Voluntary Immigration Crackdown March 30, 2008

With all of the talk about illegal immigration, it makes me wonder if anybody is actually trying to stop it.  I found through my sources that there are few places that are trying to bring an end to immigration.  The areas that are trying to put an end to illegal immigration are usualy locales that have a high concentraion of illegal immigrants.  Police in such places as Newark, New Jersey; Durham, North Carolina; Pheonix, Arizona; and even Los Angeles, California have started to train their forces to crack down on illegal immigration by asking for proof of citizenship by way of drivers license and social security cards. 

This can and does have its repurcussions though.  People often feel alienated and violated if they are, for no reason at all, asked to pull out their social security card for a police officer on a traffic violation just because he suspects that they are an illegal immigrant.  Also, if police start cracking down on illegal immigration and do start asking for proof of citizenship at the drop of a hat, then illegal immigrants living in america will not call the police to report crime.  Police using the program ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, say that they will not question witnesses about their citizen status and that they will only question anyone arrested about their citizen status.  If they fail to produce proof of their citizenship, then they are shipped off to their orriginal coutry of origin. 

Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri says that he knows that “illegal immigrants have it tough but I do not want them in my state.”  That is why he just signed an executive order that state agencies and companies that do business with the state must check the citizen status of all of their employees.  It also urges Rhode Islands police forces to work harder to find and deport illegal immigrants. 

Is this really fair?  Should  we be really be searching for and shipping off every illegal immigrant in the U.S.?  (that is about 20,000 people by the way)  I honestly do not think that we should waste our time, money and effort in this endevor.  Immigrants are a huge part of our economy and to get rid of them could be crippling.  On top of that, when you add the actual citizens being freaked out by all these police checks it doesn’t seem like such a good idea especially when you apply it to the whole nation.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5heF80SqPHj0LbcvNXib8jm4eQFIAD8VN0MD80

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/us/29brfs-002.html?ref=us

Mexicans are Kidnapping U.S. Tourists! March 23, 2008

Can you believe it? Mexicans are kidnapping our tourists! There have been cases that corrupt Mexican police are kidnapping tourist and holding them for ransom. Some of the tourists came from California and were kidnapped. “Jorge Bustamante, the U.N.’s special investigator for migrant rights, said extorting ransoms from migrants could be more lucrative for unscrupulous police than working for drug smuggling gangs.” The police ask the tourists for phone numbers, relatives and other things to get some money.

As the thousands of Mexicans who travel north and south to get to the border, they are extorted and mistreated by police, gangs and even taxi drivers! “It’s a big business that involves everyone from taxi drivers to police chiefs. It’s a business whose profits rival those of drug trafficking,” Bustamante said.” There was one man who told Butamante that his wife was still missing after Mexican police abducted them both and held them captive. “Bustamante, who was invited to carry out his study by the Mexican government, criticized Mexico for doing little to improve the lot of migrants on its territory while at the same time demanding better treatment from the United States of illegal Mexican migrants there.” Thats a load of hypocrisy there.

Last year there were twenty six people kidnapped and held captive. That number is expected to rise. The FBI got involved. Agent Alex Horan said that they had recovered some of the twenty six people. Some were beaten, some were killed, and some were raped. Most of the victims have reported being handcuffed and having hoods over their heads. Most of the victims have business interests or family members in Mexico. “But authorities said anyone planning to visit Mexico should be cautious. “I would certainly be concerned,” Horan said.” There was a tourist advisory put in place just last week telling tourists to be careful because the amount of gunfights have risen south of the border.

This is absolutely RIDICULOUS! I can understand that Mexicans want money, but this is getting out of hand. We can’t allow our citizens to bring guns down south of the border and shoot at anyone who tries to kidnap them or something to that effect. I think that the Mexican government should be firing those corrupt police officers who are kidnapping our citizens and extorting money from their families. We don’t kidnap their families and extort money from them, do we? No, in fact we hire them to do work and get money. Also, they want us to treat their people better on our side of the border. We could say the same thing!! There are being very hypocritical and its really tickin’ me off!

-Matt

 

http://www.10news.com/news/15232704/detail.html?rss=sand&psp=news

http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=6054

 

http://newsfromtheborder.blogspot.com/2008/02/kidnappings-of-us-citizens-on-rise.html

Racism of Immigrants March 23, 2008

      An important topic, and often an overlooked one, of immigration is the racism of immigrants. Even those that come into the country legally face the hatred and discrimination of racist people. Most immigrants come to live a better life, but many replace one bad situation with another.     In September of 2007, a federal judge, James M. Munley, put a stop to ordinances in the town of Hazleton that were put into place to harshly punish undocumented migrants trying to live there. The mayor of the town, Louis J. Barletta, was trying to make Hazleton “one of the toughest places in the United States” for migrants to live. It was indeed the right decision to put a stop to theses ridiculous ordinances. If a person is in the country legally, why should they have to go through any more pain than that that caused them to migrate in the first place? If a person goes through the whole immigration process legally and is documented, what have they done to deserve any persecution from any form of government?

    There is also racism of immigrants in much less radical forms. Carlos Oppenheimer writes, ”It’s not just what fear mongers such as CNN’s Lou Dobbs or radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage allow to be said in their shows, which systematically blame Hispanics for many of America’s ills. Prominent academics such as Harvard University political scientist Samuel Huntington are getting away with sweeping statements such as America’s Hispanic immigration deluge . . . constitutes a major potential threat to the cultural and possibly political integrity of the United States.” People with prominent positions in society also let slide comments here and there with no adverse consequences. They are fueling the fire of racism of immigrants, and with these people doing so, there will probably be no end to the racism of immigrants, whether legal or illegal.

Citations:

http://hispanic.cc/racism_killed_immigration_reform.htm

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SC8nxqJKRJ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA113&dq=workplace+prejudice+of+immigrants&ots=aY_6l6PIiH&sig=pZf6BFIGykFr-MRmfCAVyn8IfrY#PPA113,M1

Arizona Trying To Make Immigrants Leave March 22, 2008

As we all know, immigrants all around the world search and search for jobs, illegal or legal. Well, in Arizona hundreds of immigrants are leaving and going back to their home country in an attempt to find a job there. Arizona has introduced a new legislation law to try and cut down on immigration and them getting jobs.  Arizona is one of the most populated places with immigrants because it’s one of the main crossing points along the border. This law took effect January 1, 2008 and they say it has already been working. Hundreds of immigrants are so mad at this new law that they are trying their luck at their homeland. There is no way to calculate how many immigrants have left Arizona. The reason it’s so difficult to find out how many immigrants have moved is because a lot are leaving for the holidays. Martin Herrera, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant is planning on moving back to Mexico after living 70 miles north of Arizona for about 4 years. “I don’t want to live here because of the new law and the oppressive environment,” he said. “I’ll be better in my country.” He also claims that this new law is absurd. Martin explained how these immigrants are all part of a motor which runs America and if hundreds of these people live, the motor will slow down. This employer-sanction law was introduced by State Rep. Russell Pearce, he introduced it to drive immigrants away. He said the he hopes they will self deport themselves. “They broke the law. They’re criminals.” Those were some of his exact words. I think that this is only a good law for illegal immigrants. The immigrants who are now legal should defiantly be able to acquire a job. I understand that a company doesn’t want to find out that they have an illegal immigrant working for them because it could screw up there company. To me instead of trying to kick out hundreds of immigrants, Arizona should just step up their security laws. What I mean by that is instead of this law, companies should just double their security and make a person offer more proof of citizenship when they get a job. They shouldn’t try and make innocent people leave. I agree with the fact that illegal immigrants should leave and get jobs in their homeland but not legal’s.  I got this information from the following sites: USAToday, MSNBC, and CNN. So, if you want more information on this story visit those sites maybe even do a little research of your own. All three sites cover the story about the same; they may even use the same words. What do you believe should happen with Arizona’s problem? Should they keep it or change once again?

Green Card Requirement: Sex? March 22, 2008

Once again, ignore random unneeded spaces, going from Word-> WordPress is a bad idea when it comes to formatting.

 

A US immigration screening officer is being charged with sexual assault after supposedly forcing a young Columbian woman to have oral sex with him. Isaac Baichu, 46, is the officer at charge here. After meeting with the woman and her husband, an American citizen, Baichu told them that no problems had arrived but he would like her cell phone number in case something should arise.

 

 

 

3 days later calls started and Baichu told her that they would have to meet to “discuss matters”, strangely they would have to meet alone. At their private meeting, in a car on Queen Boulevard, the young women was ready to record their discussion for an unknown reason. On the recording Baichu is accussed of stating “I want sex, one or two times. That’s all. You get your green card. You won’t have to see me anymore.” The woman said she was afraid that if she didn’t comply, she wouldn’t receive her green card. After agreeing to meet up with him again later, Baichu told to her do it now, to insure she was serious. She refused at first, but after a bit of time she complied.

Baichu was arrested last week and is facing the charges now. He faces a charge of up to 7 years. His lawyer has asked he following questions:

-Why should would meet Baichu alone?

-Why was she ready to record unless she knew something was going to go wrong?

Baichu’s lawyer has also stated that the woman was going for a U-Visa, a type of green card for those who are victims of crimes or under part of an investigation. Baichu’s agency has suspended him with pay.

 

I believe that there is a serious problem with our offices if such a coincidence is happening. According to CNN, there have been multiple other charges within recent. In this current case I believe that Baichu should definitely face the full 7 year charge, crimes such as these should not be under-represented. Also I wonder why Baichu’s lawyer is trying to make a case that the woman supposedly knew something was going on because of her being ready to record at the secret meeting. I think common sense tells us that this meeting was definitely not one that would be a casual thing. I believe that she was in her full right to be ready to record, if I myself were put in that situation I would have refused to meet alone and if needed ask for a different officer, one who would not have something against me because I refused to comply to his unorthodox requests.

 

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21immigrant.html?ei=5087&em=&en=591b8b723119cb97&ex=1206244800&pagewanted=all

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/21/immigration.officer/index.html?iref=newssearch

 

 

German immigrant takes bullet for U.S. ‘ideals’ March 22, 2008

      Reported in Berlin, Germany, Jeffrey Jamaledine was hit with a bullet to his chin the blew out most of his jaw and almost killed him while he was deployed over in Iraq last year. The sacrafice is just something that comes with his job he says and that he would also go back into the line of duty the second he would be asked.

     This is something that bothers his family, mainly his father. He serves in the U.S. Army as a German citizen, one of the 20,500 “green card warriors” in the army. Only last month he was aswarded U.S. citizenship, but he is keeping his German passport for now.

      The thing that is bothering his father the most, Bashir Jamaleldine, is that he is fighting in such an unjust war because America went too far in the way of invading Iraq which is shared by a majority of Germans. He is hoping his son would snap out of his state of being and would go back to his “German roots”. “It would satisfy me more. Why he’s more American than a German, I don’t know,” he stated.

     He also is upset that he went to Iraq. He says he only went over there to get this bullet. He also says that he wouldn’t have been wounded in such a manner, have had to spend a miserable time in the hospital, or be treated by a doctor when he could have been safe and happy at home with him and the rest of the family.

Shaking his head in an interveiw with the father, he added, “He is more American than German.” That, the 31-year-old U.S. army scout wearing a Stetson hat and Spurs proudly, made him laugh. He said that he has had many disagreements and countless fights on the deal and no matter what they say to each other, neither one changes their view.

     The position that the father has is that he shouldn’t be fighting in Iraq, but trying to solve hunger in Africa. Africa is the place where he had immigrated to Germany from. No matter what the father says, the son will agree on one thing: his love for America is strong. When he was 18 and moved to America to go to college in Missouri he fell in love with the United States and the culture instantly. “You can go from rags to riches there. People still believe that. It is not something that has gotten lost,” he stated.

     On September 11, 2001 this devoted man felt that it was his duty to go help his new country. “A small group of people (terrorists)-I felt-had a big influence on our way of life and that literally ticked me off,” he announced later on. He said his knowledge of knowing that he could join the U.S. army on his green card was an accident.

     In 2007, he had to pay a huge price for his devotion to America. Pinned down in a firefight with the insurgents in Ramadi, he was shot in the face by the enemy.  

     They report that the left side of his jaw was shattered and now doctors in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are trying to reconstruct his facial bones.

      In America, he would be considered a hero and devoted, but back in his home country, it is the opposite. The German public incredibly oppose the Iraq War. They don’t mind the criticism. But it doesn’t matter to him, he will go fight again if he was given the chance.

     He says he loves life and doesn’t want to die but would sacrifice himself if he got the chance to go back. He says he will do anything in his capacity as a human to stand up for what he believes in. His father, though, looks upon his son in disbelief to his son who is now an American citizen. He, Jeffrey, says he didn’t do it to rebel against his parents or go against being German, he says he did it to defend American Ideals.

     “If we have people who want to change those ideals or take them away,” he stated,”then there are people like me or my platoon who stand up and fight for those ideals.”

In my opinion, I think he is doing the right thing by defending in what he believes in, but I think he might be taking it too far. I think he has served his time in defending his country and should try to settle the feud between his father and him. I also think that it is good to see that we have these kind of people willing to fight for America that aren’t even originally American.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/21/german.ussoldier/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/iraq-s27.shtml

Illegal Immigration: A Halt To Stop It March 15, 2008

Ignore weird spacing and forgotten tabs, WordPress formatting is stupid.

Illegal immigration, a seemingly big topic, has come to a halt as most officials are not concerned with it. In both Indiana and Virginia immigration bills came to a halt when officials smacked them down.

 

 

In Virginia the General Assembly laid the smack down to a series of immigration bills during its annual session. In surprise these bills were killed after legislators repeated pledges addressing the growing population, brought up in last falls campaign. On Thursday out of 130 bills, only a hand full of them passed. Most importantly bills that would’ve penalized illegal immigrants were denied. Many suspect this is a sign of the lessening of importance of this issue.

Some bills that were passed were denying bail to illegal immigrants that have committed a crime, requiring jails to check legal status of those taken into custody, and prohibiting government contractors from hiring illegal immigrants. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine who has repeatedly said that immigration should be dealt with by the federal government signed off on all 3 of the above bills.

 

Some of the bills denied included allowing employers to fire workers for misconduct if they spoke other than English, denying illegal immigrants to go to public colleges and universities, requiring drivers licenses tests be in English, and proof of home buyers legal status for mortgages. Delegate Jackson Miller proposed two bills that would require defendants to pay for language interpreters in court and the restriction of using tax payer’s money for services related to illegal immigrants. Neither of which were passed.

 

The issue of immigration has turned to a fight between the parties. Over the past 2 month-legislation session, immigration bills have hit a new high. More than 100 of the bills came from the republican house, which were approved, but turned down by the democrats, who control the senate.

 

In Indiana the passing of an immigration bill simply ran out of time. “We just ran into a brick wall,” said Sen. Mike Delph. The gavel was dropped with no action taken place. Members spent most of their time on tax relief and other matters. Immigration was just not important it seems. The bill was similar to that of one in Virginia declaring that no employer shall hire any person or persons if they could not show legal status of residency.

 

Overall I feel that immigration is a major issue and shouldn’t be ignored like it is. I do like the fact of Virginia passing the bill about stopping government contractors from hiring illegal immigrants. It gives fewer reasons for immigrants to hop over the border if they cannot find a job. I do wish that they would add an extension of deportation of those in custody who cannot prove legal status. Though we denied them having bail and roaming about freely, now we have to worry about them crowding our jails and prisons. I believe that deportation would stop this or at least give them some incentive to not come across the border again. I also feel that Virginia should’ve passed the bill requiring all drivers’ licenses tests to be in English. In fact, I would support the government officially declaring that our national language be English. Why should we have to change the way our lives are to compensate for those who come illegally, I’m primarily referring to those of Hispanic descent that speak Spanish. We change our menus to Spanish, but I believe we should just require them to learn to speak English. In Indiana they should re-propose the bill as soon as possible. Once again, if illegal immigrants could not find jobs they would have no incentive to come over.

Sources:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803150459

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031403912_2.html

A grenade to the face of anti-immigration… March 10, 2008

There have lately been alot of immigration bills that have been  introduced in the first two months of this year. (350+ nation wide)  Unfortunately, not a single one of them has gained much ground.  The bills have been for certain things such as denying illegal immigrants drivers licenses and some other ID’s, limiting public benefits, penalizing their employers, and further cracking down on illegal immigration.   (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUSFTMib2Jtl6TtlzFTlfloiGz2QD8V8TJRO0)All these bills are costing alot of money as well.  With the current war and the economy problems, immigration is becoming less of a serious issue or at least one that’s being given the silent treatment.  Perhaps the silent treatment is what it deserves from lawmakers.  While lawmakers are somewhat begning to ignore immigration crackdown laws and bills, the people directly affected by these laws are taking action.  Protests all over the U.S. of A are happening.  The reason obviously is because those who the bills and laws affect are offended that they are being picked on and descriminated against.

 While lawmakers start up the silent treatment and while those affected are taking to the streets and signing petitions, multiple pastors spanning across several faiths have banded together to fight against anti immigration laws.  While the group is somewhat more liberal than some of the administrators of their respective faiths, you have to take a step back and think here.  Priests and pastors are prety conservative so if the conservatives are taking action against illegal immigration then you have to wonder if many of our lawmakers have taken a huge step in the wrong way.  I do not need to remind you that this country was founded on illegal immigration, (we killed off native indians aplenty in our 200 year occupance of this land, i say that’s about as close as you can get to a country founded on illegal immigration.)  That is why our lawmakers have screwed up, why our internation guests are rioting in the streets of this “free” country, and why even plenty of pastors and priests are protesting anti immigration laws.

Before the lawmakers of our country decide on any more bills, they should do their homework a little bit better…

Smuggling Immigrant Incident March 9, 2008

As we all know, smuggling illegal immigrants is of course illegal. Yet people still try to pull it off. I found a new article from a couple sources about a regular grown man who tried to smuggle some immigrants. Except what happened to him defiantly ruined his life.

                19 or more illegal immigrants were killed when a man named Tyrone Williams smuggled more than 70 immigrants into Houston, Texas in May 2003. He now has a chance of facing the death penalty because he was convicted on 58 counts of conspiracy and illegal transportation.

                It is said that the cause of the death of these 19 immigrants is because Tyrone didn’t free the illegal immigrants or turn on the air conditioning which, they say could have save the immigrants lives. He packed all of these illegal immigrants into a tractor-trailer.

                Craig Washington, Tyrone William’s lawyer says that Williams is responsible for the illegal transportation but not the death of the immigrants. He believes that he isn’t responsible for the deaths because he didn’t know they immigrants were dying until it was too late. According to Fox News, William is only 35 years old and is only 1 of 14 people charged in the case that is facing the death penalty.

                According to BBC News, a man named Daniel Rodriguez described Tyrone Williams as an illegal Jamacan immigrant and as a “vile and heartless truck driver who has no regard for human life.” BBC News also says that the amount of people packed into this truck was 70-100 people with high humidity. They also say that the immigrants tried ripping away pieces of the vehicle in attempt to get air.

                It is said the Tyrone abandoned 17 of the immigrants in the town of Victoria, Texas because they were dead. 2 of the immigrants were discovered and brought to a hospital where they later died. Unfortunately, one of the two immigrants that went to the hospital where they later died was a young 5 year old Mexican boy.

                I think that the court and jury are going a little harsh on this man. I don’t think he should get the death penalty. The worse he should get is life in prison. I mean, there are serial killers out there who kill as many people as him and only get life. Why should he get killed? Those are my views on this topic.

                The information I got was from BBC News and Fox News. I liked both of the information from each site about evenly. Information left out from BBC was covered in Fox and Information left out my Fox was covered in BBC. So they are both good resources to me. What are your thoughts on this article?

    

Can a Dinky Wall help with US-Mexican Borders? March 9, 2008

George W. Bush signed a law for 700 miles of fencing to be placed along the US-Mexican border. Mexican politicians do not like the idea of a fence along the border. The president of Mexico response to that, “Shameful.” He said that it was “like the Berlin Wall.” The president also said, “There is no reason to place a fence along two allies borders.” Ten million Mexicans are believed to live the the United States. Four million are believed to be illegal. Supposedly, one million people are arrested as they cross the border.

The Mexicans are saying that we are to focused on the borders, without realizing what immigrants do for the United States’ economy. The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, said, “When we look at their roots, the immense majority of Americans are migrants, migrants that have arrived from all over the world,” he added. ” There is already a wall built between Tijuana and San Diego. California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are next to be fenced. “Mr Bush promised to balance the tightening of the border with a temporary guest worker program and moves to grant eventual citizenship to some of the illegal immigrants already in the US. Those moves are opposed by many within his own Republican party.”

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Council stated, “A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don’t have the agents to stop them it does no good. We’re not talking about some impenetrable barrier,” he said.” Now, Mexicans are planning to challenge the fence and has brought Mexican politicians together in opposition to the border fence. They consider the border to be unnecessary and offensive. They also say that we are hypocrites, “enjoying the benefits of cheap Mexican labor but not being prepared to offer Mexican people a chance to cross the border legally.”

This fence that we are putting on the borders will not work. We need people to patrol the borders, not one person for the whole thing, but in sections. If we could have a whole bunch of people patrol the border in sections that are marked somehow, we might be able to prevent a lot of illegal immigrants from crossing the border. But if you place a dinky fence, they could climb over it. We have to install a metal or non grippy stone wall to keep the Mexicans and other southern Americans out. I guess if they really wanted to, they could get a grappling hook and toss it over. In that case we have a thick, flat top. Then again, that might not work, but anyhoo.

I think we need immigrants, but ones that are legal. Just think about this, if we had no immigrants at all, who would work on farms for less than minimum wage? Americans would demand pay raises and other crap that farmers can’t really afford. (Some may be able to, but would they want to?) On the other hand, if we had legal and illegal immigrants, farmers wouldn’t pick oranges all by themselves. Still, the illegal immigrants wouldn’t be paying taxes but they don’t get benefits either. Illegal immigrants create a win-lose situation that I don’t think we can change with a dinky wall.

-Matt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6088084.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4541606.stm