Legalizing Illegal immigrants

[GopherJudy]

Here's the link to an article in today's Newsday regarding illegal immigrants. You could probably check out others by clicking on archives.

 

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lifarm0720,0,6044432.story?coll=ny-li-bigpix

 

Judy

 

sorry you have to copy & paste into browser, I thought it would come up as a "link thingy".

[acco40]

OGE, I'm no Hillary apologist but ...

 

The thrust of the article was about illegal alien High School graduates, with good academic credentials, being able to attend colleges as "residents" and having them pay the same fees as international students.

 

Now how did they get high school diplomas in the first place? Illegal aliens should not be working and I think (but am not sure) that public schools do not have to take them.

 

Should we, the US, use some sort of criteria for granting citizenship for illegal aliens? If an IA graduates from a high school with an excellent citizenship and academic record should that weigh in the decision process? What about colleges grades?

[Prairie_Scouter]

Well, as much as I sympathize with the feelings here, I feel like I should maybe try to level the playing field a bit. Illegal aliens are not all arsonists, gang members, and all around thugs. The Eastern European immigrants who make up a large part of the organized crime on the East Coast and elsewhere are largely legal residents. As far as having 40 Latinos living in a single family house, I've seen reports on that, and you can thank good old American citizens for most of that problem. Groups of aliens are convinced to enter the country with the promise of good wages and good working conditions. They are then paid slave wages, put up in unacceptable housing and have no real way to escape.

 

A large number of the aliens entering the U.S. are taking backbreaking jobs that no one wants, for less than minimum wage, and sending a good deal of that money back home to support their families. The situation in their home country is so bleak that they are willing to take the chance to come here illegally to accomplish that. A lot of the farm crops in the SouthWest wouldn't be harvested if it wasn't for the illegal immigrants who cross the border during the growing season to take those jobs. Those that are here aren't paying income taxes, to be sure, but their pay is so low that they probably wouldn't be paying anything anyway. They do, however, pay "use" and sales taxes just like everyone else, and at least some of their money goes into the local economies where they are living at the moment. If we were to grant a general amnesty today and allow them to bring their families, the net result would most likely be the addition of several million hard working people willing to take on jobs that no "American" wants, their kids would be here, learning the wonders of our democracy, and putting all their money and potentially other tax income, back into the economy.

 

Are there problems with our immigration policies now? Sure, but calling them all gangsters and slobs isn't going to solve the problem.

[OldGreyEagle]

I am not saying they are anything but illegal, which is by definition a crime

[Prairie_Scouter]

Absolutely right, OGE. Not disputing that. But I wonder if there might be a better solution for all concerned than just throwing them all out of the country. Maybe not.

[Eamonn]

Boy am I pleased that so far no one has come up with the idea of deporting me!!

For the record I am a Resident Alien. That term reminds me of the movie ET.

I have called this great country home for the past 21 years. During which time I have paid taxes and never collected a penny from the State or the government. I have paid into social security, both here and back in the UK and do hope that one day I will collect on both.

Thinking back to all the stuff that I had to go through to become a resident alien, I do get a little upset when I hear that others are not going through what I did. It seemed that every-time I went to the American Embassy in London, I raised my hand and swore to something or another and then handed over size-able amounts of cash. Add to this a medical at an approved doctors office, a chest X-ray and a photo of my left ear!! I then had to provide proof that I wouldn't become a Public Charge within the first year of my being here. Kinda hard when I was paying all that money at the embassy.

I was checked out by the FBI, swore that I had never been a member of the Nazi Party and then checked out by Scotland Yard.

What is funny is that Her Who Must Be Obeyed has the right to reside in the UK and now the EU and all she had to do was visit one office with our marriage license and her American Passport. She had a little chat with a very nice man and was good to stay.

I don't know all the facts and all the numbers about illegal residents.

I do think that it is unfair that I went through what I did to be legal and they seem to by-pass it all.

Not that I dwell on it or lose any sleep.

Eamonn

PS If they do decide to deport me can I ask for a place with palm trees? London is kinda cold.

[OneHour]

Illegal immigrants? If my mind has not failed, I do believe that Native Americans did not legally grant any European explorers the rights to settle North America! Does that make everyone but the Native Americans illegal aliens or decendants of illegal aliens? By that suggestion, then everyone should not be granted the rights to go to school or work here! Hmmm ... such a quandry!

 

It's really sad indeed! So often when I was growing up (and from time to time even now), I constantly heard the phrase ... "Go back where you came from. We don't want your kind here!" ... and I was one of the "legal aliens!"

 

Hey, Eamonn, if you are getting deported to the palm treed islands, save a spot for me as well!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

[GopherJudy]

Eamonn,

 

Relax, you came here legally! So did my husband, he was from England & we had to go into the city (NYC) several times to Immigration with tons of paperwork. I remember we had to catch a train around 5am so we could get to where we had to be by 8am. The train ride was around 1 hour & 20 minutes but that took us to Penn Station, we still had to take a subway & a taxi to get to INS!

 

It doesn't matter what country you came from but if you're sneaking over the border or whatever & coming here illegally, you should get deported. I'm not saying that every one coming here illegally is a gang member but quite a few are. There are certain groups concentrated in certain towns on Long Island & you hear about the drug busts & gang members being arrested. The crowding of illegal immigrants into single family homes on Long Island goes from Nassau County to the end of Suffolk County & I was surprised to learn about gangs (don't remember if it was the Bloods, MS-13 or the Crips) living & dealing drugs in Greenport! In fact if you ever heard of the Guardian Angels, a group started by Curtis Sliwa back in the 70's I believe, they rode the subways to try & prevent crimes & muggings, etc. in the city. The mayor of Greenport is talking to Curtis to have a branch of the Guardian Angels in Greenport because of the gangs & drug dealing.

 

On my mother's side, my great-great grandparents came from Ireland, Holland & Germany in the early 1880's, my other ancestral group was already here, the Native American, Blackfoot tribe in Montana. My great-great grandfather, who was from Holland, was a gun-runner & rum-runner to the Native Americans & that's how he met his wife. Yes, we all didn't start out in this country & yes the Europeans did take land away from the Native Americans but many helped them too!

 

BAck on topic again! I think that if they really cared about coming here, they would use the proper channels, like INS & come here LEGALLY! This is for all people who want to come to the US, not just certain groups; it's just that you hear about certain groups more than others.

 

Judy

[evmori]

Why not deport them? There are many immigrants who go through the process legally. Why should the illegals get special treatment? Wait! Haven't we discussed special treatment before?

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[scoutldr]

For those councils in states where English is a dying language, what is the policy on membership for illegal aliens? Does anyone care? Or is an illegal youth on the rolls just as good as a legal one if it gets the SE a pay raise?

 

A Scout is Trustworthy. If they see nothing wrong with breaking the laws to get here, why would they place any importance on the Scout Law? Hmmmmm?

[Hunt]

This is an issue that always perplexes me, because it is so obvious to me that a "Christian" attitude to these people would be very different from "round 'em up and deport 'em." And yet, I see that attitude from people in the "Christian Right" all the time. As Prairie Scouter pointed out, most of these people came here not because they wanted to subvert our system, but because they were desperately poor. Sure, it's illegal, but if your kids are hungry enough you might convince yourself that the law keeping you out is unjust. I'm not sure what the answer is--I do fear that truly unrestricted immigration could wreck the US economy and harm the whole world, but I' don't know. As an American, I do worry a bit about the "sheep and goats" judgment.

[GopherJudy]

If I've offended anyone with my posts regarding this topic, I'm sorry, as that was never my intent.

 

I feel that whoever enters this country illegally should be deported. I was just saying what is happening here on Long Island & the "house cramming" of illegal aliens, the county officials are going after the owners of these single family houses for tons of violations including the amount of people living in the house. Those houses are unsafe when you have 40 to 50 or more people living in them no matter what race the people are.

 

Again, I never meant to offend anyone & I apologize if I did. Take care.

 

Judy

[Backpacker]

For a group of professed Christian scouters who live by the scout law I am surprised how many posters here are spewing forth such anti- Christian, redneck cracker hogwash. You can't have it both ways, either you walk the walk and talk the talk or you don't, otherwise you are just being hypocritical.

 

Are these people here illegally, yes, but even the INS and Border Patrol admit that they stop less than 10% of illegals. It is not like these people are taking corporate jobs either, they work on the farms and their labor keeps our food prices the lowest in the world, or work as dishwashers, laborers and other jobs that even our teens desperate for work refuse to do. Some say, well they collect welfare and all I can tell you is go to a welfare office and see what it takes to get on welfare, you would be shocked how very few qualify. However, there are many US citizens who are bilking the welfare system dry with phony disabilities because they are too lazy to get off their fat arses and find a job, this problem costs the government more money each year than illegal aliens, why don't we scream about that? Bush in an early campaign speech stated that he was going to give all illegals living in the US amnesty, which he never lived up too. As another point of information, if an illegal woman has a child in this country that child is automatically a citizen and both are allowed to remain here legally, that is the law.

 

So if we claim to be Christian following the example of Jesus, then like him we must be open and sympathetic to the plight of the poor, not judgemental. A scout is courteous, kind, helpful, friendly.... not hateful, prejudicial, mean or cruel.

 

 

[cubbingcarol]

What has this topic have to do with being a Christian? As Christians we are taught to obey the law. The definition of illegal...

 

 

adjective

 

1. against law: contravening a specific law, especially a criminal law

 

 

2. against rules: not allowed by the rules of something such as a game

 

Carol

 

 

[Kahuna]

While I am sympathetic to plight of the illegals and would probably do the same thing in their situation, I don't think it is the duty (Christian or otherwise) of this country to take on their burden. They are already becoming a serious problem and it is worsened by the current fashion of multiculturalism, which allows them to be here and not assimilate into the mainstream culture. The numbers of people who read a daily Spanish language paper, watch a Spanish language TV station and listen to Spanish language radio programs is astonishing. We only have to look to Canada to see what happens when you have more than one mainstream culture. I can't be accused of being ethnocentric: I live in the most culturally and racially diverse state in the U.S. Yet the people here are one culture and one language.

 

I'm not a Christian either, but it doesn't seem to me there is anything Christian about self-destructing one's own country. And that is exactly what is happening with illegal immigration on the scale we are seeing.