Get the facts straight about immigration
Advertisement
Text size: small | medium | large
Lisa Johnson-Firth
Published: May 6, 2008
In light of Mr. Stewart’s recent actions to solicit support from the public for his “rule of law” resolution, I would like to encourage the board to be vigilant about getting the facts concerning immigrants in Prince William County. For instance, there has not been a decrease in serious crime because most of the immigrants detained were picked up for minor traffic violations.
It does not take a two-year study to see that the resolution has already had a drastically negative impact on the county and the rule of law under the Constitution. We now have ghost neighborhoods, school and ESL classes down in attendance, increased community fear and home foreclosures, 40 to 80 percent business drop-offs for some business owners, increased hate-speech rhetoric, police due process violations, anecdotal evidence of profiling and the building of negative perceptions.
There are also new family issues to grapple with.
For those of us raising children, it becomes challenging to teach the concept of “love your neighbor as yourself” when the next door neighbor is being deported or is fearfully fleeing.
Even at this early stage, it should be evident to the board that the resolution was ill-guided and must be rescinded or, at the least, suspended, while the board conducts hearings and solicits expert testimony and studies. An easy solution would be to recognize current federal and state laws supporting immigration enforcement, including the recent 287(g) agreements between ICE and the Prince William County police and sheriff’s office, and the Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center.
LISA JOHNSON-FIRTH
Immigration & Human Rights Law Group, PLLC
Manassas
Post a Comment
The commenting period has ended or commenting has been deactivated for this article.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try our quick search:
Reader Reactions
Posted by ( phdee ) on May 13, 2008 at 10:39 am
chemwiz: are you taking my challenge on making the sworn affadavit? If not, why not? Aren’t you for “law and order”? Or is it just for illegals - Hispanics mostly?
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( RonCharest ) on May 13, 2008 at 10:19 am
Chemwiz,
The fact that many people coming here cannot get things such as “free” education in their native country is part of the root cause of mass migrations. Do you think if people were able to gain things such as an eduction their children in their country of birth, along with medical care and means of supporting themselves that grants their kids a better life in thier future, perhaps they might stay home? Follow that line of reasoning, and see where it leads you.
No, some people cannot always find enough food and clothes in their native countries. Part of the reason we recently have so many Mexican imigrants is because of NAFTA. Our highly subsidized commodities are now being sold south of the border, undercutting local farmers. Those farmers in turn are being forced off their land due to inability to complete commercially with our subsidized foods. No more farming, no more income, no more food other than what international relief agencies provide. So they run north to find work to earn money to send to their families to buy the food that came from our subsidized industrialized farms. So much for the benefits of NAFTA.
We obviously differ on what will increase the size of government and taxes. I happen to think giving government unchecked police power to stop, search, sieze, inspect documents (including a pending future requirement for national ID cards with embedded biometrics), and building thousands-mile long barricades along our national borders will create a repressive and corrupt government that no longer resembles a freedom-loving democratic institution. WAY more so than simply enforcing existing laws on hiring and wage taxation.
In fact, if we simply used the exisiting IRS structure to ENFORCE existing wage and withholdings laws on ALL US employers, the argument about “Illegal Imigrants” not paying their fair share of taxes would simply go away. All income tax is ultimately paid through employer withholdings (or via government-mandated withholdings if legally self-employed); our tax returns mostly just give back excess taxes that were pre-paid.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( Chemwiz ) on May 13, 2008 at 10:05 am
phdee
It’s a shame that your intellectual immaturity has prevailed and now you are attacking me personally. You cannot refute anything I have stated in my posts because they are TRUE and at this point, it is obvious that you are not motivated enough to learn the truth. These are the most basic facts that can be found with minimal research as I did not want to inundate this blog with an excessive volume of statistics.
Todd
p.s. – I am from Pennsylvania and have probably lived in the south for a shorter duration than you.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( Chemwiz ) on May 13, 2008 at 9:11 am
Ron,
Illegals know that they will be able to get the basics that tax paying citizens get (i.e. foodstamps, education, emergency health care, etc.). That is a bulk of the “Cause”. They CANNOT always get those basics for free in their native land, especially education. Of course, they will always be able to find jobs that will put food on their tables – those can be found anywhere if you look hard enough (they were eating food and wearing clothing before they got here weren’t they?) But they want better lives for their families so they come here to get it. I have no problem with this, as long as they do it legally and if it doesn’t have a negative impact (financially & socially) on our society.
We will never be able to stop employers (contractors, farmers, etc) from hiring all of these people…it would be much easier to stop them from coming in the first place. It sounds like you are looking to increase the size of govt, taxes, etc. so that we can police American businesses forever, rather than just solving the problem by #1 preventing illegals from entering and #2 removing incentives by punishing employers who hire them, and by cutting off the benefits that is funded by American tax payers.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( phdee ) on May 12, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Chemwiz, ever try playing in traffic? I grew up in the South and I’ve seen and heard racist pigs al;l my life. Let me say that simply cannot try the old intimidation Southern tactic; I’ll post what I wish. Get it??? Apparentlyu as a dumb Floridian, you don’t know there are 2 sides to any issue - oh, so you don’t want to hear or admit there is another, huhb?? Your postings afre hilarious and are laden with outright lies. To post that there are 1 million sex hispanics in the US (among illegals) means that 1 in 12 are sex offenders. Then, according to the anti crowd there are murders, robbers, and other types of ctriminals. Is there enough illegals to fit all these crimes. Personally, I would be too embarrassewd to post such nonsense. I also find it interesting that while reputable sources admit “no states” on illegals, you azre just burasting at the seams with yours. Did you get them while smoking a joint? You simply have no credibility. Obviously just a piece of Southern white trash - and I’ve seen plenty of them. So you’re saving the economy, huh? What specifically are you doing, other than scapegoating illegals?
iF YOU actually have proof thatg any illegal or legal citizen is getting services not entitled to, or that any administrator of these services/programs is violating the law, then I challenge you to screw up your courage, and go to the authorities and make a sworn affadavit, with proof, and sign it. I say you won’t go because you know that making a false staztement iis a felony; moreover, you simply do not have any proof of anything you Cclaim just lies.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( RonCharest ) on May 12, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Thank You Barnun and RayWilliams;
There does have to be several approaches. But I am for attacking the CAUSE of mass immigration, not the SYMPTOM.
The symptom is massive migrations of people leaving their country of birth and traveling thousands of miles to find jobs that will pay enough to support their families. If you read the history of immigration just in this country, and look at what is happening in dozens of other places around the world today, you’ll see that what we’re experiencing in PWC is not a unique or isolated case.
The causes of massive migrations of people always comes down to the same causes: severe economic failures in their native country, and people in distant locations willing to pay them enough to make migration worth the risk and hardship. Even if what those employers are willing to pay is much less than the prevailing wages for the locals, it’s still better than what people can get staying home.
Treating people like animals who’s only real crime was to be born in a country with a failed economy (for any reason - corrupt government, crop failures, civil war, military occupation by another government) goes against everything I believe in. As I’m sure you all have seen from my other posts.
Exploiting poor people by hiring them at substandard wages for dirty and dangerous work, and then making great efforts to deny them even the most basic comforts, is another way of treating them as less then human. This is America, and we should be able to do better.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( raywilliams ) on May 12, 2008 at 1:43 pm
And thus barnun nails the issue. There are many aspects to the illegal immigration issue and be it the Resolution or other action, unless it focuses on the many, many symptoms of illegal immigration, AND provides funding for all those points on the list, no one proposal is the cure. What I continue to read, and cobra makes this statement in another post, is the Resolutionists want all their eggs in that basket and people like myself, ron, jVA and others want to approach the problem in a more symptomatic manner. The GOAL remains to solve the problem, the question we debate is in the manner of HOW.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( barnun ) on May 12, 2008 at 11:31 am
Ron, I agree with you on fining the employers. I’ve stated that. I dont think you’ll hear arguement against that from the pro law group. there is no one single cure. it has to be many things at once
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( Chemwiz ) on May 12, 2008 at 8:16 am
Ron,
I did read that article that you sent. I agree that we need to crack down on people who employ illegals, but you’re wrong in saying that it will “solve” the problem. It would be very costly and time consuming to continue “policing” companies, small business, etc. and there will always be those who break the law and hire the illegals anyway.
We need to cut the problem off before hand by tightening security at all borders (especially our south border) and we need to remove all incentives that we currently provide for these people. It only encourages them to continue their actions and for others to follow. As long as there are no consequences, then why would they stop? Heck, they get free food, healthcare, legal assistance, etc. etc…great deal huh? We need to close the line at the great American Welfare trough.
Report Inappropriate Comment
Posted by ( Chemwiz ) on May 12, 2008 at 8:11 am
Phdee,
Why would I post articles about Americans who commit sex crimes, or Catholic priests who commit sex crimes, that is ridiculous. In case you have forgotten, the original article topic pertains to illegal immigrants, not Legal Citizens.
I’m pointing out reasons why we should crack down on illegal immigration, mainly because of the financial drain that is placed on out economy ($338.3 Billion/year). I have pointed out welfare programs, education, food stamps, Medicaid, Federal prison expenses (30% of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal immigrants), increasing gang problems, increasing drug trafficking and yes, my final point was the issue about sex crimes and that the U.S. spends $3M per day incarcerating illegals.
Somehow, you were offended by these statistics and decided that the discussion to change to “how many crimes are committed by American citizens.“ For some reason, you infer that I am a racist because I am trying to protect my country and its economy rather than to protect the 13M people who are living here illegally. You attempt to legitimize one wrong doing by pointing out someone else’s wrong doing. These issues that I have outlined are squeezing the wallets of Tax Paying CITIZENS. Seems like your moral and ethical compass has been damaged, I hope that you are able to repair it someday…
Report Inappropriate Comment