Immigration and Security

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Wednesday, December 24, 2003

[presidio9]

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge recently committed the political sin of telling the truth. His helpful candor has reopened a much-needed debate over immigration and exposed some of the specious arguments used by those who want to close U.S. borders.

[texastoo]

The backlash is growing and will continue to grow.

[Pa' fuera]

The closed border policy has nothing to do with national security. It is directed at Mexico, not Canada, and its main targets are hispanic, not arabic.

that was the pre-9/11 closed border policy, the rationale for which has not gone away. There is now also a national security component, since the border patrol is apprehending illegals from terrorist-sponsoring states. It is true that most illegals are not terrorists, but that doesn't mean they don't create a different set of problems for us. That doesn't mean we should tolerate their presence in this country.

[judicial meanz]

Sorry man....I mis-read. My mistake.

Good example.

I tried to get a managementjob with a government agency once. Wanted the job for 10 years straight. Applied, qualified ( top 5%) and lost out to a recent immigrant who competed with me on the job, simply because he filled the minority quota they needed.

He had never served in the military, never went to college,and had not paid half the blood I did for this country, but he got the job. Burns me up.

This stuff burns me up afterall these years.

[Pa' fuera]

Furthermore, it falls on the employer to collect, and submit those tax payments in, not for the individual to send in a check weekly.

absolutely false -- whether my employer withholds from me or not, it is still my obligation to declare my yearly income and pay the requisite amount of taxes on it. And I don't think an illegal alien with a false social security number is in a big hurry to do that.

[Pa' fuera]

I have no interest. I live in NY and I am the whitest-looking guy you ever saw. I believe in competition, not congenital entitlement.

come out here to California - you can compete for a bed in the ER with an illegal immigrant when you're gravely ill!!

[Pa' fuera]

The Social Security Administration is trying to distribute money from its "Earnings Suspense File," comprising contributions that can’t be matched up with a proper Social Security number. That file mushroomed in the 1990s, fueled by a fast-growing work force of illegal immigrants using fake Social Security numbers to get jobs. By the end of the 2000 tax year, the file contained $374 billion.

That's terrific news

PS - I still want them out of my country

[hchutch]

I think it is more this amporhous thing called "culture" some of them are more worried about.

Personally, I'm not sure I like their idea of "culture" at all.

[Luis Gonzalez]

That's not the point I was addressing, the poster claimed that they paid no taxes, blatantly wrong.

The Center's study has some inherent flaws in it as well.

[CWOJackson]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Luis.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...whether my employer withholds from me or not, it is still my obligation to declare my yearly income and pay the requisite amount of taxes on it."

Gravitas to the illegal IRS from a conservative?

Wonders never cease.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Place a newspaper ad for a dishwasher for your restaurant, and tell me how many unemployed programmers respond.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"I'm misinformed about illegal aliens?"

Yes.

You claimed that they paid no taxes, they do.

Then you went on to claim that "taking a job from an American", and using welfare benefits inferred some sort of legal status.

Three out of the four points in your post are either blatantly wrong, or make no sense, ergo, you are either misinformed, or disingenuous.

[Luis Gonzalez]

And a Merry Christmas to you and yours as well my friend.

[CWOJackson]

I know it isn't much, but I see where the Cuban government has recognized Christmas this year. I was shocked.

[vladog]

"come to grips with the presence of eight to 12 million illegals"

Yeah round them up and ship them back where they came from, ASAP!

[judicial meanz]

Well, Sir, thats your opinion.

You claim they are wrong points, but the facts I see tell me differently. I guess we have to agree to disagree.

I can take you to a restaurant right now where there are 10 employees from Nicaragua who are illegally in this country and pay no taxes. They are paid in cash and they send some home and keep a small portion for themselves.

As a magistrate, I sat on hundreds of hearings for illegal immigrants who were unrepentent lawbreakers. Not a one was ever deported, even after I ordered them held for INS.

As for the personal attack on my character, go to h*ll. I am neither. I can handle a an attack on facts or figures, but there is no reason to attack my character unless yours are on crumbling ground.

The personal attack on my

[FITZ]

Funny that they complain not about the societal largesse, but merely gripe about some of the recipients.

How can we ever get rid of the welfare system when so many more are being added to it? Of course if you never went to school and have no job skills, you will vote to keep the "safety net". NAFTA sent the jobs the people from Mexico can do to Mexico ---- there aren't enough low-skilled jobs being developed for the numbers moving in.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...whether my employer withholds from me or not, it is still my obligation to declare my yearly income and pay the requisite amount of taxes on it."

Filing a return is not the same as paying taxes, taxes are deducted from your pay. You claimed that illegal immigrants paid no taxes...they do.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...but the facts I see tell me differently..."

You have posted no facts.

" can take you to a restaurant right now where there are 10 employees from Nicaragua who are illegally in this country and pay no taxes. They are paid in cash and they send some home and keep a small portion for themselves."

The crime here is committed by the employer.

"As a magistrate, I sat on hundreds of hearings for illegal immigrants who were unrepentent lawbreakers. Not a one was ever deported, even after I ordered them held for INS."

The criminal habits of the minority are not reflective on the majority; this holds true for illegal immigrant or natural born citizens.

"As for the personal attack on my character, go to h*ll"

There was no personal attack anywhere.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Castro is feeling uneasy about his future...on both sides of life.