Monday, September 10, 2007

llegal Immigration and the Hypocrites

The debate has continued regarding"illegal" immigrants in large part throughout the summer and now going into the Fall. It is largely due to the impass on any political progress by the National Democrats with regard to the Iraq issue as well as the State Republicans with regard to solving the transportation abuser fee promise.

The issue will certainly play a larger part in the election of 2008 than in statewide elections but officials are using the rather negligent Congress as an excuse for attempting to solve the issue of illegal aliens at the State level. And as they should.

Much of the heat State Republicans are taking is by way of progressive and liberal blogs piggybacking the transportation dilemma and focusing much of their scopes on folks like David Albo of the 42d House district (Fairfax) and to a lessor extent Jay O'Brien 39th Sen district both of course Republicans in Northern Virginia.

Albo was the first official to propose legislation that would prevent illegal aliens from the ability to secure Virginia driving permits as well as sponsoring bills that would prevent illegals from securing benefits from state and local taxes. O'Brien, an Irish-Amercian has supported such measures in the Senate as well and has been quoted as saying:

"the time has come for Virginia to stand up to criminal illegal aliens and protect families...and stop rewarding illegals the benefit of in-state tuition for higher education" (deemed as hate mongering??)

O'Brien has been a big proponent of propping up Virginia law enforcemnt agencies and the ability for those to turn over illegals to the Department of Homeland Security in SB 1045. O'Brien represents some 30 localties in Fairfax and 9 in Prince William County where the issue of illegals is red hot. O'Brien is supported by many Virginia associations including the Virginia Farm Bureau, Association of Realtors, State Police, Va Medical Society, Va Society of Certified Public Accountants, Va Independent Insurance Agents and Independent Auto Dealers.

And yet the progressive blogs are somehow enraged at what they call the hypocricy of State Republicans largely because of the fact Republicans, and they are not alone on this score, have secured large contributions from employers such as Smithfield that have less than clean records with regard to employing illegal workers.

In effect this is where the debate is moving, the so-called hypocricy and not focused at the very issue at hand and that is the illegal alien issue itself.

It seems Progressives would largely like to make or keep illegal immigration a Federal issue and yet we see time after time where members of the Federal Government attempt to pass the responsibilities of dealing with illegals off to the States. The following measures in the very least provide instruction for the States under the Federalist system:

Immigrant Childrens Health Improvement Act :
addreses XIX XXI of the Social Security Act to provide States with option to cover certain immigrants under medicaid and childrens health insurance programs

DREAM Act: co sponsored by Hillary Clinton in fact to address the Illegal Immigrant Reform Act to allow for States to review and determine State residency requirements for higher education with regard to immigrants
Also here the DREAM Act says "the US should protect its borders and enforce its immigration laws. The consequences of illegal entry should be deportation"

So if this debate is being shaped by "hypocricy" why is it we are not talking about the fact that liberals are attacking Republicans calling them proponents of hate and linking them to KKK circulations in PWC for simply emphatically calling for what the DREAM ACT seeks in SB 1545.

The hypocricy might just be that Clinton, Schumer, Spector, and Mikulski all NOW very critical of how Republicans are shaping the arguement against illegal immigration in Congress are all co-sponsors of legislation that states that "the consequences of illegal entry should be deportation."

This blitz to judge Republicans and yet not acknowledge the language that very Democratic leadership have drafted in the past is worrisome at the very least. It very well may represent a shift solely based on political posturing and not the solving of the issue before our country.

The above mentioned Democrats in the Senate also sponsored along with (R) John McCain and Sam Brownback the Agricultureal Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act sponsored by none other than SD (R) Larry Craig....yes that Larry Craig whom all of these folk have distanced themselves from in the last two weeks. The irony. This measure seeks to address the H-2A worker program and in particular Section 218. Then there is also the Access to English/Employment Acquisition Act that further places it upon the States to determine programs for bilingual education for immigrants.

So we have the Congress placing in large part much of the issues around immigration and its impacts upon the States and yet we are surprised when there is a call for accountability in the area of determining just who is eligible for all these programs. Is it immigrants of any status or is it the "legal" or "documented" aliens? If it is left to the State to make the distinction, so be it.

If a State is to use tax payer , public revenues, should they not perform due diligence to insure that state revenues go for the purposes of funding individuals who are indeed of legal status and residents of the Commonwealth? Should that not be the requirement? Is it not logical then for us to demand that illegals not be granted in-state tuiton? Is that not what SB 1545 from Congress is saying?

And it seems to me many of the more liberal folk tend to forget or never read "Hope and History" by Bill Clinton where on page 133-34 he states that :

" we are both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.Immigrants who enter our country legally and begin the process of attaining citizenship today are little different from the striven who were our ancestors..we must not tolerate illegal immigration...since 1993 we have removed 30 thousand illegal workers from jobs across the country"

Again we have reference not only in legislation but also in the works of Bill Clinton making the case against "illegal" immigration and yet it is the Republicans portrayed as hate mongers going after immigrants in an effort to identify those that are illegal and have them uniformly turned over to ICE for hearings and deportation...ie following the intent and protocal of the law.

It seesm to me that :

Addressing illegal aliens and eligibility of driving on Virginia roadways

Addressing illegal aliens in terms of securing in state tuiton rates for Virginia Universities

Addressing illegal aliens from securing State/Local tax benefits

Addressing the requirement for providing proof of citizenship ( if we would require it to leave the country why do we not have the same expectation of people already in the country )

It gets us off to a good start since the Federal Government is leaving it to the states under the basis of the Federal System and its own own hypocricy on the very issue itself. Let the debate begin.

Let see who carrys the water forward.

"

7 comments:

Claire Gastanaga said...

Everything you propose is already the law in Virginia:
ChangeServant: How many laws does Virginia already have on the books dealing with "illegal aliens"?

Anonymous said...

Cg2 the point he is attempting to correlate is these again are the "laws" of Virginia and yet Republicans are taking a beating simply by reiterating what the GA has passed. It is becoming an enforcement issue as much as anyhting else by the Democrats again do not support enforcing laws that do not suit their politcial agendas. Its always about those breaking the laws that should be given our sympathy and support, ie those who continually break our laws (abuser fee violators) etc seem to have more of their concern then the law abiding residents of the Commonwealth. So the question is how many laws are being enforced that are on the books with regard to illegal immigration? If the Democrats do not want them enforced lets see them make the arguements to remove them before the people of Virginia.

J. P. Schilling said...

Dear Mr. J. Scott:

With the greatest of respect to you and your office, I, first as an educator and second as a registered voter in our great nation need to make a comment that you may or may not be offended by. As a graduate of George Mason University's, School of Education I am appalled at what little regard for error-ridden documentation you choose to put forth into the public arena.

Just a quick side note: When one interested in journalism seeks a position, a test is given to see at what grade-level the proposed applicant will be writing. For most high profile newspapers the test begins with a very short spelling test of only twenty-five words. The amount of misspelled words that is tolerated before moving into the next phase of the test is one.

In my teaching career spanning literally across the globe, my student's have come to know that I will not tolerate misspelled words and as such my policy permits for three misspellings per essay. Any more than three misspelled words invoke the consequence of a letter grade lower per word.

I have this policy in my classroom for a reason: Any test given in America's business community vis-a-vie Merrill Lynch, IBM, or any one of the Fortune 500 companies will tolerate one only. Furthermore, if one sends a resume and any misspellings are noticed, most of the aforementioned companies will not even consider the applicant; in other words the resume is tossed into the trash bin.

Now with great interest I come to your blog and begin reading about "Illegal Immigration" an area of life which I have strong passion, and admittedly an issue that I write about almost on a daily basis. Therefore if there is anything that we share in common it is that particular issue.

However, whilst reading your blog I became so enraged with the writing errors it's a wonder that I finished it at all! I feel you have brought some excellent matters into the forefront to be debated and I would love to assist in anyway possible; however, who could possibly take a person seriously who publishes something with no less that forty-six (46) errors?

Again, with respect to you and your office might I suggest a spell checking device? Most writers use a word processing program and then simply cut and paste it into their blog. Through my frustration of being able to read a line or maybe two without stumbling over yet another mistake, I literally had to transfer your document over to MS Word in the hope of making some sense of it.

As an elected official, a Statesman in the great state of Virginia, and a politician at that, I submit gently Sir, that in order to be taken seriously, one must give the illusion of being serious.

Anonymous said...

Illegal Aliens and your local judicial System

Currently as a law enforcement officer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am forced to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. On August 28th of this year I arrested an individual for driving without a license. The individual admitted that he was in the country illegally and works for a local contractor in the construction business. When I took him to jail, the magistrate required that he post a cash bond before he could be released. He was committed to the Chesterfield County Jail and held for the charge of Driving without a license.

You would think, after an individual is incarcerated in the jail and has admitted that he is in the country illegally that someone from the criminal justice system would initiate paperwork to inform The Immigration and Naturalization Service of the status of the prisoner and attempt to start the deportation process. This does not happen and illegal immigrants pass through our court systems everyday.

The Republicans currently control all of the elected positions in Chesterfield County Government along with the Sheriff’s Office. The current Sheriff receives campaign contributions from companies in the construction business. Your Sheriff does not have any public policy making abilities. Is he being paid to turn his head and not notify the INS about illegal immigrants that are held in his jail?

And now, the rest of the story. When I went to court on September 5th of this year, the individual worked out a plea agreement with the prosecutor. The Commonwealth Attorney is a Republican. The illegal immigrant received a suspended license for 60 days, a $75.00 fine and he was allowed to walk out of the courtroom a free man.

When you read this comment, I must inform you that I am currently running for the Office of Sheriff as a Democrat. When I am elected to office, I will enforce the law and deal with illegal immigration. I will insure that the paperwork and necessary phone calls are made to start the legal process for deportation. I will change the way business is conducted in your government and I will put an end to the Good Ole’ Boys in the Sheriff’s Office. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

A. Perry DeMay
Candidate for Sheriff
Chesterfield County
www.perrydemay.com

Anonymous said...

As to JP Schilling's little critique of your post you have to remember the arrogance of those who do not wish to debate the issues you raise but the means in which you raise them. I read your post twice and certainly failed to find an over abundance of spelling issues but regardless he did not bring anyhting to the debate concerning the points you raise.
I did pull up those bills you referenced and while some may still be in committee you analysis appears accurate and you sourced the bill in which you were referencing . I fail to see how you posted "error-ridden" information unless by that JP meant spelling.
I was unaware of some of the bills that you referenced and it really shed light on the political hypocricy. If for no other fact then that your post is worth the read.

Anonymous said...

Perry its rather interesting that you are running as a Democrat and yet bring to bear the entire problem that many Democratic legislators want us to ignore and that is the exact process you cited. Hell if you rwilling to step up above the politics...you got my vote.
Afterall our tax dollars are being used to house those illegal in the jail are they not?

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm a newbie here, but I already want to bring all the benefits of me :) So, I want to share my experience with you..
9 days ago, accidentally, i had found the Mobile Phone TV...and I was so delighted with this application
that I decided to talk to you :)

I consider myself a bit of a road warrior. I am on and off jets and through airports at least twice,
usually 4 times a week. I can catch up on news, watch a Discovery program, check up on the stock market or just find something interesting.
The live guide works like cable at home and the connection speed is very good. All in ALL - I RATE A 5 Star program!

but I do not want to leave any links here, so you can email me fairyalexiss@gmail.com
and i will give you the site of this unusual program :)

(but please don't PM me, because it's so difficult to communicate in such kind of way)

so, I hope I was helpful to you)) see you in next posts ..

sincerely
your Alexis....

p.s. English is not my native language, so sorry for any mistakes :)