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rascal king
Member
5 Posts |
 Posted - 12/28/2007 : 11:02:57 PM
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I'm just curious to what the community's opinion was on this hot button issue!!!
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jcklla
Member
32 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2007 : 11:25:38 PM
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Illegal immigrants "self deport" as woes mount
Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:09am EST
By Tim Gaynor
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip.
In the past year, U.S. immigration police have stepped up workplace sweeps across the country and teamed up with a growing number of local forces to train officers to enforce immigration laws.
Meanwhile, a bill seeking to offer many of the 12 million illegal immigrants a path to legal status was tossed by the U.S. Congress, spurring many state and local authorities to pass their own measures targeting illegal immigrants.
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S. economy, which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many illegal immigrants left struggling to find work.
"It is still just a thought, although we are preparing to leave," said Ernesto Garcia, a carpenter from Caborca in northwest Mexico, who stood in line at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix this week for paperwork that will allow him and his family to resume their lives south of the border.
PACKING THEIR BAGS
There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board scheduled flights for other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the number of immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born children, which will allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to carry household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties.
Members of the Brazilian community in the U.S. northeast, meanwhile, say they are starting to see an increase in the number of illegal immigrants heading back to their homes in Brazil in recent months.
"They are beginning to put in the balance the constant fear of being detained and deported, and many are deciding to leave," said Fausto Mendes da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Boston.
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor, and the falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has eaten into the value of remittances sent to support families at home.
Aluisio Carvalho, 66, left a wife and four children behind in Brazil in 2001 when he set off to find work in Boston. Since then, he has managed to pay for the education of his children by working in a restaurant, but is now planning to leave himself in February
"Salaries are really low, and living costs are high. We also face too much exploitation at work here, too many demands," he said.
MOVING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
While some illegal immigrants are simply self deporting, others are moving within the United States to avoid federal immigration raids and pro-enforcement measures passed by a patchwork of state and local authorities.
Among them are undocumented immigrants in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mexicans and Central Americans workers at a Swift & Co meatpacking plant were arrested during coordinated immigration raids across six states a year ago that netted hundreds of employees.
Moses Garcia, a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico 18 years ago and knew many of the families affected by the 2006 raid through his church and real estate work, said most of the workers have left to other states, not back to Mexico.
"They feel like they are not welcome here," Garcia said. "They go to Minnesota, Atlanta, Nebraska, California."
In Arizona, where some specially trained sheriff's deputies already enforce immigration laws and a new state law sanctioning businesses hiring undocumented workers is due to come in to effect January 1, many illegal immigrants are eyeing a move to states they see as less hostile.
Among them is day laborer Fernando Gutierrez who trekked illegally into the desert state 18 months ago from Mexico, and is now thinking of joining a cousin working in Oregon in the Pacific northwest.
"Everyone lives in fear of the police stopping you for some minor infraction and then asking for your papers," Gutierrez said as he touted for work in the chill morning air at a Phoenix day labor site.
"I want to get as far away from here as possible."
(Additional reporting by Adriana Garcia in Washington and Andrea Hopkins in Marshalltown; Editing by Eddie Evans)
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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jcklla
Member
32 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2007 : 11:35:39 PM
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The Border: Illegal immigration, once hailed as unstoppable, isn't proving so inevitable after all. As tougher enforcement raises costs, thousands of illegals are now self-deporting. This just shows that incentives matter.
Contrary to what the open-borders lobby claims about the impossibility of stopping millions of illegals from crossing the Rio Grande, a new seriousness about enforcing immigration laws has started to turn the tide.
In Arizona, a particularly tough law set to take effect Jan. 1 sanctions businesses that knowingly hire illegals. Business licenses will be suspended for 10 days on the first offense and revoked on the second.
Harsh, yes, but it's not the only place. In Carpentersville, Ill., and neighboring towns, local officials appealed to the U.S. government for help in enforcing immigration laws. Now they are seeing an exodus of illegals well before the federal cavalry arrives.
In the resort towns of coastal Massachusetts, the realization that there will be no amnesty for lawbreaking has given illegals reason to also pull up stakes and head home — in this case, to Brazil.
In every case, it's the ramrod insistence on rule of law from communities in the U.S. that is forcing illegal immigrants to confront hard decisions about their futures.
Thousands are weighing whether the relatively high salaries they earn here are worth the anxiety of being apprehended, deported and often banned from the U.S. for life. For many, staying home looks more and more attractive.
Just as sanctuary cities serve as magnets for illegal immigrants, tough laws penalizing illegal immigration serve as a deterrent.
This belies the patronizing claim that illegals are wildlife that migrate without regard to borders. In reality, illegals are people who make rational economic decisions based on their available options.
In the past, slack enforcement and lots of free charity benefits drew them here. Now, citizen insistence that immigration laws mean something is having an opposite effect on illegal immigration.
Not only has growing public emphasis on rule of law in the U.S. given many illegals incentives to return home, it's driven others to states where immigration laws remain lax. It has incentivized many to become legal, with sharp rises in applications for citizenship and green cards. Green-card applications doubled to 2.5 million in the 12 months ended in September due to stiffer law enforcement and a coming fee increase. Citizenship applications nearly tripled to 562,000.
As word gets out — and in Latin America these immigration apprehensions are watched closely — fewer are even starting to cross over from the Mexican border side.
Apprehensions in fiscal 2007 fell 20% to 800,000, the lowest in five years despite higher U.S. manpower patrolling the border that theoretically would increase the number. In some parts of Arizona, where laws are getting tough, apprehensions dropped 45%.
Smuggling fees, moreover, have tripled. For many, the cost and risk just aren't worth it.
Meanwhile, some incentives actually are positive. As more Latin American economies are exposed to international trade, many would-be illegals are opting to embrace new opportunity at home.
Mexico this year drew $23 billion in foreign investment, topping overseas remittances that came in at only $20 billion. The 2007 increase amounted to an increase of just 1.4% vs. earlier rises of 20%.
The maquiladora industry recovered this year, creating 900,000 new jobs. Wages are rising sharply in northern Mexico, making life there more attractive. Brazil's economy is strong, too, drawing locals homeward with more jobs.
The president of Honduras' central bank has noted that Honduran illegals in the U.S. also have made U-turns home to take advantage of opportunities created by the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
It happens this way every time. People make decisions based on marginal advantages, whether they involve taxes or the prospect of being detained and deported. When a chicken-processing plant is raided and dozens of people are sent home, decision-making is influenced wide and far.
The immigration debate still roiling the U.S. has never been about one specific nationality or whose history entitles whom to what land. It is simply about the rule of law. A new seriousness about enforcing that law is proving to be key in cleaning up 20 years of lax enforcement.
Copyright © Copyright 2007 Investor's Business Daily. Permission granted for up to 10 copies. All rights reserved |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 08:38:41 AM
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| I personally rank the "illegal" immigrant issue right near the top of the list of things that needs to be fixed in this country. |
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coffeelover1965
Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 11:33:46 AM
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| We need to enforce the current immigration laws and CREATE NEW FEDERAL LAWS (these laws should not be left up to individual States and Cities/towns who are fed up with the Government not reacting) to stop ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. We also need MORE RAIDS on ILLEGALS, and companies/people who hire/rent to ILLEGALS need to be fined. This county was build on LEGAL IMMIGRATION, people who want to come here LEGALLY should be welcome with open arms. We also need to make ENGLISH ONLY our NATIONAL LANGUAGE and put a stop to the "push 1 for English" crape. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS should not be allowed to collect Social Security, Welfare, Food Stamps, or any other Government help/programs. Any children born in this country to ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS should be stripped of there US Citizenship and be DEPORTED. Any child that enters our public schools and ENGLISH is not there first language needs to spend 1 full school in "ENGLISH" classes not mixed in with the rest of the student body, this problem with students that don't speak English is hurting the rest of the US and LEGAL ENGLISH SPEAKING students and teachers can not teach because they have to spend to much time with these non-english students. |
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 12:28:22 PM
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I feel they should crack down even harder. They come to this country because they can get away with it. If we make their lives here difficult, they will head home where they belong. And we need to let the companies, some in our own city, that we will not use them if they continue to hire illegals. Remember how many high school aged kids would be cutting lawns and doing yard work? There are none left because they can hire four illegals for the same price and they will work as much as they want them too. I am sick of overcrowded schools where we have to hire all of these teachers to teach kids we are not recieving a penny for in taxes. Both sides of my family came here from other countries. My own mother sould not speak English when she arrived here. She went into a regular class, and learned very quickly. They all came here legally, and were sponsored by family members who were responsible for them. We have child molesters, murderers, rapists, and gang members here and the police cannot get their records from their homeland. Our lives are put in jeapordy living among these people. And do not get me started on the flags for curtains, and the lack of respect for the flag of the country they loved so much they had to break the law to get here.
Sally |
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charm
Senior Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 1:10:14 PM
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Dream turns nightmare
Arrests of immigrants rattle Milford
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | December 29, 2007
MILFORD - Daniel Tacuri made a name for himself in this town.
With only a first-grade education, he slipped across the border illegally and eventually started his own roofing business, often hiring immigrants like himself from poor villages in Ecuador. He was raised in a dirt-floor cabin, but in Milford he owned a home worth more than $350,000 off Main Street, along with a small fleet of four vans, a truck, and a jeep.
Before dawn on Dec. 7, federal agents burst into Tacuri's home and arrested him and 14 others for being here illegally, according to relatives. A total of 21 immigrants were arrested following a months-long investigation, but only Tacuri is facing federal criminal charges, for allegedly employing and sometimes housing undocumented immigrants.
The arrests sent a shiver through a town where the Ecuadoran population has swelled from a few people to about 2,000 in recent years. And it has revealed conflicting portraits of Tacuri, one of the pioneering immigrants whom others followed to Milford.
Authorities say Tacuri built his business by exploiting illegal immigrants, including one as young as 13. At its peak, they said, he had 80 employees, some of whom rented rooms in his house. A few workers told authorities that Tacuri did not withhold taxes or pay them overtime.
But his lawyer and family say Tacuri, 32, was a typical immigrant who found success through hard work. He never had more than a dozen employees, some legal and some not, and he did not hire minors, they said. Only relatives lived in his house.
His lawyer, Jeff Ross, said Tacuri is a Cañari Indian, a refugee who fled discrimination and mistreatment of indigenous groups in his native land. Once in the United States he tried to apply for legal residency through a notary, who apparently swindled him, Ross said. Then he applied again in 2005.
"This guy came here seeking the American dream," Ross said. "He tried to do the right thing and got bad advice along the way."
Tacuri, who is being held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, was born and raised in the Cañari province, an area known for its verdant fields and pleasant breezes as well as the government's neglect of indigenous groups. As a child, bullies stomped on Tacuri's bare feet because he was too poor to buy shoes, his family said. His mother worked the fields and raised four boys alone. Her boys became farmers, too.
In October 1998, Tacuri was among thousands of Ecuadorans who were heading north to work. They were driven by severe inflation, natural disasters, and political turmoil in the South American nation, according to David Kyle, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis and author of a book on Ecuadoran immigrants. He said the United States is a powerful attraction for Ecuadorans, who adopted the US dollar as the official currency in 2000.
Tacuri's family said he paid about $7,000 to a smuggler to cross the US-Mexico border, but was caught in Texas. Authorities said he told them he was from Guatemala. Eventually, a judge ordered him deported. Ross said Tacuri never received notice of the court hearing or the order.
By then, he had moved to Newark with thousands of other Ecuadorans and applied for residency the first time. He worked as a roofer for Brazilian immigrants and sent money home to build a house for his mother, plus one for himself, and send his 11-year-old daughter to school.
Four years ago, Tacuri followed his bosses to Milford, where Brazilians are a larger immigrant group, and soon managed to open his own business. Last year, he registered Same Day Roofing with the Secretary of State's office and bought his own house. As his business grew so did his responsibilities. Each month he sent home hundreds of dollars to his extended family. If people here needed cash or a part-time job, he helped them, too.
"He liked to help people," said his brother Antonio, who is also facing deportation. "He remembered how we suffered when we were poor."
Even the town police saw him as a community leader, and regularly reached out to Tacuri for help educating Ecuadorans about the town's rules. But in May, after increasing concerns about his business, police officer Joseph Sherus reported Tacuri's operation to immigration officials.
Chief Thomas O'Loughlin said police do not enforce immigration laws, but they reported Tacuri to federal authorities on numerous occasions on concerns that they were exploiting low-wage workers. Also, he said, town officials had cited him two months earlier for using his home as an illegal boarding house.
"I don't begrudge anyone that works hard and earns a good living. But they made a lot of money," O'Loughlin said. "They were earning money on the backs of other young Ecuadoran men."
Maria Tacuri said her husband did not become rich. Inside Tacuri's house, his main luxuries, a big-screen TV and stereo, stand near a small Christmas tree in a sparsely furnished living room. She said her husband liked Milford, a town of more than 25,000, for its peaceful environment. They baptized their son Jonathan, now 4, in St. Mary's Church.
"He never had problems with anyone," she said.
Wilson Valdez, owner of Unienvios, a variety store on Main Street, said the arrest of someone as prominent as Tacuri is unnerving for immigrants. Some are getting ready to leave, which he said could hurt the town.
"Where do they buy things? They buy them here in Milford," Valdez said. "They support the economy here."
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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H1ghCh4r1ty
Advanced Member
967 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 3:27:17 PM
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"Illegal immigrants packing up and leaving Arizona"
Let's do the same thing here in MA!
Won't happen here, way too many bleeding heart liberals.....
CNN news link: You must be logged in to see this link.
PS the key word here is "ILLEGAL"
The Pup and Emile Schoeffhausen
_____________________________
"Time to make the donuts" |
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Head
Senior Member
111 Posts |
Posted - 12/29/2007 : 8:31:21 PM
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| Lets just hope they are not packing up and leaving Arizona and heading to Mass. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 08:56:19 AM
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Everett struggles to get a true population count
+ By Katheleen Conti
Globe Staff / December 30, 2007
PROBLEM: Too many residents ignore the annual municipal census, preventing the city from having an accurate population count. This can affect efforts to get federal, state, or safety-grant aid.
more stories like this
HISTORY: The General Laws of Massachusetts mandate an annual street listing of residents age 17 and over as of Jan. 1. This doubles as the municipal census, and in many communities, as the list of registered voters. Usually, residents are given 10 days to respond. Refusal or neglect can be punishable by a $500 fine or imprisonment of up to one year, but that is not enforced. The census also can help communities compare population numbers with those taken every 10 years by the US Census.
According to the 2000 US Census, Everett had a population of 38,037, which was estimated to dip to 37,008 by 2006. City Clerk Michael Matarazzo said Everett's true population is between 45,000 and 48,000. Aside from residents simply not taking the time to fill out the census, Matarazzo suspects the city is also contending with a large number of residents who are living in the country illegally; immigrant residents who are here legally but fear any sort of government involvement; and a general transience problem.
"Maybe they're in Everett, but for how long?" Matarazzo said. "When you're budgeting for police and fire, it's good to know what it is you're protecting, and I'm sure the school department would benefit from knowing how many people live in the city."
PROGRESS: Last year, Matarazzo and Mayor John Hanlon formed a "clergy council" to reach out to immigrants in the city in their respective places of worship and neighborhoods to assure them that census information cannot be used for anything more than a count. The council never got off the ground, Matarazzo said. After discussing the failed attempt, Matarazzo said, a local bishop thought the reason it was so hard to get everyone together was because most church leaders have day jobs.
Instead, the city asked local business owners to appear on local television, speaking in their native languages, asking the city's immigrant population to fill out the census. The city also partnered with the school department to send multilingual fliers to parents, encouraging them to fill out the census. But those efforts yielded "a minuscule response," Matarazzo said. "Now, I really don't know what we can add to increase it, other than sending people on the streets, ringing doorbells, and I'm not sure we have the budget for that."
The one effort that was successful was another partnership with the school department, Matarazzo said. "When people came in to sign their students up for school or even to change schools, they filled out the census. That was our main success," he said.
Laurie Goldenberg of the school department's parent information center said that since June 4, the school department has enrolled 1,276 students from prekindergarten through Grade 12.
GRADE: "Probably a C. It didn't improve, and it didn't get worse," Matarazzo said, adding that next year he hopes to reach out to churches again, and will try to visit each personally to promote the census. "We really think the churches are the way to go. We're still open to ideas and hopefully something will come up."
Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com. |
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Head
Senior Member
111 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 1:10:09 PM
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| Why don't they go back to the door to door census? |
Edited by - Head on 12/30/2007 1:11:20 PM |
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 1:34:45 PM
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How would going door to door help with illegals? They just will not open the door, or not tell the truth.
Sally |
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Head
Senior Member
111 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2008 : 10:38:40 AM
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| I surpose but maybe just maybe they will think that we are watching them alittle bit closer. And if they don't open the door/answer the door you just keep going back it'll maybe keep them on thier toes and aware. |
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Citizen Kane
Advanced Member
1082 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2008 : 11:54:03 AM
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Just go and count the number of names on the mailboxes. That'll give a good indication.
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2008 : 3:04:55 PM
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Many of them have PO boxes. They know code enforcement is out to get them.
Sally |
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rascal king
Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2008 : 05:43:24 AM
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Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
This quote really sum's it all up!Rex spoke these words in 1907 and 100 years later we our paying the price for not heading the fore fathers warnings!!
You can live in your little P.C world in say this is great town and all the illegals flooding across the souther border have rights and are just hard working people looking for.
But the fact of the matter is immigration illegal and non have turned this once nice working class community into a intercity slum!!!Everett was great place to raise a family but with in the matter of 4 to 5 years it is unrecognizable the streets are full of trash you have 54 stores flying Brazilian flag's a slap in the face to the armed services to return home from combat and be greeted by foreign flags through out the city" WAKE UP
"Politicians are the lowest form of life on the earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician"
General G. Patton
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Edited by - rascal king on 03/09/2008 01:50:23 AM |
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Illegal Immigration?
