Post by admin on Jun 30, 2006 17:44:46 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300][/glow] [glow=red,2,300]This letter was brought to my attention by Diane Reeves of Lakewood. [/glow]
Let's give immigrants fair chance to contribute
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 06/19/06
To all who responded to my letters: I am disheartened by your lack of compassion for your fellow man and your inability to grasp the root cause of the immigrant migration to the United States.
You just refuse to understand these people do not come here because they want to leave their homes and family, they come here because they need to work to survive.
As long as you are not able to understand what is going on in their countries as a result of policies our government put into place, you will continue to have your biased beliefs.
There are articles on the Web about Minutemen and most refer to them as vigilantes.
They carry arms and recruit white-supremacists and racists from organizations like the Phoenix Chapter of the National Alliance, the largest neo-Nazi group in America, but Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman, will deny this.
During a month-long April Minuteman protest across from the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Naco, Ariz., an FBI official denied that the agency was screening Gilchrist's or any other private groups', such as the neo-Nazi Aryan Nation, members. At least four-fifths of volunteers did carry weapons, and almost none were checked for permits. Prominent among the group was Joe McCutchen, who is identified with Council of Conservative Citizens, another large white-supremacist organization. McCutchen wrote anti-Semitic letters to his hometown newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark.
We don't hear much of the violence or terror perpetrated by these hatemongers. But who cares and who's counting? These are throwaway people, collateral damage.
No one cares that they are robbed, raped and murdered trying to cross the borders. It's only when an occasional truckload of immigrants attempt to travel across the desert, packed in a container with no air, food or water, and wind up dead that we learn about their plight.
No one knows about the bomb threat to a Chicano school, or that in Southern California a Mexican restaurant burns at the border; two migrants are shot nearby, in the vicinity of the Minutemen encampments; the Chicano mayor of Los Angeles and lieutenant governor of California are threatened with death; a Minuteman lead and a Nazi openly assault a counter-protester, shoving and dragging him 20 feet in a choke hold in the presence of police, and walk free; and the list goes on.
Yes, there are armed ones, too. They are called drug smugglers. They travel by night, and cut fences, and bulldoze walls, poison dogs, and rob and rape any immigrant who comes across their path.
They force immigrants to cross in the day, for safety from their violence. But in the 120-degree heat and harsh terrain, another death awaits. The fence is a farce as a defense against folks who actually would hurt us, except that it becomes a wall of death for the immigrant, who is not out to hurt us.
Border security, when it works, is based, not on fences and shotguns, but on human interactions — cooperation between nations in apprehending terrorists or criminals, before they ever reach our border, but instead of having an Interpol for North America, we have preferred a North American Free Trade Agreement.
Go figure.
Want more facts?
Illegal Immigrants are bolstering Social Security with billions.
An estimated 7 million or so illegal-immigrant workers are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.
That money added up to about 10 percent of last year's surplus, the difference between what the system currently receives in payroll taxes and what it doles out in pension benefits.
Moreover, the money aid by illegal workers and their employers is factored into all the Social Security Administration's projections.
In order to work, many illegal immigrants must purchase fake Social Security cards.
As a result, they pay money into our system, yet they will never receive the benefits.
The Social Security Administration loves it. That money goes into the earnings suspense file.
The file has been mushrooming: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990s — two and a half times the amount of the 1980s.
Most immigration helps Social Security's finances, because new immigrants tend to be of working age and contribute more than they take from the system.
And the Green Party, I'm proud to say, calls for permanent border passes for all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified.
Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment.
This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband — "coyotes" — and unethical employers.
It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws.
These measures also will help temporary residents secure driving privileges and liability insurance.
Greens are against English-only legislation.
We would advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide English as Second Language training and health and social support services to immigrants actually go to them.
When those funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities.
We oppose the use of racial profiling.
We are concerned about reports of illegal raids and traffic stops based on ethnicity and not probable cause of a traffic violation.
We would further advocate funding or education programs designed to reduce racism and bias against ethnic minorities.
I am an immigrant.
My parents came over during the 1950s' post-World War II migration from Europe.
I grew up in poverty, and we also were looked down upon.
My dad worked in a factory and my mom cleaned offices, much as today's immigrants.
However, now, I am the proud mother of three wonderful children; two have master's degrees and one a doctorate.
Not bad for an immigrant.
Immigrants are filled with culture, history, pride and a will to live.
Given a fair chance they can only make our country better.
LIZ ARNONE
Brick
Let's give immigrants fair chance to contribute
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 06/19/06
To all who responded to my letters: I am disheartened by your lack of compassion for your fellow man and your inability to grasp the root cause of the immigrant migration to the United States.
You just refuse to understand these people do not come here because they want to leave their homes and family, they come here because they need to work to survive.
As long as you are not able to understand what is going on in their countries as a result of policies our government put into place, you will continue to have your biased beliefs.
There are articles on the Web about Minutemen and most refer to them as vigilantes.
They carry arms and recruit white-supremacists and racists from organizations like the Phoenix Chapter of the National Alliance, the largest neo-Nazi group in America, but Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman, will deny this.
During a month-long April Minuteman protest across from the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Naco, Ariz., an FBI official denied that the agency was screening Gilchrist's or any other private groups', such as the neo-Nazi Aryan Nation, members. At least four-fifths of volunteers did carry weapons, and almost none were checked for permits. Prominent among the group was Joe McCutchen, who is identified with Council of Conservative Citizens, another large white-supremacist organization. McCutchen wrote anti-Semitic letters to his hometown newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark.
We don't hear much of the violence or terror perpetrated by these hatemongers. But who cares and who's counting? These are throwaway people, collateral damage.
No one cares that they are robbed, raped and murdered trying to cross the borders. It's only when an occasional truckload of immigrants attempt to travel across the desert, packed in a container with no air, food or water, and wind up dead that we learn about their plight.
No one knows about the bomb threat to a Chicano school, or that in Southern California a Mexican restaurant burns at the border; two migrants are shot nearby, in the vicinity of the Minutemen encampments; the Chicano mayor of Los Angeles and lieutenant governor of California are threatened with death; a Minuteman lead and a Nazi openly assault a counter-protester, shoving and dragging him 20 feet in a choke hold in the presence of police, and walk free; and the list goes on.
Yes, there are armed ones, too. They are called drug smugglers. They travel by night, and cut fences, and bulldoze walls, poison dogs, and rob and rape any immigrant who comes across their path.
They force immigrants to cross in the day, for safety from their violence. But in the 120-degree heat and harsh terrain, another death awaits. The fence is a farce as a defense against folks who actually would hurt us, except that it becomes a wall of death for the immigrant, who is not out to hurt us.
Border security, when it works, is based, not on fences and shotguns, but on human interactions — cooperation between nations in apprehending terrorists or criminals, before they ever reach our border, but instead of having an Interpol for North America, we have preferred a North American Free Trade Agreement.
Go figure.
Want more facts?
Illegal Immigrants are bolstering Social Security with billions.
An estimated 7 million or so illegal-immigrant workers are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.
That money added up to about 10 percent of last year's surplus, the difference between what the system currently receives in payroll taxes and what it doles out in pension benefits.
Moreover, the money aid by illegal workers and their employers is factored into all the Social Security Administration's projections.
In order to work, many illegal immigrants must purchase fake Social Security cards.
As a result, they pay money into our system, yet they will never receive the benefits.
The Social Security Administration loves it. That money goes into the earnings suspense file.
The file has been mushrooming: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990s — two and a half times the amount of the 1980s.
Most immigration helps Social Security's finances, because new immigrants tend to be of working age and contribute more than they take from the system.
And the Green Party, I'm proud to say, calls for permanent border passes for all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified.
Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment.
This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband — "coyotes" — and unethical employers.
It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws.
These measures also will help temporary residents secure driving privileges and liability insurance.
Greens are against English-only legislation.
We would advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide English as Second Language training and health and social support services to immigrants actually go to them.
When those funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities.
We oppose the use of racial profiling.
We are concerned about reports of illegal raids and traffic stops based on ethnicity and not probable cause of a traffic violation.
We would further advocate funding or education programs designed to reduce racism and bias against ethnic minorities.
I am an immigrant.
My parents came over during the 1950s' post-World War II migration from Europe.
I grew up in poverty, and we also were looked down upon.
My dad worked in a factory and my mom cleaned offices, much as today's immigrants.
However, now, I am the proud mother of three wonderful children; two have master's degrees and one a doctorate.
Not bad for an immigrant.
Immigrants are filled with culture, history, pride and a will to live.
Given a fair chance they can only make our country better.
LIZ ARNONE
Brick
