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.
Bump!
Well, that IS the only accurate term.
Yes there was some tension when Vicente Fox stabbed Bush in the back over the Iraq and War on Terrorism.
There should have been tension when Vicente Fox strutted over here demanding "The Whole Enchilada" --- listing his demands of the USA --- he should have been immediately chastised for those. That was basically the demand for the Mexican take-over of the USA. They were to have complete access to all our jobs, all our education and health care --- no mention of them paying for anything or giving a single thing in return.
This actually happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was in a Mexican supermarket that has a small restaurant in it and I ordered a chorizo con huevos breakfast with rice, beans, and flour tortillas. Instead of a breakfast the waitress brought me a breakfast burrito. I told her I didn't want that and that I wanted a breakfast plate. So she scurried away and the next thing I know she comes back with three chorizo con huevos breakfast plates. Since I was by myself why did she bring me three breakfast?
And Bush wants people like this to be the next republican voting bloc? NOT!!
_
Ping!!
bump!
It's going to be implemented in December, 2004. The online Social Security Number verification system, SSNVS is an IT project. Eighteen years ain't bad.
There are restrictions however. Using it is profiling (illegal, ya know) and asking an employer if he verified his employees' legal status is a "hate" crime. :>)
I have been fighting against illegal immigration policies for many years.
However, what's the difference between Liberals screaming that 911 is Bush's fault; and conservatives screaming that illegal immigration is Bush's fault? Not a whole darned lot it most often, appears to me...
Flame Away, call me a Rino! Have at IT! Go for the bomb. But answer the question, honestly.
President Bush was a mere 9 months into office when 9-11 happened. 3,000 innocents were murdered. That does indeed appear to be #1 to address on the crisis scale, I would think. The INS and INS processes are utterly and absolutely corrupted by liberal policies. Bush should have simply ordered our military to "close the borders" and "shoot at will"? I've read some excellent proposals for remedying the "illegal immigrant" policies. But after 15 hard years of liberals opening all portals to our country to criminals, illegal immigrants, and terrorists... somehow President Bush is supposed to just wave a magic wand, and have the borders be sealed, and the INS totally cleansed? Wrongo! Do a freerepublic search on "illegal immigrants" -- and what you will find are MAJOR PROBLEMS at DMVs all across the nation. So, should Bush have proposed a litmus test for anyone working at the DMV's? Heck.. President Bush can't even get honest judges appointed to oversee constitutional processes -- because liberals have so utterly corrupted the system via the MSM.
The problem for Mexico --- it's so thoroughly corrupt and most of it's officials and politicians are only on the take ---- many are on the powerful drug cartel's payroll. I don't think keeping that government propped up is ultimately going to benefit -- them or us. Right now that government wants to prevent revolution -- and their own forced exile which cuts them off from the money supply -- by our open borders. Open borders isn't helping the situation in Mexico at all because they don't get them to address the real problems in their form of government and their culture. A country that wealthy in natural resources should not have the level of poverty that exists --- the only way for an average Mexican to make it -- is to leave the country and get to the USA --- that needs to stop.
I'm on the same page with you here -- and your post was very comprehensive, succinct. Thank you. I agree.
Absolutely NOT true. We grass roots Republicans are dead set against illegal immigration and we make that perfectly clear up through and including the top State Republican ranks in our party. It is only at the White House level they love illegals. This will be the downfall of the party (and the country!) This is the #1 issue where rank and file Republicans part company with GWB. We want the borders closed, the illegals deported, and employers who hire illegals fined!
P.S. What a bitter disappointment Asa Hutchinson has turned out to be. But like I said. He's a sock puppet of the White House and Rove.
"neither George W. Bush nor John F. Kerry wants to talk about"
Neither puts AMERICANS first.
Some choice............
That ought to be posted on every one of these threads...
But I'm told by several Republicans, right here on this site, that millions pouring into our country illegally is no big deal, and not a real issue with most Americans. I could name these folks, but I wont.
Martin, as brown eyed, black haired, black bearded individual, I kind of resent that whole physical similarity train of thought.
We are watching that with interest, William.
Funny, I can be 2000 miles from home, and they can tell within 5 seconds of my bank account is overdrawn by one dollar. Yet some tell us we have no way of knowing if someone is eligible to work in this country and is here illegally?
Have you seen "Man on Fire"? Good movie, takes place in Mexico which is shown as hopelessly corrupt. Out on VHS and DVD now. Ignore the critics who pan it.
Unless you're also in this country illegally, I'm not sure what your point is.
His point evaded me too.
*cough* bayourod *cough*
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