Illegals Today

The Pew Hispanic Center (Pew Charitable Trusts) in Washington DC estimated that 550,000 unauthorized construction workers arrived in the country between 2000 and 2005, making the industry the largest employer of short-term illegal workers. As a whole, unauthorized workers make up 5 percent of the U.S. labor force. Unions accept illegals into membership where they can make between $19-$23 an hour.

Story by Joe Grundle with lots of anecdotal evidence and plucking heart strings appears in the Kansas City Daily Record (Kansas City, MO), May 5, 2006.

illegal immigration
labor unions

Corrections Professional, May 12, 2006, Vol. 11, No. 16

"More than 7,000 illegal immigrants booked into California county jails each year cost state taxpayers more than $11 million annually to incarcerate, according to state records. Removing them could save money, commissioners [San Bernadino County] said, as they authorized changes to the system."

Michigan is paying about $30,000 per illegal to keep them in prison. This article discusses similar problems and proposed changes in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Michigan.

"Why are so many people challenging Board of Immigration appeals decisions in Federal Court?" John R.B. Palmer, Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, and Elizabeth Cronin. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, Fall, 2005,

Summary: Authors looked at the Board of Immigration backlog of appeals which in March 2002 was 56,000 cases and then surged. Not only has the volume of BIA decisions increased, but also the rate at which they are appealed through petitions for review. People are now challenging a higher proportion of BIA decisions than they did before March 2002. Exactly why is the point of this article. Some think they are making more errors because of the work load; others believe it's a change in tactics.

The authors seemed flummoxed if my non-legal analysis means anything. Interesting figures for the 2nd and 9th courts. "In our defense, we are lawyers. The linear world of legal reasoning makes it easy to forget the complexity of real life social phenomena. After a year of collecting and analyzing gigabytes worth of data, we realize that the explanation for the immigration surge is at once far more complicated and far simpler than we imagined. We did not detect a higher appeal rate in the latter half of 2004 for either summary decisions or prompt decisions, but we cannot rule out the possibility that such a higher rate existed in the past, or that either of those variables are potential causes of the surge. We identified a number of other variables that may have contributed to the surge, including BIA errors, substantive issues on which BIA decisions hinge, aliens' "expulsion costs," and the amount of delay that can be achieved in the courts of appeals. However, we are unable to confirm or discard any of these variables."

Can you imagine the delaying tactics of appeals if the new Senate bill were to become the law? Every lawyer in the country will have to be drafted into immigration law!

Apparently not. Here are two articles about the effect of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) on undocumented immigration published in 1992 and 2003. For 34 years our government winked at employers who hired illegals (Texas Proviso). Then in 1986 a law was passed making that unlawful, and granting amnesty to those who were already here. Did it reduce illegal immigration? No. Look at the mess we have now and the bungling the Senate is going through.

Abstract: Stemming the tide? Assessing the deterrent effects of the immigration Reform and Control Act," by Katharine M. Donato, Jorge Durand, and Douglas S. Massey, Demography: Vol. 29, No. 2, May 1992, p. 139

This study uses a new source of data to assess the degree to which the IRCA deterred undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States. Data were collected from migrants interviewed in seven Mexican communities during the winters of 1987 through 1989, as well as from out-migrants from those communities who subsequently located in the United States. We conduct time-series experiements that examine changes in migrants' behavior before and after passage of the IRCA in 1986. We estimate trends in the probability of taking a first illegal trip, the probability of repeat migration, the probability of apprehension by the Border Patrol, the probability of using a border smuggler, and the costs of illegal border crossing. In none of these analyses could we detect any evidence that IRCA has significantly deterred undocumented migration from Mexico.

Abstract: "Do amnesty programs reduce undocumented immigration? Evidence from IRCA," by Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny, Demography: Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2003, p.437

This article examines whether mass legalization programs reduce future undocumented immigration. We focus on the effects of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted amnesty to nearly 2.7 million undocumented immigrants. We report that apprehensions of persons attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally declined immediately following passage of the law but returned to normal levels during the period when undocumented immigrants could file for amnesty and the years thereafter. Our finding suggest that the amnest program did not change long-term patterns of undocumented immigration from Mexico.

Illegal immigration
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
amnesty
Guest workers
Immigration Reform and Control Act

For all who have served, thank you for our freedoms. May we honor you by not abandoning them.
Dad and his brother in 1944
"From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our country's battles
In the air on land and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to bear the title
Of United States Marines."
The Marine Hymn

"After the Marines participated in the capture and occupation of Mexico City and the Castle of Chapultepec, otherwise known as the "Halls of Montezuma," the words on the Colors were changed to read: "From the Shores of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma." Following the close of the Mexican War came the first verse of the Marines' Hymn, written, according to tradition, by a Marine on duty in Mexico. For the sake of euphony, the unknown author transposed the phrases in the motto on the Colors so that the first two lines of the Hymn would read: "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli." "

Victory in Tripoli, our first war with Islamic terrorists in the 18th century.

Who would have thought when Dad and Uncle Russell had this candid shot fighting in the Pacific, that members of our Senate 62 years later would be trying to gut our history, honor and country?

Illegal immigration
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
amnesty
Guest workers
Marine Hymn
U.S. Senate

If your ancestors were Irish and immigrated to the USA, Canada or Australia in the 19th century, you may think that because millions of immigrants were absorbed before (about 15% of the US population was foreign born in the early 20th century), why should it be any different now with illegal workers from Mexico who will get amnesty (displacing those who have been waiting on the legal quotas) and bring into legal residency their entire families, including parents and adult children?

Maybe you wear the green on St. Paddy's day and know a few drinking songs and are still Catholic. Wasn't the Irish Exodus a good thing? My ancestors were Scots-Irish too, but came a century or two earlier, also hating their British rulers and wanting a few economic perks. They settled first in Pennsylvania, then moved on down to the Appalachian Mountains after fighting in the Revolution, saying good-bye again a century later as family members moved on west to Missouri, Texas and California. Some (mine) even to Illinois. My ancestors who weren't Irish were Swiss and German, coming for religious freedom--not even being allowed to own land in the little Germanic prince-states they fled.

The potato revolutionized Ireland. Under the thumb of Britain, it was the poorest country in Europe. Within about 250 years after its introduction, Ireland's population almost tripled. But monocrops are not a good long term investment on which to build an economy, and when the blight came, the Irish began to starve. The British took their land and their lives, and waved good-bye as the poor and landless emigrated. Imagine the disruption, grief and death this caused. Just because the end result was various Irish power brokers and a Ted Kennedy or three in Congress, doesn't mean these folks didn't suffer. And then after WWI and WWII, more millions fled the death, distruction and disaster of the collapsing European and Balkan states.

Why does our US government continue to prop up the Mexican government which is corrupt and built on drug money and the billions of their "servant dollars" sent home from cleaning hotel rooms in California and roofing buildings in Ohio? Drugs are just the monocrop ready for a blight. Just because we had an open arms system in the 19th century where we winked at the corruption and power grabs of the kings, dictators, and prime ministers of countries that scuttled their own citizens, why do we have to continue that painful process? If it works out over 150 years, does it mean those victims didn't suffer?

We have a current quota of 950,000 immigrants a year. This is world wide. It doesn't welcome one group and fight off others with a stick--at least not in the law, but that's what is happening. The guest worker program will begin with 325,000 in 2007, and grow 10% a year through 2026, and they can each bring along their spouses, children, siblings, adult children, and parents. Those are people who can be "guests" for 6 years, and apply for legal residency in 4 years. Meanwhile, how many children have been born to that group who will never go back to Mexico? And who would go back if American schools and benefits beckon? How many are eligible for SS and education and health care? All of them.

If the Irish had had a deal like that in the 1860s and 1870s, there would be no one left there to be enjoying its economic renewal of recent years and there would have been no ethnic battles between the protestants and catholics, because the Irish wouldn't be there. Perhaps Vicente Fox knows more about Irish American history than President Bush, Ted Kennedy and John McCain despite their Irish heritage? Just export his citizens.

U.S. Presidents with Irish ancestry
1 Andrew Jackson, 7th President 1829-37

2 James Knox Polk, 11th President 1845-49

3 James Buchanan, 15th President 1857-61

4 Ulysses S Grant, 18th President 1869-77

5 Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President 1881-85

6 Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President 1885-89, 1893-97

7 William McKinley, 25th President 1897-1901

8 Woodrow Wilson, 28th President 1913-21

9 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President 1961-63

10 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President 1963-69

11 Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President 1969-74

12 James Earl Carter, 39th President 1977-81

13 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President 1981-89

14 George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President 1989-93

15 William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President 1993-2001

16 George W Bush, 43rd President 2001-

at About.com's Immigration Issues.
-No more birth right to those born of two illegal parents.
-No amnesty or reward for those who commit illegal acts.
-Begin a smart deportation program.
-No guest worker program –that already exists let them stay in line and wait as many others do.
-BIG fines for hiring them. So maybe instead of paying the fines they pay legal citizens.
-Stop the fighting with true concerned citizens calling them stupid names

And for all those who feel guilty with their stories and tears know this: Behind is a true selfishness that Americans have yet to discover but when you do you will then see it was never your responsibility and you should have looked to save your own."

Our biggest mistake in Iraq was not securing our borders. Why make the middle east safe for democracy if we won't secure our own borders?

I've read that 31% of the illegals are working in the hospitality sector, and 19% are in construction. Possibly. If you're looking nationwide--but not locally. In Ohio, our illegals are working in landscape, restaurants and specifically construction trades. These are not jobs Americans refuse--they are the jobs that build a work history, that the less educated use to move up, and people willing to sweat a little use to buy equity in a home and consumer goods. The most successful restauranteur in Columbus went to high school with my kids, blew it off, and started out fixing salads in a local restaurant. Today I wonder if he could even get hired because he's a kid from the neighborhood. Another buddy of my son floundered for years in and out of problems and jobs, but now owns his own construction firm, has a beautiful home and drives a Mercedes (I hope he's not hiring illegals!). The landscape crew at our condo looks like kids earning money for college tuition to me.

Because there are greater penalties for employers for discrimination against them than in winking at their "documents," and because they are very hard workers, there is no incentive for employers to look at Americans who want those jobs. If you can get 10 hours a day and pay $10/hour to your crew instead of an 8 hour day at $12/hour, and if you can claim you checked their documentation and are under the gun of a deadline in your contract, well, why not? The Democrats and the Media outrage will swamp us with stories about Wal-Mart, not the local construction guy or restaurant for hiring practices. Although some restaurants are multi-cultural and "global" in their staff (White Castle, for example) because limited English is needed to clean a stove or chop lettuce, many of our restaurant kitchens appear to be Spanish-speaking only, with friends and relatives hiring and recommending same.

I was in San Antonio a few years ago. Because I'm an early riser (plus a time zone change) and spend a lot of time in hotel lobbies drinking the free coffee, watching the buffet set ups, the early local news and the staff shifts at the desk, I saw a lot. I saw only light skinned Spanish-surnamed news reporters with no accent on the TV screen. I noticed the Hispanic front desk people were all light skinned--the maids weren't even from Mexico, but Central America. But no African Americans. I didn't see them in the hospitality industry or the retail industry or in the restaurants. Is it possible that all blacks in Texas have moved out to the suburbs and joined the country club? Were they all in the office buildings in law firms and brokerage houses? Don't think so.

Flying home, I saw African Americans in the airports. Cleaning restrooms and emptying the trash. It could be Americans aren't taking the jobs that the illegals do because of a hostile, non-English speaking workplace.

recalls how she became a citizen and looks at the demonstrations.

Lynda's story.

“The Senate’s 12-million person amnesty – the largest in America’s history – would crush our background check system. It would dishonor legal immigrants who came here the right way. And, it would only encourage more illegal immigration. The President may say that the Senate’s plan isn’t amnesty, but when you reward people with citizenship and you allow them to continue to work in the U.S. for the sole reason that they broke the law, what else can you call it?"

Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) speaking before the President's speech on immigration on May 15, 2006.

His web site.

Division I is playing this week in Columbus. Beautiful, athletic women are swarming the OSU golf course (recently rehabed). I watched a local news show interview some of the top contenders--all foreign, all speaking very acceptable English (moreso than our homegrown men's basketball and football athletes). They all admitted to knowing almost no English when they came here. One of the Asian women said she'd taken a year off just to concentrate on learning English.

English--it's not just for athletes. Don't cripple our immigrant children by teaching them in their parents' language in our schools. English is the global language of business and the language of the USA.

Like the enabling parent who never cuts the apron strings for its helpless adult child, the USA contributes to Mexico's poverty by employing 15% of its labor force who can then send money back home to keep the inept, socialistic government afloat.

are healthier (in all ethnic groups) than children in native born families (of the same ethnic group), according to "Future of Children, Vol. 14, no., Summer, 2004 [Brookings]. Although it is downplayed, the reason seems to be they are more likely to be raised in two parent families. So regardless of poverty, lack of health insurance, over crowding, poor housing and poor education of their parents, they are healthier than native born. What a little marriage can do!

"According to several measures, children born to immigrant mothers are healthier than those born to U.S.-born mothers, on average. For example, infant mortality rates are lower among immigrant mothers, and their babies are less likely to be born with low birth weights. Also, children of immigrants are reported to experience fewer health problems across a wide range of conditions-from injuries and physical impairments, to infectious diseases and asthma.

Moreover, children in immigrant families are more likely than children in U.S.-born families to live with two parents in the home, with a father who works and a mother who does not work. As detailed in the article by Hernandez in this journal issue, the percentage of children of immigrant families living in a single-parent household is only about 16%, compared with 26% for children of U.S.-born families."

Through time and across generations, health deteriorates as families assimilate--multi-generational homes become single parent families with mom working outside the home. Maybe they should be told that at the border?

In 1976 when illegal immigration was around 800,000 a year, "lack of manpower and funds" was the INS excuse--Commissioner L.F. Chapman said illegal immigration was "completely out of control. We are facing a vast army that's carrying out a silent invasion." (AP, 1976)

Penalizing employers was suggested at that time, but the American Farm Bureau, the Mexican Government and the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops fought that.

Thirty years later, only the names of the guilty have changed.

Story from "Population problems," BioScience, Vol. 27(1), January 1977

Illegal immigration
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
amnesty
Guest workers

"Why did IRCA (1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act) fail to control illegal immigration? A major reason is a toothless sanctions scheme, which resulted from the "odd coalition" pressure by Hispanics and employers. From early on, a good-faith clause had been inserted into the Simpson-Mazzoli bill, which released employers from any obligation to check the authenticity of employees' documents: a document check conducted in good faith constituted an "affirmative defense" that the respective employer had not committed the "knowing hire" misdemeanor. In effect, employers were immune from punishment if they filled out and filed away routine I-9 forms that attested to the document check. Because the introduction of a national ID card had been blocked, some twenty-nine documents--including easily faked U.S. birth certificates, so-called breeders--served to satisfy the control requirement. The positive affirmative-defense incentive was complemented by a negative antidiscrimination incentive: demanding a specific ID constituted an "unfair immigration related employment practice." So employers were better off accepting the document passively offered by the prospective employee. . . The civil rights imperative of nondiscrimination has obviously stood in the way of effective immigration control.

From Christian Joppke, “Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration,” World Politics, Vol. 50, No. 2. (Feb., 1998), pp. 266-293.

Illegal immigration
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
amnesty
Guest workers
Immigration Reform and Control Act

"I live in Texas, and sometimes I think people don’t truly grasp the fact that the chaos on our borders is not a border state issue - it threatens them directly, no matter where they live. The fact is that our border chaos is directly linked to our national security. Terrorists already have and continue to illegally cross our border, blending in with illegals from Mexico and Central America, or brazenly crossing over with an armed escort of gang members or even the Mexican military."

Are you listening Ohio?

Watch this video of an ongoing investigation done by the news team from Channel 5 KGRTV.

Euphoricreality.net

I have just phoned the Columbus offices of Senators DeWine and Voinovich and told them I do not want to have our country overwhelmed by millions of immigrants as S.2611 will do.

Read American Daughter.

"The Senate is poised to pass S. 2611 this week, the giant amnesty bill that would change the demographics of our country and start us on the slide into rampant crime, drug culture, and third world poverty. Every thinking American is needed at this moment to phone, fax, or visit their United States Senators and oppose this legislation."

She links to the phone numbers.

Numbers USA provides these 10 years estimates:
20 million — Frist's bill (S. 2454)
25 million — McCain/Kennedy bill (S. 1033)
31 million — Senate Judiciary bill (no #)
32 million — S. 2611 (now on Senate floor, based on the Hagel/Martinez bill)

Remember the CIRA (S.2611) is conservatively 103 million in 20 years, according to Heritage Foundation research.

What does the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act(CIRA S.2611) do? According to the Heritage Foundation research, we can expect approximately 103 millions immigrants from Mexico in the next 20 years if there is 10% growth--but if it is 20% per year, then it's 193,000,000 new immigrants. If we use the smaller number only 20.28% of the 103 million are guest workers, the rest are spouses, children, siblings, adult children, parents and recipients of "amnesty." This is a flood, not a migration. And we need to stop it.

That makes it bigger than Medicare, bigger than Social Security and more social engineering than any government has ever tried. This document prints to 13 pages, and you need to read every word.

Write every person in government you can think of.

Illegal immigration
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
amnesty
Guest workers

These 18 Republicans need to be removed the next time they come up for reelection. I've borrowed the list from Powder Blue Report and haven't checked, but I see DeWine and Voinovich of Ohio are on the list of Republican Senators who voted against enforcing our immigration laws (Johnny Isakson's amendment).

We've got a serious ménage à trois here with the unions, the Democrats and business interests. The unions need fodder for membership; Democrats need a permanent class of victims for votes; and shoddy businesses need cheap labor. Any American who thinks we benefit from this cheap labor needs to look at the other side of the ledger and total the social costs, including crime, education, housing, uninsured drivers and health care to name just a few. Most states are going bankrupt from Medicaid costs--but illegal immigrants can get it. Amnesty. Shamesty. They aren't interested in U.S. citizenship--they're just sending money home. Their own worthless government needs it so their light skinned Euro leaders can stay in power.

I personally don't think we need a wall, a fence or new laws. We need some law enforcement. What if the rest of us just decided to stop obeying laws we don't find economically convenient--like income tax, zoning, family leave, Title IX, emission standards. If illegals can do it, why can't we? But these idiots don't even see the need to secure the borders while they figure out what to do. How many more millions will stream across while these folks dither and quiver?

Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Chafee (R-RI)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
DeWine (R-OH)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

Illegal immigration
George Voinovich
Mike DeWine

Cross posted

To my knowledge, there is nothing going around called the Friday Fourteen, but Tran Sient's Watch had fourteen phrases that are obfuscating the issue, and this is Friday, so . . . It was too good to pass up.

1. Living in the Shadows – There is a very easy way to come out from the shadows. Walk right back where you came from and declare yourself free from shadows.

2. The jobs Americans will not do – I’m not going to take the time to rail against this again. It deserves its own post.

3. Undocumented immigrant/laborer – Oh please, we aren’t that stupid.

4. Nation of Immigrants – Perhaps we should erase the borders and declare ourselves to be an amorphous confederation of wanderers.

5. Comprehensive Immigration Bill/Reform – Let them stay and become citizens or we do nothing about the border. Either way its come one, come all. Screw you American Taxpayer.

6. Militarizing the border – If you don’t like it, go home and complain to the Mexican military/drug runners on your side of the border. See if they can help you.

7. We Are America – Over my cold dead corpse.

8. Legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants – Call me confused. Is it currently legal to be illegal?

9. A day without Immigrants – Shouldn’t that have been ‘undocumented wandering laborers’? Why limit it to a day?

10. Pay back taxes – How much income tax does one pay on an ‘undocumented worker’s’ salary? I’m thinking that those W2s from the last five years are going to be hard to find.

11. Catch and Release – Large mouth, brim or trout?

12. Pro-Immigration – Pro-Illegal-Immigration

13. Path to Citizenship - Amnesty

14. Guest-Worker Program - Amnesty

illegal immigration
Amnesty

Cross posted

"The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents." Story here.

I wonder if I got Mexican citizenship and snuck back across the border, I'd be able to collect my own Social Security?

Because my pension is from state teachers (STRS Ohio), I can't collect either my SS or the spousal part of my husband's. I think the NEA really ought to look into this, although I know it would rip out their liberal souls to do it. And yes, I'm well aware this happened under Reagan; that doesn't make it right to give criminals with forged IDs and SS numbers benefits and deny them to me.

Would almost serve 'em right if it was my SS number they stole! They couldn't get a dime.

Illegal immigration
Social Security

Doyle says it's BS



Cross posted