Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Georgia Enacts Tough Illegals Law

The state of Georgia approved a sweeping measure on Monday to crack down on illegal immigrants. The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, signed into law by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, denies many state services paid for by taxpayers to people who are in the United States illegally. It also forces contractors doing business with the state to verify the legal status of new workers, and requires police to notify immigration officials if people charged with crimes are illegal immigrants.

Other provisions of the Georgia law prohibit employers from claiming a tax deduction for wages of $600 or more paid to undocumented workers, impose prison terms for human trafficking and limit the services commercial companies can provide to illegal immigrants.

"It's our responsibility to ensure that our famous Georgia hospitality is not abused, that our taxpayers are not taken advantage of and that our citizens are protected," Perdue said before signing the law.

This is a stunning victory for anti-illegal immigration advocates. Georgia is the first state to enact such tough laws. Of course, the advocates of illegal immigration are having apoplexy right now - Georgia had the guts to not kowtow to them or play the political correctness game. Ironically, while Georgia seems able to come up with illegal immigration controls, Congress, particularly the Senate, can't get anywhere. They tried a thinly veiled attempt at amnesty, but that was shot down quickly.

We hope the other 49 states will quickly pass similar laws as Georgia. Then just maybe the out of control immigration problem will start correcting itself - no thanks to the Federal government.

Monday, April 10, 2006

So They Don't Take Jobs From Americans?

An employment service in Alabama sent 70 workers - Americans & predominantly black, many who lost their jobs due to the hurricane - to work for contractors immediately after hurricane Katrina hit. They were "urgently requested". After 2 weeks on the job they were let go & told "the Mexicans had arrived" and were willing to work for less.

"The men we sent to jobs in Alabama were local fellows looking for work, men who needed jobs," Mrs. Swope, who operates the employment service, said. "After driving 50 miles to the work sites where they had been promised $10 an hour, they discovered the employers had found substitutes who were willing to work for less."

"We had been told that 270 jobs might be available, and we could have filled every one of them with men from this area, most of whom lost their jobs because of the hurricane," she said. "When we told the guys they would not be needed, they actually cried ... and we cried with them. This is a shame."

An estimated 400,000 jobs were lost in the Gulf area due to the hurricane. An estimated 30,000 foreign workers came into the area to work from other states & south of the border, many who were illegals.

The Washington Times reports that some of the migrants who did get jobs in the Gulf states also were mistreated. Two class-action lawsuits are pending in federal court in New Orleans in which thousands of migrant workers said they never were paid, although many worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week and were required to remove toxic contamination from hurricane-ravaged buildings.

There are two villains in this mess - business & the Federal government. The Department of Homeland Security temporarily suspended the sanctioning of employers who hired workers unable to document their citizenship. Not that this meant anything anyway - only 3 businesses were fined last year for such acts. President Bush also had suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires local contractors to pay "prevailing" wages, in the areas hit by Katrina to encourage reconstruction and cleanup.

Greedy business, not satisfied with a reasonable profit margin, forever strives to get the cheapest labor it can, to the harm of American workers. Not satisfied with that, they even cheat the foreign & illegal labor they do employ.

The fact that illegals take away jobs from Americans is a no brainer. Even high school & college students are being squeezed out of the entry level job market, especially the part-time market, by foreign workers & illegals. With black unemployment high, we wonder why black organizations are not stepping up & complaining about these workers.

The U.S. government, i.e. Congress & the current Administration, is an abject failure in protecting American workers. Even more so - they don't care.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Senate Republicans Sell Out American Citizens

A group of Senate Republicans reached agreement Wednesday night on a compromise proposal that they hope can garner bipartisan support and bring passage of a bill on the future of the nation's 11- 20 million illegal immigrants. The draft compromise still needs support from the Democrats, but if they get it then the bill will go to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

The gist of the bill:

...Those who have lived in the country at least five years would be put on a path toward guaranteed citizenship, provided that they remained employed, paid fines and back taxes, and learned English, a senior Republican aide said. The aide said this group accounted for about 7 million of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants believed to be living here.

...Those who have lived here for two to five years, said to number about three million, would have to leave the country briefly before reporting to an American port of entry, where they would be classified as temporary workers. They would be allowed to apply for citizenship but would have no guarantee of obtaining it. Those who did not would have to leave after participating in the temporary worker program for six years.

...The remaining one million or so, those who have lived in the country less than two years, would be required to leave. They could apply for temporary worker status but would not be guaranteed it.

This is a pure sell-out of the vast majority of Americans who are looking for real immigration reform. They show absolute contempt for the citizens they are supposed to represent. The bill is a charade, a smoke cover which hides the real intent of the bill - amnesty for every single illegal in the country. Not only amnesty, but citizenship.

There are too many things wrong with this bill - it would be laughable if the issue was not so serious. For starters, the Senate has no clue how many illegals are here. They are saying 11 million, but estimates elsewhere reach over 20 million. The administration of such a program would be imponderable indeed. The budget would be in the billions, the staffing in the tens of thousands. The blatant document fraud committed by illegals who can't prove they were in the country for x number of years would be enormous. Where is the enforcement coming from to make sure such fraud doesn't happen? Where is the enforcement to make those in the country less than 2 years leave? What is enough proof that they were in the country for x years? A phony phone bill?

The bill would require illegals to pay a fine & back taxes for those who worked off the books or cheated on any taxes they did pay. How is the government going to discover how much they owed on taxes if their pay was off the books? What fine are they given? And how are these mostly poor illegals going to pay such fines & back taxes?

The bill would also require proficiency in English. This is the most laughable provision. 11-20 million illegals suddenly enrolling in crash English courses. Who pays for it, the illegals, or does the government use more tax dollars to teach them? And how are they tested & by who? What is proficient?

Those illegals in the country 2-5 years must leave the USA "briefly" - a euphemism for stepping back into Mexico for 5 minutes, then back into the USA, where they would be given a six year guest worker worker visa - although there will be no way to check if they actually have a job lined up. At the end of 6 years if they do not achieve citizenship, they must leave the USA. But now we are back to the beginning -they won't leave, so they become - guess what? - illegals again!

Those in the country less than 2 years would be required to leave. Righto. They will gladly go back to the cesspool of Mexico. The argument is that we can't deport all 11 million illegals - it would be split families & be unenforceable. But now we are back to that - tracking down & deporting the 1-3 million illegals that are in this 3rd category. So now it's okay.

In 1986 amnesty was given to 3 million illegals. It was a fiasco by all accounts. It only encouraged millions more to enter illegaling, hoping for their own amnesty. What do you think will happen now - millions at the Mexican border just itching to get over the border for their own amnesty down the road.

Let's not forget that with 11-20 million new citizens comes their right to government social services - welfare, food stamps, etc, etc. The mostly poor illegals will be a further drain on these services & will by far outstrip any taxes these new citizens contribute.

Incredulously, the bill does not address real border security! The Senate is against any walls along the border. Instead, they are talking about a "virtual" wall -meaning sensors, cameras, etc. This is ridiculous. A wall put up in San Diego caused a significant drop in border crossings there. Rather than patrolling a wall, Border Patrol will be put into the more dangerous face-to-face confrontations with illegals, drug runners, gangs & criminals. There is no increase in border manpower. We will have again in a few years another 11 million illegals to deal with. One thing we are certain about - these Senators are not virtual idiots. They are the real thing.

One other point - with millions of illegals receiving citizenship, this opens the door for them to apply under the family reunification act to bring other family members into the country, who then can apply to bring their family members in, who then can apply to bring...well, you get the idea. There is no end. It is known as "chain migration".

These so-called Senators are in the pockets of business with its cheap labor & the pro-illegal immigration lobby. The only lobby they are not listening too are the American citizens. Sell-out is being polite with these Senators. This being a family-oriented site, we'll refrain from the neat words to describe them.
Contact your Congressman & Senator & let them know you have a voice too.

UPDATE 7 Apr: The Hagel/Martinez amnesty amendment was defeated this morning in the Senate. The vote to close debate on the amendment failed 36-62. This is a great victory for America & Americans. But we are sure our elected representatives will try again to kowtow to illegal aliens.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

A Country Unto Themselves

The estimated illegal population in the USA ranges from 11 million to 20 million & growing rapidly. If these numbers are compared to the population of countries throughout the world, the results are stunning.

An 11 million illegal population is larger than 154 of the 227 recognized countries. Larger than Greece, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Jordan, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, Kuwait...well, you get the idea.

A 20 million illegal population is larger than 175 of the 227 recognized countries. It is tied with Australia, larger than the above countries & larger than Syria, The Netherlands, Guatemala, Chile, Cambodia, Ecuador, Cuba...well, you get the idea.

Ten to twenty percent of Mexico is...well, illegally in the USA!

Twenty five percent of births in the USA are now to foreign born mothers.

Population growth in the USA is now primarily due to immigration, legal & illegal. At current growth rates the projected USA population in 2050 will be 400 million.

Houston...we have problem here.

Thank you Congress, thank you President Bush for doing nothing about it.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Illegals & Fraudulent Documents

Necessity is the mother of invention. In the case of illegal immigrants, necessity is the mother of counterfeiting. The photos below are from Michelle Malkin's Immigration Blog. These are just a paltry sample of the vast underground of counterfeit documents that pervades the illegal alien "community" (for lack of a better word).

Advocates of illegal immigrants use the phrase "undocumented worker" to describe illegal aliens - sounds nicer. However, as can be seen in the photos, they are certainly not undocumented. They are brimming over with documents - that just happen to be counterfeit.

Illegal aliens show no respect for this country's laws in the first place by entering illegally. They further demonstrate their disdain for our laws by using phoney driver licenses, social security cards, employment indentification, resident alien cards (green cards), etc. Comes with the territory of being an illegal alien. One crime leads to another, & another. The documents are not only used to establish a false identity, but also to outright defraud government & tax payers of benefits they are not entitled to.

Document counterfeiting is a pervasive enterprise. Illegal alien demand for such documents feeds & expands the criminal element that provides those phony documents. False identity can have a national security implication if those with such documents have access to sensitive areas of the country.

The common use of counterfeit documents by illegal aliens is a side of the immigration issue that few are really aware of. Few employers or others who require identification are knowledgeable enough to be able to readily identify the counterfeits.