Glad they finally picked up old Maddy.
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.
Yes, it seems Paul Klenk may be a fraud. Telling everyone to extend ministry to illegals, yet he does not seem to have personal experience in that area himself.
Beware of people who do not give credit where credit is due. He demands mercy of America yet will not credit America with the mercy they have given illegals all these years.
Many Christians like this guy do not recognize justice as an attribute of God's character. Seems to be they are imbalanced individuals. Must go...Have a good day.
How much of a drain do you think illegal immigrants put on our health care, welfare, social, medicare, etc systems? How much, compared to that, would it be to deport the illegal immigrants to their country of origin? I think it would be a lot cheaper to give them a plane ticket and tell them, "Don't come back".
They are here illegaly. More come across the border every day unimpeded. How hard would it be for a group of terrorists to do the same? Can you say that you would know the difference between a Mexican sympathizer of Hezbollah and a Mexican wanting a job cleaning gas station restrooms?
The borders need some type of actual security that will stop the illegal immigrants from coming. The ones that are here need to be deported.
If I had all the answers I wouldn't be a no name, I'd be one of President Bush's advisors.
That is, by far, the best argument I've heard to enforce ENGLISH ONLY. I disagree that it not become law lest we continue to have the government spending $$$ translating documents from English and department stores permitting employees to count change in a foreign language.
First, I am not suggesting that people break the law, or ignore the laws on the books. What I am saying is this:
We do have an immigration problem, particularly with illegal Mexicans. We have laws that few are enforcing. Our country is gaining a lot of economic advantage from the status quo. In other words, a lot of people are using cheap, illegal labor.
On the other side, we have a lot of people whining about it, but not offering real solutions. They just harp on all those foreigners, and they sound like bigots when they do -- even when they're not trying to be bigoted, they come across that way.
Any talk of amnesty or other compromises riles these people up even more. But again, apart from shouting "Deport! Deport!" they really don't address the economic and practical ramifications of deporting millions of people.
I am suggesting that we radically change our immigration, particularly with respect to Mexico, which is sending us the most illegals right now. We need to find ways to make it just as easy to immigrate legally as it is illegally, and find a way to reward these people to give them an incentive to use the new system. Don't know what that system would look like, but I'd like to see some lawmakers tackle it.
Now, the Pat Buchanan's of this world may not like my ideas, but I am happy to say that few Americans pay attention to what Pat is saying, either, so we're even.
What is really sad is, it is quite possible that the lawyer knew all this time there was nothing he could do. He quite possibly took her money for ten years and finally told her it wasn't worth it. He probably could have told her the bad news years ago. I know this from experience when I naively tried to help a Russian girl find a lawyer. I tell you, if she weren't dating someone, I'd ask her to marry me today and solve her whole immigration problem.
Therein lies the problem and either our complaints are falling on deaf ears or, I suspect, many are relying on the lone voice of Tancredo to get the message out.
We must fax, write or call and ask our representative where they stand on amnesty; on our open border policy; on foreign-issued ID cards; on cutting federal funding to cities that have 'santuary' laws (violating federal law) that prohibit local police from reporting illegal aliens to federal authorities, and if they will vote to abolish federal requirements to provide foreign-language ballots. The ability to speak, read and write basic English is a REQUIREMENT to become a naturalized citizen (press #1 for English doesn't foster that goal) and only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote.
In short, let them know we are informed voters who demand answers. Perhaps a baby step but one heading in the right direction, IMHO.
1) A constitutional amendment permitting governments to condition economic/social benefits on citizenship and/or legal status. No more obligation to educate the children of illegals, for example.
2) A legal residency program of maybe 7 years or so, during which the person could remain in the U.S. if they were actively employed for a certain percentage of that time. They'd have limited or even no eligibility for social service benefits.
3) at the end of seven years, they could apply for citizenship. 4) Consideration is made to linking the program to an amnesty. So people could stay, but they wouldn't be able to soak off the government, other than having their children be permitted to go to school if their parents are legal. They'd be net contributors to the government coffers. If they go without work for an extended period, knowingly assist illegals to stay here, or violate other rules, they get bounced back.
The effect of that might be to keep those illegals here who really are interested in working, let them become legal, and more tightly control future immigration. And by cutting back on entitlement to social services, you discourage the freeloaders from entering.
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