Thread: What about the illegals? Washington Times

Thursday, October 9, 2008
EDITORIAL: What about the illegals?
The word "attrition"or a reduction in numbers aptly describes the state of illegal immigration today. Illegal immigration in the United States is on a slow decline - and enforcement and unemployment are playing significant roles. Unemployment surged up to 6.1 percent in September, according to the Department of Labor. In fact, the overall gloomy economic picture may be providing fewer enticements.

A major source of employment for illegal aliens, the construction industry and home-remodel business, are on the decline. Illegal immigrants are also employed in the blue-collar production and service sectors, which have also been effected.

In addition, tightened enforcement measures have discouraged illegal immigrants from staying in the United States. Still, border enforcement, workplace crackdowns, the threat of deportation and greater social awareness have not worked alone to push down illegal alien numbers.

The Pew Hispanic Center said that the unemployment rate among Hispanics had risen to 7.5 percent during the first quarter of 2008. There are an estimated 11.9 million illegal aliens living in America and 7 million of them are from Mexico, according to the Center; or 56 percent of non-citizen households are Hispanic. Moreover, the annual median income of all U.S. family households increased 1.3 percent while non citizen households decreased by 7.3 percent from 2006-07.

Communities have also become aware of the fact that illegal immigrants do not simply provide cheap labor. The cost of them living here burdens local communities - their schools, roads, hospitals, etc. So, even if businesses and households that employ illegal aliens pay them salaries commensurate for a measurable standard of, say, housing, the bottomline is that local communities must bare the costs of everything else, as the president of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) told The Washington Times editorial board. This is a notable fact during an election year. "Politicans should take amnesty off the table completely if they want to find a solution and start talking about real solutions to America's immigration crisis," FAIR's Mr. Stein said.

Prince William County in Northern Virginia is an example. The county's leaders approved a resolution last year to decrease easy access to public services for illegal immigrants and to increase immigration enforcement measures. Illegal immigrants very quickly began to leave the area as they were fearful that they would be caught. In the meantime, a group called the Capital Area Alliance Against Illegal Immigration has formed to end taxpayer funded programs that aid illegal immigrants. The group is made up of grass-roots organizations from the Virginia and Maryland area. Members of the group do not want illegal immigrants coming to their areas as they leave Prince William. "Prince William County is an example of the emerging state and federal partnership that is required to stop illegal immigration, states need to set up policies that are consistent with federal policy, the states need to not incentivize it," said Mr. Stein.

During the presidential debate on Tuesday both candidates talked a lot - mostly about the economy and foreign policy. Barack Obama discussed a rescue package for the middle class and Mr. McCain talked about another bailout, this time for American homeowners. And both Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain talked health-care reform. Yet the candidates fail to embrace such domestic issues as how free public services for illegals are hurting local and state economies - and, just as important, how illegal immigration hurts our national security and threatens our economy. The candidates should be challenged.

http://washingtontimes.com

Yet the candidates fail to embrace such domestic issues as how free public services for illegals are hurting local and state economies - and, just as important, how illegal immigration hurts our national security and threatens our economy. The candidates should be challenged. http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oc ... -illegals/

WOW! an MSM that reports the truth? Incredible. IA's go home! Candidates are too wimpy to talk about this!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3616--0-0.html

It's the Open Borders Lobby, lobbying for the corporations who are addicted to cheap labor, bacled bu our corrupt and traitorous politicains, not the illegals themselves that makes up the cancer that has ruined our economy. Anyone who thinks that the illegals and the loans that they were given isn't one of the roots of this financial mess is a fool.

And it's at least some of our usually excellent allies in talk radio who are dropping the ball on this issue currently.

For example, Laura Ingraham interviewed Sarah Palin this morning, and while bringing up other important issue such as abortion (and the usual Ayres business), didn't ask Palin about her views on illegal immigration and McCain's mass amnesty plan. I still have no idea about what Palin's stances are on illegal immigration (her views, not McCain's talking points.)

Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times OPERATION STREAMLINE: Detained illegal immigrants in Texas last month relocated to a housing unit where they will await court hearings and eventual deportation.

REAL ESTATE
N.Va. Foreclosures Form 'Ring of Fire'
Chain of Housing Crisis Hot Spots Indicates Disparity in Market Downturn

But drive with Thompson through the hardest-hit areas of Prince William County -- the epicenter of the region's foreclosure trouble -- and the loss of value has been precipitous.

"That one's listed at $125,000," Thompson said one recent afternoon, sizing up a dowdy green rambler in Manassas Park that had been foreclosed on. It wasn't the fanciest house on the block, but it wasn't a shack. Two years ago, homes in the neighborhood were selling for $300,000 to $400,000, Thompson said.

On a tour of Manassas and Manassas Park, Thompson pointed to telltale signs of foreclosure: utility notices posted on windows, newspapers yellowing in the driveway, realty signs staked in the lawn. On some blocks, every third or fourth house sat empty.

The losses in value have been extreme. A townhouse in Manassas was being offered at $94,900 even though it was assessed at $253,900. Dozens of bank-owned properties were listed for less than $150,000, far below their assessed worth.

"Banks are slashing prices, and that's causing value of properties to go down with every sale," Thompson said, noting that every time a bank unloads a house at a steep discount, it further devalues other houses in the area that it might also own, fueling the downward spiral.

Still, only a small portion of Prince William homes are in foreclosure, he and others said. There were 3,344 foreclosures in Prince William last year, according to county data, up from 282 in 2006 and 52 in 2005.

A report by economist Stephen Fuller of the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis found that 5.5 percent of Prince William housing units were in some state of foreclosure by mid-February, a rate twice that of Loudoun County's, Northern Virginia's second-highest. No major metropolitan area in the country had a foreclosure rate that high in the last quarter of 2007 -- not even Detroit -- according to Fuller's data.

By and large, those properties are concentrated in lower-priced areas and Zip codes where many immigrants bought homes in recent years, often with subprime mortgages and other risky arrangements that required little down payment or documentation. In Northern Virginia and especially Prince William, many buyers were Hispanic immigrants.

"With the Hispanic community, we had a huge boom in the last few years," said Jose L. Galdos, who recently shut down his settlement company in Woodbridge and laid off his staff, having lost 85 percent of his business in the past year.

"A lot of them had adjustable rates," he said. "A lot of them are walking away from those mortgages now."

Thompson, Galdos and several other real estate specialists in Northern Virginia estimate that 70 to 80 percent of foreclosure cases they see involve Hispanic families. The number of Hispanic surnames in the trustee notices in the classifieds sections of area newspapers appears to confirm the observation.

"What they tried to do was smart. You can't make it in America unless you get into home ownership," Thompson said. "But their timing was bad. They bought at the end of the boom. They were pursuing the American dream, and now it's crashing down around them like an American nightmare."

With the interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages escalating and job opportunities for immigrants squeezed by a construction slowdown, many families are simply walking away, sacrificing their credit to save their finances.

"Most of the people I deal with are responsible people who are trying to find a way out," Manassas real estate agent Maribel Alvarez said. "Some of the banks are willing and do not want to foreclose on a home, but they're very limited because the homes are so far off what the person owes."

Real estate agents say the foreclosure crisis in Prince William has been exacerbated by local authorities' efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants. They warn that the campaign might have other, more far-reaching economic consequences if homeowners continue to default.

Whether out of fear or the perception that they are no longer welcome, Latino families who were already struggling financially have little incentive to fight to remain in their homes. Anecdotes abound of Hispanic immigrants leaving the county for Maryland or the Carolinas.

"What can I do? I've got no choice," said Jose Ruiz, 27, a landscaper and illegal immigrant from El Salvador who bought a Manassas condo two years ago for $200,000. He has been making $2,000 monthly payments for his mortgage and condo fees since then, spending most of his monthly income and all his savings. He and his wife worry that they'll be deported or separated from their daughters, ages 3 and 1. But they can't sell their condo, which Ruiz estimates is worth $130,000 in the current market. So they're planning to walk away rather than risk a forcible removal.

Finding enough buyers to absorb the foreclosed properties remains a challenge, and some real estate companies are using gimmicks to lure investors, including "home buyer bus tours" of Prince William neighborhoods. "Don't miss the bus!" touts a flier for a tour that offers a rolling foreclosure seminar.

But market watchers say the foreclosure wave in Northern Virginia will have to run its course before prices can normalize. "The correction will continue, but foreclosure properties will be out of the listing pool," said Jill Landsman, a spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.

For most Northern Virginia homeowners, Landman urged patience, emphasizing that many parts of the region were holding their value. "Every neighborhood has its own DNA," she said. "Some neighborhoods are really solvent because of land value, while some are more susceptible to foreclosure activity."

As a whole, she noted, the Washington region was doing much better than other parts of the country, mostly thanks to low unemployment. "All the local fundamentals remain strong," she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 8032300183

By Michael Alison Chandler and Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 10, 2008; Page B01

Schools in Washington's inner suburbs have put more seats in classrooms this fall as economic and demographic shifts bring a windfall of new students.

Fairfax County officials drew a connection between declining home sales and the decreasing number of students who leave the county. Montgomery County officials cited an unusually large influx of students from private schools and said fewer students are moving out of the county. In Arlington County and Alexandria, school officials suggested that fewer families are trading in townhouses or condominiums for single-family homes in outer suburbs.


Stephen S. Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, agreed that the "trade-up market" for houses has slowed, limiting migration. But he added that families are continuing to move into neighborhoods near the city. The region continues to generate jobs, and young professionals with children tend to move closer in at first, as do many new immigrants drawn to rental apartments.

Schools in the outer suburbs are growing, though more slowly than previously. Prince William County schools grew by 1.4 percent this year, to about 73,700 students, a much smaller shift than in recent years. Loudoun County enrollment rose 5.5 percent, to about 57,000. That is the region's fastest rate of growth, but it is down from about 6.5 percent in 2007. Sam C. Adamo, director of planning and legislative services for Loudoun schools, said he expects the growth rate to continue to slow.

Closer to Washington, the turnaround in enrollment took some systems by surprise. Alexandria expected about 100 new students and got more than 600. Arlington banked on about 400 additional students and got twice that number. Montgomery budgeted for minimal growth and ended up with more than 1,650 new students.

The influx is likely to strain schools as they stretch their budgets to serve more students. Many systems have been forced to tap reserves to hire new teachers or reallocate positions from under-enrolled schools to overenrolled schools. The bottom line in many areas will be slightly larger classes.

The additional students also will raise costs in the next budget year as schools factor them in as resources are shrinking.

"In a time of decreasing resources and budget crisis, this is increasing the stress we are under to figure this all out," said Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the Fairfax school system, which is facing a $150 million shortfall.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... -education

Originally Posted by SicNTiredInSoCal

WOW! an MSM that reports the truth? Incredible.

Yes it is true, the Washington Times is the only major newspaper to tell the truth. Subscribe to them if you can, they have an online edition.