Posted on 11/04/2003 9:29:11 AM PST by paulklenk
Taking time out from the war on terror and the war on drugs, President Bush, to the purple born, has declared war on cleaning ladies.
The agents of his wrath swooped down on 61 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states where men and women from South America and Eastern Europe toiled at minimum-wage jobs mopping floors and cleaning toilets until Bush closed them down. One wonders if the president remembers the words of the man whom he once cited as his role model: That which you do to the least of these, you do to me.
Perhaps the president and all his advisers have forgotten that their ancestors, too, were immigrants who had to struggle to make it in this new land. The fact that their forebears may or may not have come here legally and these plunderers of our national treasure came without sanction of law merely betokens how self-involved we are in our prosperity, narcissistically refusing to share it with those in need.
These men and women now in jail came here seeking work, not welfare. The $11 billion a year Mexican Americans send home to their impoverished nation gives every man, woman and child back home $110 with which to buy food and other necessities. Bush no doubt has no family memories of immigrants who sent money home, but those of us of more recent vintage recall clearly the stories of our fathers and grandfathers. It was that money that allowed our ancestors to survive.
Does Bush seriously contend that, with 6 percent unemployment, there are Americans waiting to take the jobs of those he arrested at Wal-Mart? He knows full well that the alternative to illegal immigrants performing those jobs is to use robots to do it. He has not saved jobs for Americans. He has saved them for robots.
For those in high dudgeon who are reading this column and would intone piously about the rule of law, let me ask if you are sure the toilet you used at the gas station was cleaned by a legal immigrant or a U.S. citizen. How about your garden and lawn? And your housecleaners? And the guy who waits on you at the lunch counter or cleans the dishes after you have eaten? Are those all here legally? I invite you to vindicate your self-righteous views on immigration by mowing your own lawn, cleaning your own toilets and cooking your own food or do so for $5.25 an hour.
America needs Bush to crack down on illegal immigration, but from nations that harbor terrorists or sponsor them. We need an end to immigrants coming in on student visas from those nations. We must have more aggressive efforts to round up those who have overstayed their visas who hail from lands that wish us no good.
We need an immigration policy along the lines of legislation proposed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) that would reward with amnesty and citizenship those who pass certain criteria such as English literacy, no arrest record and employment with contributions to Social Security.
The Republican Party can continue its war on Hispanics and its battles against cleaning ladies if it wants, but it does so at the price of its own electability. What message does the Wal-Mart raid send at a time when Bush is attempting to overcome past GOP insistence on cutoff of aid to legal immigrants by adopting pro-Hispanic policies and appointing top level Hispanics to key jobs?
Americans do not confuse hardworking Mexican and Eastern European immigrants, legal and illegal, with those who come to our nation from nations that sponsor or harbor terrorists. We know that the former build our nation and the latter want to tear it down. Bush does himself and his party no good by attacking the good immigrants and letting the bad ones go free.
Pardon my intervention, but I couldn't help noticing that you seem to have checked your Christian compassion at the door in this your reply. Does dealing with a fellow US citizen (I assume you're a citizen as much as it makes me blanche) make you forget your normal, sweet Christian nature? Would it help if the person disagreeing with your tender-hearted position were Hispanic? Do you find it hard to love people that are here legally?
So, tell me, using your value system, how many immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Europe would there be in the US and how many from Mexico? Would there be tens of thousands of Europeans and millions of Mexicans, or some other ratio?
I grant Wal-Mart a lot of slack to run their business as they see fit and to prosper when their customers benefit. To some extent, it is the problem of Wal-Mart's competitors to figure out how to stay in the game.
But in this instance, Wal-Mart is cheating by taking advantage of the lesser demands of illegal aliens. Their competitors do not deserve having to compete with law-breakers.
I apologize for saying that you are full of it. I do respect the fact that you appear to be a very caring person. And I understand your feelings towards people who come to the U.S., whether legally or illegally, to try to better their lives. You just need to understand that most Americans want our immigration laws to be enforced, and if somebody violates our immigration laws, that person should be punished in some fashion. I don't know what the solution to the illegal immigration problem should be, but we can't just keep turning a blind eye to illegal immigration in the name of compassion. Because if we do that, someday the United States will become a country that NOBODY, Americans and foreigners alike, will want to live in.
What's wrong with this solution?
What's wrong with this solution?
Now, since I answered your question. How about you answer mine? What personal experience do you in ministering to illegal immigrants?
If enough of these stories make the news, the numbers of illegals crossing will diminish since they know they won't get the freebies they've been getting in the past.
These people can't vote legally so the polls don't matter anyway.
The majority of the voting public want illegal immigration stopped so it very well could bring people screaming to the polls.
Wassamatta with that? Enforcing the law worked for years.
You aren't really looking for an answer, are you?
Solution is simple: Deport the law breakers and substitute with a like number waiting to enter legally. Our nation was founded on hard working immigrants wishing to become citizens, to learn OUR LANGUAGE and to assimilate. Worked well these many years until we were plagued by illegals, speaking little English except "$10.00 an hour OFF THE BOOKS".
How 'bout this 'un, "Christian": "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." ---Matt. 12:36. Do some reading yourself, faker.
And while you're at it, I dare you to lay out a workable plan to fix the situation. Maybe you'd just like to whine about it, instead.
Don't need to, faker. One was laid out in 1986. Maybe you're too young to remember: that involved an amnesty for the "decent people" who had come here illegally but who were supposedly "working hard and obeying the law," in return for stepped up enforcement of the immigration laws. Guess what happened, Mr. Faux Compassion?
Amen, sir, I do it every day. The problem with illegal "immigrants" is that they do not wish to become citizens at all. They want to come and take from the country - a lot of it going down south to their native countries - and live as if they were still in Mexico. I would love for these people to come here legally and work to become Americans, but that's just not going to happen. So, if they wish to pretend that they are still in Mexico, send them home and make it a reality.
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