"This country couldn't get along without the work illegal immigrants do..."
Since I am a senior citizen, I have quite a few more memories than the average viewer of this Site. I remember that when I was 10 years old, we didn't have the huge percentage of illegal immigrants in this country as we do today. The kid next door mowed our lawn, your neighbor who wanted to make some extra money for his family would help fix your roof or paint the house and your brother got a job "flipping burgers" during the summer. We also had plenty of fresh produce in our grocery stores as, somehow, the crops managed to be harvested.
No one can tell me that the average American head-of-household wouldn't do anything he was capable of to feed his family and put a roof over their head.Illegal immigrants don't do anything that Americans can't! Everyone knows stories about how these immigrants are exploited but there is one thing that people fail to consider: If these illegal workers weren't in this country working illegally, they couldn't be exploited! There will always be unscrupulous employers willing to take advantage of people any way they can. If this one aspect of the equation were eliminated, the problem would be as well.
"Illegal immigrants contribute to society and our economy..."
The most current statistics I can find, states that illegal immigrants have about $9 billion withheld from their checks annually. It is said that this money cannot be reclaimed by them,but that is not entirely correct. What does that actually mean? There is much abuse of the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number system. First, in order to have Federal taxes withheld by an employer, you need a valid Social Security number. Obviously, these immigrants were using phony identification. In other words, this job, (as all jobs in America,) should be held by a citizen or legally documented worker. You must also consider that illegal immigrants using such false papers, can claim as many dependents as they care to, thus having as little as possible withheld from their checks. You may say that $9 billion is a whole lot of money but, as you read further, you will see how this amount is miniscule in comparison to what the actual economic cost of supporting illegal immigrants really is.
Everyone in America, even an illegal immigrant, is a consumer in one way or another. If you live, or even just visit here, you must eat, buy gas, find shelter, etc. The fact is that illegalimmigrants sent $16.6 billion "back home," (Mexico) in 2004, (and a whopping $45 billion was sent home by all illegal immigrants in 2008!) That number is said to be "the number one form of revenue for the country, (Mexico)" surpassing the amount of money that they make on oil exports..."
So, now we have America and it's citizens financially supporting another country, when we can't even make our own ends meet!
Would you pay your neighbor's mortgage when you are about to be evicted?
"Illegal immigration is a victimless crime..."
The financial toll.....
This is the most untrue statement of all! Even if this Nation had an abundance of revenue and there was no unemployment crisis, the toll that illegal immigrants take on our society is tremendous. We'll get to that later. Let's start with the numbers in black and white: California, a state where the illegal immigrant population is highest, is on the verge of bankruptcy. This is no coincidence.
As of 2007, more than 43% of all Food Stamps issued were to illegal immigrants. More than 41% of all unemployment checks issued in this country were to illegal aliens. 58% of Welfare payments were issued to illegal aliens. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD* properties, which our tax dollars subsidize, were illegal immigrants.
*On a personal note, I have a lady friend who was in great need of Section 8 Housing after she lost her husband. She was told that there was a two year wait just to get on the waiting list, which had an additional two year wait.
When you translate these figures to actual dollars, the amount is staggering! As American taxpayers, how can you not call us all victims? We did not ask these people to come here. We are not responsible for supporting them. Every human being is entitled to their civil rights, but reaching into our pockets to earn their living is not a civil right!
The numbers in black and white.....
The data supplied below represents the cost to American taxpayers for the support of illegal immigrants and their dependents. These statistics are for just one year, as of 2008!
Public Assistance: (Welfare)...............................................................$11-22 Billion
Food assistance programs:..............................................................$2.2 Billion
Medicaid:..........................................................................................$2.5 Billion
Education for illegal children:.......................................................$12 Billion
Education for American-born children of illegal immigants.......$17 Billion
Incarceration of illegal immigrant prisoners:................................$1.6 Billion
Social welfare services:...................................................................$90 Billion
Lost wages for American citizens:...................................................$200 Billion
Even if you don't include the last item, what American workers lose in wages, the total is about $150 billion each and every year; and the actual amount is almost $350 billion each and every year, since what illegal immigrants take out of the American workers' pocket is surely a very big cost to us!
The numbers don't simply end there! It is estimated that 1,880,000* Americans are displaced from their jobs every year by illegal immigrants. The figures above show an amount representing Americans' lost wages. However, the cost for providing welfare and assistance to these out-of-work Americans is over $15 billion a year!*
As of 2003 Many of these Americans* will go into bankruptcy or foreclosure, thus putting an even greater strain on banks, etc. That cost will be passed on to you, by way of higher prices, interest, taxes... Our insurance costs will rise due to accidents caused by illegal immigrants driving drunk or simply, without a license, not to mention the amount of actual property damage to Americans!
*Again, on a personal note: A very nice online chat friend cannot find a job where she lives in California because she cannot speak Spanish!
The human cost.....
There are some things that cannot be measured in dollars and cents! What is the worth of a human life? As of 2006, if we had no illegal immigrants in this country, 25 lives would be saved! One million Americans wouldn't have been sexually assaulted and almost 3,000 children wouldn't have been molested! We would also have reduced drug smuggling by 80%!
You must also consider that these are just the ones we know about. How many more crimes are committed by unknown assailants who could very well be illegal immigrants?
I don't think a lot more needs to be said on the topic of the human cost. I could mention how many Americans are robbed, had their homes invaded or were attacked to the point of bodily harm. I could mention our overcrowded prisons.* I could mention the impact of lower educational and living standards on society.
*29% of all the inmates in all state and federal prisons are illegal aliens.Florida's mental health facilitiesare so overcrowded with illegal immigrants, that American Citizens have to be put on a waiting list? There is absolutely no excuse for this! Further, a great many of the terrorists captured in this country are illegal immigrants.
Solutions.....?
It is easy to find proposed answers to the illegal immigration problem all over the Internet. Everyone has an opinion. The current Administration is trying to push the proposed Amnesty down our throats. This is so wrong on so many levels!
Aside from the fact that we are insulting all the legal immigrants who worked hard to come here without breaking the law, these millions could receive Medicare and Social Security. This Bill, as written, actually allows 100 million new legal immigrants into this country within the next 20 years! That number is one-third of today's population. Can you imagine the problems your kids or grandchildren will face?
The estimated cost for deportation of all the illegal aliens in this country is $215 billion, spread out over 5 years.* Compare this with the cost of supporting them. This would be quite an undertaking! I believe that there is a very simple solution and something most Americans would agree with: Enforce our laws!
*It is also noted that an estimated one-fourth to one-third would leave voluntarily, thus reducing this amount accordingly.
It is illegal to hire an undocumented worker. So why then, is anything rarely done about this? Illegal immigrants can't get a driver's license in most states, but people continue to sell them vehicles. They are also required to have insurance which, of course, they don't. I often wonder why illegal immigrants receive financial assistance (Welfare) and food stamps, which is funded by the American taxpayer, and is meant to help American Citizens. If you don't pay into the system, you have no right to benefit from the system!
If we didn't allow our laws to be broken...if no one would hire them...if they weren't given the benefits that belong to American Citizens...that alone would be enough to force illegal immigrants to leave the country! This is just one thing, (enforce our laws!) that could make such a huge difference in America!
What you can do.....
You are the voice of the people! You elected representatives to speak on your behalf. Now, you must insist that they do so. You can call...you can write...you can send e-mail...but one thing you can't do is just sit there and complain.
You can bring up this topic for conversation the next time a group of your family or friends get together. You can make signs and march peacefully in the street. You can join together with other small groups and become one larger group. For now, put aside your partisanship and remember that we are all Americans first! It's not about helping the Democrats or Republicans; It's about saving America!
This nation has always been a nation of laws. We elect our leaders to enforce these laws. That is their job. I know that if you or I don't do our job, we wouldn't have one for very long.
We have a set of laws governing immigration. This country came to be on the backs of untold numbers of legal immigrants. Most all of us can trace back the generations in our family and find that our forefathers came from all over the world.
The greatest burden on our system today is millions of criminal, illegal aliens, draining our system. They receive government assistance for housing, food, medical and they go to public schools without ever paying a penny in taxes like you and I.
Many claim that illegal aliens fill a void by taking low-paying jobs that Americans don't want. I say this is crap. (See the paragraph above.) How much do you think it costs us to take care of the estimated MILLIONS of illegal aliens in this country? Any financial inconvenience caused by their removal would more than be offset by NOT having to support them.
It goes even deeper than that! Recently, there has been a halt on executions based on the fact that they are not citizens. I want to vomit! Not only do they want to bleed us dry financially, they now want to rape and murder freely, without just punishment. Can't our government see that it is being manipulated and used. Could you or I get away with the same thing in their country? Hell, no!
So they march and protest in our street, thousands strong, for "immigration reform." They want a blanket pardon. Why? What have they done to deserve it? We already have official forms typed in Spanish and I deeply resent being told to, "Press 1 for English." I thought that was our language.
What do you think would happen if you tried some of this in any other country: The police would shoot you like a dog, you would go to jail without trial and/or you would be immediately deported.
I came across an interest blurb on the Net the other day. Someone had posted this:
1. There will be NO special bilingual programs in the schools, NO specia ballots for elections, and all government business will be conducted in our language.
2. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote, no matter how long they are here.
3. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.
4. Foreigners will NOT be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, NO food stamps, NO health care, nor any other government assistance programs.
5. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage.
6. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay, BUT options will be restricted. You are NOT allowed to own waterfront property. That property is reserved for citizens naturally born into this country.
7. Foreigners may NOT protest; NO demonstrations, NO waving a foreign flag, NO political organizing, NO "bad-mouthing" our president or his policies. If you do you will be sent home.
8. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be hunted down and sent straight to jail.
For those of you who haven't guessed, these are the immigration laws from Mexico! Kind of ironic, isn't it?
I say to you, my government: ENFORCE THE LAW NOW OR GET OUT OF OFFICE!
Though one already exists, we are constantly told by ‘open borders’ politicians that the millions of illegal aliens in this country need, or even deserve a “pathway to citizenship.”
Of course, what they really mean is they want to be the ones who grant those millions of invaders amnesty, along with voting rights, hoping that their party will be remembered fondly, every November.
On Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal released the results of a poll which has former state Republican chairwoman Sue Lowden with 47 percent of the vote, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) with 37 percent.
Down in the polls, and facing the painful reality that Americans are about to enact ‘comprehensive Congressional reform,’ Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has been attempting to push amnesty legislation (at least publicly) yet again.
Last week, at a Las Vegas rally, Reid told the rather sparse crowd: “We are going to pass comprehensive immigration reform. We need to do this this year. We can’t let excuses like a Supreme Court nomination get in the way.”
Reid went on: “There’s no excuses, there’s no excuses… We’re going to do immigration reform just like we did health care reform.”
One thing that Obamacare and so-called comprehensive immigration reform have in common, is that they are both incredibly unpopular. Every major poll has shown that 70-80 percent of the American people are opposed to any form of amnesty for illegal aliens.
In his shameless pandering, Reid is hoping for the same kind of support from Latino voters this November, that Obama received in 2008.
In the 2008 presidential election, almost 67 percent of Latino voters cast their vote for Obama, after he repeatedly promised that amnesty legislation would be a high priority for his administration.
The real reason Obama wants to grant amnesty to the mostly Latino, illegal alien population is not due to his compassion, but simply, to secure the votes that they would then have as American citizens. Obama believes that doing so would assure Democratic control of the White House and Congress for the next several generations.
We are told by illegal alien advocacy organizations, and by those who profit from cheap labor, that illegal immigration is a “complicated issue.”
However, it is nothing of the sort.
Troops could be placed on the border; illegal aliens could be ordered to exit the country, or face the surrender of all of their property; and mandatory prison sentences could be implemented against employers who hire anyone who enters this country illegally.
If we had a president and Congress who were serious about stopping illegal immigration, the crisis would end very quickly.
However, both the White House and the Capitol building are now filled with those who seem to represent everyone except the American people.
By Seattle Times news services
"Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce sponsored law.
Arizona is moving ahead with anti-illegal-immigrant legislation widely considered among the most stringent in the nation. It would hand the police broad power under state law to check the legal status of people they reasonably suspect are illegal immigrants."
Finally! What else are the police for but to enforce the law...ALL laws!
"The legislation was approved by Arizona's House on Tuesday and is heading back to the Senate, which is expected to pass it and send it to Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican. She is expected to sign it."
"The police would be authorized to arrest immigrants unable to show documents allowing them to be in the country and the legislation would leave drivers open to sanctions, in some cases for knowingly transporting an illegal immigrant, even a relative."
OK? So what is the problem here? If you harbor ANY fugitive from justice, even a relative, you're breaking the law!
"Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the United States could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500."
"Currently, officers can inquire about someone's immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill would allow officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation."
If there is a description of a fat Asian man, wearing black pants, a green shirt and red hat who just committed a crime, the police have the right to question anyone they suspect that fits that description. That's how it works...
"The bill also would allow citizens to sue to compel police agencies to comply with the law, and no city or agency could formulate a policy directing its workers to ignore the law, a provision that advocates said prevents so-called sanctuary orders that police not inquire about people's immigration status."
Great! Ignoring the law is never a good idea!
"The bill cements the position of Arizona, whose border with Mexico is the most popular point of entry for illegal immigrants into the United States, as the state most aggressively using its own laws to fight illegal immigration."
That's exactly what the law is for: To fight crime!
"In 2006 the state passed a law that would dissolve companies with a pattern of hiring illegal immigrants."
Good! ALL jobs in this country belong to Americans!
"Last year it made it a crime for a government worker to give improper benefits to an illegal immigrant."
It's about damn time that someone put a stop to these lawbreakers getting a free ride with our tax dollars! We are only encouraging them to keep breaking the law!
Americans, we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting this go on for so long. "charity begins at home..." and our "home" has been invaded by millions of law-breakers who don't pay into the system like we do, but take every dime they can from it!
I know a sweet lady as an online friend. She lives in California and has been looking for a job for over a year. No one will hire her because she can't speak Spanish! What country is this, anyway?
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." One nation...one flag...one language! Why should we "press 1 for English?" We were here first!
Do you fully understand that, under the proposed Amnesty legislation, that it would open the door for 100 million more immigrants within the next 20 years? That represents one-third of the current population! What will that mean for your children...you grandchildren?
Did you know that Mexico's unemployment rate is close to half of ours? Yet, they come here and take the jobs that Americans so desperately need!
When are we going to end the insanity.....
Let me start by saying that "racists" come in all colors!
What makes us hate?
There are obvious differences between the races. We each have an outer skin that is apparent to the world. Often times, a young child will see someone for the first time, who is not like his parents and be afraid. Most of us have grown up around, and are influenced by, a very diverse cultural mix. Maybe we have been taught in our home that certain kinds of people are inferior to us. As adults, we supposedly mature into free-thinking adults. There are children who are raised in unbiased families yet, when they grow up and enter the business world, they form different opinions about the races, based on how it affects their lives. For example, a more qualified white man may not get the job because a minority must be chosen to meet a quota, as per the Kennedy-Hawkins Act of 1990.
Let's say that you are now raising a family with your partner, you both work and you have a couple of kids. While waiting in line at the grocery store, there is a lady with a few kids ahead of you. They are all wearing expensive name brand clothes and shoes. The lady has her nails done and is wearing good jewelry. She is talking on a cell phone. Then you see her paying with a food stamp card. This would make me mad no matter what color they were. In fact, anyone would assume that they are stealing from the system, and if they were different than you, it might cause you to make a judgment about that race.
We read Government statistics about the percentage of minorities receiving Public Assistance, food stamps, Section 8 Housing...compared to the number of whites getting these benefits, and white America wonders if this is why our taxes are going up yet again. We want to know why we have to pay for all this when the black man legally has all the rights opportunities we do, when it comes to employment or education. We have a black family living next door where the husband holds a job and pays taxes, so we can't understand what's wrong with "the rest of them." Does this make us a racist?
Certain religions may teach that the Jews killed Jesus, so you naturally assume that all Jews are bad. Others have been raised to believe that their skin color is superior to all others. For the most part, we are influenced by what happens around us. Watch any television news show and you will probably see one group or another demanding justice for what they perceive has wronged them. If you are white and see the New Black Panther's claiming police brutality, and you have seen the footage of this incident, you may think, "How can they say that when half the police were black?"
The next day, you hear a story from Jena, Louisiana. A huge march is planned in defense of a young black man charged with a crime. It's not until months later that you find out the real truth leading up to the events in Jena: The young man in question, Mychal Bell, had been involved with six other youths, in the very violent and unprovoked attack and beating of a white teen-ager, 3 months prior to the "noose incident" at the high school. The students involved with that had done it as a prank, and were severely punished for their actions. These two occurrences were totally unrelated.
So, now you have Al Sharpton and other black leaders stirring everything up and calling for rallies. A white, brown or yellow American would wonder why there was no huge white march demanding justice for the boy who was beaten, and that is reasonable to ask. It seems as if no matter what happens, a black man will always use the "race card" as an excuse. If whites gather, they are called racist. That's just the way this country is. It's from incidents like this that hatred stirs it's ugly head.
Racism and the media
Americans get their local and National news from print, radio, television, Internet, etc. It is my habit to watch TV each evening at 5pm, as many of you have your own. As impartial as our media tries to be, I'm sure each station has their own political preference yet, some things cannot be altered to persuade the public to feel one way or another. The most recent headline that comes to mind is the trial of an accused cop killer. When video images are shown, the man is black.
The news goes on to another violent crime and again, the people involved are black. The next story pictures the accused as Hispanics, (illegal immigrants,) and then onto crimes involving yet more black Americans.
There are the occasional white men or women and, very rarely, are there any Asians, (causing Americans to "stereotype" in a positive direction.) Whether we consciously see a pattern or not, somewhere in the back of our mind, we cannot help but realize what we see right in front of our eyes! There is a story about prison overcrowding that tells us the vast majority of inmates are minorities, i.e. black or brown. How can we not keep from forming an opinion of a certain race based on these facts? Our local news then goes on to a study about the local independent school district. It states that minority populated schools have the lowest test scores and graduation rates. Again, how can we not keep from forming an opinion of a certain race based on these facts? Should we just not talk about it any more? Ignorance won't help or change anything!
Can we overcome?
Why do certain minorities feel persecuted while others do not? Some of you reading this may be old enough to, or know someone who, can remember World War II. The Japanese were locked away in interment camps because they were believed to be a threat to America. That was only about 60+ years ago, but do you know of any Japanese-American protest marches? The Chinese were used in the late 1800's to build the railroad and as a source of cheap labor, (Coolies,) after slavery was abolished. Most were treated worse than slaves.
Yet today, the Asian-American community is admired because of their intelligence, work ethics and peaceful co-existence. This wasn't always the case, as the Chinese were looked upon as low-class and worse. There was even legislation in Congress* and State government to deny them certain rights and limit their immigration into America.
*The Chinese Bill
The Jewish people didn't come to the United States in large numbers until things began "heating up" in Europe. With the rise of Hitler, the need to escape brought them in search of freedom from persecution. There were strong feelings in America that, "Jews were different and should be restricted."* No immigration acts or reform was passed until 1948, due to bureaucratic obstacles which were deliberately created. It is estimate that as many as 200,000 lives could have been saved.**
*1939 Roper pole.
**Information obtained from various sources.
How is it then, that the Asian community has assimilated so well into American Society? In fact, they are often held up as an example of what a formerly "persecuted minority" is capable of in this Land of Opportunity. Asians also represent a very small percentage of the prison population in this country while they are the largest minority when it comes to high school graduation and college attendance.*
*Information obtained from various sources.
Reverse discrimination
I've lived for many years, having met all manner of people, and black and brown Americans can be just as racist as whites. Since we are all supposed to be equal under the law, we wonder why certain ethnic groups are afforded special treatment. The best example I can think of in recent times, is the case of those firefighters in Connecticut who were taking tests to gain a promotion. The result was that only whites scored high enough to pass. (...and yet again, Americans will form an opinion.....this time, about the intelligence of minorities.) Because of this testing, no one was granted a promotion. This decision was appealed and went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them.
There are many other incidents like this that makes white America feel that they are being treated as the "less significant race." We wonder why organizations like the NAACP is so freely accepted and promoted, yet America has no group to promote the Caucasian race or it's history. We wonder why there is a Miss "Black" America, (which excludes whites entrants,) when women of all races, (blacks are not excluded,) are welcome to enter the Miss America contest and have won. We wonder why there is a Black Firemen's Union or a Black Policemen's Association; Doesn't this just further divide the races? White America thinks these things but there is no widespread publicity about it because we would be labeled as racist! I'm just as proud of who I am as you are of being who you are.
At the rate of our current population growth, there will come a time in the not-too-distant future, when "people of color" will be more predominant in America, than the so-called "pure white" race. This will make the Caucasian man a minority. Will he be able to claim racial persecution and prejudice if he feels slighted and will Affirmative Action mean that there must be a quota of white men hired? Will this mean that a less qualified white student is accepted into college before a more qualified black one? Will this mean that there will be a Miss White America contest?
"Stop all your pissing and moaning.....!"
We all know about Affirmative Action and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. If a black or brown American is not hired for a particular position, he may scream prejudice. Could it be that their skill and/or education is not up to the employer's standards? In an ideal America, the best person for the job would be selected, no matter what color they were. The same conditions should apply when an employee needs to be let go for valid reasons and, the most qualified high school graduate would be selected for a scholarship to go on to college, without regard for their color.
My father had a cousin who married a black man. This was in a time in our history that inter-racial marriage was definitely not accepted. Uncle Jake and Aunt Marge had 4 children. They educated themselves when no preference was given to a student because of his color. Uncle Jake always maintained a good job, well before there was Affirmative Action. They managed to buy a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood without help from an "special interest" groups. All of my cousins grew up to be professionals like doctors, teachers, etc. and achieved "The American Dream." When Uncle Jake died, there must have been over a hundred people from all walks of life, to say good-bye.
We lost contact, and it wasn't until decades later that we began communicating again, via the Internet. At first, it was just catching up on each other's lives and reminiscing about old times; But then I began to receive daily e-mails describing "racial incidents" and links to stories of how the black man was "mistreated" in some way or another. It really began to bother me. Why were they passing around these stories? I could understand it if these were significant issues, but that was not the case. I didn't care what Al Sharpton had to say because I feel that men like him too often stir things up and perpetuate (the very) racism they claim to want to stop. Wouldn't it be more beneficial if my long-lost cousins, at least some of the time, sent out uplifting stories? Isn't it more important to give hope and inspiration than to incite people to hate? Why not talk about how a poor black family from rural Georgia, struggled and managed to give their son a good education, and how he went on to become a Supreme Court Justice.
Write about the proud black girl from a single-parent home, who held a job after school, graduated with honors, went on to college and became a surgeon. Let young black America know what they can accomplish if they really want to and that they are not doomed by the poverty of their parents or the color of their skin! If children are raised with the mindset that they will never amount to anything, for whatever reason, then they probably won't. No American is entitled to favoritism for any reason. No healthy American is entitled to anything other than what the Constitution grants them.
If more time were spent developing strong family bonds, instilling good work ethics and the importance of education, our next generation would see far less racism. I believe that most people don't simply hate because of one's skin color, but rather for one's words, deeds and actions. I also dislike the term "African-American." People with dark skin from Jamaica, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, etc. are also American Citizens and I feel that they should be called "Black Americans!" Uncle Jake was a fine Black American!
If you are black or brown or red, you can't demand to be respected in this country, simply because you are black or brown or red! The same, of course, is true if you are white. You also have no right to be "proud," just because you are white or black or brown: You were born that way! Do something to better yourself.....your family, your community, your race.....that you deserve to be proud of!
"...judge me by the content of my character..." Dr. Martin Luther King
