Criminals “Fearful” Of Law
Heck, I’m “fearful” when I run a red light, but at least I ‘fess up that I’m the one in the wrong, not the cops
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Cook Rosa Maria Salazar’s eyes dart anxiously to the door as customers file into the Salvadoran cafe in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles.
“We’re terrified. The police could come for us at any time and deport us,” she said in Spanish earlier this week as diners fingered maize tortillas stuffed with beans and pork scratchings and chatted softly.
The 55-year-old undocumented worker from Guatemala is among many Hispanics deeply shaken by recent immigration raids at the heart of Latino communities in southern California.
The-seven day Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweep, dubbed “Operation Return to Sender,” targeted jails across five counties in the Los Angeles area, where police took 423 of what they called “criminal aliens” into federal custody for deportation, after being held on charges unrelated to their immigration status.
They really can’t complain about people being deported for reasons beyond their illegal immigrant status.
“We used to feel secure here,” Nicaraguan electrician Manuel Salomon told Reuters as he sipped coffee in a Mexican bakery in the city. “But it looks like that honeymoon is over.”
With 10-12 million illegals here, there is simply no way to deport them all. It is not possible without Nazi-like rail cars scooping them up and dumping them at the Rio Grande, and that’s not a road we should ever even consider going down (unless, say, we suddenly get a huge influx of illegals from, say, France). But we need to secure the border immediately and deport absolutely any of those here that commit a crime while here or have outstanding warrants from wherever they’re from, and let the balance work towards citizenship.
Nanny State | Mr. Bingley | 
January 26, 2007 6:12 am
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“there is simply no way to deport them all”
True, but that does not mean we can’t deport the ones found to be illegal, and especially criminals.
I have no problems at all with ideas like guest worker programs and such, but I do believe that those who came here illegally should be required to go to the end of the line.
The whole “get to be a citizen even though you broke the law” chaps the SH*T out of my sweet Panamanian MIL’s hide, since she did it the long, slow, hard, LEGAL way.
And I guess you want them to be able to keep the Corvette, even though you and I would have to pay taxes on it.
Hey, it chaps my shanty irish arse as well, but deporting 10 million people is something Stalin would do. We can’t.
I want to make DAMN sure that no more get here, but we’ve got to deal with the reality of those who are here.
I certainly don’t advocate rounding people up. But, like the guy who knocks over the 7-11, when you get caught, you go to jail…or your country of origin.
The difference is, of course, that Stalin rounded up CITIZENS. As we did to the Japanese, granted. But the crucial difference being Stalin usually KILLED them, as did Milosevic and Hitler did it to almost everyone. We also had the decency to admit we were horribly wrong. I can’t see it ever happening again here, whatever our impulse to choke Milwaukee rug salesmen, Somali cab drivers or not.
So now you equate the INS and immigration law to Hitler, BingKos?
Um, no. But we need to have a policy that we actually uniformly enforce, otherwise it’s as useless as the current situation. Certainly any person who commits a crime gets tossed, and we have to make damn sure that the borders are made secure enough so that they can’t get back. And that no one else can get in.
That alone is going to take a huge amount of money and police/troops, certainly more than we seem to have the will to commit. Do you seriously think that there is the ability on top of that to check the status of every gardener and delivery boy and cleaning lady and waiter in the country? If they turn up as an illegal when caught for something else, fine, they’re outa here. But it’s simply not feasible, nor frankly desireable, to check everyone’s status. But that still leaves the very real problem of what to do with those that are here and are working hard to better themselves and their lives. I am completely against any sort of ‘guest worker’ program, because that codifies discrimination and establishes a second class of humans here, which is unacceptable.
So what do we do with those that are here illegaly but working and trying to be good americans? well, i would suggest something along the lines of this:
1) all illegals must register
2) all will be given citizenship at the end of say 5 years provided:
a) they are gainfully employed and tax paying
b) they have committed no felonies
c) they pass an english test
If they don’t abide by any of the above then they get deported.
Bingley ’08!
B, that’s pretty much what happened in ’86 with about 5 million illegals. Now it’s 10 million or more because ’86 made it look more attractive.
I’m not saying we should spend lots of time and money searching out the ones that are already here, but when found they should be deported and go to the end of the line. I consider this to be similar to enforcement of drug laws and other similar laws: it’s illegal and you can’t refuse to enforce them but you don’t make it a priority to assign resources to it.
Here’s my proposal up for discussion:
1) Those who are currently here illegally do NOT get amnesty and the fast track to citizenship under any circumstances. I consider this to be very much akin to tax amnesty; it punishes those who played by the rules (there is a long-delayed post I’ve been meaning to write about a particular tax attorney who advertises on local radio).
2) Those here illegally who are caught are deported and sent to the back of the line. I find terribly offensive that those who break the law should be rewarded over those still mired in poverty simply because they chose to do it the right way.
3) The system for getting into the country legally needs to be reformed drastically. I don’t know what the optimal levels are for integration numbers – they may be lower than now or higher, probably higher – but it is terribly burdensome on those who play by the rules. I don’t think they should be punished anywhere near as much as they are punished now for following the correct process.
4) Following on (3), we need to make it attractive to those who consider coming here illegally to do it right, and attractive to those here already to go back and do it right.
And my particular pet peeve, because I don’t have anything against those who just want to better their lives, I just want them to do it properly:
5) I want all coyotes hanged. Now. Slowly. Especially those who cause the deaths of poor immigrants who spent their life savings trying to get here only to be stranded in the desert in a locked trailer without even a sip of water by some motherfucker who deserves the most horrible death invented by (in)humanity. I don’t normally advocate the death penalty for non-death-related crimes but this is one for which I would happily do so. This particular point is absolutely and completely independant of the others.
Apologies if this is rambling, it’s been a long week, not yet over, and I am drinking heavily.