Posted on 10/19/2007 1:25:01 PM PDT by BillCompton
I am one of the Republicans who was shouted down in the Bush-backed immigration debate. Actually, the words were so hot here, I didn't even bother. I respect those here that feel strongly about the mass of illegals entering the country and I won't go into the reasons I thought the Bush approach was to some degree constructive. The will of the people has been heard.
Now the issue is very different for me. I am heartbroken. My wife teaches high school here in Live Oak, FL. She is relatively new, so she gets lower level students. Every semester, a few "projects" enter her radar screen. She impacts lives and has turned some around. She has lost some. Today we found out we really lost one. Salvador Mendoza is 19 year old and a former student. Until a few days ago, we had no idea he was an illegal alien. He is a fine young man. He pays taxes. makes 35k a year, which is extraordinary for a kid his ages. His job takes a lot of skill and great effort (he cleans out industrial incinerators).
This young man has done yard work for us and has kept our children. He visits every few months and ate dinner with our family last Christmas eve. He always _appreciated_ that my wife had helped him and encouraged him and even fussed at him. We all know that gratitude is the least deeply felt emotion, but his kid has character and class. He graduated on time. When he was 17, he got a ticket for driving without a license. He got a license, did community service instead of paying the fine (big mistake!), and got on with his life. Four nights ago, he was in a small car accident. He has insurance and only his car was involved (he rolled the car on its side, but he and his friend were able to right it with a push.) Before they could carry on, the police arrived. There was an outstanding warrant for not paying the traffic ticket. It was a mistake made by the system at some point, and so he was arrested. When they got him to jail, they ran his id and determined that he was illegal.
Salvador has attend school in our community since he was in the second grade. He speaks without an accent and is as American as I am. He is honest, productive and an absolute asset to our country. Now he is going to be sent to Mexico. He barely remembers the place and his Spanish is not good. He has some family there, because he has been sending them money.
Okay, throw his Mom and Dad out. But he is innocent, isn't he? By what morality can he be considered guilty of anything? Was he suppose to talk his parents out of coming to America? I tell you this is indecent. The sins-of-the-father ethos is more alien to this country than he has ever been.
So instead of having a young tax payer who will raise a family, support his community and (God willing) vote Republican, he is going to a country he doesn't know facing a future we would never wish on our children.
So flame away. But at least have the moral fiber to explain in what moral universe this boy deserves this mess. If you can answer by 8:30 PM tonight, I would appreciate it. You see, that is when he is calling our home from jail to find out what the lawyer told us before he refused to accept the $7,500 retainer. Well Salvador, you are Mexican, so you are screwed.
WRONG! He's NOT A CITIZEN!!!! He's an ILLEGAL ALIEN!!!!! NO illegal alien does America any credit whatsoever. Period.
But, I guess Mexicans just are no good. Whatever.
You said that before. I'm tired of all this racist crap. I live in a community/neighborhood with many Hispanics. I get along with them very well. BUT THEY'RE AMERICAN CITIZENS, whether born here or naturalized. THEY'RE NOT ILLEGAL. Get the message.
Oh, and you think I'm hostile now? Say one more word about racism and you'll really see what hostility is. In fact, it seems to me, if you're the one bringing it up, then you're the one who has issues with it.
If Salvador can clean an industrial incinerator, I bet the US Navy could use him.
I thought of the military too, but I’m pretty sure they only take people with green cards, and the kid has a record by now anyway.
I thought of the military too, but I’m pretty sure they only take people with green cards, and the kid has a record by now anyway.
Excellent point, I forgot. I think Bush signed an E.O. that would effectively grant him a green card if he enlists. Not sure whether his present legal difficulties are a factor, however.
I have no problem with him and kids like him remaining in the country. I believe that there’s a bill in congress that would legalize them. Perhaps he could sue and claim that it was cruel punishment to punish him for his parents crimes.
I wouldn’t be so sure about a Green Card being required for the military. I’m pretty sure he can work it out, if that is what he wants to do.
Then it’s a Win/Win.
Oh, please. Who in this thread said "Mexicans just are no good"?
If Salvador is such a wonderful person, then I'm sure Mexico will be glad to have him and he can do a lot of good there.
When you implied that the only reason he was "screwed" is because he was Mexican, you lost a lot of credibility.
In reading it, it comes across no different than those who call people wanting the laws enforced as racist, nativist, isolationist, xenophobic, etc.
If Bush had listened to America and truly secured the borders first, he could have come back to Congress after a year of absolute secure borders saying that he’d proven himself and that he wanted a guest worker plan and a small amnesty for folks like your friend Salvador Mendoza. Congress would have gladly passed such a bill.
That would have been a win-win strategy where the Republican base is happy with secure borders and Hispanics and their employers happy with legal status of some kind.
But Bush decided to go with the lose-lose strategy where he attacked and angered his voting base, angered the Hispanics and their employers with no legal status at all.
Unsurprisingly Bush’s lose-lose strategy lost, and unfortunately your friend is caught up in Bush’s strategy or lack of strategy.
“Now he is going to be sent to Mexico.”
Oh my, the drama . . .
So what’s the problem FRiend? Even if he is eventually dropped off in, say, Nuevo Laredo it’s as simple as him hoofing it a mile or two and catching a gray dog back to wherever you call home, right Bill?
Where is home anyway? And his people, the `straw men’ villains here. They’re still here, right?
Even if he is given a free ride, he’s back in their loving arms, so there really isn’t a problem, is there.
I’m guessing this is really just a trial balloon of sorts being raised by a `goo-goo’ to gauge the strength of popular opinion—on America’s premier conservative site—towards such things as the DREAM act, and cabbages and sealing wax . . . or maybe not.
If it is, well Bill—my determination to preserve this country, as I know it—it might waver. Someday I’ll stop fighting things like a `New World Order’, a `North American Union’, and other high-flown notions conceived by my political/social/economic superiors, and I’ll sit down. Maybe even lie down.....
.....on the day that my legs are broken and my last breath leaves my body.
So, you are a pro-amnesty type who fails to understand the consequences of granting legal stauts to millions of illegal aliens, who could then bring in millions more through chain migration. The population of the US will increase by 167 million by 2060, 105 million of which are due to immigration, legal and illegal. Legalizing the status of illegals already here would increase those numbers even more.
If immigration continues at current levels, the nation’s population will increase from 301 million today to 468 million in 2060 — a 167 million (56 percent) increase. Immigrants plus their descendents will account for 105 million (63 percent) of the increase. The total projected growth of 167 million is equal to the combined populations of Great Britain, France, and Spain. The 105 million from immigration by itself is equal to 13 additional New York Cities.
However, my comment really was only intended to say that I wouldn’t morally blame them for coming. I would still enforce the law but I wouldn’t hate them for what they have done.
No one is asking you to be the moral arbiter of the rightness or wrongness of these people coming. In terms of administering the law, it is not a factor. I don't "hate" them for what they have done. I want the USG to enforce our laws and secure our borders. We are being invaded by millions of people who shouldn't be here. It is one of the greatest peaceful migrations in the history of man. There are and will be consequences for this nation, most them not good. We also need to reduce the number of legal immigrants and change our immigration policies to serve the interests of this nation.
Sir, your emotions are getting in the way of the facts, and that will certainly not help your friend.
Look at exactly what he has or has not done, i.e. the fake social, his drivers license, never taking responsibility for his situation, etc.
He is not in trouble because he is Mexican. You sound like a liberal, trying to paint us all as racists.
I have many immigrant friends, from many countries, who have all immigrated legally no matter how long it took or how much it cost. I expect no different from this kid, who, btw, was educated free of charge by the US taxpayer.
There is a saying in the legal profession that hard facts make bad case law. A city, state or federal government should not set policy on anecdotal cases. Our country has been well served by being based on law and not men.
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