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Saturday, July 31, 2010

"ILLEGAL is not a race. It is a CRIME" (Sen. Pearce)


Senator Russell Pearce
"You can't break into my country, just like you can't break into my home."

Arizona SB 1070 uses "attrition through enforcement" as one of the tools to deter illegal immigration.  This means that after any lawful contact for traffic or criminal infractions is made, authorities can then determine the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. 

Arizona law mirrors federal law which already requires aliens (non-citizens) to register and carry their documents with them at all times.
8 USC 1304(e) and 8 USC 1306(a)

The most controversial component of SB 1070 requires authorities to determine the status of persons believed to be in the country illegally.

So what would suspicious behavior look like?  How is that recognizable to law enforcement?  Since Arizona does not issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the lack of a driver's license, any record of ever having had a license, or any other state or federal identification is one example of reasonable suspicion.  As is crossing the border at any point that is not an official point of entry, i.e., the desert or rivers and canals.  Or being recognized by law enforcement as having been a previous offender.

Those participants demonstrating against the implementation of SB 1070 refer to "racial profiling" and seem to think that police would or even could walk up to a brown skinned person and start questioning that individual without provocation.  It doesn't work that way.

SB1070 states that police may not solely consider race, color or national origin when implementing the law.  Read about it here:
Center for Immigration Studies

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Illegal immigration begins with crushing poverty created, in part, by U.S. corporations who moved across the border looking for cheap labor.  And then moved on to Asia in search of even cheaper labor, leaving starving thousands of people unequipped to fend for themselves.  The 1994/1995 Mexican privatization of banking and telecommunications created even more poverty.  Most of the wealth in Mexico is owned by the top 12% of the population. Faced with a Mexican government that was unable and unwilling to provide social services, they began walking north in desperation.


The seduction is irresistible.  Jobs may be north.  It is beautiful...and deadly.


There is no water here and days of searing heat to endure. Thousands have died of dehydration through the years.


These numbers are now skyrocketing to the largest mass immigration in our nation's history.  Damage to the environment, to National Parks, to wildlife and to residents is now spiraling out of control.  The cost to the border states for emergency health care, education and the criminal justice system are bankrupting our social services.


The topography looks green; it isn't.  This is an arid area of few habitations or roads, both to be avoided if you are illegal.  There is a tradition in the West among desert people.  No one is refused water.  To that end Humane Borders have erected and maintain water stations throughout the area with blue marker flags that can be seen for miles.  Even with this help, many die, as the red dots indicate. Not everyone is found.  This is a low estimate for years past.



Should this humanitarian aid continue?  There are those who contend that aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in this way is itself illegal.  This also aids drug runners, human traffickers and returning criminals as well as the thousands entering the U.S. illegally.

 It is estimated that nearly 3000 illegals per day are crossing the 1940 mile U.S./Mexico border.  I don't know how many are destitute Mexicans or terrorists in disguise. 



DO YOU?

This is just one small trail along a nearly 2000 mile border with Mexico along which illegal immigrants are pouring into the U.S.  President Bush merged the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, FEMA and the Border Patrol into Homeland Security.  In 2005 Congress required Homeland Security to hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents.  It didn't.  According to John Culberson (R-TX),  Congress bypassed the White House twice that year to bring the number to 1500.  With the economic distress of recent years, it will be an uphill battle to meet those numbers.   

On March 27 of this year, Robert Krentz, a rancher on the U.S./Mexican border called his family from a VHF radio to report illegal activity on his land and asked them to call Border Patrol.  They found his body hours later and followed the tracks south to the border.  Mr Krentz had been shot by an armed perpetrator who didn't hesitate to kill.   

Homeland Security Director and former Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, thinks there is adequate security on the border.

IS THIS A SECURE HOMELAND BORDER?


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Judge Susan Bolton has struck down parts of SB 1070.  This will be appealed to the 9'th Circuit Court of Appeals, located in San Francisco.  Check the Court Calendar for case number, case title, the judge's name, the location and hearing date.
www.ca9.uscourts.gov/

For a summary of SB 1070 and an explanation of immigration issues, see The Federation For American Immigration Reform.
http://www.fairus.org/

On March 14, 2010, USA Today reported that
.....three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Mexico were killed in a drive by shooting.
.....the  U.S. official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. (Why anonymity?)
.....the State Department said it would allow family members of diplomatic staff to leave the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros.
.....delay travel to Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua.




Along Arizona's part of this nearly 2000 mile border and because of Judge Bolton's decision, it is now illegal for Arizona authorities to enforce federal immigration policy even in light of the federal government's failure to do so and even though SB 1070 makes the federal and state law agree in an effort to protect our border.

So, it is illegal for police here to check the immigration status of anyone in custody before they are released.

Why?

Because that is the Fed's job and they don't have the time! 

According to Judge Bolton, in agreement with the Justice Department, certain items in SB 1070 conflict with the federal government's preemption and supremacy clauses.  Such checks would "swamp federal immigration officials who are pursuing other priorities".
SB 1070 mirrors federal law.  It is not in opposition to it.  And what "other priorities"?
"Federal resources would be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determinations", causing irreparable harm to the interests of the federal government".

What?!

How is it even possible to do "irreparable harm" to the federal government, who controls all the armed services and all the intelligence agencies in the country in addition to having all the money collected from taxation?


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Hispanic Vote * Business Profits
Fraudulent ID and the Social Security System

These are the reasons for a U.S./Mexican border that leaks like a sieve.

Even though illegal immigrants have no vote, they have family here who do.  The Hispanic community represents the largest ethnic block of voters in the U.S.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle will do anything they can to get those numbers on their side. 

Good business has the appearance of success, but looks are deceiving.  Profits are gained by moving more legal workers out of jobs and more illegal workers into them.  Workers that will accept less pay and no benefits.  This decreases the median pay scale for everyone downward. 

Fraudulent IDs are easy to obtain; a package containing a fake Social Security number, fake green card and sometimes, driver's licenses.
With this "documentation", employer's have themselves covered to then hire illegal immigrants at the lowest possible wages resulting in economic slavery and a downward spiral in all wages. But profits are up.

The W-2 forms with fake social security numbers are put into an earnings suspense file.  This is how the Social Security Administration collects money from sources that do not appear to be valid.  Hence, the SSA knows who employs illegal immigrants and even who those illegal immigrants may be.  But, this is money that is collected and so far, will never be paid out in benefits to those payees.  It amounts to billions and billions and billions of dollars.  And it is propping up a failing social security system.
With amnesty, a motion supported by Arizona Senator John McCain, these monies will be paid out to former illegal immigrants who earned the money illegally and will add millions more to our already overburdened system. 
Here is the catch.  There is no money in this fund.  It is just an accounting file.
Any monies paid out will come from another source.  The American taxpayer who legally paid into the system. 


The Scales of Justice are skewed.

And Not In Arizona's Favor.


(Articles quoted here include Bear Stearns in a jobs report; the New York Times in April 2005-Eduardo Porter; Dr. David Groody, Associate Professor at Notre Dame and the director of the Center for Latin American Studies; Deborah Moody of About.com; the National Drug Intelligence Center. Other attribution is included in the post.)
*Hispanic Americans who are here legally are not in any way thought of in a negative light by this writer.  This refers to just one (the largest) ethnic voting blocks in the U.S.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Linda, I'm visiting you in return from your kind comments on my Healing Morning blog today. I must say that your post on this topic was beautifully written and communicated. I live in Knoxville, TN, and we have a growing presence of illegal aliens in this city.

    I can state that I have been harrassed in grocery stores, at convenience stores while getting gas and at other locations by "packs" of Hispanic men who barely speak English. Can I prove they're not naturalized citizens? No, I can't, but I can tell you that there are pockets in the Knoxville area where it is well known that illegals live. They drive very nice cars, shop for luxury goods (another thing I've witnessed) and do this on Federal money from welfare. I work 3 jobs and sacrifice to make ends meet, while taxes taken from my check support these people to have quite comfortable lives...on hardworking U.S. citizens' tax dollars.

    If this sounds racist of me, that is not the goal - I am simply giving a glimpse of small town American in my home state as to how the illegal immigrant situation affects me, one single person. I'm all for immigration, but do it LEGALLY so that you have to pay taxes just like the rest of us!

    Thank you for a thoughtful, well annotated article!

    ~ Dawn

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  2. Dawn,

    Thank you for you kind comments. As with most of us who are on the front lines of this issue, what needs to be communicated first and foremost is that it is illegal. Immigration reform is a real priority.

    Illegal immigrants do pay taxes though. Not all of them, but a high percentage. The problem is that there is an even higher use of social services in relationship to the taxes paid. It is remarkably disproportionate.
    Amnesty would be a crushing blow to social security as it now stands.

    To all my readers, visit Dawn on her several blogs for a quiet, peaceful moment and lovely writing.

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  3. This was a long post and I didn't have time to read all of it. Here is the solution imho: fix e-verify and require every employer to use the system when screening prospective employees. At present, it's only voluntary to check whether a prospective employee is legally in the US. Give big fines to employers who hire illegals and force the employer to pay for the deportation costs of such illegals. If there are no jobs available in the US, illegals will stop coming here.

    Everyone knows that something needs to be done. But it's impossible to "secure" the entire border with Mexico even though each time this issue is brought up some politician will say how much we ought to spend on "securing" this border.

    Only once e-verify is proven to be an accurate system, will we need to decide what to do with the 12-14 million illegals in the country.

    During Reagan there was the same problem. Reagan granted amnesty and wanted the border secured. The latter never happened and now we have the same problem again. But this time around, illegals are competing or taking jobs from many US citizens whose jobs moved to Asia.

    www.wordsfromawoman.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete