Posted on 09/26/2004 5:35:54 AM PDT by NewRomeTacitus
"I pity the poor immigrant who wishes he would've stayed home," Bob Dylan wrote many years ago. This week, that immigrant had a face and a name: Cristina Fialho Cassiano.
"I'm sorry for what I did," she said, sobbing in a Cambridge courtroom. She pleaded guilty to receiving fraudulent documents and asked the judge to expedite her deportation "so I can return to Brazil and start my life over."
In the days that followed, a dozen immigrants, mostly from Framingham and Milford, entered guilty pleas and were turned over to federal authorities for deportation. The feds have sent letters out to hundreds of others known to have purchased fake Social Security cards from a man who had an office in Framingham, asking them to come in for questioning.
Word of the arrests and letters have sent a wave of apprehension across MetroWest's growing Brazilian community. They are calling friends, advocacy groups, lawyers and travel agents.
The arrests no doubt sent a wave of euphoria through MetroWest's anti-Brazilian community. A handful of activists in Framingham have been calling on local authorities to round up the people they insist on calling illegal aliens and deport every one of them.
Then there is the great mass in the middle, people who consider themselves unprejudiced, who remember their immigrant ancestors and appreciate the economic activity newcomers have brought to the aging downtowns of Framingham, Marlborough, Milford and Hudson. The moderates also worry about jobs going to illegals instead of citizens. They are peeved at having their simplest restaurant orders lost in translation.
Immigration is part of what makes America great, the mass in the middle thinks, but illegal immigration is getting seriously out of hand.
The life of an undocumented immigrant is no picnic. For many, the long road from Brazil through the border crossings in the Southwest is fraught with peril. It's expensive - the fake documents sold in Framingham for as much as $10,000. They crowd into apartments because housing costs so much. They work for less than minimum wage with no benefits. Complain too loudly and the boss might report you.
Being here illegally means you can't go home for a last visit with a dying parent, not without leaving your relatives, job or business behind, maybe forever. You've got to live with the constant threat of the law, and deal with the daily humiliations imposed by Anglos who make it crystal clear you aren't wanted.
There's no pity for the poor immigrants from that quarter. Their answer to the problem is to make the hard life of the immigrants even harder. Don't let them get drivers licenses. Don't let their children qualify for in-state college tuition. Make them feel unwelcome, then maybe they'll tell their relatives back home to stay away.
The answer from the other side of the spectrum is to make life easier for those here illegally. The immigrants are good people, the advocates and liberal sympathizers say. Let's be a welcoming community. That way they might vote for us someday.
But their sympathy keeps the liberals from speaking out against the exploitation of immigrants by criminals who take their life savings and leave them to bake in the desert. The sympathizers don't talk about employers and landlords who rip off and mistreat illegals. The liberals don't talk about the wages of poor people of all nationalities are dragged down by the easy availability of illegal immigrant labor.
Neither side of this argument wants to talk about the real issue. Immigrants don't risk their lives and freedom so they can drive in MetroWest. They don't come here so their kids can receive in-state tuition. They come here to work. If they couldn't get hired, they wouldn't come, at least not in such overwhelming numbers.
But nobody goes after those who hire illegals. The Rte. 9 restaurant where Cristina Cassiano worked will face no penalty; all they are required to do is ask for documents. We build holograms into drivers licenses to stop underage drinking, but Social Security cards have barely changed since FDR's administration.
Time magazine reports that for all the illegal immigrants caught across the country in 2002, just 13 employers were fined. An employer hotline for verifying immigration status, mandated by Congress in 1986, has never been implemented.
"The INS's employer sanctions program," Time reports, "has all but disappeared."
Bush Republicans like illegal immigration because it boosts profits for agribusinesses in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Democrats like it because Hispanics are the nation's fastest growing voter group. Business owners in MetroWest like it because it's hard enough as it is to get people who'll wash dishes and clean offices, and the immigrants work harder than most Anglos.
Even the masses in the middle accept it, despite their reservations, because they can get better deals on landscaping and house-painting.
Three million people enter this country illegally every year, Time estimates, bringing with them a thick muddle of costs and benefits, risks and rewards. It's a huge issue, and one that neither George W. Bush nor John F. Kerry wants to talk about.
And that's a pity.
And other recent stories:
Undermining border security...
... While Arizonans debate illegals
(CA) Hispanics protest driver's license veto
(Idaho) Counties want to end medical payments for undocumented workers
Wow!!!
Who'd a thunk this would happen in Mass.
I gotta find out who had the balls to carry this through. The DA and the Framingham PD Chief for starters, probably. Next time I'm in town for a board meeting I'll buy a few boxes of Krispey Kremes and drop them off in Framingham.
Every single time Republicans have tried to do ANYTHING constructive about this matter, they've been lawsuited and shot down by Democrats. This bleeding heart article deserves to be in the wastebasket. This author doesn't wish to deal with the issue, honestly, either. His article screams "Sombody Like Me, PLEASE". ick.
Good article. Thanks for posting it.
NEWS FLASH: To be fair there are an equal number of "Republicans" who want to see our southern borders eradicated to benefit their rich business campaign contributors. This illegal alien issue is an equal opportunity crime being waged by both parties against all U.S. law-abiding citizens they no longer wish to represent.
Dems wouldn't let California work at devising its own "energy". Companies went to Mexico. And the US BUILT THOSE REFINERIES. And during the "energy crisis" created by California Democrats, were it not for those IN MEXICO REFINERIES and ENERGY PLANTS, CA would have completely tanked.
It should be the reverse - if a worker reports his boss - the worker should get reward (work permit?, money) at boss's expense. If boss reports worker, worker should be rewarded and boss punished.
It would work like a charm - illegal immigration would stop very quicly.
"An employer hotline for verifying immigration status, mandated by Congress in 1986, has never been implemented."
Time to find out who's stopping it and vote them out of office.
A good start.
Asa Hutchinson is the one thwarting enforcement at the federal level.
Hang him for treason.
IMHO... there is some true to this comment. Having read "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire"... I've come to the conclusion that America is such a wealthy abundant nation that so-called 'poor' have gotten lazy due to government handout. Why should they work when the government will pay you to stay home and have babies? Nor does the government require males to be responsible and care for their own. In fact the government promotes the breakup of families which leads to irresponsible citizens.
We need those illegals to pick oranges and lettuce and keep our lawns looking good. Thanks to socialists like FDR and LBJ we need to have an underclass of citizens to perform those tasks no one else will do.
I predict it will get even worse. The Japs can make a Toyota Avalon with excellent quality at $26 per labor hour. While General Motors must pay $130 per labor hour due to communist/socialist 'labor unions' that holds labor hostage for "retirement benefits, pay packages, health care benefits and social security payments." American manufacturing has to cut somewhere to be competitive. If GM made a vehicle with the same quality as Toyota base price would be $80,000.
What does this mean? A continued "open door" policy.
I've been a voting Republican for 35 years but I must say I find the current crop of RINO Republicans to as bad or worse than the Democrats of years past. You have your RINO's and all the corruption they bring to the party.
Someone that is pushing buttons, policy makers really needs to wake up and smell some garlic. FAR BETTER would it be to have 3 million people in the country, with a TRUE identity, a DNA sample, finger prints, and a retina image, rather than people runawaya from the law, fathers abandoning families. Make it easier to get real visas, ask immigrants to register when arriving with the police, and put some money into the INS so that when people honestly try to apply, they don't wait for 2 years to get an answer, or get menu selections on long distance phone calls. Empower Game Wardens, Sheriffs, Firemen, Coast Guard, Marshalls, FBI, and city police to enforce immigration laws, and nail the people who bribe or forge documents. TR
"we need to have an underclass of citizens to perform those tasks no one else will do."
That's socialist BS!
Also, they're not citizens, they are ILLEGAL ALIENS!
Question: Should we close down all border activity with Canada and Mexico? Perhaps pull National Guard off of Iraq; and to our borders? This would certainly help the Dems with their hopes of a Military DRAFT.
Then there's NAFTA.
It looks like a pretty good article to me --- honestly analyzing some of the issues. I don't think anyone has tried to do anything "constructive" about illegal immigration recently --- that would involve standing up to the Mexican government and telling them to get their act together right now.
And you don't recall the tensions between President Bush and Vicente Fox in past?
Who, exactly, appointed this fatuous ass the official spokesman for the "great [and presumably unwashed] mass in the middle" anyway?
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