem

The Columbus paper should report her. If not, the people in Columbus should cancel that rag.


8 posted on 09/07/2008 7:38:29 AM PDT by Radl (rtr)
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To: Comparative Advantage

pobrecita!


9 posted on 09/07/2008 8:01:17 AM PDT by ol' hoghead (He is not here; for he is risen.)
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To: Comparative Advantage
She crossed undetected in July 2007 and quickly learned that her new way of life is full of contradictions.

She and others working here illegally can pay into Social Security but can't collect benefits if they are disabled, retire or die.

We try not to let bank robbers keep the loot either, some people have no concept of illegal.

10 posted on 09/07/2008 8:21:48 AM PDT by org.whodat (Republicans should support the SAM Walton business model, and then drill???)
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To: Radl
It's going broke like the rest of them!! News papers are the biggest polluters in American, do you have any ideal how much paper all newspapers put in land fills just from their weekly Sunday inserts.
11 posted on 09/07/2008 8:24:10 AM PDT by org.whodat (Republicans should support the SAM Walton business model, and then drill???)
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To: Comparative Advantage

If life here is so terrible, why fear deportation?


12 posted on 09/07/2008 8:38:27 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (The best is the enemy of the good!)
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To: Comparative Advantage

She knows little English, has no savings and isn’t sure whom to trust if she’s in trouble.
______________________________________
Perfect candidate for San Francisco. Free housing, free food, free medical, free legal aid, guaranteed work for those who might wish to work but it’s not necessary, streets paved in gold and no punishment if you commit a crime. There is still plenty of room for her, her kids, her relatives and her friends.


13 posted on 09/07/2008 9:09:52 AM PDT by Joan Kerrey
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To: Comparative Advantage

she should move to Chicago plenty of community organizers that will point her in the right direction.


14 posted on 09/07/2008 9:12:36 AM PDT by pennboricua
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To: Comparative Advantage

“she had paid $6,500 to take her out of El Salvador and smuggle her into the United States.”

One can live well and long in El Salvador on $6,500. These are NOT economic refugees. If they can get that much to get here, they can afford to stay HOME.


15 posted on 09/07/2008 9:16:50 AM PDT by AuntB ( "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: Comparative Advantage
I should feel "sorry" for someone who broke into "Casa USofA" and is stealing resources? Explain how that works again. She works illegally and has to pay taxes. If you don't want to pay taxes, don't work illegally. If you can't live on air, go back home to El Salvador and apply to enter the USofA LEGALLY. You had $6500 to live on and probably a job while you wait your turn.

I worked with illegals as a Caseworker . . . they use Emergency Medicaid to pay for their pregnancies. Their children get Medicaid the first year of their lives (here in Georgia, USA) and then because they're a citizen may be eligible for continued Medicaid or SCHIPS. SCHIPS only has a certain number of spaces. US Born Children can't get on SCHIPS because children of Illegal Aliens are using those spaces. The adults go to the ER and can't or won't pay the bill. So hospitals go in the red or jack up prices for paying patients. Illegal aliens that cannot read buy a car, get a license plate (I don't think any of this should be 'legal' without proving citizenship) and then run over people or into people. They can't read "STOP" and don't have a clue what it means. But they just get a ticket or a court date and disappear to another locality to do it all over again. Illegals use seventeen different names, switching their names around so that they don't get caught "double, triple or more" dipping into resources. I've had some that use child's Social Security Numbers when they went to work. Imagine MY surprise when I get a computer message that SSN 000-00-0000 belonging to the child has income listed. They name their children after themselves for a reason . . . to use the SS Card to get additional services.

The Constitution included information about LEGAL Immigration for a REASON. We have legal means to enter the USofA. Illegals need to be rounded up and sent home to follow the rules. If not, then to be allowed to stay they need to repay the States for all expenses given to their families and not incur any additional welfare or food stamps until their IOU is paid off. THEN they pay a fee to pay for the costs of obtaining a green card with a chip in it that can trace them if they try to sell the card.

And I wish the STATES would pass laws that a person cannot obtain a car license plate without a valid drivers license and a test to see if they can read English.

16 posted on 09/07/2008 9:25:15 AM PDT by HighlyOpinionated (The Number of the Beast:"six hundred threescore six." Barack Hussein Obama can translate:"Lucifer.")
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To: org.whodat

Another good reason to use the internet for your reading enjoyment.


17 posted on 09/07/2008 11:19:20 AM PDT by Radl (rtr)
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To: AuntB; Tennessee Nana; raybbr
“...she paid $6,500 to get smuggled from El Salvador into the United States”.....

The daily wage in El Salvador is something like $3 a day.

Where did she get $6500 for the smuggling fee? And how is she surviving in the US with all these limitations on her activities? This is not a cheap country to live in. You see these people walking around in upscale neighborhoods with designer clothes, and cellphone attached to their ears.

Where are they getting the money?

Somehing smells here. Is the El Salvadoran government subsidizing smuggling? And living expenses?

The El Salvadoran govt might have a hidden interest in having its citizens in the US. As Juan Hernandez told Cong Tancredo: "By Mexico populating the US with millions of Hispanics tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, our government is able to exert enormous influence and pressure on US policy and its dealings with Mexico."

Translated from the Spanish: "We gonna loot your treasury for billions by blackmailing you with illegals' votes." Get ready for a massive transfer of US wealth to greedy federales in these Third World hellholes.

The sap-happy whining about "hopeless people" looking for a "better life" here is nonsense. Hernandez and other Third World gov't agents have infiltrated the US political system for ONE REASON: to effect a massive transfer of US wealth. Third World federales are salivating at the thought.

18 posted on 09/07/2008 11:21:49 AM PDT by Liz (Taxpayer: one who works for the govt but doesn't have to take a civil service test. R. Reagan.)
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To: Liz

Exactly. And all these countries are getting rid of the ones they don’t want. They don’t want to take care of them or deal with their criminals.


19 posted on 09/07/2008 11:38:00 AM PDT by AuntB ( "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: Comparative Advantage

Find them—
send them back south of the border—
heavily fine the employers to deter repeat action by them—build the wall as high and as electrified as necessary.

Do immediately.

Repeat as needed....


20 posted on 09/07/2008 11:42:10 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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