Thread: Illegal alien sweats out city ordinance in Altoona

http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/artic ... cleID=5282

Sunday, October 01, 2006 — Time: 1:05:49 AM EST

Illegal alien sweats out city ordinance

By William Kibler, bkibler@altoonamirror.com


To help justify making it hard for undocumented immigrants to live and work here, a new city ordinance cites the “stark consequences” of a triple murder last year by an illegal alien.

One Altoona resident began to realize the “stark consequences” of the ordinance itself Wednesday, when he saw a headline about City Council’s vote on the ordinance.

On Friday, he sat outside of his workplace and spoke of that realization: “Two days ago ...”

But his eyes filled, and he stayed silent for five minutes before composing himself to continue.

“I’m illegal,” he said. “It’s very tough.”

For now, the man, who gave his full name but asked that it not be used, wants information.

He a 30-year-old from Asia, has lived in the United States for 12 years and in Altoona for five. His wife has a green card, and their 2-year-old son and 1-week-old daughter are citizens by birth.

The man wants to know whether the ordinance exemption for “mixed families” applies to him.

He wants to know if the exemption applies only to his living arrangements and not for his work, as it would seem by the ordinance language.

He wants to know what kind of complaint it would take to justify the City Codes Office coming to his workplace to check.

He wants to know whether they would send him to jail or just send him away.

On Friday, a city official had no answers for those questions, pending a staff meeting this week to hash out enforcement policies for the ordinance, which penalizes businesses that hire and landlords who rent to illegals.

The man wants to stay.

In his country, there are restrictions on family size and fewer freedoms, such as freedom of religion, he said.

He has established himself at work and made friends, as evidenced by greetings from people passing.

But he has a streak of fatalism.

“It’s the law,” he said.

He plans to anticipate prosecution and go away first, if necessary.

He needs not only a place to live, but a place to continue working, whether in the city or in a neighboring municipality, if he can find a job and they don’t pass a me-too ordinance.

Where would he go?

He doesn’t know. Maybe another small city, where “the rules” aren’t as strict, he said.

But local ordinances like Altoona’s are getting more popular, and some neighboring municipalities are following suit so they don’t become a target for illegals rousted from nearby homes and businesses.

It wouldn’t be easy to move, given his continuing difficulties with the language, he said.

It’s harder for people like him from Asia than for those from Mexico because of the great cost of coming here and potentially returning, he said.

It cost him $30,000 12 years ago to come to the United States.

He began to worry after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said.

“I thought it would become an issue because of those terrorists,” he said.

He isn’t causing any trouble here, he said.

He pays taxes.

He can’t get insurance, though, and pays cash at the doctor’s office, he said.

He has an access card for the children.

Asked whether he could take steps to become legal, he said, only if the nation passes an amnesty law.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

It cost him $30,000 12 years ago to come to the United States.

That's equal to about $64,000 in today's economy. Pretty good chunk of change for a guy from Asia. Sounds like he left a good life back where he came from. I bet he owned property and had a descent income. I bet he can return and be just fine.

He has was out of status when he had those children and most likely when he got married. Like he didn't know what he was doing 12 years ago.

Dixie

By the reference of his being from a country which restricts family size, I infer that he is from China. Considering that China is a Communist country, I wonder why he did not apply for political asylum once he got to the US. I can't say that I do not have a certain amount of sympathy for him. Our area is not inundated like some are by illegals. But, we wanted to take steps to insure that we did not become so.

Sorry guy but you did what all the rest of the illegal aliens in this country did, you broke the law. You gotta go dude.