Thread: Where's ruben

Why doesn't he talk about the so-called immigrants in the following story:

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?secti ... id=4790676

If you get a chance please write him to discuss his fellow countrymen.

Maybe you should send him the story and ask him that question.

I've already done so. I'll probably get the same nasty reply like always. They write so deceiving in the papers, then nasty in their e-mails.

I wrote Reuben once when he wrote about the Minutemen being likened to rednecks and vigilantes and racist, he didnt even bother responding to my letter.

Navarrette: Reader discretion is advised: Migrant ban a house of cards

RUBEN NAVARRETTE Jr.
The San Diego Union Tribune

Warning: This column takes issue with a half-baked "solution," and thus will likely elicit angry letters accusing the author of "supporting illegal immigration." And since the author is Mexican-American, some readers may charge that he is "trying to bring over relatives."

There are those who claim the in-vogue idea of municipalities banning landlords from renting to illegal immigrants is cruel, inhumane and heavy-handed. But, for me, the real problem with such bans is that they're dishonest, misdirected and destined to fail.

● Dishonest because these measures - approved by officials in Escondido, Calif.; Hazleton, Pa.; and, last week, Farmers Branch, Texas - feed this notion of an invasion, as if the good people of City X or Town Y were minding their own business and, suddenly, off in the distance, comes an army of Mexican immigrants.

Get it right. This is a self-inflicted wound. Illegal immigrants aren't invading. They've been invited.

I used to live near Farmers Branch, and now I live near Escondido. I've had it with folks in these places playing dumb as to how their cities got to this point, as if they haven't been riding this tiger for the last decade while enjoying a robust economy and the comforts provided by cheap immigrant labor.

In fact, while the city councils in Escondido and Hazleton put in place fines for employers, officials in Farmers Branch tabled such a provision.
What? The Farmers Branch City Council spoke so eloquently about fending off the scourge of illegal immigration, but then gave employers a free ride. ¿Que paso? Employers aren't as easy to pick on as illegal immigrants - not if you're a politician in north Texas who has to raise money to further your political aspirations.

● Misdirected because these measures try to enforce immigration law by targeting landlords who rent to folks who turn out to be illegal immigrants. I'll be darned if I can figure how squeezing landlords helps enhance border security.

I'm also at a loss to understand how another provision of these loco ordinances - declaring English the official language of cities and towns - helps curb illegal immigration. What it does is make plain that, for many Americans, this debate is about cultural displacement - the fear that, with Spanish becoming more prevalent, those who speak English will become less relevant.

Immigration restrictionists hate being called racists, and they resent those who confuse legal and illegal immigrants. So what do they do? They support efforts to make English the official language. And thus they promote racism and the blurring of the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.

Official English laws are anti-foreigner, plain and simple. And, it doesn't matter if the foreigner in question came legally or illegally. All that matters is that they speak a language other than English.
Similar laws in the late-19th century were aimed at German immigrants. The fact that those immigrants came legally did little to quell the passions of the nativists of that era.

● Destined to fail because landlords, renters and employers are not likely to change their ways so easily.

Renters who live in mixed families where some members are illegal and others have documents may simply register apartments under the name of those who are in the country legally. Those who do leave a town because of a ban may simply move to a neighboring town, which won't do much to curb illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, landlords and employers determined not to lose money may just get sneakier and take their chances at not getting caught, since enforcement will be erratic at best.

In the end, voters in City X or Town Y will be left with only a feel-good impression they took a stand against illegal immigration. Nothing of substance will have been accomplished.

These vengeful local communities got one thing right. They are the problem, and they can and should be part of the solution. But this approach creates more problems than it solves.
Now let me have it. "Supporting illegal immigration." Blah, blah. "Trying to bring over relatives." Blah, blah.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a columnist and editorial board member of The San Diego Union Tribune. E-mail: ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/33360.php

Why doesn't he talk about the so-called immigrants in the following story:

Or these:

Officer shoots SUV tire; driver faces charges

No one was injured during an incident Friday night in which a Sanger police officer shot out a tire of a sport utility vehicle driven by a wanted parolee, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department reported Saturday.

Lt. Fernando Lopez said Sanger police made a traffic stop on Valdemar Ramos, 28, at Faller Avenue and Fifth Street in Sanger shortly before 8:30 p.m.

Lopez said that when Ramos, a Sanger resident, ignored orders to step out of the vehicle, the officers climbed onto the side running board and attempted to get him out.

Lopez said one of the officers was trying to use a stun gun on Ramos when he put the vehicle in gear and started to speed away.

At that point, Lopez said, one of the officers fired at the vehicle, puncturing a tire.

Lopez said Ramos drove away, leading the officers on a short pursuit before he abandoned the vehicle and ran, only to be captured moments later.

Ramos was booked into Fresno County Jail on a parole warrant and faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and felony evading police, Lopez said.

The investigation is continuing.

3 arrested in gang sting

Three more arrests were announced Saturday in connection with the Fresno Police Department's effort to wipe out the Bulldog street gang through Operation Bulldog.

All of the arrests were made Friday night.

Sgt. Bill Grove said Francisco Hernandez, 19, believed to be a Bulldog gang member, was arrested after officers were dispatched to the 3000 block of East Hammond Avenue in east-central Fresno to check on a suspicious vehicle.

Grove said Hernandez and another man ran when officers arrived, but that Hernandez was located and arrested a few minutes later. The other man got away.

A California Youth Authority parolee, Hernandez was booked on a $50,000 felony warrant charging him with weapons violations, Grove said.

Officers made another arrest after conducting a traffic stop at North First Street and East Iowa Avenue in central Fresno, Grove said.

Alberto Zamorano, 21, the driver, was taken into custody on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine. Grove said Zamorano was identified as a Bulldog associate.

Police also arrested another man in connection with the ongoing anti-gang operation. Sgt. Mike Clark said Ricardo Juarez, 25, was taken into custody on a $25,000 warrant for battery after he was contacted by officers at North Fresno Street and East Ashlan Avenue in central Fresno.

Juarez was identified as a Northside Bulldog.

Prison escapee arrested

A Fresno man identified as an escapee from state prison in Susanville was arrested early Saturday after police were dispatched to a home in west-central Fresno where the man was accused of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.

Sgt. Rob Beckwith said Norberto Perez Barajas, 27, was found hiding in the woman's attic but refused to surrender peacefully and had to be flushed out by a police dog.

Barajas was bitten by the dog and was taken to University Medical Center for treatment before he was booked into the Fresno County Jail.

Beckwith said Barajas was reported as a prison escapee in December 2005.

On Tuesday, Beckwith said, Fresno police received a complaint from the former girlfriend that Barajas had beaten her.

Late Friday, officers were waved down at Shields and Valentine avenues by a friend of the woman, saying Barajas had returned to the woman's residence and was beating her again, Beckwith said.