Thread: Another Sob Story

Call me heartless, but I don't see how my tax dollars (FEMA) should be helping poor ol' Almicar get back on his feet.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9403169/

By Darryl Fears

Updated: 11:07 p.m. ET Sept. 19, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. - The man who stood with his head bowed outside a cheap motel room here said his name is Almicar of Guatemala. He crept across the Mexican border into the United States a few years ago and since that time has found work as a painter in New Orleans.

But several weeks ago, Hurricane Katrina turned his world upside down along with everyone else's. Almicar, who gave only his first name for fear of being deported, said his situation is worse because he is an illegal immigrant. Since the storm hit, he has watched his neighbors at the motel call the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get money he will never see and food stamps that are forbidden to his family of five, and to seek jobs at the Social Security office, where he dares not show his face.

Almicar didn't speak a word of English, but his body language said it all. Eyes down, arms folded, back slumped, he had the visage of a defeated man.

"I'm afraid," he said. His family's "situation is getting harder and harder. You don't know what to think, starting from zero again."

‘We can't turn a blind eye’
Much has been said about the suffering of the poor in New Orleans, but Latino civil rights advocates and relief workers say those troubled Americans are better off than immigrants who live in Gulf states illegally, working in restaurants, casinos, farms and construction.

Some have managed to get into shelters run by the Red Cross and Catholic Charities, which provide food and medical care, no questions asked. But when U.S. citizens in those shelters flock to cardboard tables where FEMA, Social Security and Internal Revenue Service agents sit, Latinos stay behind, watching from their cots, relief workers said.

The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that information provided by illegal immigrants seeking federal aid could be used against them later in deportation proceedings.

"The administration's priority is to provide needed assistance: water, food, medical care, shelter," said Joanna Gonzalez, a DHS spokeswoman. "However, as we move forward with the response, we can't turn a blind eye to the law."

That point was driven home when two illegal immigrants, from Honduras and El Salvador, were taken into custody in West Virginia by state police after a military cargo plane carrying 305 evacuees arrived there Sept. 5. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the two, who were friends, were taken into custody after state police received a complaint that one had been accused of a sexual assault.

Advocates fear a ‘terrifying message’
"What that suggests is that the federal government is prepared to serve some victims but not others," said Cecilia Muñoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza. "That sends a terrifying message to the larger community."

In his national address Thursday, President Bush read off a list of services that the estimated 40,000 Mexicans and 150,000 Hondurans who lived in the New Orleans area cannot get: checks from Social Security, mail delivery by the Postal Service, money to rent apartments and temporary trailer homes.

Much has been said about the suffering of the poor in New Orleans, but Latino civil rights advocates and relief workers say those troubled Americans are better off than immigrants who live in Gulf states illegally, working in restaurants, casinos, farms and construction.

So citizens are getting better treatment than illegal aliens?

Sounds just right to me.

Maybe Vicente could take some of that $13 billion that's returned to Mexico by the illegals each year to take care of his citizens.

Here's a suggestion, GO BACK TO MEXICO. You entered this country illegally and therefore should not be eligible for services.

The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that information provided by illegal immigrants seeking federal aid could be used against them later in deportation proceedings.

"The administration's priority is to provide needed assistance: water, food, medical care, shelter," said Joanna Gonzalez, a DHS spokeswoman. "However, as we move forward with the response, we can't turn a blind eye to the law."

Thank you very much.

QUOTE:
Advocates fear a ‘terrifying message’
"What that suggests is that the federal government is prepared to serve some victims but not others," said Cecilia Muñoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza. "That sends a terrifying message to the larger community."


To Cecilia Munoz: This is the United States Federal Government, NOT Mexico's federal government. YOU LaRaza IDIOT! And we are sending a clear message. Our federal government is taking care of our own citizens, not illegal foreigners.

To Cecilia Munoz: This is the United States Federal Government, NOT Mexico's federal government. YOU LaRaza IDIOT! And we are sending a clear message. Our federal government is taking care of our own citizens, not illegal foreigners.

Couldn't have said it better myself.