Thread: Our View: Immigration not the issue in bus crash

I wrote a letter. Being such an emotional topic I strayed a bit. They were speaking in terms of the "risk" of accidents posed by illegals and I spoke more to the cost in general. So, I didn't send this but it sure felt good typing it. Anyone who wants to use it in whole or part is free to do so.

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On February 27th 2008 your paper posited in an editorial of illegal aliens that "most do their best to fit in and become valued members of the towns they live in." You then go on to say of the issue of risks posed by illegals that "these are hard issues to quantify." This is the template that most media outlets seem to follow and the jarring with reality of people's experiences is why they are turning away from the "dinosaur media."

Many of the costs are easy to quantify - costs to hospitals, schools, road accidents, crime - you just don't DO it. They can be found. Granted, some of the costs are harder - spread of diseases, deterioration of culture and society, etc....

The benefits, however, go straight to the criminals that hire them. They could be quantified if anyone wanted to do some real journalism. You will find a very small group that benefits while the costs are foisted on to the public. This is the aspect the media refuses to acknowledge - the whole venture is the very definition of a crime.

Can you offer any substantiation of your claim that “most do their best to fit in and become valued members of the towns they live inâ€

Originally Posted by wilro

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS THE ISSUE! IF THAT ILLEGAL WAS NOT HERE, THOSE CHILDREN WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!

Exactly!!!!!

wilro - AMEN and AMEN - why is it when an illegal murders or causes a death the media sugar coats it and comes back with - these accidents happen all the time - BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THOSE AMERICAN CITIZENS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF THAT PERSON HAD NOT BEEN ALLOWED TO BREAK OUR LAWS.

The bus incident does serve to remind us that undocumented aliens pose a variety of risks. How many drive without licenses? How do we measure the impact on communities as illegals resort, essentially, to living underground � avoiding contact with authorities, mistrusting them and many of their neighbors to hide their illegal status?

A license would not have magically made her a better driver, neither would it have changed the outcome of that crash.

What could have prevented that crash is attrition thru enforcement. If she had not been here and behind the wheel of that van, this accident would not have happened.

Illegal immigration has everything to do with this tragedy.

Related but a little off-topic...

Exactly. As I point out in another related thread on this subject, the case of Mary Richey here in Portland outlines the failed logic with such an assumption.

The perp (an IA) had a legit state-issued DL, hit a pedestrian - and CHOSE to drive away (making it a hit-and-run). He knew his status would be questioned if he stopped and reported it (required by law here), yet, he chose to evade responsibility just the same.

Also, the other question that went unrecognized in that case, is this: thousands of other motorists pass by that same location in similar conditions every morning as well. Why was he the one that hit the innocent woman walking (well wheeling her wheelchair) across the street? Receiving official permission to drive is much more than just getting a printed card from your state gov't that gives formal permission - even more importantly, it is about the vetting and supervision process put in place to help ensure those that don't meet the standards will not be allowed to drive. Having sufficient knowledge of local conditions is an important part of the learning/vetting process.

American truck drivers are limited to the amount of hours which they can legally drive in any 8 day period. If a truck driver is working past that limit and is going through a green traffic light and a motorist runs a red light through that intersection, the truck driver is at fault. The legal logic is that the truck driver should not have been there! If a fatality occured it is vehicular homicide, not vehicular manslaughter that the prosecutor will go for against the truck driver.

The illegal alien should not have been there!