BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Terrified by Alabama's strict new immigration crackdown, parents living in the state illegally say they are doing something that was unthinkable just days ago — asking friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances to take their children if they're arrested or deported.
Many illegal immigrants signed documents in the past week allowing others to care for their children if needed, assistance groups say, and a couple living illegally in nearby Shelby County extracted a promise from the man's boss to send their three young children — all U.S. citizens — to Mexico should they be jailed under the law.
A key sponsor of the measure, state Sen. Scott Beason, said such concerns weren't raised when legislators were considering the bill, and he wonders if the stories now are designed to "pull on heart strings" and build sympathy for illegal immigrants.
But for Maria Patino — who prays every time she leaves home — even a chance encounter with police could end with her two elementary-age children being left alone or taken to foster care if she and her husband are sent back to Mexico. Both are in the country illegally and have no friends or relatives close enough to take in the kids.
"Every time I leave I don't know if I will come back," Patino, 27, said through tears. "I can't stop working. My daughters need shoes and other things."
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Try going, as an American, to THEIR country and getting a job, or staying there for 15-20 years without a visa or permit. The police would either extort you, jail you, or kill you. Probably all three, in that order. And NO ONE - no citizen, no cop, and certainly NO politician would try to pass laws to help you or to aid you in getting a drivers license, an apartment, a welfare check of any kind, or an education for your children. Its a tough world. I say this because their own president came here to criticize the USA for being so hard on illegal immigrants. And was WELCOMED in the U.S. Senate! When is obama scheduled to speak in the Mexican chambers? Oh yeah. Never. The Secret Service doesn't have enough men to take him to Mexico and keep him alive.
ReplyDeleteIf they are ILLEGAL, they are ILLEGAL! Send them home with a one way ticket. I'm not paying for their freeloading butts anymore!
ReplyDeleteIf the parents are deported send their kids back with them. I don't care if the kids are US citizens, they should be supported by their parents.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting, lmclain, that you look to the oppressive governments of other countries as a guide to how we should do things here. Personally, I think the greatness of the U.S. is that we respect individual liberty. Apparently you disagree and think we should copy the anti-liberty tactics of Mexico. Fine, if you like their immigration law so much, you can emigrate there.
ReplyDeleteTo 7:39-is that all you have? That is the most absurd arguement I heard in quite a while. Not even a nice try.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:41, so you think it's absurd that the U.S. should act differently than other countries? You think that it's absurd to think that just because other countries infringe upon a person's individual liberty that makes it OK for us to do it, too?
ReplyDeleteThe immigration laws of other countries are irrelevant. Yes, these laws are restrictive and violate our natural rights. So what? Why do these bad laws justify similar bad laws in the U.S.?
HA!!! You missed the point 7:39. Firstly, I didn't say I liked the Mexican immigration laws. I merely pointed out that they are given much more latitude than we would ever get in Mexico. The illegal (damn that word!) immigrants are here ILLEGALLY and have no right to complain or demand anything. I am sorry for them and their children, but they KNEW they were committing a crime when they came here. I wonder if you are as forgiving of OTHER criminals as you are of these people....
ReplyDeletelmclain, I wonder if you are as hard on other criminals as you are on these people. Do you support the various law enforcement actions against kids who run lemonade stands illegally? Do you think people who don't buy insurance should be thrown in jail, since under ObamaCare it's now a government mandate that everyone have health insurance? Do you think speeders should have their licenses revoked? After all, speeding is against the law, so why not enforce the law harshly?
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, there are so many local, state, and federal laws on the books that every one of us probably commits a crime every single day.
I'm sure you claim to be a conservative, lmclain, and yet you support an immigration law that interferes in the free market, infringes upon an individual's inalienable right to liberty, and has led to a massive surveillance state to enforce it. I'm sure you say you want government to be limited and for government to get out of the free market, and yet you contradict your principles when it comes to immigrants. Why?
Personally, I believe in consistency. Restrictive immigration laws are Big Government in action. I believe in small government and letting the free market work. Why don't you?
Wow. I would love to talk to you about all these positions you hold. It would definitely be an entertaining conversation. However, I would NOT equate sneaking across an international border into another country (and then complaining that you, as an illegal foreigner, should be given all the benefits and legal standing that a citizen of that country has) with doing, as an American citizen, 62 in a 55. I do believe in what the Statue if Liberty says on its plaque. And we, as a country, allow more immigrants to legally enter than any other country on earth. But what tou are advocating is the dismantling of our borders and letting the "free market" decide the controls. Do YOU really believe that is workable? And desirable? And the other postulated positions you present, such as revoking licenses for speeding, and jailing those without insurance are extreme and unrealistic. Therefore, not good arguments to support your position. But an interesting post, nevertheless....thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt would certainly be an entertaining conversation, lmclain. I'd love to see you support this massive Big Government intrusion into the free market and still somehow call yourself a conservative.
ReplyDeleteCrossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor. It's the same, legally, as any other misdemeanor. You seem to think that some illegal actions are different than others. I agree. Illegal actions that violate no one's natural rights aren't anything I'm concerned about. If you murder or rob someone that's far different than if you cross a government-imposed line to work a job for a willing employer.
We do allow many immigrants to come here, but there is really no legal way for low-skilled workers to enter. There is no workable visa program for them. Furthermore, the guest worker program as it exists doesn't work, either. If you want to solve illegal immigration, then make it legal for these immigrants to come here. They aren't entering our country illegally because they have some perverse desire to break immigration laws; they are coming here illegally because there is no legal way for them to get here.
I don't advocate dismantling our borders, but I do advocate letting the free market decide the labor market. You may not have faith in the free market. You may trust government bureaucrats to know how many workers we need and what they should be paid. You may want to let politicians tell business owners whom they can hire. You may favor central planning. I do not. I don't see how any conservative can think the way you do with your embrace of all these government controls on the labor market, but perhaps in our conversation you can explain that to me.
You do realize, don't you, that when our nation was founded there were no limits on immigration? You don't need immigration control to have a country.