Yeah? Which republicans? Mr. Bush? 
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.
Thank you, and well said.
But that will not happen because America's citizens don't want to pay $100 a gallon for orange juice or $20 a head for lettuce. Yes that is socialism... and so is the theory of social security. Are you going to give yours up to make things better or work in the field at $6 an hour? I don't think so.
They aren't an "underclass of citizens" they are criminals that need to be captured and deported AFTER SERVING A PRISON TERM OF HARD LABOR!
I won't work around them, or do work for anyone that considers hiring them. I haven't had a customer that didn't back down yet. If one ever does i'll turn them in to INS.
Yeah? Which republicans? Mr. Bush?
He's doing the job he's told to do. Otherwise he'd be fired.
Nothing is being done. A guest worker program is nothing more than another amnesty. We need to deport the illegals here, clean house then start from scratch.
Instead, we let them stay buy homes, and set up a life here. All the while they send half their earnings to their home country. Some of these guys have one family American here, and one family in their home country (two wives).
No doubt. But weasels like Hutchinson deserve no consideration.
The only effective way to proceed is to make the life of Hutchinson unlivable. His successor will then either refuse the job or ask for the tools to do it right.
Asa is just doing what GWB tells him to do. So, where does the fault actually lie?
I'm sure he is. But we can make that position untennable.
Another lie the leftist news media has forced on the American public, along with similar lies from our politicians. Illegal immigration is killing America, but tragically our politicians are enjoying getting big money from those who would destroy America through unlimited illegal immigration, and won't close our borders.
You don't have to, Joe. We all have suffered at the hands of open border Republican Freepers.
Liberals are painted as caring people who welcome immigrants and conservatives as exploiters of the unfortunate.
Open your eyes people; if you want to fid out the real issue behind illegal immigration, go here and read. It's longer than a headline, but complicated problems can't be addressed in a 750 word OpEd column.
They apparently don't have the vision to see what this is all going to look like in just a few short years.
Pretty good action movie. 8.5 on a scale of 10. Kind of trippy photography and great scenes of barrios built as far as they could go, up to the wall of a cliff. Check out the director's comments for the scene where the guy is getting his fingers cut off. LOL. Great scene near the end when the pregnant mamacita dives into the rain barrel to pull out a huge bundle of money
Justice was rendered! (By Denzel's character)
The feature in Time got the word through.......
On line free at:
http://www.kfi640.com/time_dooropen.html
Sorry about the delay in getting back here but business does comes first. Now, regarding your question; if placing any troops on our southern border would really help that much then maybe we should at least explore the possibilities and what the consequences might be to do so or not to do so here and in Iraq and elsewhere. However, my peeve is with the Bush administration for facilitating this ever growing and enormously out of control illegal alien onslaught we are witnessing in America today and how it is and will impact us and our grandchildren's future.
It is my perception that the current people in control in Washington (Repubs and Dems alike) no longer care much about those of us who choose to be law abiding and upright citizens who pay the bulk of the taxes of this nation while the party blueblood elite's of which Bush considers himself to be of panders to the law breaking illegal aliens (Mexican, Chinese or whomever) and heap our hard earned tax dollars upon them. The illegals are being put ahead of the best interests of this nation and its citizens and we can't even have a national dialog about the issue and its ramifications. Bush and Rove have forbidden it and they refuse to do anything at all to stop or slow it as they are constitutionally required to do.
That in a nutshell is what I'm so upset about. I happen to consider this to be as important an issue as the war on terror Bush wants to only talk about. That's why I don't think Bush has earned my vote (again) this time. He has lost a lot of my respect for him as the President over how he is handling it. With the loss of our sovereignty to the U.N. what good will it do for us to be fighting a war on terror in another nation?! Are we not supposed to governed by the 'Rule of Law' in America anymore?!
M.I., the article highlights Brazillians, but what percentage are they of the total apprehensions? I know you've posted that info before, but I'm just curious whether it's negligible in comparison to Mexicans' percentage.
Compared to Mexicans, everyone is negligible.
Mexico makes up approximately 96% of all apprehensions. The next 3% come from Central and South America and the final 1% come from the rest of the world.
Brazil is the #5 country.
This FY:
Mexico - 927,582; Honduras - 17,862; El Salvador - 12,985; Guatemala - 8425; Brazil - 6,026; Nicaragua - 1,073; China - 618; Ecuador - 420
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.