You Can't Stay on the Fence About Immigration

Human Events ^ | 5-29-06 | Donald Lambro

[JustPiper]

YOU CAN'T STAY ON THE FENCE ABOUT IMMIGRATION The bitter battle over the immigration bill has become a legislative minefield in this election year, though it's still unclear whether November will see any heavy political fallout as a result. To put it mildly, this issue is a thorny wilderness, festering intra-party divisions and brewing voter backlashes. It could inflict additional wounds on George W. Bush's battle-scarred presidency, shrink the GOP's congressional Republican majority and, possibly, hurt some vulnerable Democrats. Let's slice up some of these pitfalls. Stand Up For America !

"We have room for but one flag, the American flag...
We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...
And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

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[Arizona Carolyn]

I liked this gutsy comment from Dobbs:

This is not a marketplace. This is not an economy. We're not consumers, we're not just workers, we're citizens.

Congress has moved so far away from the idea that this is a nation, a country, and looking upon all of us as either consumers or workers rather than citizens. I get very nervous about that.

[Arizona Carolyn]

I thought he was, too.... or just thinking ahead at what he planned to say.

BTW is there a transcript or is CNN going to show the panel Dobbs participated in (the one they showed an outtake of yesterday)?

[jetson]

After reading an article in the paper today about a young lady who found out that her social security number has been used by 83 illegals has burned my butt. No help from the feds or IRS in tracking down these criminals. The amount of taxes paid by these criminals was minimal on the stolen number. I just received a letter from the IRS just two months after filing stating I did not cross a T or something. Well if the IRS turns out wanting to audit me I will tell them that I will absolutely comply with anything they want ONLY after they show me the list of 20 million audits done on illegals in this country first. It is time for us legals to stand up and demand accountability.

[MamaDearest]

***“We are all delighted that a few hundred serious illegal alien criminals have been taken off the streets, but it is the least we should expect from this agency, not anything above and beyond the call of duty.”***

EXACTLY. Since when is a pat on the back something to be given for a job that hasn't been done (with the blessing of corporations and government) and isn't fully being done yet to any substantial degree!

[MamaDearest]

Why put together a "comprehensive plan" when we have existing laws that could be followed and they could become legal citizens the way every other immigrant is required to do. If workers are required, there are worker visas we issue to all foreigners doing such work - these are no exception. If they overstay their visa, against our laws, they must be prosecuted (not just deported). You'd think the laws already on the books were a joke the way they are treated. Most assuredly THEY ARE NOT A JOKE and to those here illegally (working or not) - most American citizens are definitely not laughing.

[MamaDearest]

(1) It gives the administration exactly what it wants: unlimited foreign workers first, enforcement later or never.

(2) There's not a dime being put forward in the Senate legislation that, according to Senator Judd Gregg, that will move to border security. The fact is, we got failed bureaucracies because we're not managing this government.

(3) The Department of Homeland Security would manage the new guest-worker program. The FBI would do all of the background check, the State Department would issue the visa.

1. Correct answer most likely "enforcement later or never."

2. Border security - bwahhhhhhh - in our dreams?

3. Which of the aforementioned agencies do YOU have the most confidence will perform best regarding illegal aliens? What example have any of them shown thus far? I thought not! So why is our country inundated with MS-13 members, rapists and other criminals from south of the border, and why are they still on American soil? Why do we hear of deported people coming back 15-20 times AFTER deportation? Just why? Ineffective now = ineffective later! Just follow the existing laws Da@m!t and secure our borders like they're supposed to be secured!

[Czar]

Looks like the White House finally got the message.

Message: if you want to save the (R) spots at the public trough, get off your dead asses and start enforcing U.S. immigration law.

[MamaDearest]

Mexicans enjoy fruits of their US labor

Snip: Last year, Mexican migrants sent home a record $20 billion, making them Mexico's biggest foreign earner after oil, according Mexico's Central Bank. In the first four months of this year, the amount was $7 billion, a 25 percent increase over the same period last year.

In Mexico bankers may make fraud your problem

Snip: One morning last July Alejandro Sanchez got a worried phone call from the branch manager at his bank. There had been some unusual activity on his account. “She asked if I had made some transfers,” said Sanchez, 46. “She told me not to worry and she would call me back.”

A few hours later somber bank officials showed up at his office to advise him that his company accounts, totaling almost $300,000, had been temporarily blocked for security reasons. Sanchez says he was assured it was all “a misunderstanding.” It wasn’t until a week later that the bank told him he had been a victim of Internet fraud. All his money was gone.

But the bank still insisted he shouldn’t worry. “They said it was being investigated and I would get my money back,” said Sanchez, a father of three and the Mexico representative for a large North Carolina electrical engineering firm, Reliance Electric.

But almost a year later Sanchez hasn’t seen a cent. And his bank — Spanish-owned BBVA Bancomer and Latin America’s second-largest financial institution — says he won’t get any. Such is the fate, it seems, of Mexican victims of online bank fraud. Whereas banks in the United States and Europe guarantee the security of client accounts, in Mexico the rules are reversed.

[MamaDearest]

Mexico hopeful takes hard line vs. NAFTA

Snip: Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said for the first time Saturday he would not honor Mexico's commitment under NAFTA to eliminate tariffs on U.S. corn and beans if he is elected.

Tariffs on all agricultural products must be removed in 2008 under the North American Free Trade Agreement. But Lopez Obrador said he opposed eliminating tariffs on U.S. white corn and beans, showing no allegiance to a deal he sees as harmful to Mexican farmers.

Mexico border vacation turns into costly ordeal for Alabama deputy

Snip: A North Alabama lawman has learned about life on the other side of the badge. Being told not to talk. Spending 12 hours without a drink or access to a bathroom. Limestone County Sheriff's Department Deputy Chad Smith says because of that experience, he'll never again cross the Mexican border.

Smith and his friend Jason Sherman went to Texas on vacation at the end of February. They spent the last day of that vacation in custody. Smith said Sherman drove into Mexico in his 2006 Silverado. The two spent the night and visited various Mexican cities. The last day of vacation, they drove toward Chihuahua.

Police stopped them for an alleged speeding violation. Smith said the officer took them to an immigration office, where an official who spoke English told them police just wanted to ensure the truck wasn't stolen.

Twelve hours later, a Mexico official told them it would cost 50-thousand dollars for their freedom, plus they must surrender the 30-thousand dollar Silverado.

They contacted Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely who contacted Alabama Congressman Bud Cramer. The congressman worked with the consulate to free Smith and Sherman. Smith says once the consulate got involved, authorities released him.

Sherman had to pay what the authorities called a four-thousand dollar appearance bond, and leave his new truck behind.

[MamaDearest]

Crime ring becomes fashion in retail theft

Snip: Organized crime is a big topic for loss prevention managers at Green Bay-based ShopKo. "It has escalated in the past year, primarily in our larger markets," said John Vigeland, spokesman for the discount chain. A ring operating in Salt Lake City has been stealing baby formula and health and beauty products, such as shaving items, Vigeland said. The products are going over the border to Mexico for resale, he said.

North County gang linked to prison gang

Snip: The Mexican Mafia allegedly has connections with 14 Latino street gangs in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, officials said.

Five of the 14 gangs named are in North County ---- the Santos and Diablos in Escondido; Varrio Fallbrook Locos in Fallbrook; Varrio San Marcos in San Marcos, and Tortilla Flats in Encinitas.

"The Mexican Mafia spreads its influence throughout Southern California, and North County is not immune to that," Dzwilewski said.

[jetson]

'Equal protection under the law' means equal application of the law too - not just selective actions following the path of least resistance. The reason any law enforcement agency will come after John Q. Public (regular American) is that he or she can easily be found. Illegal Aliens often cannot be easily found. If you did as an illegal does - changing your name every few months if necessary, using two or three SSNs, constantly giving false addresses then you could be mostly immune to having the IRS knock on your door. But since you can be found - you get investigated and interviewed.

This is all very evident but not right. Why should ANY legal citizen comply with a government that allows criminals to steal social security numbers from honest law abiding Americans and then steal jobs ans do nothing about it. This government needs to attend to rounding up and punishing blatant foreign criminals before harassing American citizens especially through an agency ( like the IRS ) that has the power to ruin the life of hard working joes.

[jetson]

Once again you are correct on all counts. As I have written before in past forums...a civil war is a brewen. Our government no longer represents it's citizens.

[Smartass]

Immigration Costs Strain National Parks Jun 18 8:48 AM US/Eastern

By JENNIFER TALHELM
Associated Press Writer

ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz.

Drug smugglers fleeing Mexican police crossed into this desert park and fatally shot a ranger four years ago, prompting officials to build a 30-mile vehicle barrier.

That steel-and-concrete wall stops most cars from speeding in from Mexico. But drug and human traffickers have switched to rural entryways into Arizona.

Thousands of people now cross on foot. They leave piles of trash, build fires, damage the park's famous cacti and create countless trails through the fragile desert vegetation.

Park workers spend most of their time backing up Border Patrol officers and dealing with border issues.

"This tears my heart out, seeing the impacts on this place," Organ Pipe superintendent Kathy Billings said as she surveyed a fresh track through coarse sand.

The problems are not just on the border. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government added new homeland security responsibilities at national icons such as the Washington Monument, Independence Hall and Mount Rushmore.

Since 2001, the Park Service has received an additional $35 million in annual money for such duties. The government also provided $91 million in one-time dollars for icon parks and $18 million for Organ Pipe's barrier.

But superintendents say the costs are much higher. Rangers are pulled from other duties to help patrol. Managers at Organ Pipe, for example, spend about $100,000 a year from its maintenance budget to repair the vehicle barrier and an adjoining road.

"We'd like to see the Park Service reimbursed," said Blake Selzer of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. "To truly address this issue, the amount of money is going to have to go up."

Homeland security, such as increased protections from illegal immigration, is a "a newly identified priority," said deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett.

Despite five years of public discussions and congressional hearings about new expenses, the Park Service could not provide The Associated Press with a detailed wish list of budget requests from the parks since Sept. 11, 2001. Nor could the agency provide an itemized tally of how such money has been spent on these new duties.

The only information available was the lump total provided to parks.

An agency spokesman said the details were kept by the individual parks or at the regional level and not in Washington.

"We have management controls and checks and balances with respect to funding of projects and operation expenses," spokesman David Barna said. "And we trust our employees to do the right thing."

___

On the Net:

National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov