Immigration

The New York Times has a piece out today saying there are large increases in immigration and that it has spread to more diverse areas, which might be why it is becoming an election year issue. My Dad tells me that in the trucking business, the garbage haulers from PA-NY now travel with one English speaker and the rest are undocumented workers that might not be able to speak the language. It is these stories, true or not, that are driving the debate.

But, I wanted to clear up a point about undocumented workers. Some of the NYT story below the break, then the clarification.

This is my first post....please be gentle...

Just received an email from Robin Hayes asking what should be done about the illegal immigration "problem".

(Robin, this "problem" has been around for a while, not just during election years!)

In the first part of the email (which I suspect came through the RNC), Hayes tells about the "scary" problem of illegals being caught at Ft. Bragg...

A recent incident at Ft. Bragg demonstrated that illegal immigration continues to be a serious problem for our nation as a whole and North Carolina in particular. Last week, officials at Fort Bragg worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain 58 illegal immigrants seeking to enter the base to complete construction work. The Fayetteville Observer reported that among those detained were, “a suspected gang member, a sex offender, three immigration fugitives and two people who had re-entered the country after deportation.” Fortunately, Fort Bragg is working to keep the base secure from those who should not have access, however, this is a startling reminder that unauthorized persons will try to gain access to our nation’s most sensitive sites.

I usually stay away from immigration as a topic simply because I find a bit of merit in so many different points of view. I also stay away from it because I haven't researched it and can't speak to the facts, or even link to them for that matter. I'm so ignorant and conflicted on this point I should probably just quit right now, but I think this may be an important issue for the fall elections and probably one we shouldn't just drop.

Follow me to the flip side...

For those not familiar with the John Locke Foundation, it's North Carolina's own wingnut think tank. More than 95% of its funding comes from businessman Art Pope, a rich white guy with a big inferiority complex. Around these parts, we call Mr. Pope the Puppetmaster - and his sprawling reactionary empire is known as the Puppetshow. And last but not least, there's John Hood, the Stage Manager, who's responsible for grinding out the propaganda through a right wing rag called the Carolina Journal.

http://carolinademline.blogspot.com

Last evening, President Bush addressed the nation on the ever popular immigration issue. It is no secret that Latino immigrants are growing in numbers each day. All one has to do is open their eyes and they will see Latinos doing jobs in most every sector of our economy.

I am torn over the immigration issue. I feel the pain of the immigrants trying to earn a better life in the United States. I often think of my Scicillian relatives who migrated to the United States at the turn of the century. The hatred on talk-radio and the conversations in right-wing circles directed at Latinos is heart-breaking for me because it reminds of what my family members went through while trying to assimilate into the American melting pot.

Dear Mr/Ms GOP Conservative Reporter,

Well, I just so happened to miss A_ _hole without Leave,Bush's immigration speech. Not that I wanted to but I did so kick me.

I did a little snooping. They were authorized when he first took office to put on 2000 more agents out of which they still are short of 700.

Me haveing worked at the ASA Communications Center in AZ called up a old Army buddy who still lives out there to confirm some things.

98% of most all NG Units in that area are MP units and some of you idiot reporters on TV are telling that they will have no Law Enforcement Rights. WRONG!!!

I know we will have to wait for details of President Bush's proposal tonight, but authorization for the use of our military at the nation's borders is not new. As a matter of fact, it's proposed and approved almost every year as a matter of standard procedure. At least, that's the way it seems.

In 1999 it was called the Traficant Amendment to H.R. 1401, in 2000 it was the Traficant Amendment to H.R. 4205 and in 2005 it was called the House Amendment 206 to H.R. 1816. As a matter of fact, almost identical authorization amendments have passed in the House since 1999. So, Bushie, what's the big damned deal?

More below the fold...

By Charlie Daniels wwwcharliedaniels.com Mexican Standoff I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but to me I think Hispanic people in this country, legally or illegally, made a huge public relations mistake with their recent demonstrations. I don't blame anybody in the world for wanting to come to the United States of America, as it is a truly wonderful place. But when the first thing you do when you set foot on American soil illegally...that is flat out wrong and I don't care how many lala land left heads come out of the woodwork and start trying to give me sensitivity lessons.

Facing South wonders about the silence of lefty blogs on the planned May 1 immigration rallies.

What's going on? Why is the progressive blogosphere so completely out of touch? Is it because most of them closely identify with partisan politics, and the Democratic Party doesn't have a very clear position on the immigration issue? Is it due to a racial blindspot in the blogosphere, connected to its demographic make-up (and yes, I know Markos at DKos hails from El Salvador; I'm talking about the larger reality)? Do they not understand the historic nature of this movement?

That's a series of good questions, which I'm having a hard time answering on behalf of this website. My off-the-cuff response is that we have tended to focus on inside baseball type politics—who is running where, who has raised what funds, who is doing their job well, who is begging for prison time. But that raises the question of whether we're missing something. (Have I missed posts on this on BlueNC?)

About 100 people joined a cross-state march for immigrant rights, while hundreds of Latinos prepared to skip work or boycott all purchases on Monday as part of immigrant rights demonstrations being staged nationwide.

From NBC 17.
The protesters are making their way to Raleigh on Friday:

The march, demanding fair treatment for migrant workers in North Carolina, started in Lenoir and was to pass through Siler City, Durham and other communities before its culmination Friday in Raleigh.

The Republicans want a shooting war right now over immigration. That and gay marriage (and/or adoption) are their best chances to mobilize their base in November. Fortunately for us, we don't need to be in a shooting war over immigration, because there are a couple of fundamental principles on which just about everyone can agree. Beyond those principles is a debate that includes so many competing interests and so many difficult choices that it defies description in the kind of polarizing rhetoric that the Republicans seem to want to use.

I am sure that there will be more myths/lies about the immigration issue going forward, but one is already starting to kill me. I have heard at least three times on national media (with the third being this morning the supposedly liberal Alex Bennett on Sirius) that we need to make everyone speak English because "we need to learn English when we travel around Europe". This is a completely ridiculous statement.

Having traveled around Europe and having many friends from Europe, I know that the vast majority of the continent speaks English as a second language. As a traveler, there is seldom any problem negotiating Europe without knowing the native language. All Europeans are taught a second language in school, and for the most part that language is English.

The General Assembly begins their even-year short session on May 9, and the right is helping us out a little bit with the pregame show. Here's the (John William Pope) Civitas Institute's agenda, as laid out in this piece in the North Carolina Conservative:

• Eliminate taxes that they call "temporary;"
• Enact the Taxpayer Protection Act (is this just TaBoR by another name?);
• Kill the Gas Tax (I think we've been over this already);

Suppose you wanted to piss off the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the AFL-CIO, the Department of Labor, and North Carolina officials all at the same time. First, become Michael Chertoff. (Note: if you're having trouble with the transformation, any DHS official that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement will do.)

Ok, ready to go on? Second, set up a fake "mandatory" OSHA training session at a North Carolina military base and nab all the illegal immigrants who show up. That should do the trick!

When I first moved back to North Carolina last January, my wife and I started frequenting the same pizza place pretty regularly. It's attached to an Italian Restaurant, no delivery or anything but a good place to get a slice. Anyway, as time went by I got to know the fella behind the counter, Enrique or Ricky. Now, I'm not saying that my neighborhood is snotty, but it's not the kind of place where everyone is going to chit-chat with the illegal working behind the counter. Me, I'm blue-collar, reformed white trash through and through - so Ricky and I get along just fine.

I was talking to him tonight and it got me thinking. See, Ricky has a wife and three kids in Mexico that he sends money to every month. He hasn't seen his kids in almost three years, because he's illegal, and they live outside the US. Here's the interesting part, Ricky is one of the many illegal aliens that uses an Individual Tax Identification Numbers to pay taxes.