If/Then: Illegal Migration….

 If the government is going to prosecute illegal migration, then congress needs to change willful illegal migration from a civil infraction, which is how it is designated currently, to a felony.

Key word: willful.  I’m not referring to someone who, for reasons beyond their control, overstayed because of a bureaucratic visa issue, I refer to individuals who knowingly and with intent overstay visas or cross our borders illegally.

There is no deterrent value in our current laws.  Currently, illegal entry in most instances doesn’t rise to the level of a felony unless an illegal re-enters the country after being deported.  That needs to change.  Congress needs to finally get down to the business of reworking our immigration laws and system.

Does Not Compute….

 

BOYCOTT TYSON FOODS!

 

Cosecha: In No Position To Make Demands….

On the way home from work today I saw the sign: “We Demand Driver’s Licenses.”

The organization that placed the sign?  Cosecha.

Cosecha is an organization DEMANDING the rights of citizens and legal residents for illegals.  I’ll let their website speak for itself:

“Joe Biden is the new president of the United States.

“Our fight is only just beginning.

“For too long, undocumented immigrants have been denied basic dignity and respect in this country.

“We have lived with the daily fear of being separated from our loved ones or left to suffer die in detention centers. We have been criminalized by police and terrorized by ICE. We have been forced to live in the shadows, unable to return home, and exploited in the workplace, even as our essential labor allows this country to function.

“The truth is against immigrant communities have been a mainstay of bipartisan politics for decades. Now, Democrats have control over the White House, Senate, and the House of Representatives—just as they did in 2009 when Obama first took office, and soon deported millions of our loved ones and community members.

“We have learned from the failures of the past and Movimiento Cosecha is ready to fight against the current administration to win the protection, dignity, and respect we deserve. Sign up now to join us!”

No one has criminalized you; you did that to yourselves and your families when you entered the United States ILLEGALLY.  That choice results in terror.  Strangely enough, that is even Biblical: 

“Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same…”, Romans 13:1-3.

You live in the shadows and live with terror because you CHOOSE to; no one is FORCING you to do that.

Being exploited is a result of being here illegally.  As a citizen or legal resident, there are certain protections to reduce the likelihood of being exploited by employers, landlords, etc.  By choosing to remain here illegally, you CHOOSE to make targets of yourselves.

Now, I do not for one moment believe that anyone deserves to be terrorized or exploited.  Nonetheless, this is a result of choices you have made.

Further, I take issue with the basic premise that we OWE you certain benefits merely because you managed to infiltrate our country without being caught: driver’s licenses, free public education, free housing, and even free medical and food.  

Licenses and education are benefits provided to citizens and legal residents.  Moneys deducted from their pay or paid by them directly cover the costs associated with providing these benefits, so these aren’t “free” benefits despite what politicians would have us believe. 

Driver’s licenses help establish LEGAL RESIDENCY and are also associated in many states with voter registration - both benefits accorded to citizens and legal residents.  

“Free” medical and food are, with some exceptions, provided as a safety net to taxpaying citizens and legal residents; they are not truly “free,” they are provided by moneys collected from taxpayers.

I have lived in a couple of different countries.  In both instances, I entered legally.  I had a means of support in place.  I paid my own way and provided for my own needs.  I learned the languages and customs.  I didn’t DEMAND anything or expect preferential treatment.  I obeyed the laws.  I used public transportation for much of my travel.

If you want to live freely and enjoy the benefits afforded by this country, you need to do what hundreds of thousands of people desiring to become citizens do: apply for legal residency.  No, because you are here illegally it won’t be easy and it may be costly.  But if you want to live openly, freely, and without fear, stop making demands and start applying.

If not, despite what you say, no one is stopping you from going home.

Pres. Obrador: Keep Your Nose Out Of Our Politics…

So Mexican Pres. Obrador is telling Latinos in Florida not to vote for DeSantis. 

This particular posting has nothing to do with endorsing any particular candidate.  Quite frankly, this author has no more use for DeSantis than for Trump; DeSantis is as much a tyrant as Trump.

This posting is about a principle: if an American president told Mexicans for whom they should vote, Obrador would be screaming about outside interference in their internal politics all the way to the UN.  He can’t keep his own citizens in his own country, can’t deal with his own internal problems and corruption, yet he feels perfectly entitled to interfere in OUR internal politics - and the media and political establishment not only doesn’t tell him to keep his mouth shut, they encourage him, give him a platform for his blatant interference.  He even makes excuses for illegal aliens in his appeal: “We have to be thinking about this regrettable phenomenon of necessary migration…”

“Necessary migration.”

Not only can he not solve his own problems, he knows that shutting down illegal migration also shuts down a major source of funding for Mexico - to the tune of an estimated nearly SIXTY BILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY.

The Hypocrisy Of DACA….

An editorial pushing for the codification of DACA made the following observation as its rationale: “[A]n adult who illegally comes across the border is making a calculated decision, while a child brought across by their parents had no choice in the matter.”

And therein lies the basic problem. ANY crime committed by parents effects the children.

There are NO exceptions.

And yet, the only children for whom I see these activists expressing ANY concern are so-called “dreamers”.

Kids suffer when their parents commit crimes every day in this country, and yet, I don’t see anyone calling for them to receive preferential treatment.  The fact that they suffer as a result of the crimes of their parents is accepted as a matter of fact.  

It’s no more than they deserve.

So if suffering is no more than the children of citizens deserve, why do the children of illegals deserve preferential treatment?

Turn About Is Fair Play….?

Mr. President, Madam Vice-President, Gov. Newsom, et al:

I guess no one in the general public has stopped to think that all the Republicans did was turn the Democrats’ playbook against them.  

For over 50 years the Democrats have used busing to solve problems. They bused inner-city kids to surrounding white school districts where the kids weren’t wanted, causing chaos in those school systems. And oh yeah, no one stopped to ask those inner-city kids if they wanted to be shipped out to those surrounding school districts, you just did it. 

During the Obama administration unaccompanied alien children and illegal aliens were bused from detention and processing centers in the border states to cities in the north, where they were dropped off without asking them if that’s where they wanted to go, and without asking the cities if they wanted them in the first place. It caused chaos. 

Now the Republicans have found a way to raise awareness of an issue by using the Democrats own playbook against them: busing illegal aliens to the cities and states where legislators are shouting the loudest to throw the borders open. They’re not asking the aliens if they want to go, they’re not asking the receiving cities whether they want them, they’re just doing what the Democrats did: shipping them. 

Predictably, it’s doing what it did when the democrats did it: causing chaos.

So it was OK for the democrats to do it, but not the republicans.

An Open Letter To Michigan State Legislators: No To Illegal Children...

An open letter to Michigan State Legislators regarding the relocation of illegal alien children to Michigan locations:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

While Gov. Snyder may be encouraging the federal government to send more illegal children here to Michigan (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140704/POLITICS02/307040033), specifically to the Bethany Services unaccompanied alien children facility location on 36th St in Kentwood (http://michiganradio.org/post/some-children-fleeing-central-american-violence-may-be-headed-michigan, http://www.alipac.us/f12/...west-michigan-program-shelters-illegal-alien-kids-287065/), I remain VEHEMENTLY opposed.  

I am in favor of rendering assistance to those who truly need it, but this entire situation is the direct result of Pres. Obama's unilateral decision to countermand existing US immigration law with his executive order relating to so-called "dreamers."  It was HIS decision that opened the flood gates of unaccompanied children to this country; this "humanitarian crisis" on our border rests entirely on his shoulders, yet he now expects the US taxpayer to come up with billions of dollars that we can't afford and don't have to absorb even more children who will be wholly dependent on the US taxpayer for much of their lives.

This must be stopped, and the Michigan legislature needs to take immediate action to insure that we do not become yet another sanctuary for thousands more illegals who will be dependent on Michigan taxpayers.  We can't even afford to take care of our roads, yet we are magically expected to come up with billions of dollars to support even more illegals?   This may begin as a federally funded program (but remember - those "federal funds" come from hard working MICHIGAN TAXPAYERS), but in the long term, it is the Michigan taxpayer who will be expected to pay even more taxes to support the increased burden on our social, education, and medical services.

Enough is too much.

VP Biden: "Undocumented aliens are already Americans"

March 28, 2014

Vice President Joe Biden
The White House
Washington, DC

Mr. Vice President:

You recently took a phrase out of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's remarkable editorial, "True Americanism," "Americanism is not a question of birthplace or creed or a line of descent. It’s a question of principles, idealism and character…,” as if to imply that Pres. Roosevelt would have agreed with your position. 

With all due respect, you need to read Pres. Roosevelt's editorial in its entirety. Pres. Roosevelt also said, 

"The third sense in which the word “Americanism” may be employed is with reference to the Americanizing of the newcomers to our shores. We must Americanize them in every way, in speech, in political ideas and principles, and in their way of looking at the relations between Church and State. We welcome the German or the Irishman who becomes an American. We have no use for the German or Irishman who remains such. We do not wish German-Americans and Irish-Americans who figure as such in our social and political life; we want only Americans, and, provided they are such, we do not care whether they are of native or of Irish or of German ancestry. WE HAVE NO ROOM IN ANY HEALTHY AMERICAN COMMUNITY FOR A GERMAN-AMERICAN VOTE OR AN IRISH-AMERICAN VOTE, AND IT IS CONTEMPTIBLE DEMAGOGY TO PUT PLANKS INTO ANY PARTY PLATFORM WITH THE PURPOSE OF CATCHING SUCH A VOTE. We have no room for any people who do not act and vote simply as Americans, and as nothing else… 

BUT WHERE IMMIGRANTS, OR THE SONS OF IMMIGRANTS, DO NOT HEARTILY AND IN GOOD FAITH THROW IN THEIR LOT WITH US, BUT CLING TO THE SPEECH, THE CUSTOMS, THE WAYS OF LIFE, AND THE HABITS OF THOUGHT OF THE OLD WORLD WHICH THEY HAVE LEFT, THEY THEREBY HARM BOTH THEMSELVES AND US. IF THEY REMAIN ALIEN ELEMENTS, UNASSIMILATED, AND WITH INTERESTS SEPARATE FROM OURS, THEY ARE MERE OBSTRUCTIONS TO THE CURRENT OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE, AND, MOREOVER, CAN GET NO GOOD FROM IT THEMSELVES. In fact, though we ourselves also suffer from their perversity, it is they who really suffer most. It is an immense benefit to the European immigrant to change him into an American citizen. To bear the name of American is to bear the most honorable titles; and whoever does not so believe has no business to bear the name at all, and, if he comes from Europe, the sooner he goes back there the better. Besides, the man who does not become Americanized nevertheless fails to remain a European, and becomes nothing at all. The immigrant cannot possibly remain what he was, or continue to be a member of the Old-World society. If he tries to retain his old language, in a few generations it becomes a barbarous jargon; if he tries to retain his old customs and ways of life, in a few generations he becomes an uncouth boor. He has cut himself off from the Old World, and cannot retain his connection with it; and if he wishes ever to amount to anything he must throw himself heart and soul, and without reservation, into the new life to which he has come. IT IS URGENTLY NECESSARY TO CHECK AND REGULATE OUR IMMIGRATION, BY MUCH MORE DRASTIC LAWS THAN NOW EXIST; AND THIS SHOULD BE DONE... TO KEEP OUT LABORERS WHO TEND TO DEPRESS THE LABOR MARKET… 

From his own standpoint, IT IS BEYOND ALL QUESTION THE WISE THING FOR THE IMMIGRANT TO BECOME THOROUGHLY AMERICANIZED. MOREOVER, FROM OUR STANDPOINT, WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEMAND IT. WE FREELY EXTEND THE HAND OF WELCOME AND OF GOOD-FELLOWSHIP TO EVERY MAN, NO MATTER WHAT HIS CREED OR BIRTHPLACE, WHO COMES HERE HONESTLY INTENT ON BECOMING A GOOD UNITED STATES CITIZEN LIKE THE REST OF US; BUT WE HAVE A RIGHT, AND IT IS OUR DUTY, TO DEMAND THAT HE SHALL INDEED BECOME SO and shall not confuse the issues with which we are struggling by introducing among us Old-World quarrels and prejudices. There are certain ideas which he must give up. For instance, he must learn that American life is incompatible with the existence of any form of anarchy, or of any secret society having murder for its aim, whether at home or abroad; and he must learn that we exact full religious toleration and the complete separation of Church and State. Moreover, he must not bring in his Old-World religious race and national antipathies, but must merge them into love for our common country, and must take pride in the things which we can all take pride in. HE MUST REVERE ONLY OUR FLAG; NOT ONLY MUST IT COME FIRST, BUT NO OTHER FLAG SHOULD EVEN COME SECOND... ," True Americanism, Theodore Roosevelt.

Pres. Roosevelt would NOT have agreed with your stance, or that of the administration.  In point of fact, his essay is a repudiation of this administration’s immigration policy.  His essay is based on 1) the premise that such individuals come to our country in accordance with our laws, and 2) that they fully integrate themselves into American society.  What you offer is a caricature of True Americanism.

Sincerely,

Open Letter To Senators Levin, Stabenow, re: S.744 Vote...

June 27, 2013

Senator Carl Levin
Senator Debbie Stabenow

Senators,

You still have 20 million unemployed CITIZENS to take care of before you even THINK about throwing the border open in yet another de-facto amnesty program.  I have objected to amnesties under ALL of the preceding administrations - Democrat and Republican - and I object to this one as well.

I am urging you to vote NO on S.744, the Schumer-Rubio Amnesty Bill.  Any attempt to throw our doors open to 12 million plus illegals is a slap in the face to the 20 million citizens - nearly 2 million of whom are YOUR CONSTITUENTS - who have been pushed out of the workforce in favor of illegals who will work for illegal wages with no benefits, as well as the 4 million immigrants who are patiently complying with our immigration laws.

Proponents of the bill claim it will bring unprecedented resources to border security.  They leave out, however, that the Corker-Hoeven Amendment to S. 744 also places sole authority for the deployment of security measures into the hands of Sec. Napolitano, who has already declared, “We are confident that the border is as secure as it has ever been…”   The following quote is directly from the Corker-Hoeven Amendment:

"...nothing in this subsection shall require the secretary to install fencing, or infrastructure that directly results from the installation of such fencing, in a particular location along the southern border, if the secretary determines that the use of placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain effective control over the southern border at such location." 

In addition, S.744 guarantees that illegal immigrants who are amnestied will be eligible to work, but will not be eligible for ObamaCare. Employers who would be required to pay as much as a $3,000 penalty for most employees who receive an ObamaCare healthcare “exchange” subsidy, WOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY THE PENALTY IF THEY HIRE AMNESTIED IMMIGRANTS. 

CONSEQUENTLY, EMPLOYERS WOULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INCENTIVE TO HIRE OR RETAIN AMNESTIED IMMIGRANTS, RATHER THAN CURRENT CITIZENS, INCLUDING THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY ACHIEVED CITIZENSHIP VIA THE CURRENT NATURALIZATION PROCESS."

Your oath of office is to defend the US Constitution and uphold the laws of this land - ALL OF THEM, not to impose a new social order on us. 

Senator McCain - Enforce Our Immigration Laws...

June 24, 2013

Sen. John McCain

Senator,

There was a time when I supported you.  I was one of those who voted for you when you ran for the office of President.  But upon seeing what you have come to espouse in the years that have passed since then, you have lost my support.  You have defended the actions of a president and his administration that are, by all objective, CONSTITUTIONAL standards, indefensible.

And now you have joined the open borders crowd in complete disregard for your own Arizona constituents, and for the rest of us as well.  To make matters worse, you have evidently instructed your staff to ignore all incoming phone calls from constituents who have the temerity to question you and the rest of the so-called “Gang of Eight” oligarchs who have decided that you alone know what is best for this country with regard to enforcing our immigration laws and strengthening our borders.

We believe in enforcing our laws.  We have seen from previous amnesties what transpires.  We have over 20 MILLION CITIZENS who have been been pushed out of the workforce in favor of illegals who will work for illegal wages with no benefits; your first responsibility is to THOSE CITIZENS, not the 12 million plus illegals who CHOSE to live in the shadows.  You have no obligation to bring them out of the shadows - unless it is for the purpose of enforcing our immigration laws.  Your proposed “immigration reform” is a slap in the faces of the 4 million immigrants who are patiently complying with our immigration laws to become productive CITIZENS of this nation, and placing all power to strengthen our borders solely into the hands of Sec. Napolitano, who has already declared that our borders are sufficiently strong for the purposes of the administration, does nothing to strengthen the language of your proposed legislation.

Enough is enough.

Enforce our laws as your oath of office requires you to do - or step down to make room for someone who will.

A Constitutional Constructionist for National Sovereignty.

Open Letter to Senators Levin & Stabenow: Corker-Hoeven Amendment and S. 744, the Schumer-Rubio Amnesty Bill

June 24, 2013

Senator Carl Levin
Senator Debbie Stabenow

Senators,

You still have 20 million unemployed CITIZENS to take care of before you even THINK about throwing the border open in yet another de-facto amnesty program.  I have objected to amnesties under ALL of the preceding administrations - Democrat and Republican - and I object to this one as well.

I am urging you to vote NO on both the Corker-Hoeven Amnesty Amendment that is scheduled for a vote at 5:30 today, as well as S.744, the Schumer-Rubio Amnesty Bill, as a whole.  Any attempt to throw our doors open to 12 million plus illegals is a slap in the face to the 20 million citizens - nearly 2 million of whom are YOUR CONSTITUENTS - who have been pushed out of the workforce in favor of illegals who will work for illegal wages with no benefits, as well as the 4 million immigrants who are patiently complying with our immigration laws.

Your oath of office is to defend the US Constitution and uphold the laws of this land - ALL OF THEM, not to impose a new social order on us. 

"We need your honor..."

Fine, then let's see that honor demonstrated by the Commander in Chief first.

“We need your honor, that inner compass that guides you, not when the path is easy and obvious, but it’s hard and uncertain, that tells you the difference between that which is right and that which is wrong,” Obama said. “Perhaps it will be the moment when you think nobody’s watching. But never forget that honor, like character, is what you do when nobody’s looking.”

Practice what you preach, Mr. President.  You have no moral authority to make such a demand.

Let me paraphrase your other relevant remark from this address:

“Those who commit dereliction of duty after receiving numerous please for help, who order troops to stand down when our ambassador and his staff are being murdered, who direct the IRS to target conservatives and others with whose ideology you personally disagree, who tell Christians that they must fund abortion and give vocal approval to homosexuality in violation of their First Amendment Rights, who direct the Department of State to provide funding and weapons to islamic terrorist organizations and hostile governments, and who direct immigration and other law enforcement agencies not to enforce our laws regarding illegal aliens, just to give a few examples, are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our country strong.” 

True leadership doesn't make demands of others that it doesn't first make of itself.

Pres. Obama to West Point Grads: "We need your honor..."

Becoming an "American"

Letter from former Pres. Teddy Roosevelt to the president of the American Defense Society, written on January 3, 1919. It was read aloud at a concert sponsored by the ADS on January 6, 1919; Roosevelt died three days later. It speaks to divisions among the American people, and what he believed to be the obligations of those who would become American citizens.

"I cannot be with you and so all I can do is to wish you God speed. There must be no sagging back in the fight for Americanism merely because the war is over.

There are plenty of persons who have already made the assertion that they believe the American people have a short memory and that they intend to revive all the foreign associations which more directly interfere with the complete Americanization of our people. Our principle in this matter should be absolutely simple.

In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become 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 man’s becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American.

If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as 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, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people."

A copy of the original letter can be seen at this link: Pres. Teddy Roosevelt letter