Expanding the debate about illegal immigration
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Gregg Reynolds
Published: May 31, 2008
Our supervisors and county government are taking positive steps to ensure that Prince William County is a hate free zone.
Exposing hate expands the debate about illegal immigration and the serious problems that racism pose for our community.
Anyone interested in learning more about extremist nativist groups and the people that lead them can do so by visiting the following Web site.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=885.
Greg Letiecq, president of Help Save Manassas, is one of the 20 people listed on the site.
I want to thank Mr. Molleur for quoting my thank you letter to everyone in our community that took a stand against this kind of hate, and I respectfully disagree with his assessment that Mr. Letiecq has
saved the county money.
As I have said before, Mr Letiecq and his extremist, nativist organization have significantly harmed our real estate and business communities relative to surrounding jurisdictions.
Sadly, the long grass and broken windows have been caused by the exodus of many businesses and homeowners, which costs the county much more in lost tax revenue than money saved because we
now have fewer immigrant children in our schools.
Anyone can try to take credit for reducing crime in our community but crime has been on the decline for 10 years because of our excellent Prince William County Police and Human Services departments, not because of Mr. Letiecq. Interested readers can find out more about crime in Prince William County by visiting the following Web site.
http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/007665.pdf.
Mr. Molleur also chooses to make no mention of the murder of immigrant Serafin Negrete, who was killed when two natives went out one night last year to “get a Mexican.”
He is survived by a young wife and two young daughters.
Mr. Letiecq recently made veiled threats of vigilantism when he addressed the Board of County Supervisors.
Sanctuaries are safe places where anyone can go when they are threatened.
One of the main reasons Fairfax County has only half the number of foreclosures when compared to Prince William, even though they are twice our size, is because Fairfax and Arlington are taking
positive steps to welcome immigrants into their communities.
GREGG REYNOLDS
Woodbridge
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( urf8 ) on June 09, 2008 at 8:38 am
Let’s enforce all laws. If you exceed the speed limit, roll-through stop signs, fail to use your turn signal, not yield for emergnecy vehicles, you should report yourself to police and pay a fine or lose your license for multiple offenses. The roads would be empty in this area if that happened! Back to the topic at hand, Mr. Reynolds is almost spot-on. I don’t believe Corey Stuart really cares about having a ‘hate free zone,‘ his position and actions with reagrd to illigal immigration is not really about the problem it just shows that he is just anti-Hispanic!
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on June 07, 2008 at 7:13 am
Thank you RayW for your comments in the previous thread “Reichly Got it Right.“
It’s occurred to me more than once, reading all this back-and-forth hysteria, that people who argue the solution to undocumented workers flooding across our borders is to stop them before they enter our country, is akin to mice deciding to bell the cat.
Here in PWC we can’t stop people from entering our country illegally, and harassing them out to somewhere else is only tearing up this community and giving our county a racist image all across the US and internationally. Besides that, it’s not solving the real problems brought by a flood of undocumented workers which appear to be:
- Lots of people overcrowded into private homes and giving neighborhoods a “seedy” unsafe look.
- People driving without driver’s licenses or insurance in unregistered and potentially unsafe vehicles
- People unfamiliar with our language and local culture
- Employers getting away with not paying fair wages or not withholding proper payroll taxes
- Certain commercial areas having a “seedy” look because of people hanging out looking for day labor work.
- Unexpected influx of children in our public schools not planned for in long-range population projections, and possibly needing special educational assistance also not planned for.
Did I cover it all? While I have some concerns with RayW’s ideas, I think he’s on the right track in trying to deal with a problem vice wishing for magic ponies to make it all go away.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on June 05, 2008 at 6:52 pm
As I’ve posted before, illegal immigration is not all about illegal immigration. Yes, first, we all agree illegal is illegal. Two: We are concerned about undocumented people living in our ‘hoods. Three: We are concerned undocumented workers do not have payroll taxes withheld. Four: We are concerned about overcrowding in housing. Five: We are concerned their social behaviors are not the same as ours. And I’m sure there are more things that offend Americans. Now, the question we all dance around is how to fix or minimize the impact of each of the above five? Our options are to sling mud at each other, stand our ground and refuse to listen to other positions or perhaps, start some intelligent dialog about the subject. My “plan” is just a starting point and we can debate its merits or toss it out and begin anew. My only mandate is any plan come with funding and acknowledge until the feds seal the border, more immigrants are coming each day. Our political leaders listen to those who shout the loudest. As a group, we can present a position that makes sense and is backed by the required amount of noise. There are some good posters here and some kooks. I’ve said before discuss with the good and ignore the kooks and they will soon go away.
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Posted by ( Archer ) on June 05, 2008 at 5:10 am
So Ron, Can you explain it your is the statement something caused by a brain tumor?
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Posted by ( barnun ) on June 04, 2008 at 3:51 pm
yes Ron, lets take the first steps. enforce ALL of the immigration laws, not just some of them. I’m all for very stiff fines for employers.
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Posted by ( mongoose ) on June 04, 2008 at 3:10 pm
is ray williams the only one that understands the problem is not going to be fixed by chasing people out but by trying to encourage them obey the laws? no one else offers anything but im right and your wrong.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on June 04, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Archer,
I made the statement “Millions of illegals are now the invisible backbone of our economic system,“ not Mike G. If you’re going to flame someone, at least get the correct target.
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Posted by ( MikeG ) on June 04, 2008 at 9:51 am
Archer said: “Mike G. What bus did you fall off. Millions of illegals are now the invisible backbone of our economic system? Where the heck did you dream that up. As for the illegals that do all my work you’re so full of excrement I’d like to plant you next to my roses. I have not and will not hire an illegal. If someone or some business hires an illegal they need to be fined and or jailed. We all know that Gregg is a bleeding heart liberal and wants nothing but to give everything to the non deserving. Here again I make the offer. Give all your belongings and savings to whomever you want. If you expect me to ever give up my earnings for the support of illegals you can forget it. The only support the illegal will get from me is a cheer as the bus their deported on is crossing into the next county.“
To which I respond:
Archer, I didn’t say anything about illegal aliens being the backbone of anything. That was our Mr. Charest, I believe. If you believe, by reading my posts, that I am in any way supportive of illegal aliens being here, you must have serious problems with dyslexia, or be a product of PhDee’s school system.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on June 04, 2008 at 9:01 am
RayWilliams,
You’re actually the first person here who’s proposed a viable plan - beyond “ship em all back to where they came from.“
If you don’t mind, I would make a few suggestions:
Until the federal immigrations policies get fixed, the two year time limit for an “Undocumented Worker” card is not viable. There is currently no viable option for unskilled workers to gain a visa that allows for year-round residency, allows for bringing in immediate family, and allows a path for citizenship. These items are supported under the skilled worker visas. This lack of unskilled worker visa is a large factor in the number of undocumented workers coming in.
Definitely support driver’s licenses, bank accounts, legally renting apartments or houses. This all supports employers being obligated to pay wages comparable to “regular Americans,“ forces employers to make payroll taxes and withholdings, and forces the employers to follow OSHA laws.
I think the restriction on having this card should be not committing any crimes. If an undocumented worker is involved with any type criminal activity - they get sent home after conviction so they are ineligible to return.
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Posted by ( nina ) on June 04, 2008 at 8:58 am
Bravo Ray Williams- this is a great idea. Everyone would benefit from this. I have always believed that “If your not part of the solution your part of the problem” so why can’t people stop the hate and learn to accept others that are trying to better themselves?
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