"PEOPLE DO NOT COME IN LEGALLY BECAUSE IT IS A VERY LONG AND HARD PROCESS"
My job is hard but I do it. What does hard have to do with anything? It's just a cop out excuse for a free ride on the tax payers back! Nice try though.
Although your story is touching, illegal is illegal. That's just the way it is. It's to bad that it's hard. Those are the rules we Americans put in place and those are the rules we expect to be followed.
What if I tell you that the so called legal way is totally impossible, undocument immigrants are not criminals, all of your ancestors were not invited by American Indians.
..."What if I tell you that the so called legal way is totally impossible, undocument immigrants are not criminals, all of your ancestors were not invited by American Indians."
I'm a decedent of the two people that never immigrated to America. The illegal immigrants come from countries that were dominated by Europeans and yet they don’t march, organize, protest or do anything in there native lands to liberate themselves or their land that I’m aware of. How can you expect respect, inclusion or even tolerance when you come illegally, worsen every community you land in, then have the nerve to speak of the plight of native peoples when you haven’t challenged the cast system and or other social problems in your counties? To make matters worst central and south Americans (esp. Mexicans) are horribly prejudiced when it comes to African Americans in spite of the fact that as people of color you’d benefit from the “Civil Rights” movement. That and also the fact that none of the issues in the African American communities affect the social well-being of illegal but illegal seriously affect the economic structure of low income African Americans and other lower income Americans. I live outside of the Washington DC area and the arrival of illegal have strained every aspect of the economy here. The neighbor I grew up in has become a mud pit, I watched my parents and their peers work to build a strong beautiful middle class community and in 5 to 7 years that community is almost unrecognizable, I’ve seen houses where the illegal tore up the front lawn and paved it so they could park 5 to 7 cars in the front.
"What if I tell you that the so called legal way is totally impossible, undocument immigrants are not criminals, all of your ancestors were not invited by American Indians."
If it were impossible, then we wouldn't have LEGAL immigrants. You must be a complete moron to have actually posted this. Well, you posted this in question form, so I will answer. If you told me that the legal way is totally impossible, I would tell you that you are on drugs and that you need to get out of the house more so you can meet legal immigrants. I have. I have worked beside LEGAL immigrants from more nations than I can list. These immigrants are from all corners of the globe. They are not "skilled" professionals, unless you would call valet parkers, cashiers, waiters, and furniture movers (just to name a few) skilled occupations!
Take your insane rhetoric somewhere else. We are not buying it here!
let me get this straight. Undocumented immigrants/Illegal aliens have broken immigration laws by definition. Criminals are people who have broken laws. Thus Undocumented immigrants/Illegal aliens are Criminals.
I think waht you mean to say is undocumented immigrants are nice people. yes, some are. but all - all - are criminals - by definition.
who cares...go back to mexico.....leave...come back legally...whatever it takes...do it legally...you are only creating a hosile feeling within america towards you illegals ...
This is not a cop-out of why people do not come here legally. Think of the whole picture and do your research. Many illegal immigrants work and PAY TAXES just like every other american citizen, but they dont get to reap the benefits like you or I do. If it wasnt for illegal immigrants doing the work that legal immigrants dont do, the cost of living would increase dramatically. We would have to pay more for produce and other things of that nature. You or I as citizens who pay taxes have other options to make more money and create a better life for ourselves. We have federal and state programs the illegal immigrants help fund with their taxes so we can get extra help. The problem is not illegal immigrants but the system working against illegal immigrants for monetary compensation at no cost.
By the way, what about other illegal immigrants other than those from Mexico. I have never seen in the last 45 years at least, anyone from Canada come under scrutiny, how about the Chinese or the Irish. We need to be fair in the immigration process. We are back to the 1830's where the first wave generation of immigrants had to fight extra hard and were sorted by skin color and so forth. Let's be real people!
"This is not a cop-out of why people do not come here legally. Think of the whole picture and do your research. Many illegal immigrants work and PAY TAXES just like every other american citizen"
And yet they are still not American citizens. The more I listen to the argument of pro illegal immigrants the more I realize that there is no logical argument for amnesty. The bottom line is there is a process for immigration. You don't have to like it, or agree with it. It's not designed to please you and it doesn't owe anyone an explanation. The strongest argument against illegal immigration is the illegal immigrants themselves and their countries. Have you ever read Mexico’s immigration policy?
1. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools, no special 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.
Harsh, you say? ...
The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of MEXICO !
These guidelines do appear to be realistic and effective, however Mexico is not without fault concerning immigration. They as a country are cruel and predatory when issues concerning Central Americans are concerned. This is especially true of Guatemalens.
How dare you compare American immigration policie to Mexico`s. You crack me up. Because your neigbour is a bigot doesnt mean you compete on being more bigoted!
Actually, Mexico's immigration policy is not biggoted. Nothing in the above policy mentioned anything about race. You know, slavery was outlawed in Mexico before it was in the US.
It is called "self-preservation" and it is a good idea for Mexico to protect itself. This is something that America needs to learn before it is too late to recover!
Hey, Mexico knows what unchecked immigration can do and how dangerous it is. They were invaded in the 1830's by immigrants from another country. One of the officials from Mexico City stated that it was amazing that so few people spoke Spanish. He reported that it didn't look like Mexico anymore. The immigrants rose up and revolted. This revolt caused Mexico to lose a very large, oil-rich Province to another country. If you don't believe me, look up the history of Tejas and the Alamo.
Am I advocating giving back Texas? Absolutely not. Those that do not remember the past will be condemned to repeat it is all that I am saying.
It is true that Mexico deals very harshly with illegal immigration, and it is true that many people can come over legally... there are also truths that we are not discussing... that the US has a gigantic impact on Latin America. (Plus, I don’t think we could compare what the threat of immigration can do to a county like Mexico and to the US. But that’s a whole other discussion)
Latin Americans are coming to the US mainly bc of their economical situations and lack of opportunities. Now, why is their country in a state of poverty and lacking opportunities??? I am not saying that it is all the US's fault, but we have a HUGE impact on all of Latin America. We have squeezed these countries so tightly that they are left without opportunities. Coming to the US is the last choice.
Having lived in Mexico for over 3 years, I know that most people don’t want to come to the US... they do so bc there are not any other choices available...
as a small example of many that can be offered... lets look at coffee prices and how they have impacted Mexico, Guatemala, etc. First off, who determines these prices??? The US does... One year the US dropped all the prices they were going to pay for coffee and this left thousands of people in a devastating situation. And not only that, but these countries can’t compete or say no to the US... they just need to accept the US taking advantage of them. That’s exactly what we did… we lowered the prices so dramatically bc we knew we could… and we knew what we would be doing to all these people. Where do most of the Mexican Immigrants come from??? The south, where the farmers live…
I’m using Mexico as the example, but the same holds true for the rest of Latin America… El Salvador is like a Mini America… you can even use American Dollars there! Yet people live in boxes and tin houses. Look into what the impact of US trade has done to these countries and you will understand why people immigrate.
And yes, that’s how the US has become so powerful, jodiendo todo el mundo... screwing the world. And I do know that many Americans are happy with that bc they have money, etc... but the truth is that it is our own way of life, 'having cheap coffee' for example, that puts other countries in positions where they need to separate themselves from their families, their lives, their traditions, in order to live through the mess we have created ourselves.
If Americans really want to do something about immigration, we need to start developing more economy in these countries… we need to start paying these countries what they deserve and not take advantage of them. Development needs to happen... fair policies need to happen. People need to have opportunities in their own country.
I leave you with a great saying that Mexicans use. Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de Estados Unidos… meaning they are always screwed having to be ‘so far from God, and so close to the US’.
If what you say is true. If the US has ruined Central and South America by suppressing prices, then why is oil over $100 per barrel????? What is sad is that some people might actually believe what you wrote. How can the US government control the price of coffee if they can't even control the price of OIL?
If we can control the prices of foreign goods, then I say "Bring it on!" We could use $1.259 per gallon gasoline and diesel again. That would be a real economy boost!
Here is something that I found... I will also find more for you:
Story by Clare Black
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
'LONDON - Coffee farmers in one of Mexico's main growing states, driven to desperation by rock-bottom prices, are abandoning the crop to plant forests instead or even emigrating, a senior farm official said yesterday.
Marco Miguel Munoz, farm trade commissioner of Veracruz state, said many farmers were now emigrating to the United States, often illegally, in a desperate search for work.
"We are looking to diversify from coffee and the best option is forestry," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), which brings together producers and consumers.
"If something is not done, we think the coffee crisis will become a world security problem," he added.
Mexico is the world's fifth largest coffee producer. Output from Veracruz represents some 20 percent of Mexico's coffee area. Low prices have slashed 65 percent from the value of Veracruz's coffee exports this crop year, Munoz said.
In the first five months of the 2001/02 crop year, Veracruz's coffee exports were worth $105 million, sharply down from $307 million in the same year-ago period.
Munoz echoed remarks by Nestor Osorio, ICO's executive director, who said last week that the situation in some countries was becoming potentially explosive as the slump in prices battered farm incomes.
Osorio said that half a million jobs in Central America had been lost as farmers could no longer cover their costs.
Global coffee prices have slumped by some 80 percent since a peak of $3.18 a lb in 1997 and are now hovering at just over 50 cents a lb.
Veracruz aims to destroy a third of its coffee area to try to encourage farmers to plant more remunerative alternatives, improve the environment and the quality of beans.
Mexico has been one of the key drivers behind an ICO-backed global quality improvement programme, aimed at destroying five percent of the lowest quality beans.
"But this is not enough, because of overproduction. We are going to keep having surpluses and that will continue depressing prices," Munoz said. Mexico is losing around 668,000 hectares of forest a year to agriculture and urbanisation. Veracruz has lost vast areas of forest, Munoz said.
But for diversification to have any lasting impact on coffee prices, it would need to be carried out globally.
Munoz said he was keen to present his idea to Vietnam, the world's second biggest coffee producer and a relative newcomer to the market, whose massive output increases had helped to destabilise the supply/demand balance.'
I also highly recommend this article...
'The Trade Impact Review
Over the last several years, the Women’s Edge Coalition has become increasingly concerned with how U.S. trade policies affect
women and the poor in developing countries. For that reason, the Women’s Edge Coalition developed a framework, the Trade
Impact Review (TIR), to analyze the impacts trade agreements on the poor BEFORE they are signed in order to mitigate negative
consequences and build upon positive results.
To demonstrate the value of the TIR, the Women’s Edge Coalition conducted a case study to analyze the impact of NAFTA and
future impact of the FTAA on Mexico’s poor farmers. NAFTA was created with the explicit goal of reducing poverty in Mexico by
creating a large, middle income population in the country. However, that goal has not been accomplished - many of Mexico’s poor
have become poorer.'
...ya know, it's not that everyone is poor in Mexico. There is wealth, the problem is that Mexico has a cast system and the wealth doesn't tickle down.
Your assertion that that Mexico's economic problems are a result of U.S. Latin American policy are absurd. The reason Mexico is in the state it is, is because of the elitist federal centralized government that has only Spaniard bred, European looking people running it. These people are all rascist and corrupt. All wealth is concentrated in this certain ruling class. Those in power look down at the rest of the peasant class of Mexicans as inferiors. If they truly cared for their own populace then real free enterprise, real economic investment, and real distribution of wealth would be implemented throughout Mexico---and it's not and never will be because as long as they have an out: America, then nothing will ever ne done.
Our policies must change against this repressive regime if we're ever going to have a change. But as long as agri-business and other large American corperations are allowed to exploit the cheap Mexican labor and payoff the politicians(including George Bush), and as long as our borders are wide open then nothing will ever get done.
In the mean time... a civil war is brewing ladies and gentlemen, the Amercian people cannot stand for this raping of our own natural born rights.
Other illegal or legal immigrants HAD to and DID learn english as fast as possible. No one ever had to "press one for English" before. Growing up in the late 40's and 50's, I NEVER saw another flag flying, and certainly not an Italian flag as it was where my grandparents were from. No handouts were given or expected.
02/19/2008 6:36:00 PM
