Thread: Columnists debate issue

Illegal is illegal is illegal, no matter how many times you say it, it remains illegal not legal!

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Illegals spur cries for change in U.S.
Columnists debate issue

BY MARIA DAILY and AUSTIN ALLRAN
Guest columnists
Sunday, December 31, 2006





BY MARIA DAILY/CENTRO LATINO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Catawba County Hispanic Ministry (Centro Latino) provides a Christian response to the critical human needs of the Latino community in the Catawba Valley.

As an ecumenical, Christian ministry, Centro Latino assists all Latinos in the Catawba Valley who seek its services. Centro Latino does this because of biblical and traditional directives to welcome the stranger, love our neighbors as ourselves, and treat all with justice and dignity.

As compassionate people, we advocate an empathetic understanding and concern for all persons regardless of their national origin or ethnicity.

As citizens of the United States of America, we recognize the contributions of immigrants throughout our history. We also realize that social, political, and economic factors cause persons of other nations to seek sanctuary and promise in our country. Problems with the current system must be addressed by legislative means.

As a nonprofit social services agency that advocates for rights and well-being of individual Latinos, we, therefore, believe that:
• All people deserve the opportunity to work, live and raise their families in a safe and healthy environment. When people choose to move to another country to achieve a better life for their families, every human being is called to help them succeed in that quest.

• Fair compensation for one’s work and access to due process protections should be available to all U.S. immigrants.

• Legislative bodies of our country should undertake comprehensive immigration reform that will facilitate the process for legal immigration into our country. For those who have entered illegally but have worked responsibly while here, we support solutions that provide a mechanism for transition to legal status in the U.S. or gradual return to one’s native country.

• Proper legal documentation for current immigrant workers (and their respective family members), who are already part of the social and economic structure of this country should be developed.

• A border protection policy should guarantee the basic human rights and dignity of the migrant while allowing authorities to enforce immigration restrictions defined by federal law.

• A temporary worker program should be based on the needs of the United States’ economy and should utilize available technology to provide a viable and expeditious path to citizenship.

• Changes should be made in the immigration system that would speed up the process and reduce waiting times for family reunification for immigrant workers.

• Religious and charitable agencies should aid immigrants in need of social, health, spiritual and educational services.

• Immigrants should learn English and respect the laws of the United States.

The Catawba County Hispanic Ministry holds this position because it is our ethical responsibility; therefore, we educate, inform, and advocate for our clients through non-partisan means.

-- Written by Maria Daily, executive director of Centro Latino, with support from the organization’s board of directors.

BY AUSTIN ALLRAN/N.C. SENATOR

Legal immigration is now and always has been a great benefit to America, all things considered. But it is becoming increasingly clear that illegal immigration is out of control and must be stopped.

The problem with “illegal immigration” is not immigration per se or ethnicity; it is illegality. Breaking the law - and expecting to get away with it - is the primary offense of illegal immigration - along with the detrimental impact that results over time.

For centuries, various waves of immigrant groups have flocked to America’s shores; but in the past, they entered the country in accordance with existing law. Today, millions of people reside in the United States, having immigrated here in violation of the law. While there have been short-term benefits to some people in terms of “cheap labor,” the long-term expense outweighs the short-term benefit because of all the social programs and educational requirements in place today that did not exist in our country prior to World War II.

Both the federal government and our own state government (as well as other state governments) have done a very poor job of combating illegal immigration. The laws on the books are highly complex and controversial, and therefore often not easy to enforce. Other laws that could have been enforced, were not.

The main reasons for lack of aggressive enforcement has been:
1) A desire not to offend employers and business interests that benefit from illegal-immigrant labor, and
2) A desire not to offend any ethnic group.

The result is that we now live in a society where there are so many immigrants that they are not being assimilated as quickly as they are arriving - and the main reason there are so many arriving so quickly is that they are immigrating illegally.

The best way to combat illegal immigration is for federal, state, and local governments to cooperate in enforcing existing law - and to strengthen existing law where there are gaps. One of the best examples of how this can work - and work well - is the “287(g)” program. Unfortunately, only a handful of states - including Florida, Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina and California - have availed themselves of this program, although Congress authorized it in l996. Furthermore, in North Carolina, only a handful of counties participate.

But where the program is being used, the results have been good. “287(g)” authorizes the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement, to contract with local and state law enforcement agencies. The resulting agreements permit designated officers to act as immigration law enforcers after being trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which provides the instruction and materials.

In Mecklenburg County, in only five months after sheriff’s deputies began enforcing immigration laws, hundreds of illegal immigrants who would have been released after being apprehended for various crimes, were, instead, checked out for legal status. Those arrestees here illegally were bound over for deportation.

Without the “287(g)” program, illegals are released from jail on bond if their crimes are not aggravated felonies. Even recidivists are released into the general population if their crimes are misdemeanors or otherwise are not deportable offenses. Under the “287(g)” program, traffic violations, DWI’s, drug-related charges and all other offenses result in fingerprinting and photographing of arrestees born outside the United States. This information is referred to the national immigration database for verification of legal status. If an arrestee is illegal, he is turned over to the federal authorities for deportation.

This program has its flaws. Among them, information in the database is sometimes incorrect; and illegals who are deported can re-enter the country if not kept out at points of entry by the authorities.

But we would still be better off if the program were expanded statewide and nationwide. It is just common sense that we should not allow illegal noncitizens the right to remain in our country after they have been certified as being here illegally, especially as a result of being arrested for an additional crime besides the one they committed when they entered the country illegally.

Other measures need to be taken. Further restrictions need to be placed on an applicant’s ability to obtain a driver’s license. Public employers need to register and participate in the federal work authorization program to verify information on new employees. Criminal offenses need to be toughened for the trafficking of persons for sexual servitude - or otherwise exploiting illegal immigrants. Tougher penalties need to be enacted and enforced for persons who knowingly employ illegals - and higher standards need to be placed on employers for verifying legal status. Moreover, members of the public need to become involved by reporting abuses in the workplace.
These are programs and changes in the law I will continue to support.

Finally, it must be emphasized that the problem of illegal immigration is a societal problem. For too long, government on all levels has turned a blind eye to illegal immigration. And “government” has gotten away with inaction because so many people in our society - consumers, employers, manufacturers, and so on - have benefited. But the gain is short-term. In the long-run, all Americans - including immigrants who live here legally - will pay the price.

- Austin Allran is an N.C. Senator from Catawba County.

The Catawba County Hispanic Ministry (Centro Latino) provides a Christian response to the critical human needs of the Latino community in the Catawba Valley.

So MS Maria Daily it is all about race with guys. What about the American community?

Both the federal government and our own state government (as well as other state governments) have done a very poor job of combating illegal immigration. The laws on the books are highly complex and controversial, and therefore often not easy to enforce. Other laws that could have been enforced, were not.

The main reasons for lack of aggressive enforcement has been:
1) A desire not to offend employers and business interests that benefit from illegal-immigrant labor, and
2) A desire not to offend any ethnic group.

This lack of respect for Law and the enforcment of it infuriates me......okay lets not enforce any laws because the criminals might be offended!!! WAKE UP! WAKE up! The house in ON FIRE!!!!!

The Catawba County Hispanic Ministry (Centro Latino) provides a Christian response to the critical human needs of the Latino community in the Catawba Valley.

So MS Maria Daily it is all about race with guys. What about the American community?

Is an ethnic group equated with a "racial group"? Although I do not believe in using the label of race, an ethnic group seems to me something different...

Ethnicity, has nothing to do with being illegal! Illegal is what it is, just because Latinoes happen to be the largest percentage of illegals, it has nothing to do with being Latino,it has everything to do with being illegal period! The Latino population are the ones trying to make it a racial issue instead of an issue of laws. That is how they garner their sympathy and support by trying to make this a "they hate us because we are Hispanic" thing,one has nothing to do with the other, sadly though a lot of Americans and pro-illegal groups choose to believe this crap instead of looking to the real root cause, that being because they are illegal, not a dam thing to do with what color ones skin is!

Do the "bibical and traditional directives to welcome the stranger" indicate that you are supposed to allow the stranger to stay permanently?

Does anybody know which chapters and verses are applicable here so that we may look this up for ourselves? Please advise.

Originally Posted by Hosay

Do the "bibical and traditional directives to welcome the stranger" indicate that you are supposed to allow the stranger to stay permanently?

Does anybody know which chapters and verses are applicable here so that we may look this up for ourselves? Please advise.

When I have some spare time I will look up the passages to Scripture and post them for you. What I can say is we as Christians are suppose to obey the Governor and the Law if it is not against Scripture. What these Churches are doing by aiding illegals is not Scriptural because these illegals could have applied for Citizenship the legal way, but chose not to.

When people choose to move to another country to achieve a better life for their families, every human being is called to help them succeed in that quest.

Let me translate: When parasites choose to move to another host to acheive a better life for themselves, and their nits......every parasite hiring business and parasite vote pandering politician should help them succeed in that quest.