Fence First…Vallado Primero
The current political topic getting almost as much airtime as the war in Iraq is the comprehensive immigration bill before the Senate. Regardless of your political party affiliation, this piece of legislation needs to be defeated to protect the sovereignty and stability of the United States.
Let me first dismiss all the critics who want to call me a racist or nativist. For the record, my daughter is Hispanic and my great grandmother was a native Chickasaw Indian…so give me some slack. This immigration bill is nothing more than amnesty for the 12+ million immigrants who are illegally residing in this country. The majority of these immigrants may be decent hard working individuals, but they crossed our borders illegally and their presence is placing an unprecedented burden on social services in this country and taking jobs away from many Americans, and I’m not talking about the produce pickin’ ones.
The majority of this group has yet to prove that they have any allegiance to this country or that they want to assimilate. They are here largely because Mexico’s government does nothing to address its economic troubles. In fact, its political leaders endorse the northerly migration into the US because not only does it relieve the strain on Mexico’s resources but most of those entering the US will send the wages they earn back to family members who continue to reside in Mexico.
This country has always welcomed immigrants, but there is a legal process in place that is expected to be followed. Flawed and heavy laden with bureaucracy as it may be, it helps to ensure that those individuals requesting permanent residency are coming to start anew and swear allegiance to the United States. If the naturalization process is found to be too difficult an obstacle to navigate then by all means update it, but don’t throw it out the window. Doing so is a slap in the face to all those who have played by its rules.
Before we try to address the problem of what to do with these illegal immigrants, we first need to secure our borders. If you have a leak under the bathroom sink, you don’t mop up the water and then look for the leak. You find the leak first and then clean up; otherwise, you end up mopping the floor before and after the repair. President Reagan granted amnesty to 3+ million illegal immigrants back in 1986 with the “Immigration Reform and Control Act” in hopes of erradicating this same issue, but we did nothing to stop the flow of more illegals into this country and now we’re back where we were before but the number is 4x as high.
Securing our borders is vital not only to stopping the flow of illegal aliens but preventing terrorists from easily entering the US and enacting another attack as we saw on 9/11. Critics are quick to point out how lax security is at our shipping ports, but those same critics say nothing about the wide open door on our Southern border. We need to build the 700-mile fence that was approved last year and stop any more persons from crossing over the border before we can sit down and discuss what to do with the illegal immigrants in this country.
If you haven’t already done so, call your Senator and let them know that you want them to vote “NO” to any comprehensive immigration bill until the fence along our Southern border is completed. If we don’t address this first, we’ll be scratching our heads again in a few years trying to figure out what to do what the millions more new illegal immigrants.
Bret’s 2-Cents:
Riddle me this Batman: Why does popular opinion tag someone a “racist” when they advocate border and immigration control? The answer…they’ve have no other reasonable argument to support their position.
Simply stated, there is nothing racist about advocating the enforcement of existing laws. The United States has laws for border control and immigration for same reason most large rooms have posted capacity signs, and the same reason why some objects have posted weight restrictions or height limitations. When a stated restriction is exceed, things break or the situation becomes dangerous.
Despite what some people might think, the United States does not have an endless supply of resources for everyone that wants to live here…hence the existing immigration laws. We need to control the total number that enter the country so our social services and existing infrastructure don’t collapse under the weight of an uncontrolled population explosion. The solution is to not throw up our hands in frustration and stop trying to enforce the immigration laws because the belief is the problem is too big to control. We must take the necessary steps to make enforcing the law a reachable goal; however, at the same time we must restructure the immigration process so it works efficiently for anyone with a legitimate reason to enter our country. And YES, not everyone has a legitimate reason to enter the country. And NO, that is not a “racist” statement.
Anyone threatening to apply the “racist” label to anyone that advocates enforcing the existing laws is nothing more than a school yard bully. They’ve played their last card in the argument against immigration and border control and have no other rational argument to break the law. The best they can do is resort to name calling.
on June 1st, 2007 at 9:35 pm
I sent the following link (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=20855
) to my friends at WFU. This sparked a serious conversation with one of them. We will call him,… Joe It may be a little hard to follow
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Joe Wrote:
Stuff and nonsense; I say let the South Americans in and declare open war on religious Islamic Fundamentalists everywhere. Let’s immigrate to the Middle East and take armed Mexicans with us! We’ll pay them to start Mexican restaurants and Barber shops in the desert. Kill em, feed em, and then shave their beards off! Take that, Jack!!
From:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=4675
“The problem of “illegal” immigration can be solved at the stroke of a pen: legalize immigration. Screen all you want (though I want damn little), but remove the quotas. Phase them out over a 5- or 10-year period. Grant immediate, unconditional amnesty to all “illegal” immigrants.”
and:
“… the immigrants now coming across the Mexican border do not want to sack our cities. They’re not about to pillage our granaries or march home with Americans in chains. They just want to mow our lawns and clean our offices.
“They’re coming to feed us, not take our food, yet we’re demanding that our leaders keep them out. No Mexican busboys! No Guatemalan cooks! Stop them before they grill again!”
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My response:
(TOM) Bull and drooling nonsense!! They are sacking our cities via the welfare system, the medical system, the school system and other “free” services. Free for them but costing the rest of us dearly. They send large chunks of earnings back to mexico and THAT costs our economy. The illegal immigrants costs WAY more than they contribute. I challenge you to find an American city that has experienced a large influx of illegal aliens and NOT experienced and increase in crime. Instead of becoming Americans like most legal immigrants, they demand that Americans change to their language and customs. This is very much like Islamist demanding that we convert to their religion (or die).
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Joe Wrote:
(TOM) Bull and drooling nonsense!! They are sacking our cities via the welfare system, the medical system, the school system and other “free” services.
(JOE) If “they” do that (and strongly doubt that most of “them” do), then you have a legitimate complaint and you should register it with the proper authorities, including free-market Mexican civic leaders, property owners, businessmen, and politicians. Many of them work for a living and like it. You’re ignoring them. One of them is a good friend of mine and owns a restaurant. I’ll introduce you. They need another good cook and bottle washer.
(TOM) Free for them but costing the rest of us dearly.
(JOE)You mean “they’re” doing exactly what “we’re” doing, only better? Some Democrats and most Union people and some hillbillies in Tennessee and West Virginia soak the welfare system already. Shouldn’t we get our own house in order first before we criticize newcomers who don’t really understand how their new home should “work”?
(TOM) They send large chunks of earnings back to mexico and THAT costs our economy.
(JOE) Why? So they can buy more American products. So how does that hurt us? Why don’t you start a business and get some of that money “back”. They like cowboy boots and Texas Pete sauce. Let’s start a hot Flea market on Waughtown Road or (where is it you live?)!
(TOM) The illegal immigrants costs WAY more than they contribute.
(JOE) Bullshit. They work harder than you do. Hasus (Le Careta) works twice as hard as you do.
(TOM) I challenge you to find an American city that has experienced a large influx of illegal aliens and NOT experienced and increase in crime.
(JOE) Are you telling me that there are more criminals in the new Mexican immigrant wave now than there were in the Italian immigrant population years ago (read Mafia), or in the Irish immigration to New York at the turn of the century (Heaven forbid), or in the initial immigrant waves from absolutely anywhere to the US in the past, including your ancestors and mine? Don’t you realize that it takes time to adjust to the sunlight of living in a rational culture where people don’t have to deal with each other by force or theft or alms?
(TOM) Instead of becoming Americans like most legal immigrants, they demand that Americans change to their language and customs.
(JOE) Only a small number of them do this. You’re exaggerating.
(TOM) This is very much like Islamist demanding that we convert to their religion (or die).
(JOE) I haven’t been visited by a single Mexican holy-roller.
I wrote:
(TOM) First of all, pay attention. We are talking about ILLEGAL immigrants. I am ignoring the LEGAL immigrants because they are not typically a problem AND have paid their dues to get here legally. Is Jesus (you wrote Hasus) an illegal? If so, then you should be contacting the authorities.
(TOM) Mike, you are in the dark. The invaders know exactly how the system works because they ARE indoctrinated in it by drooling liberals as soon as the get into the country. Illegals are not entitled to any publicly funded welfare, education, healthcare, or any other public service. None! If you want to give them money, please feel free out of your own pocket.
(TOM) You are wrong. A LOT of democrats and A LOT of union workers and A LOT of hillbillies,… are on the system who are way too lazy to get off of it. I know because A LOT of them are in my family tree. Yours too, I bet. But, illegals should be the first to go.
(TOM) OK, exactly what American products are they buying? DO you mean paying coyotes to get them across the border?
(JOE) Don’t you realize that it takes time to adjust to the sunlight of living in a rational culture where people don’t have to deal with each other by force or theft or alms?
(TOM) That is exactly why we have a LEGAL immigration procedure.
(JOE) Only a small number of them do this. You’re exaggerating.
(TOM) Again, try leaving your bubble and going to the areas where the illegals have demanded (and gotten) street signs up in spanish and English. Those areas that have been required to provide special classes in their public schools to cater to illegals.
(JOE) I haven’t been visited by a single Mexican holy-roller.
(TOM) I have. I am not sure what he was trying to sell since he could NOT speak any English. Do not forget that ALL illegal immigrants break the law as soon as they cross the border illegally. They break the law as soon as they get the forged green card. They break the law as soon as they steal someone’s SSN to get a job. So on and so on.
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Joe Wrote:
(TOM) First of all, pay attention. We are talking about ILLEGAL immigrants. I am ignoring the LEGAL immigrants because they are not typically a problem AND have paid their dues to get here legally. Is Jesus (you wrote Hasus) an illegal? If so, then you should be contacting the authorities.
(JOE) Alright, I’m listening, and Jesus is legal (And La Careta still needs some more kitchen help - Are you sure you don’t need a second job? They’re shorthanded. Why? Because he immigrated here and started a business, a business that would not have existed had he not immigrated here, a business over and above the number of previously existing businesses, and the labor pool has decreased because of it, thus giving you and me the opportunity for employment). Sure, many of his countrymen are not legal while they’re working for us, and they should be, because they is nothing wrong with working for a living anywhere. Clear it up any?
(TOM) Mike, you are in the dark. The invaders know exactly how the system works because they ARE indoctrinated in it by drooling liberals as soon as the get into the country. Illegals are not entitled to any publicly funded welfare, education, healthcare, or any other public service. None! If you want to give them money, please feel free out of your own pocket.
(JOE) No one is entitled to “any publicly funded welfare, education, healthcare, or any other public service. ”
(TOM) You are wrong. A LOT of democrats and A LOT of union workers and A LOT of hillbillies,… are on the system who are way too lazy to get off of it. I know because A LOT of them are in my family tree. Yours too, I bet. But, illegals should be the first to go. OK, exactly what American products are they buying? DO you mean paying coyotes to get them across the border?
(JOE) Do you know any who are not buying American products, anywhere? Brazil is full of American products, at least as many as our government and their allows government into Brazil. There should be no trade barriers, period. Don’t you realize that it takes time to adjust to the sunlight of living in a rational culture where people don’t have to deal with each other by force or theft or alms?
(TOM) That is exactly why we have a LEGAL immigration procedure.
(JOE) Do you mean some should be allowed in and others kept out? What’s your standard? Want to keep the lazy ones so you can keep your job? Just your little job, without allowing more to grow for everyone? If you let all of them in, and they let all of us into Mexico, there’d be a hell of a lot less lying and crawling under fences, more American CEOs headed for Mexico, more buying of international products everywhere, more industries everywhere, less world poverty, more freedom, more jobs here, more jobs there, fewer immigrants here, and hopefully more Americans like you headed south and out of my hair.
(JOE) Only a small number of them do this. You’re exaggerating.
(TOM) Again, try leaving your bubble and going to the areas where the illegals have demanded (and gotten) street signs up in spanish and English. Those areas that have been required to provide special classes in their public schools to cater to illegals.
(JOE) If you treated them with a little more respect the better men and women among them would stand up and object to that. Again, you’re basing your judgment of immigrants entirely on “lawbreakers” and ignoring the potential actions of honest, hardworking immigrants. Brazilians love Americans, and all want to learn English, not because someone told them they had to, but because they love and admire the way we live (although they don’t understand clearly the blessings of liberty yet). Don’t you want to encourage that attitude? Mexicans will learn English when they clearly see and understand that the benefits of American individualism and liberty are better than Mexican statism and the welfare state, in America OR Mexico. They grew up in typical South American culture, and they need to see the light, the light that your “liberals” have rejected. Why then can’t you see that fences not only keep out “lawbreakers”, they keep out people who grew up learning to be “lawbreakers” because that’s the only way to live in an irrational, state-run culture? Why aren’t you, a Christian, for God’s sake, willing to help the down-trodden by allowing them to stand up like men without your welfare help?? You are forcing them to stay dependent on welfare, both here AND in Mexico. Good Lord, talk about thinking inside the box, you bubblehead.
(JOE) I haven’t been visited by a single Mexican holy-roller.
(TOM) I have. I am not sure what he was trying to sell since he could NOT speak any English. Do not forget that ALL illegal immigrants break the law as soon as they cross the border illegally. They break the law as soon as they get the forged green card. They break the law as soon as they steal someone’s SSN to get a job. So on and so on.
(JOE) They break the law because they recognize that Americans like you are against the American Dream, and they know a contradiction when they smell one. Why can’t you?
I wrote:
(TOM) Please drop the talk of LEGAL immigrants. No one, and I mean no one, has said that we should stop LEGAL immigrants from coming to this country. We love em ALL. Period! One of the best neighbors I have had was a LEGAL Mexican immigrant. We can probably drop the talk of Brazilians too. As far as I know, the US does not have a problem with ILLEGAL immigration from Brazil.
The unemployed labor pool would be much smaller if the ILLEGAL aliens were not here! From what I can remember, I have not seen any “non-Latino†employees at any of the La Carreta establishments. But, I have to say that I do not look closely for that kind of thing.
If no one is entitled to… Then please explain why ILLEGAL aliens can sue (and get) local governments for these services. If it is not a sense of entitlement,
(JOE) “Do you mean some should be allowed in and others kept out? What’s your standard? Want to keep the lazy ones so you can keep your job? Just your little job, without allowing more to grow for everyone? If you let all of them in, and they let all of us into Mexico, there’d be a hell of a lot less lying and crawling under fences, more American CEOs headed for Mexico, more buying of international products everywhere, more industries everywhere, less world poverty, more freedom, more jobs here, more jobs there, fewer immigrants here, and hopefully more Americans like you headed south and out of my hair. “
(TOM) Yes, I am saying that not all immigrants can come in. The standard is already established and there is a LEGAL procedure for it. Canadians have to follow the procedure. Europeans have to follow the procedure. Asians have to follow the procedure. ALL immigrants have to follow the procedure. If I were immigrating to Mexico, there is a LEGAL procedure for that too.
(JOE) “There should be no trade barriers, period.â€
(TOM) I hate to be blunt, but only someone who did not concern themselves with the factory workers of America would say this. They are the ones suffering from your “open†trade borders. I am unaware of any factories that Mexican companies have opened here. List some for me? Then, list the American manufacturing units which have moved to Mexico. Maybe I am a little closer to the American factory worker. I was one in the past. My mother is one now. Sherry has lost her job to your open trade borders several times now.
(JOE) “If you treated them with a little more respect the better men and women among them would stand up and object to that.â€
(TOM) The better Latino men and women ARE standing up and objecting to it. They are the LEGAL immigrants who put in the great effort to immigrate here LEGALLY. Unfortunately, they are few in number or afraid to stand up. Or, they are busy hiring the ILLEGALS to work in their businesses.
(JOE) “ Again, you’re basing your judgment of immigrants entirely on “lawbreakers” and ignoring the potential actions of honest, hardworking immigrants.â€
(TOM) Every ILLEGAL alien is a lawbreaker and NOT honest! If they were honest, they would not be here ILLEGALLY. You cannot have an “honest,†“law-abiding,†ILLEGAL alien.
(JOE) “Why then can’t you see that fences not only keep out “lawbreakers”, they keep out people who grew up learning to be “lawbreakers” because that’s the only way to live in an irrational, state-run culture?â€
(TOM) You made one of my points.
(JOE) “Why aren’t you, a Christian, for God’s sake, willing to help the down-trodden by allowing them to stand up like men without your welfare help?? You are forcing them to stay dependent on welfare, both here AND in Mexico. Good Lord, talk about thinking inside the box, you bubblehead. “
(TOM) Before you can claim that I am not helping the “down-trodden,†you would need inside knowledge of my finances. Now, wouldn’t you? Since you do not have this inside info, let me enlighten you. A great deal of my money goes to help the “down-trodden†both here and abroad. The amount I will keep to myself. Can you say the same?
(JOE) “They break the law because they recognize that Americans like you are against the American Dream,â€
(TOM) I am 100%, no doubt about it, completely committed to the LEGAL pursuit of the American Dream.
(TOM) And, if you spent all that time in college so that you could wash dishes, please feel free to apply at La Carreta. Personally, I did not. But, if I were to ILLEGALLY immigrate to Mexico, I am sure that I will be washing dishes in the local American restaurant. Ran by a LEGAL American immigrant who hires only ILLEGAL American aliens.
on June 3rd, 2007 at 7:30 am
Our nation spends valuable time and money to establish laws, only to ignore them in light of what will work “politically”. I agree that it must be very demeaning for those who have followed the legal way of entering our country and becoming U.S. citizens.
Let’s get the fence up to stop the leak! Now, why doesn’t the press give us daily info as to HOW to contact our representatives? Many concerned citizens need this help to get involved.
on June 3rd, 2007 at 7:54 am
The problem is that our representatives and senators are so concerned weather or not their party is in control that they have forgotten who they are working for . It is about time we quit fighting who is right and who is wrong and start working together.We have a laws on the books already that would solve some of these issues,but we can’t even do this. It is about time we quit putting our head in the sand and put some real teeth into this problem.
on June 4th, 2007 at 10:33 am
I agree! Our Reps and Sens have forgotten who they work for and they have also forgotten what work is. They do not mind trading votes, illegal and otherwise, for American working class jobs. Not a one of them have any experience with being poor. Especially John Edwards. You are poor if you have to make the decision between food and fuel oil. You are NOT poor if you have to decide which college your parents will send you to.