Coverage report

“Prosecutors said Javier Molina, 25, of Crystal Lake broke into the home of a sleeping woman on the 300 block of Ridge Avenue and beat and raped her in an attack that lasted more than an hour.” The woman was 61 years old.

His fate? “With credit for good behavior, Molina, who prosecutors said had lived in the United States illegally for 18 months before the attack, would have to serve about 26 years of his sentence. Afterward, he likely would be deported to Mexico.”

The above quotes are from The Northwest Herald, 12/28/07. It is a publication of Shaw Suburban Media. The story was 523 words in length.

So, how did the other papers treat the story?

The Chicago Tribune printed 125 words (four paragraphs) and did not mention Molina’s immigration status.

The Daily Herald, a Paddock Publication, used 367 words in its story. They also neglected to report on his immigration status.

I could find no evidence that the Chicago Sun Times or any of its publications even covered the story.

For comparison, here are the three stories

Northwest Herald:
Man gets 30 years for CL rape
Northwest Herald 12/28/07
By BRANDON COUTRE - bcoutre@nwherald.com
WOODSTOCK – A judge Thursday handed a 30-year prison sentence to a man who attacked and raped a woman in her Crystal Lake home last year in a crime that the judge called “every woman’s worst fear.”
Prosecutors said Javier Molina, 25, of Crystal Lake broke into the home of a sleeping woman on the 300 block of Ridge Avenue and beat and raped her in an attack that lasted more than an hour.”I awoke to a stranger standing in my doorway,” the victim said during the sentencing hearing. “I knew that if I didn’t pretend to agree with what he wanted, I wouldn’t survive.”
Molina pleaded guilty in October to aggravated criminal sexual assault under the agreement that prosecutors would seek no more than a 35-year prison sentence, which they sought Thursday.
The woman suffered injuries from the June 11, 2006, attack that included bruising, facial fractures and torn ligaments. She said she continued to suffer from dizziness, memory loss and other aliments.“Something else happened to me that night – I learned to hate,” she said. “I lived 62 years without this emotion and now I will carry it with me the rest of my life.”
The attack drastically altered her life, said the victim, who the Northwest Herald is not naming to protect her identity.“I went from being a highly active intelligent person to someone who can’t do much of anything,” she said.As a result of permanent memory loss, the victim said she was forced to give up her personal accounting business and now suffers financial hardship.
The attack altered her social life, too, she said.“I also find people avoid me, because they’re uncomfortable knowing what happened to me,” she said.
During the hearing, Molina’s court-appointed attorney, McHenry County Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof, asked Judge Sharon Prather to give Molina no more than 18 years in prison.
A doctor who evaluated the defendant suggested Molina could be delusional, Behof said, adding that the attack was fueled by a large amount of alcohol.During the hearing, Molina’s uncle testified that he sat in the courtroom shocked when the victim recounted the attack.“He was a boy who was very alert and intelligent,” Jose Benavides said through and interpreter. “He was a very obedient man.”
Nichole Owens, criminal chief of the state’s attorney’s office, scolded Molina for not showing any remorse for the crime and being deceptive during the police investigation.Shortly after Molina left the victim’s home, police found him nearby, passed out in the back of his car. When first questioned as to why he had blood on his clothing, Molina told police he was roasting a pig for his birthday and he must have scratched himself with a spear, Owens said.“The more he is questioned, the more his story changed,” Owens said.
Molina declined to make a statement in the courtroom before he was sentenced.With credit for good behavior, Molina, who prosecutors said had lived in the United States illegally for 18 months before the attack, would have to serve about 26 years of his sentence. Afterward, he likely would be deported to Mexico.

Chicago Tribune:
Crystal Lake man gets 30 years for raping woman, 61
Chicago Tribune staff report
December 28, 2007
McHENRY COUNTY - A Crystal Lake man was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for the rape last year of a 61-year-old woman.
Javier Molina, 25, pleaded guilty in October to three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault. He will be required to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, said Nichole Owens, chief of criminal prosecutions for the McHenry County state's attorney's office.
The victim, who lives in Crystal Lake, testified at the sentencing hearing that she still has physical and emotional problems from the attack in her home on June 11, 2006.
"She still has some surgery ahead of her," Owens said. "She has dizzy spells. She has difficulty walking. Her physical injuries and her emotional trauma are likely to continue."

Daily Herald:
Crystal Lake rapist gets 30 years in prison
By Charles Keeshan Daily Herald Staff
Published: 12/28/2007 12:07 AM
Calling the crime every woman's worst fear, a McHenry County judge Thursday sentenced a Crystal Lake man to 30 years in prison for the violent rape of a 61-year-old woman in her home.

Javier Molina, 245 W. Terra Cotta, must serve at least 25½ years of the sentence handed down in connection with a June 11, 2006, attack that left the woman with permanent brain damage, hand and leg injuries and emotional trauma she said robbed her of happiness in her life.

"I survived, but it's been harder than anything I could have imagined," the woman said in court. "I am not the same person I was before the attack."
Molina pleaded guilty in October to three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault as part of a deal in which McHenry County prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence no longer than 35 years.

Authorities say Molina's victim was home alone when he entered her Crystal Lake residence, punched and elbowed her repeatedly, slammed her head on a floor then raped her before leaving.

Police later found him passed out drunk in a car parked next door. He eventually confessed during police questioning, authorities said.

The attack, the woman said Thursday, left her with multiple concussions, torn thumb ligaments and bruises on more than 60 percent of her body. Even worse, she said, are the mental and emotional consequences that have her constantly fearful and awake several times a night checking her door locks.

"There's very little happiness in my life, and I doubt there ever will be," she said. "Calling (Molina) a man would be an insult to my sons and every other man in my life. Real men don't do this."

Molina did not make a statement when given the opportunity in court. But his attorney described him as remorseful, noted that he has no criminal history and blamed his actions on his extreme intoxication the night of the attack.

"In all my years of doing this, I've never seen a case with facts so severe, and I have a
hard time matching those facts up to Mr. Molina," Senior Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof said. "It baffles me the situation my client finds himself in."

Cheeps

The Mexican government will begin issuing immigration visas with electronic chips imbedded in them in an effort to control their southern border.

They detained about 182,000 illegals last year.

The AP story I read says the US already has such a system but the border control agents rarely use them and the vehicle lanes aren't even equipped to check. We are really cracking down, aren't we?

I wrote a few days ago about the British requirement that you leave a deposit before entering. It seems like everyone wants to keep people out. I wonder why?

The end of Bhuttopia

Benazir Bhutto was the great hope of American politicians. She was to replace the uniform-wearing Musharraf as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

We even had Arlen Specter and Patrick (son of Teddy and Joan) Kennedy on their way to a dinner party with Bhutto when the assassination took place. Kennedy invoked the memory of Uncle Jack with the statement that Bhutto was a “profile in courage” after learning of her murder.

But Tony Snow was on the radio last night and explained that Pakistan is much like Iran in the Carter days. Khomeini was the great hope for democracy in 1979 after we cut off the Shah at the knees. The holy man turned out to be wildly popular but also the first of the great terrorists of the Middle East.

The problem with most of the Third World is that there are no great leaders sitting on the bench, waiting for their turn to play. We still don’t seem to understand that there is a power vacuum when you depose a despot.

Why? Because that is how tyrants rule. They are quick to eliminate the competition. And they control the media. And the military. And they can be ruthless.

We are simplistic to believe that the masses want to be a democracy and will rise up to support good leaders. First off, they exist in corrupt societies. Secondly, there are no good leaders to support.

There is an art to tyranny. Americans don’t appreciate a leader who can ride herd on millions of starving peasants and live to tell about it.

So, we either need the DDT or a return to the British Empire model. The DDT (Department of Dirty Tricks) was dismantled by Jimmy Carter in the wake of Watergate. It suddenly became a great sin to work underground in a country, prep a successor, and assassinate the tyrant-in-chief.

And of course the British Empire way was to simply govern the country yourself and work to provide a modicum of civilization to the masses through health care, schools, and cultural events.

Of course those options are archaic and despicable. Having factions running around with their suicide bombers is a much better way of allowing self-determination. And it gets even better when Congress, the President, and every candidate on the stump in Iowa have to put in their two cents about Bhutto and Musharraf. Ah, the curse of CNN.

Confucius say.....

..."Settle one difficulty and you keep a hundred away.”

I am amazed at the fallout from the simple problem of allowing the uninvited to invade our country.

1- Anchor babies would cease to be a problem. What if there were no illegal aliens here? There would be no anchor babies. None. And no generational pull to legalize the father or mother.
2- Complex marriages would decline. We have no idea how many families live with the heartbreak and uncertainty of a spouse who is here illegally. One would think that the county clerk would be able to demand verification of legal presence. Not so. At least in Illinois it is strictly a “ministerial” function. They record the event in the public record. Nothing more.
3- Stolen Social Security numbers would be more secure. Imagine no need for No-Match letters. No need for E-Verify. Maybe we could go back to putting the Social Security number on our checks. Imagine that.
4- Schools we can afford. What would it be like if 10% of our school students disappeared? What about fewer bilingual students?
5- Emergency rooms would be for emergencies.
6- Hispanics would return to their normal path of assimilation. They were well on their way to being mainstream Americans in the mid-1980s. Now discrimination has crept in. And why not? So many millions of illegals. It is easy to do.
7- Entry level wages…would rise.
8- Kids would learn to work again.
9- Tax revenue would increase with fewer employees being paid in cash.
10- Housing would be less “overcrowded”.

Now, illegal aliens aren’t responsible for all our problems, but they have a hand in many of them. For example, the mortgage crisis. There are flippers and people buying more house than they can afford. But the illegals are part of the problem as well.

The health insurance problem is not entirely their problem, but they are part of it.

The same can be said of crime and gangs and uninsured motorists and drunk drivers and wife beaters and child molesters…They are in there and probably over-represented by virtue of the fact that most of them are from Third World countries.

So, why are we pushing so hard for a solution? Because we’ve seen the results of years of neglect. The problem will continue to grow if we don’t take action now. You can see it in the border crossing activity of the past 20 years. You can see assimilation falling apart. You can see them taking to the streets demanding amnesty. Unlawful presence will not taper off by itself. A lot of somebodies will need to take action right away.

Not so appealing

If you really want to get angry with government, just read a few immigration appeals. Maybe I’ll compile a book of rulings from the Board of Immigration Appeals. You will not believe what passes for justice here in America.

I give you Agustin Ortiz-Cornejo a “citizen of Mexico” who snuck into the United States in February 1987. There is a law on the books that if you can prove “ten years’ continuous physical presence in the United States” you can be granted amnesty.

(Which makes Bush, Reid, Durbin…liars in the first degree. Illegals already have a path to legalization – several of them, actually - because we’ve made all sorts of accommodations to allow them to stay. The 10 year rule is only one of them.)

In April of 1996 (not quite 10 years) Agustin returned to Mexico to visit his family. Now if you get a committee of 20 sixth graders in a room and ask them if this man had 10 years of physical presence in the United States, would that be a hard question for them?

OK, so he spent a month in Mexico and then tried to get back in. Twice he was stopped at the border. It is SOP to ask the foolish question, “Do you want to be prosecuted for illegal entry or do you want to just self-deport, as in turn around and pretend nothing happened?”

Unless you are Cuban or otherwise entitled to refugee status, you choose to self-deport. But they don’t keep records of those who voluntarily self-deport.

The third times a charm and he finally was successful in getting back in by June of 1996.

Well, they finally caught up with Agustin and in July 2001 he was ordered deported. But he appealed saying he had 10 years continuous presence. And his appeal was appealed until he received the answer he wanted. He could stay.

Now, because there is no evidence that he was properly offered self-deportation the judge ruled that the 10 year rule still applied to Agustin according to the 8th Circuit Appeals Court.

And you will like this footnote to the 10 year rule: “Continuous physical presence ends if an alien departs from the United States for any period in excess of 90 days or for any periods in the aggregate exceeding 180 days.” If I read that right, the US government allows illegals to take vacations from the American Dream and still qualify for amnesty!

It amazes me that anyone can keep a straight face in one of these immigration hearings. Perhaps we should change our name to the United Schmucks of America.

Merry Christmas from Alien Rants

12 Politically Correct Days of the Non-Religious Midwinter Festival
On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, my potential-acquaintance- abuse-survivor gave to me:
TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming.
ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note...)
TEN melanin-deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling class system leaping,
NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,
EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans,
SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,
SIX enslaved fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,
FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration, (NOTE: after a member of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw red paint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridge have been reintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid further animal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.)
FOUR hours of recorded whale songs,
THREE deconstructionist poets,
TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses
AND A Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

(Found somewhere in cyberspace. Not my own work.)

No deposit-No return

"Britain may start requiring residents to pay deposits when their non-European Union family members visit -- refundable only when the relatives go home -- according to a government proposal aimed at tightening borders and eliminating illegal immigration. Britain has progressively been tightening the screws on immigrants and asylum seekers for years."

from Chicago Tribune 12/19/07

Just a reminder that there is huge pressure around the world from Third World countries to developed nations. They say it has to do with technology like cell phones, Internet, video, and air travel.

Grow up, Washington

To: Pelosi, Reid, and Bush
(I’ve long ago dropped the “Honorable” titles from the names of our elected officials.)
Here’s why your approval ratings are in the tank:
1) The Internet and 24-hour news have provided a brutal glimpse behind the curtain.
2) We are sick and tired of congressional hearings on dog fighting, lead in Chinese toys, and steroids. Everyone but you can see that they are nothing more than campaign sound bite factories. We need you to legislate and execute.
3) Your repeat performance of a border fence without funding is pathetic.
4) Clay pigeons and Rule 14 are cheap shots that will not fool the public, even if you can get your cronies to go along.
5) The big “Grow up”: Keep the Senate open – Don’t adjourn – Don’t allow Bush to do any recess appointments. Do you know how juvenile that is? Do you understand what a mockery of government it is? I blame the White House and the Congress here. You are supposed to be able to resolve our problems like rational adults. Your tantrums result in more court backlogs and simply prove that you (both parties) have turned the judiciary into a political tool.
6) You are all guilty of choking on gnats and swallowing camels. Case in point: ICE Chief Julie Meyers. You spent your time talking about a Halloween Costume Party. How seriously did you look at her performance at Immigration? For my money all DOJ lawyers ought to be BANNED from any appointed positions. We need people of action, not attorneys who only want to tell you why something can’t be done.
I don’t know what will become of this once great nation, but only you can reverse this trend of infighting. We get a blow-by-blow account on a daily basis and America is sick of it. Lay down your fiddles and put out the fire.

Two news items about the fence

It appears that Congress has failed to fund the border fence construction. They quietly pulled the funding from the appropriations bill.

On November 6th, Chertoff gave the State of Immigration Report and was warning us the problem was coming. He said: “Now I have to be clear, there’s a very important condition that has to be met if we are to live up to the goal at the end of calendar year 2008, and that is, Congress needs to fund the money that the President has requested to get this important work at the border done. If Congress funds that, we will get it done. If Congress doesn’t fund it, obviously that’s going to be a problem.”

He’s no prophet. Congress pulled the same stunt last year.

If we thought Congress was behind the effort to show the American people we could achieve a respectable level of enforcement and promise-keeping, we were obviously wrong.

So, they all give speeches about the fence, then include wording that lets them off the hook when Homeland Security uses the money for something different. And now they have pulled the money from the appropriations bill altogether. What are they thinking?

News item number two from the border is a story from San Diego that the Mexican government is complaining about the use of tear gas by Border Patrol agents. Violence is up at the border and the agents are using the tear gas as a non-violent way to get rid of the rock throwers and taunters who hang around the border.

BP denies using anything in Mexico but freely uses pepper spray and tear gas in the zone between the primary fence and the secondary one.

Sometimes those agents must feel very lonely. Washington isn’t helping out and everyone complains when they try to do their job.

Extreme green

Here in the Fox Valley we take recycling seriously! Some of our fine residents are recycling BEFORE the product is even being used. How’s that for environmentally friendly?

I mentioned a few of months ago about the guy who stole $8,000 in brass fitting from his employer, then sold them for scrap and got $300.

Well, lately there has been a rash of metal thefts. They’ve stolen over a dozen manhole covers right out of the street. And jobsites are robbed every week for their copper pipe and wire.

Like I said, we are doing pre-emptive recycling. Who can beat that? We need some press on this program. Where's Al Gore?

The dearly deported

President Felipe Calderon told reporters on December 17th that he’s going to bat for his countrymen who have recently been deported.

It is quite a shock on border towns like Tijuana when the United States increases the number of people deported back to Mexico. For one thing, crime goes up south of the border.

We’re not proud of it, but sometimes these decent, hard working people act up once they are kicked out of the United States. The mayor of Tijuana reports a 300% increase in petty crime this year.

So, here’s what Calderon is promising: Food, shelter, emergency medical care and temporary employment for the recently deported. He calls it Humane Repatriation.

Some journalists on the U S side get out the violins and hankies. I hear the same thing from principles and school teachers who bemoan the fact that these people are really just like citizens because they were brought here so young. They have no clue how to live in Mexico. They belong here.

Here’s a tale the OC Register printed the other day in a story about the impact for increased deportations: “Irvin DeLeon, 22, was dropped off at the Tijuana gate on a cold day in March after being arrested for driving without a license near the intersection of Edinger and Main in Santa Ana.

“DeLeon was brought to the United States at the age of 2 by his parents and grew up in Santa Ana. After finishing high school, he started working construction jobs. He also had a minor brush with law enforcement, getting arrested as a juvenile for stealing a car.

“DeLeon had been arrested seven times for driving without a license between 2002 and 2006. Without documents, he can't legally obtain one. Most times, he would pay bail and be released.

“Even though he speaks some Spanish, he's never thought of himself as a Mexican national. Recently married, DeLeon works as an electrician's apprentice in Orange County. Except for the juvenile case and the license problems, DeLeon had stayed out of trouble.

“But this time, deputies identified DeLeon as undocumented and he found himself being deported.

“In Tijuana, outside the border station, DeLeon stared at his cell phone, trying to figure out how to dial inside a foreign country. He was hoping to reach a distant aunt that had agreed to take him into her house.‘My whole life is over there,’ he said, gesturing toward the United States. ‘I don't even have a Mexican ID.’"

Welcome home, Mr. DeLeon. Sorry things didn’t work out for you up north.

Greenspan

I read the other day where Alan Greenspan was talking about the mortgage crisis and suggested that the government inject more capital into the home loan system.

He said maybe a tax break or government spending would do the trick.

He was so close to an answer that it was frightening.

How about this tax break? Let’s say that personal savings accounts are tax exempt. Let’s get people saving again. Let’s introduce a whole new generation to the value of money by encouraging them to save a little.

Most people under 40 think “saving” means moving your balance to a credit card with a lower interest rate.

And we’ve now learned that manipulating interest rates cannot go on forever. Who knows what the “real” value of money is? No one, because the feds have tinkered with the rates for so long. I’ve seen 16% interest on home loans. I’ve considered myself lucky to get a 10% 30 year fixed. And we didn’t refinance every six month, either.

Were we fools back then? Well, the mess we are in suggests the MBAs don’t have all the answers either.

As for people losing their homes, the fact is they never owned those homes! There are so many interest-only deals out there and loans based on the future value of the home that there isn’t any equity.

For the benefit of the economy in general we will do something. We can only hope it is the bare minimum. But we are in an election year.

From Illegal 2 Legal

One of the functions of immigration lawyers is to take someone who came here illegally and somehow change their status to legal. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, that happened about 1.5 million times from 1990 to 2000. Call it someone’s “personal amnesty” if you will.

Let’s suppose for a moment that someone came here ten years ago by sneaking across the border. He now stands before the Board of Immigration Appeals and wants to be granted a green card because he and his wife have two children born here who are citizens.

Chances are pretty good he will get his wish if he doesn’t have some record as a violent criminal. And so he pays the immigration lawyer $8,000, they shake hands, and the judge thinks he’s had a pretty good day.

Now, let’s go back and look at the idea of self-support. If the man has worked for ten years there ought to be a review of his tax liability at the federal, state, and local level. He should be responsible for his back taxes. I paid ‘em; so should he.

And he ought to be brought to account for ID theft, which could include jail time and/or restitution for those who were harmed by his abuse of their identity.

Then there is a matter of those anchor babies. Right now the law says they are citizens, but it doesn’t say they aren’t responsible for the medical bills for labor and delivery. They need to be paid in full as well. There’s another $15,000.

It turns out that our friend sowed some wild oats before he got married. He has two other children by two other women. The same thing with them. Another $15,000 is owed to the hospitals for the births of those children also.

And, he’ll need to pay $47 a week to each of those women for child support until those children reach the age of 18.

He will also need to show the judge proof of insurance and license.

Now, tell me that isn’t fair. Tell me he shouldn’t be responsible for those costs. Tell me we’re being mean or discriminatory.

If we really did that there wouldn’t be near enough work for the immigration lawyers because few people would apply. They want the green card but they have a history of not paying their own way.

Now, why are we so foolish as to allow this to happen? That is a really good question.

Chicago ICE

Listen to this from the Daily Herald: “According to immigration officials, 16 of the 21 arrested had known gang ties. Five were illegal immigrants they encountered during the operation with no known gang affiliation.”

This was in Chicago’s suburbs. The key phrase is, “Five were illegal immigrants they encountered during the operation…” This is a big step for Special Agent-in-Charge Brown. She actually allowed them to pick someone up who wasn’t on their original list.

The practice is called “collateral arrests” and it is rare here in Chicago. And there is no apology from ICE spokesmen either. All Gail Montenegro told the press was, “We are mandated to enforce immigration laws. And where better to start than with individuals who are here illegally and are members of violent gangs?”

I’m not ready to say we’ve turned a corner here, but things are looking up.

Maybe they got a copy of the Jim Hayes playbook. I certainly hope so.

Someone to look up to

A brewery in Mexico has introduced a new beer called “Malverde”. Bad and green for a brew doesn’t sound too appealing to me.

But the story gets better. It is named in honor of Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of drug lords. (I swear on Mike Huckabee’s Bible I am not making this up!)

The company is Minerva Brewery of Guadalajara.

Here’s the quote from the Associated Press: “He was adopted as the saint for drug traffickers and a chapel was built in his honor. The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize Malverde.”

This is a stretch for multicultural tolerance, even for the best of them.

Hey, I’m not charging you for this stuff. I don’t even allow ads. Here I scour the globe for these primo nuggets of wisdom and all you can do is shake your head? Go to your room.

News from out west

Illegal alien Fernando Orozco-Trevizo, 32, is accused of attaching his girlfriend to a 20 foot chain in his bedroom and attaching the other end of the chain to a 6-cylinder engine block in the closet.

She had been left in that state daily for several days. She escaped when she wrote “call 911” in the condensation on the window and a neighbor followed her instructions.

Now, some of you are going to ask, “Why is Alien Rants taking license by calling him an illegal alien? He’s discriminating!”

I quote from two newspapers:
“He also had an immigration detainer put on him for aggravated re-entry into the United States. Orozco-Trevizo told police if he got deported again, ‘he will come back for the victim,’ according to jail records.” (Deseret Morning News)

“U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement became involved in the case after authorities discovered Orozco-Trevizo is an undocumented immigrant who was working construction jobs…” (Salt Lake Tribune)

In fairness to the defendant, here is his side of the story. “Orozco-Trevizo told authorities chaining his girlfriend was ‘just a game,’ but said he was concerned the woman was having an affair with a neighbor, according to the booking document.” (Salt Lake Tribune)

A warning to readers: Be careful who you play Monopoly with. Some people have a different idea of the word “game”.

The Feds "Risking it"

In a bold move Homeland Security will begin requiring a photo ID and proof of citizenship when entering the United States. The change takes place on January 31, 2008. This applies to anyone over 18 years of age. Up until that date oral declarations of citizenship will be accepted. (I wonder if you need to make that declaration in English?)

Give me a break! Even if you ignore the recommendations of federal commissions in 1981, 1994, and 1997, it has been SIX YEARS since 9/11. The Department of Homeland Security has been around for four years.

Here we are jumping through hoops at the airport when the alert level goes to orange and we are just now getting tough with our border identification program.

My guess is that it will be just like the passport deadline and the backlog for citizenship processing. They’ll probably delay implementation because the system isn’t ready.

They’ll probably be sued by the ACLU because we are discriminating against this group or that.

Who knows what will turn up when they get serious. Maybe they’ll stop a TB carrier. Maybe they’ll discourage some illegals. Maybe they’ll change the plans of some terrorists. You never know once you start enforcing the law.

I do hope this isn’t too risky.

Travel plans

“We’ll have to route you through Mexico. Is that OK?”

So goes the plan uncovered by the Attorney General of Mexico.

We have this refugee policy with Cuba that if you can make it to shore, you will be granted asylum here in the United States and put on a path to legalization. But, if we turn you away off-shore in your boat, you will not be allowed in.

It doesn’t make a great deal of sense but past history made the policy necessary.

If you go directly north from Cuba to the Keys, it is about 90 miles. If you go west to the Yucatan Peninsula it adds about 40 miles to the sea voyage.

And, as we know, getting across the Mexican border into the U S is no problema.

“In a new trend, nearly 90 percent of all undocumented Cubans who make it to the United States now travel overland rather than reaching U.S. shores by boat, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” San Diego Union Tribune

So, is the Mexican government demanding that we put up a fence? No, of course not. But their immigration detention centers are flooded with Cubans who were caught trying to make the trip. Mexico holds them for 90 days and then lets them go.

About a third of them are sent back to Cuba. The article doesn’t say what happens to the other two thirds upon release. But I think we can guess.

Maybe it’s time to add a third rule about Cuban refugees. If you don’t come through a beach in Florida, you have to go back. Don’t hold your breath on that one.

A protected class

I was thinking as I was driving home tonight, “How did the illegal aliens get to be a protected class?” It has happened in just the last ten years or so.

When did it happen? Who did it? How were they able to pull it off?

I say it is a recent development because Proposition 187 in California and the report of the US Commission on Immigration Reform came in 1994. In 1996 Congress was getting tough about illegals stealing federal welfare benefits. They certainly weren't considered an asset back then.

In 1997 the Commission on Immigration Reform came back with a final report which was a little softer but still affirmed the illegality of their presence and the negative impact on society.

I think we have to look to a man named Lionel Sosa. Lionel is a political consultant; an advisor to G W Bush. I think Sosa and Rove and Bush decided that they could court the Hispanic vote. It was the next big thing after campaigns to win women voters.

And since Hispanics already had the benefits of a minority group they chose to lure them by promising high immigration quotas, family chain migration, and amnesty for their illegal hermanos. Only they wouldn’t call in amnesty.

Would it work? Well, it worked in 1986. They just need to figure out a way to get credit for it.

But there was stiff competition on the left. The Democrats were naturalizing Latinos in 1995-96 to win Clinton a second term.

Suddenly you had both parties calling at the brown door. And both of them were promising amnesty. It wasn’t bipartisan support for the idea; it was both parties swapping promises for votes.

And enforcement took a back seat. And, like a drug, business got hooked on cheap labor. And the unions didn’t see growth anywhere else so they came calling, too.

Well, it worked. Here’s the actual level of illegal alien entry as reported by Homeland Security in August of this year:
1980-1984 910,000 (182K per year)
1985-1989 1,270,000 (254K per year)
1990-1994 1,980,000 (396K per year)
1995-1999 3,254,000 (648K per year)
2000-2005 4,160,000 (693K per year)

Now, these are Homeland Security numbers and they are notorious for understating the problem. They add up to about 11.5 million. That’s a little lean but it still proves the point.

Once Washington started making deals and promises, more illegals started making the trip. Add to the rhetoric coming out of Washington the improved communications that exist today. Cell phones, satellites, Internet (with video), and cheap airfare. Everyone here telling family there that they can make ten times the money here, get free medical care, and live pretty much hassle-free. You’ve even got Senators and the President vouching for you.

Yes, they have been lured here by the politicians seeking the vote of their cousins already here. No wonder they keep talking about guest workers, amnesty, and how valuable they are to the economy. They would rather sweep it under the rug than own up to the fact they were playing games with our country.

Unfortunately for them, far too many of us have figured out what they have done. It will be a long, bitter fight on this issue.

Musicians wanted

I have a number of friends who are (or want to be) musicians. I’ve discovered that a number of musicians are needed in Mexico due to recent unexpected vacancies.

Mexican singer Zayda Pena, 28, was shot in the neck on November 30th. The next day, someone entered the hospital where Pena was recovering and shot her in the chest, killing her. Someone really wanted this woman dead. Her lyrics often focused on drug trafficking and violence. Two members of her band were also killed in the original assault.

Trumpeter Jose Aquino, 33, was found bound and beaten to death earlier this week.

Lead singer Sergio Gomez was strangled this week as well.

Singer Valentin Elizalde was killed last year.

Here’s why, according to the San Diego Union Tribune: “Some fear that singers, whether they have any links to drug cartels or not, are routinely ‘adopted’ by drug gangs, which post Internet videos showing their members torturing and executing rivals to soundtracks of popular tunes.”

So one of your songs is picked as the theme song for a gang and suddenly you are a target of all the rival gangs? Wow!

I knew their deaths couldn’t be related to their musicianship; there wasn’t a drummer in the lot!

Memo to Public Officials Nationwide

Note: This is the official response that SHOULD be given by any governmental body in the United States in response to this directive from Mexico.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is upset by the “swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican” attitude of some politicians in the United States and has directed Mexico’s Embassies and Consulates to raise the voice of protest and enter the debate on behalf of his people.

“The key is to neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination that forms part of U.S. society's mistaken perception, and be able to newly focus arguments on the complimentary aspects of our economies.”

So, when the Mexican Consul goes around your town complaining of discrimination against Mexicans, please quote these facts:
1) 31% of all LEGAL immigration comes from one country – Mexico. Even in the great migration of a century ago, no TWO countries combined made up 30% of the immigrants.
2) 56% of the ILLEGAL aliens in the United States come from one country – Mexico.
3) 71% of Mexican immigrants speak little or no English. –Assimilation problem #1
4) Only 19.8% of Mexicans have chosen to become naturalized citizens. – Assimilation problem #2
5) 57% of Mexican immigrants do not have health insurance.
6) 50.9% of Mexican immigrants use some form of welfare services, paid for by U S taxpayers.
7) Remittances back to Mexico totaled $24.3 BILLION flowing out of our economy last year.
8) The United States purchases 1.3 MILLION barrels of oil EACH DAY from Mexico at $98 a pop.

Tell the ambassador that we gave at the office. And tell him to inform El Presidente that more and more Americans are getting wise to his welfare plan of sending his unemployment, education, health care, and crime problems to the United States for us to handle.

Name calling

(It’s not what you think.)

I had a good laugh reading the terminology and rationale of a group studying illegals. But first, the set-up.

The term “illegal alien” actually comes from the law. United States Code, Section 8, uses “illegal alien” repeatedly.

The terminology that hurts my ears the most is “Undocumented American”, used by Sen. Harry Reid last summer.

Now, for the explanation as to why Pew Hispanic Center uses the term “unauthorized migrant.” Warning: You are going to believe I am making this up, but I am not. It appears on Page 2 of their document entitled, “Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics, June 14, 2005”

Here’s exactly why they prefer to call them “unauthorized migrants” rather than illegal aliens: “The term ‘unauthorized migrant’ best encompasses the population in our data because many migrants now enter the country or work using counterfeit documents and thus are not really ‘undocumented’ in the sense that they have documents, but not completely legal documents.”

For some reason that struck me as very funny.

And as a result of my personal research I have determined the fool-proof litmus test for any organization or website regarding the immigration problem. And here it is:

Those organizations that use the term “illegal alien” or (erroneously) “illegal immigrant” to describe them are anti-illegal.

Those organizations that use any other term are most likely pro-illegal.

Now, I’m going to sort through my wallet to see if I have “completely legal documents.”

The bailout

So President Bush has announced his bailout of the mortgage industry, declaring that subprime rates are frozen for five years. It won’t help everyone but it will help some. I heard the commentators on the radio during the ride home last night.

One of them explained that the government has been in the middle of mortgages for decades. Lenders get in big trouble when someone doesn’t qualify. And judges are more than willing to rule against any lender who might have turned someone down due to race or neighborhood. It is vanquishing the little guy against the big bad banker. It plays well in court.

And we really don’t have any laws about lending to people who are here illegally. Why, Illinois has a special subsidized loan program specifically for ITIN clients; that is people who do not have social security numbers. And the state knows full well that most of these borrowers are illegal aliens.

So, lenders got lax. It’s easier to say “yes” than “no”, especially if HUD is watching. In my opinion they’ve gone way overboard and the majority of the problem rests with the lenders. It is ridiculous to loan money to someone based on future income and future home value.

And when two or three families have to be included as buyers just to qualify, all sorts of bells should go off. You’ve got lenders and realtors and lawyers all in on the deals and no one could see past the commission check. I really don’t feel like using my tax dollars to help them out, do you? (I can see Dana at the White House, opening up Tony Snow’s Word documents, pressing Ctrl-F, and replacing the word “amnesty” with “bailout”…as in, “People keep calling this a bailout. It is not a bailout.”

One fellow here in Elgin was what you would call a “Full Service” lender. Luis Uribe worked for a mortgage company that I won’t name (you could look it up) and he really took care of his clients. “Uribe would manufacture I.D.s, job references and places of employment for people, some illegal immigrants, Roscher said, who couldn't qualify for a home loan with their true credit history.” (Courier News)

And when he had someone’s good numbers he would milk them for all they were worth. He would harvest their ID from legitimate mortgages, then turn around and use the papers over and over and over. And you wouldn’t even know it unless the thieves got behind in their payments.

One lady owned four houses according to her credit history and didn’t even know it. Another couple owned four extra houses as well.

Good ol’ Luis wasn’t just doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was charging these undocumented buyers “anywhere from $1,000 to $14,000" for these papers. Well, Mr. Uribe is in custody, he entered a guilty plea, and he is awaiting sentencing. I certainly hope the case doesn’t end there. These buyers were deeply involved in the scam as well. Surely they will be prosecuted. Or will they?

A real mess, I tell ya'

You’re going to need a scorecard to keep track of this story, but I didn’t see anything in the Chicago papers about it and thought it was important.

Two and a half years ago a 36-year-old man was kidnapped in Mexico. His mother then received a ransom note demanding a million dollars. No body was ever found.

So his mother hired private investigators to solve the case. And that led to a restaurant in Louisville where they arrested Brenda Quevedo in connection with the crime.

Immigration now has Brenda in the McHenry County Illinois Jail. (I have no idea why our government moved her 400 miles North, but I’m guessing it has something to do with space available and/or regional jurisdiction.)

She’s being held on immigration violations pending her extradition back to Mexico.

It turns out that the mother has already been instrumental in finding four other accomplices in the case. Only one more remains at large.

Gee, maybe we could hire this woman. She seems pretty effective at finding people who don’t want to be found, certainly out-performing both Mexican and US government agencies.

What is allegiance?

Often in the debate about illegal aliens we hear the tired, old song, “They just came here to be part of the American Dream, just like millions of immigrants in the past.”

But, let’s be honest here; How do we demonstrate our love for America? We’ve circulated the Teddy Roosevelt quote about dual loyalty and point to that. I would guess that dual citizenship is not a sin, and it certainly isn’t illegal. It goes against the “Love it or leave it” philosophy, but in most cases those who hold dual citizenship are respectful of our nation.

Generally, dual citizens do it as a personal safeguard. They were born in Canada or Mexico, have lived most of their lives here, raised families, and want some insurance against changes in the immigration laws.

So how do we show we are sincere about pursuing the American Dream? Let me suggest these criteria:

1) Respect for our laws. It is a bad sign of your loyalty when the first thing you do is come here uninvited. And the second thing you do is buy fake documents so you can work here. (They don’t all do that; some of them work for cash and avoid taxation altogether.)
2) When in Rome…learn Italian. There is a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center that reveals that 71% of Mexican immigrants don’t speak English. (The percentage comes from those who say they speak English “just a little or not at all.”) 56% of Mexicans speak Spanish only at home.
3) Become a citizen. Only 19.8% of immigrants from Mexico have become naturalized citizens. (See CIS Study, “Immigrants in the United States, 2007”, page 11.) Over 52% of the two million Chinese have become citizens. Indians have 38% citizens. Filipinos become naturalized citizens at a rate of 60.3%. Taken together, this report says 39% of the foreign born from ALL nations have become citizens.

I suppose there are other “good citizen, good neighbor” indicators like paying your own way, being financially responsible (with health insurance, car insurance, and planning for your own retirement), flying the flag of your host country or no flag at all…

Evidence of all of these things and more make the “I want to be an American” statement ring hollow in the ears of the citizens.

Perhaps their demand for rights while they defy assimilation grates on us the most.

Voting in Illinois

If you’ve never seen an application for voter registration you should take a look at this sample from Illinois (in Spanish or English, of course).
http://www.elections.il.gov/VotingInformation/VoteRegForms.aspx

Now, let’s look at what you need, bare minimum to be a registered voter in the Land of Lincoln.

- A utility bill
- A name
- A mailing address
- A birth date
- A gender

Now, what is the optional information?
- An address. You can just use the handy grid, label the streets, and put a dot on the page.
- A phone number
- A photo ID
- A Social Security number
- The ability to sign your own name

If you are willing to sign that you are a citizen, that’s good enough. But you will have to show up in person at the county clerk’s office to apply, right? And they’ll check you out then, right?

Nope! Not in Illinois. You could be registered by a latino activist going door-to-door in your neighborhood or walking down the street. You could register at a rally for illegal alien rights. Or, you could just mail it in.

They won’t even check your pulse, a fine Chicago tradition.

The best part is that you don’t even need to register. My daughter has two voter cards in Illinois; one from when she went to the library and signed up and a second one from when the Secretary of State computer calculated that she had turned 18. Neat, huh?

There is a guy I met who bought a new car and used his middle initial instead of his middle name on the plate registration. Guess what? He got a new voter card in the mail. And he’d been an active registered voter in Illinois for 30 years!

They are passing them out like candy here.

Well, there was a Filipino woman in the Chicago Tribune today who got confused on some forms down at the DMV, got a voter card, voted last year, and got in trouble for it because she isn't a citizen. Poor victim.

The amazing thing in my mind is that they even enforced the law. With the whole process so loosy-goosy, who would even catch on? I mean really, how difficult would it be to commit voter fraud in this state? I say it would be simple.

And what upsets me are all the special accommodation for Hispanic voters. It was already a sore spot that we are printing ballots in Spanish. Now to make matters worse, Kane County is required to have bilingual interpreters in every polling place to answer questions.

More sarcastic than I (but funny)

This guy’s comments are funny but very irreverent….
http://freedomfolks.com/

The dangers of allowing really stupid people to immigrate
From the television last summer
“As CBS 2 North Suburban Bureau Chief Katie McCall reports, activists are protesting increased police powers. The protesters say the Waukegan police are abusing the power they already have, but the department says there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
Waukegan resident Gustavo Flores says he was walking into a drug store when a Waukegan police officer stopped him and handcuffed him.
“He said ‘OK then I’m going to put you under arrest because there’s a warrant for your arrest’ and I said ‘can you tell me why?’” Flores said. “And he said ‘you’ll find out when you get there.’”
Flores was arrested after the officer ran his license plates and determined he had an outstanding warrant on a 2003 violation for failure to show proof of insurance. His car was towed and impounded because he did not have a valid Illinois driver’s license.
Flores spent eight hours in jail and was fined $500. He believes he was targeted because he is Latino.
“I would say that if I’m not this color I’m not gonna get pulled over,” he said.
Waukegan police say the stop was by the book.
“I don’t believe there was any profiling at all involved in this particular case,” said Waukegan Police Department Chief Bill Biang.
Waukegan has applied for a new federal program called 287 G, which would give Waukegan officers the authority to deport criminals they arrest.
Some activists worry that power will be abused.
“We have persons we have innocent people who are being arrested and deported,” said Margaret Carrasco of Casa Mexiquense.” End of TV report

Here begins the blogger’s analysis of the story…………………
Let’s review. The retarded individual at CASA MEXIQUENSE sez…
“We have persons we have innocent people who are being arrested and deported,”
But in reality our illegal (oh, the irony!) amigo was arrested because…
he had an outstanding warrant on a 2003 violation for failure to show proof of insurance. His car was towed and impounded because he did not have a valid Illinois driver’s license.
And just for grins and giggles I wouldn’t mind something other than this jackasses assertion that “INNOCENT” people are being deported. Is the new definition of “INNOCENT” to have crossed the border illegally (Oh, the rich, rich irony), operated a vehicle illegally (stop it, you’re killing me!) and having outstanding warrants?
Is that the new definition of “INNOCENT?” It’s so hard to keep up with these things.
So, just to be clear, an illegal alien is allowed to commit any crime and according to the budding MENSA candidate at CASA MEXIQUENSE! they are innocent because?
This would make a fun gameshow. Ready, let’s play…
1.) He’s brown!
2.) The crispy delicious factor!
3.) He’s remarkably stupid!
4.) The good folks at CASA MEXIQUENSE!! are remarkably stupid!
5.) or, because all the “Bronze” peeps in mexico are too delightful and vivacious to be bothered with the “white man’s” laws!!*
*Which of course has the added benefit of making this nation a whole lot more like Mexico!! Which I think we can all agree is win-win!
The correct answer is: You’re a racist!
Thank you for playing the all new, leftist rules, “Such a deal for Mexicans!”
Don Pardo what have they won?
Thanks Phil, today’s contestants win these lovely Tan Klan dolls…

Just pull the string and they utter such adorable phrases as: “You’re a racist!” “Viva Mexico” “It’s my right!”
Just one of the many benefits of allowing really, really, remarkably stupid people to cross our undefended border!
(I told you this guy was irreverent. I post it here so you can compare my sarcasm to a real pro. Alien Rants)

Understatement Awards

It happens every year. We go along for eleven months and then there is this spike in activity as people submit their entries for “best of the year” award. There is a strategy involved. You might win if you enter at the end of the year because your entry will be fresh in the minds of the judges.

I’m talking about the coveted “Understatement of the Year Award.”

And this Johnny-come-lately entry is from Utah.

A minivan rolled over on I-15 in Southern Utah early Wednesday morning. It is believed the driver fell asleep at the wheel and over-corrected, causing the van to roll two times. Most of the passengers exited the vehicle, but one remained inside when the van was struck by a semi.

Now, here is an exact quote from the Deseret Morning News: “When one of the witnesses started calling 911, all but two of the occupants ran into nearby fields.”

Then comes the clincher: “Authorities said it is possible the people inside the van are illegal immigrants.”

That understatement is going to be hard to beat.

Two guys from Elgin

There’s a new organization in Elgin fighting against the influx of illegal aliens. They’ve got a name, a P O Box, a website, a blog, and some press coverage.

They call themselves AFLA, the Association for Legal Americans (sounds like a duck is involved to me) and they’ve been sending out letters to citizen.

They even put an ad in the Courier where people can cast their votes for seven proposals.

1- 100% screening for illegal aliens arrested. A la Colorado, New Jersey, and Costa Mesa. The chief won’t like that; she saves up her favors with ICE for when she needs them.
2- Social Security number verification. A good idea. Too bad it’s illegal in Illinois.
3- 287(g). How many times does the city have to say “NO” to this idea? But when you look around, lots of towns are saying “YES”.
4- Full time ICE officer in the jail. A la Costa Mesa. It is a great idea. It puts the work on the backs of the feds where it belongs. But you don’t get it without making noise. From the Costa Mesa presentation to the city council a couple of weeks ago, they said that the old INS used to be in the local jail on a “semi-regular” basis. After Homeland Security was formed and ICE came to be, the program stopped. Now they have their own list of bad guys. Costa Mesa had to get very public and apply for 287(g) to get the attention of the feds.
5- No insurance and your car is towed. This is a no-brainer and should have been part of the package they passed in Elgin a few months ago.
6- English only. Good luck. The city will tell you that you have to communicate with the residents to have any hope of civilization. On the other hand, have you ever seen a city newsletter in Farsi? Or Korean? Besides, English is the official language of Illinois.
7- Contractors to only hire legal workers. I think they do that. But do they audit the contractors? Also, see number 2 above for the wrinkle.

It’s a good campaign and the timing is good as well, after the New York License fiasco and the presidential candidates throwing up all over themselves.

But they’ve got a tough battle with the city council. I don’t see much support for change up there. It will take some serious public pressure to make this thing happen.

On the plus side, they’ve got some libs writing letters to the papers and making fools of themselves with all this “no person is illegal” nonsense.

It’ll be fun to watch.

John Laesch...

...wants to be my Congressman. He wants to replace Denny Hastert.

Let’s see what he has to say about illegal aliens.

I’m looking at this and I see an article for The Onion without much rewriting at all! Unfortunately, it is a real news story.

The scene: “Standing in the rain outside the World Relief Immigration and Citizenship Services office in downtown Aurora.”

“We need to reject the idea that any human being is illegal. We may have different skin colors and different cultures and backgrounds, but we all belong to the human race." (I think he’s missing some points along the way, but it sounds like he should be running for Congressman of the universe. That’s the world he lives in.)

He didn’t like Oberweis and his ads about enforcing immigration laws. "These ads are designed to make people afraid by blaming immigrants and keeping people distracted from the real issues like stagnating wages, unfair trade agreements, out of control health care costs and the war in Iraq."

“We should not let the fear of the unknown, of different cultures, take America down the path of a national ID card.” (How about the fear of identity theft? Or do you intend the most radical form of socialism where EVERYTHING is for the good of the order?)

Now, Laesch is a carpenter by trade. I wonder if he’s ever sat down on a saw horse with his lunch bucket and listened to his co-workers. We all know the union leadership embraces the illegal alien, but I think the guys who pay the union dues are not so excited. How can they be, knowing that the illegal alien has stolen jobs and depressed the wages of our workers?

The idea that the kid down the street or your own son would someday be a laborer and work his way up to journeyman has all but vanished. The rank-and-file in the trades are against illegals and Laesch knows it.

The unions are focusing in on service workers. They’ve got a shot at chambermaids and janitors. That’s their target.

Well, if Laesch represents the mainstream Democrat, this election will be the GOP’s to lose.

By the way, I just checked his website. Nothing there about immigration. Maybe it isn’t up yet, or maybe John needs to rework things a bit.

What's going on with public opinion?

There is a political consultant by the name of Lionel Sosa. His forte is the Hispanic vote. He did some work for President Bush.

But he says the conservatives have ruined everything. He says the fence at the border is a bad idea. He says that the comprehensive immigration reform a la Bush, Kennedy, and McCain is the answer to the problem.

But Sosa says the political climate right now is a product of hate-mongering by radical conservatives. It has nothing to do with polls about licenses for illegals that have frightened the candidates.

So, he’s busy at work painting the illegal aliens as hard working people who are good for the economy. And he’s telling us to be tolerant and inclusive. And he’s working hard to get people to see illegals and legals as joined at the hip. If you point the finger at one, you must be a racist. That’s it…you hate all Hispanics.

Methinks Mr. Sosa has been spinning for so long he doesn’t know which way is up. But he does know which side his bread is buttered on and is trying to keep a job for himself. The more Hispanic citizens who identify themselves a just plain Americans, the less of a power base he has.

Citizenship in the News

If you’ve watched any news in the last 30 days you probably saw the reports about the backlog of citizenship applications. The citizenship office has been backlogged for quite some time due to the new processing fee. Get your papers before the price goes up!

You’ll recall that Obama came out against the increase because it would be a hardship on the immigrants. (Translation: Some of the people likely to vote for me won’t be able to afford the fee.)

The backlog deadline is to get caught up before the presidential primary so all these people who were motivated to apply for citizenship because of a PRICE INCREASE will be able to vote.

First, a little history about our percentage of foreign born and the percentage of those who actually became naturalized citizen. It comes from a U S Census document called Working Paper #29:

Year…..% Foreign Born…..% Naturalized Citizens
1890………14.8%..........................64.1%
1900………13.6%..........................66.6%
1910………14.7%..........................50.6%
1920………13.2%..........................49.5%
1930………11.6%..........................57.8%
1940………..8.8%..........................67.7%
1950………..6.9%..........................78.7%
1960………..5.4%..........................N/A
1970………..4.7%..........................63.6%
1980………..6.2%..........................50.5%
1990………..7.9%..........................40.5%
2000………11.1%..........................40.3%
2006………12.5%..........................42.0%

I didn’t know much about Bill Clinton’s “Citizenship USA” campaign in 1995-96 until I read up on it today. The goal was to find and naturalize one million Hispanic green card holders in preparation for the presidential election.

And they pulled out all the stops. Even Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore was deeply involved. They broke all sorts of rules about fingerprinting, background checks, tutoring for the exam. Why, they even used Democrat-laden Latino activist groups to conduct the drive and fill out the paperwork.

Doris Meissner was the Commissioner of Immigration at the time and she testified before a House investigation that "We made mistakes in Citizenship USA. We have corrected those mistakes and put in place a series of new measures to prevent them in the future." But six months after that statement a KPMG audit of the immigration processing offices found that only 1 of the 24 offices was “compliant” with the procedures.

So, where is Doris Meissner now? Banished to Little Rock, perhaps? Certainly not. Doris is a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. Her bio lauds her successes at INS thus: “Her accomplishments included reforming the nation's asylum system; creating new strategies for managing US borders; improving naturalization and other services for immigrants; shaping new responses to migration and humanitarian emergencies; and strengthening cooperation and joint initiatives with Mexico, Canada, and other countries.” Things sure were swell when she left Washington in 2000.

Of local note, Doris was also a member of the advisory panel that gave Gov Blago the report on his New Americans initiatives, including his welcome centers for illegal aliens. The weird part about that report is that it was put together by the same people who form Latino protest groups. Hardly seems like a balanced approach to me.

So, even though there was a push for citizenship in the mid-1990s, we are still lagging behind the percentage of foreigners who earned citizenship just 40 years ago. I think it is unfair to criticize Washington for this backlog. Literally MILLIONS of the foreign-born could have been applying for citizenship but they have not. Maybe their hearts are somewhere else. What we have here is a failure to assimilate.

ICE lets us down again

We have a suspect
Finally, there is a named suspect in the Brenetta Beck murder case. He is Hezekiah Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton has been over at Immigration for a few days. He is subject to deportation because of past criminal activity.

My comment? It is a little late for that now that a mother of two is dead.

“According to Cook County court records, Hamilton was arrested in 2002 for aggravated vehicular hijacking and was sentenced to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty. He was paroled in 2005. Records show he also had been convicted of possession of cannabis and retail theft.” Chicago Tribune.

So, he got out of jail in 2005, somehow slipped through the cracks at ICE, fathered two children with Beck, broke up with her, started a relationship with another woman, and went on to become the prime suspect in Brenetta’s murder.

Now, what if Hezekiah had been deported when he was released from jail way back in 2005? Well, I think there would have been no relationship with Beck, no birth of Tamia, no birth of Trevion, and no need for a funeral.

Right now his deportation order is on hold while we try him for murder. But watch him close; anything can happen in our court system. We’ll be paying for his public defender and Hezekiah might be acquitted. Or he might be paroled. Or he might make bail. Someone needs to be absolutely certain that he doesn’t get away from us again.

Our choice legal system

This isn’t an immigration blog. It is an indictment of our court system and just how far we’ve slipped.

Sandra Vasquez, 23, offered to drive some teenagers home from a party last winter. Some of the kids were drunk. Sandra was drunk. They piled nine teenagers into her car and five of them died on the ride home.

Vasquez was tested at 0.101 BAC at the hospital. All but one of the teens had alcohol in their systems as well, the highest at 0.17 BAC. The car was an Infinity sedan. Vasquez was going 20 mph over the speed limit when she crashed the car. No other vehicles were involved.

That was in February and now the search for loopholes is on. Listen to these:

Judge Thomas Mueller ruled that the cops got it all wrong when they read her her rights. “Mueller determined Oswego officers gave Vasquez her Miranda warnings in a cursory, speedy manner and asked her a two-part question – ‘Do you understand your rights and do you have any questions?’ -- but only received one answer.” As a result the jury will not be allowed to view her taped confession.

So, the Kendall County State’s Attorney was trying to get the judge to change his mind. And Judge Mueller was just as adamant. But I think his reasoning is telling. Check this out.

“Mueller again denied the prosecutor's motion. The judge said due to her injuries, Vasquez was not free to leave and police were interrogating her, although they referred to it as a ‘Q and A.’"

“Mueller said the timing of the interview -- just hours after the crash -- also affected his decision. After watching the tape, he felt officers took advantage of Vasquez's weakened state. ‘It was obvious how she felt,’ Mueller said. ‘She was a mess.’"

So, how is that supposed to work, Judge Mueller? You let them go home, get some rest, have a good meal, talk to a few lawyers, THEN come back and answer questions?
The prosecutor has asked for a review of the situation by another judge. Meanwhile, what happens to Vasquez?

“In the meantime, all conditions of Vasquez's bond will be withdrawn. Vasquez will be taken off an electronic monitoring device, will be allowed to travel wherever she wants, and her parents' house -- which was posted as bail -- no longer will be held.”

But he’s an impartial judge. Sandra’s attorney wants her clothes back. “Mueller also denied a defense motion to declare the seizure of Vasquez's clothes illegal.”
(This info is from a Beacon News article dated 11/21/07)

Happy Thanksgiving

I like what VP Dick Cheney wanted to name the pardoned White House turkeys: Lunch and Dinner.

Here's a turkey living in the shadows.....

And here's the one that didn't get away....

Enjoy the day!

Gee, I don't know what to say

The above statement is my recommendation for the official platform statement of the Democratic Party regarding illegal aliens.

Hillary stumbled on the drivers license question way back in October. So, by the time the November 15th debate rolled around, you would think that all the candidates would have put together their thoughts and had the answer to the question surely to be asked, “Should illegal aliens be given drivers licenses?”

Not only did they each have time to ponder the question, but they also had New York polls and the actions of Governor Spitzer to guide them.

You would think…but what actually happened at the Las Vegas debate?

Hillary’s answer: “No.”

Obama’s answer: "When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention,"
"And - but I have to make sure that people understand. The problem we have here is not driver's licenses. Undocumented workers do not come here to drive. They don't go - they're not coming here to go to the In-N-Out Burger. That's not the reason they're here,"
(Obama humor. Try funny, maybe that’ll get Wolf to change the subject.)
"They're here to work. And so instead of being distracting by what has now become a wedge issue, let's focus on actually solving the problem that this administration, the Bush administration, had done nothing about it,"Blitzer comes back, "Do you support or oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants?"Obama says, "I am not proposing that that's what we do. What I'm saying is that we can't ...”

That made the audience laugh, even if his earlier attempt failed, so Barack goes on, "No, no, no, no. Look, I have already said, I support the notion that we have to deal with public safety and that driver's licenses at the same level can make that happen. But what I also know ... Wolf, is that if we keep on getting distracted by this problem, then we are not solving it."
Finally, the interrogation ended when Blitzer asked him, “Yes or no?” and Obama said, “Yes.”

John Edwards felt the need to also give an explanation. Edwards said, “No, but I don't accept the proposition that we're not going to have comprehensive immigration reform.”
“What I do support, and what I will do as president of the United States, is move this country toward comprehensive immigration reform. And anyone who's on the path to earning American citizenship should be able to have a driver's license.”

If I could venture a translation, Edwards believes that if you give them amnesty the problem goes away. Duh!

Dodd: “No, my belief is that giving a -- as I've said in the very beginning here, I think drivers' licenses are the wrong thing to be doing, in terms of attracting people to come here as undocumented.” That was a pretty good answer on the heels of a plug for amnesty.

Richardson said yes. Biden said no. Kucinich said cancel NAFTA.

So there appears to be strong support among the Democratic candidates for amnesty. I haven’t heard any of them tell America that our immigration quotas are out-of-whack and the last thing we need is to legalize 12 million more. That’s what we need to hear, but we won’t.

I’m looking for a candidate (any candidate from any party) who will say, “We need to pare back our total annual LEGAL immigration to 200,000 a year, end chain migration, set up a points system based on qualifications, and remove the 12 million illegals here now. Legalization is out of the question since the number of illegals equals a 50 YEAR SUPPLY OF IMMIGRANTS! They came here the wrong way, they don’t have the skills and education we need, and we need to send the message that those who sneak in will not be allowed to stay.”

Please let me know when you find a candidate saying that.

Clean up

Here are a couple of loose ends from past posts.
First, Elvira Arellano seems to be getting on nicely back in Mexico. Her skills as a martyr for the cause are being put to good use south of the border.

She attended a two day conference entitled (I am not making this up): “First Parliament of Mexican Migrant Leaders Who Live in the U.S.” She took one look at the menu for the conference and immediately announced a hunger strike. Good idea, Elvira; no bottled water.

Her comments at the conference included:
“I want our government to listen, to act, to defend our migrant families.”
“Is Mexico prepared to receive all of these deported people and their families?” (I think she knows the answer to that. Remember the Mexican Congressmen who came to visit Chicago and DEMANDED that the US NOT send Elvira back? There’s your answer.)
“Is it prepared to guarantee an education to their children, who are U.S. citizens?” (Do I read into her statement that Saul and other children of illegals are NOT Mexicans? I certainly hear her say that birth in the US comes with entitlements.)
“Or is it prepared to defend them against all these attacks?” (It is interesting to me that being returned to her beloved homeland is characterized as an “attack”.)

I’m still under the assumption that Saulito is living with her in Mexico.

The other loose end is Mirthala Salinas. You remember her, don’t you? She’s the TV reporter who carried on an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles. She was punished with a two month suspension from Telemundo but didn’t report back to work They were all set to assign her to a beat far away from the mayor and she went AWOL.

Hopefully we’ve heard the last from her on this blog, unless she comes to work for the media in Chicago.

Washington understands

Never again can we say that Washington doesn’t understand. They “get it”. They have their fingers on the pulse of America.

On November 15th the Director of the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review issued a news release regarding the immigration courts. It seems that former Attorney General Alberto “I owe my success to La Raza” Gonzalez felt that too many illegal aliens were showing up in immigration court without legal representation. So Gonzalez “mandated an expansion of pro bono efforts” to allow more free legal help for these folks.

So The Department of Justice went to work on the problem. Here’s the upshot from the memo: “In the past year, EOIR has doubled the size of the Legal Orientation Program for unrepresented detained aliens, expanded pro bono programs for unaccompanied alien children, and increased the number of court-sponsored pro bono attorney training programs.”

It sounds to me like “pro bono” is costing you and me some tax dollars.

The appeals process works like this. An illegal alien is caught in the United States. The search for loopholes begins. Lawyers, judges, Centro de Informacion y Progreso (a United Way agency), and other do-gooders look for some reason to allow this person to stay. No Draconian measures here.

A favorite ploy is to seek asylum, claiming that going home would create danger for the person either due to politics or religion. It doesn’t work very often but it does buy the illegal alien more time in the United States.

After all the hearings and reviews, the illegal alien is ordered deported and given a date to report to leave the country. This document is called a “run letter” aka “Notice to Disappear”. It means that the appeals have been exhausted and it is time to go into hiding. Fortunately, this isn’t very difficult. You get another fake name, fake ID, and blend in with the other 12 million people who are here illegally.

IF you have a “run letter” order and IF they pick you up again, and IF they are able to figure out who you really are…you are in the express lane to go back home. Otherwise, you can buy four or five years of extra time in the US just by playing the appeals process.

That’s why immigration attorneys always talk about the deportation process being “complex”, “nuanced”, and “complicated”. It also explains why they charge their clients thousands of dollars to move them through the process.

Here’s the actual press release:
http://justice.gov/eoir/press/07/ProBonoEOIRExpandsImprove.pdf

If any of my readers can explain how this works in relation to the end of catch and release as declared by Bush, I certainly would like to hear it.

What a relief

Here’s a quick Mexican history lesson. We, the arrogant, ugly Americans can always use a little enlightenment. (Although I’m hearing complaints from activists that the new citizenship test is WAY too hard for immigrants, so maybe they should hit the books as well.)

Anyway, Father Miguel Hidalgo was a Catholic priest who “encouraged” the people of Mexico to rise up against the Spaniards and declare independence. This was in September of 1810, hence the Mexican Independence Day. (I’m seeing church and state WAY too close together here, but I’m not sure if the MCLU even exists.)

So anyway, the Catholic Church excommunicated Father Hidalgo. Depending on who you ask, he was either excommunicated for violence against other priests or rebellion against Spain.

All’s well that ends well. After extensive research the Catholic Church has determined that Hidalgo was reinstated as a member of the church via deathbed confession just prior to his execution in 1811. They wanted to get this mess all cleared up before the 200th anniversary of the revolution in 2010.

Just another tidbit of trivia here. Hidalgo was shot with three other rebels by the Spanish Army. They were on their way to the United States to seek protection from President Madison (some things never change) but they never made it. After execution, the heads of the four rebels were put on display in Guanajuato for ten years just to show people what happens when you fight the motherland.

Maybe the Feds aren't stupid after all

When someone uses a fake Social Security number and earnings are withheld, what happens to that money? It winds up in the Earnings Suspense File along with all those records that don’t match the name (like newlyweds who didn’t change their name or the dyslexics who wrote down the wrong number on their job application).

That account grows by about $6 BILLION a year. At the end of 2004, it had $519 BILLION in it!

So you can see why Congress and the President would be slow to fix the illegal alien problem.

So, how many combinations of wrong names, wrong numbers, and fake numbers are in this file? 250 MILLION records!

And this also means that the IRS is withholding taxes as well, taxes that will never be refunded because a return will never be filed. Uncle Sam sees no reason to clean up the problem. Perhaps if they would bail out the schools, hospitals, police departments, and fraud victims, maybe we could all embrace the illegal aliens among us. But they keep the money in DC as a windfall instead.

Fix the anchor baby problem? No thank you. Anchor babies and illegal aliens are counted in the U S Census (as much as possible given the stealth nature of the illegal population) so the more the merrier. Every body counts toward redistricting you know.

Washington is going to have to hear from us loud and clear before they are going to do the right thing and crack down on illegals. They’ve got it good right now and they know it.

Clinton keeps on giving

No, this isn’t about Hillary, but it is a warning about liberal presidents (from either party).

Federal Judge Robert Gettleman has ruled that atheist Rob Sherman’s daughter was subjected to religion in school by virtue of Illinois’ new law about the moment of silence. And so there will be no moment of silence in her school. At least this Sherman is a freshman in high school, unlike the 7-year-old son Sherman paraded in front of the world over the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1989. Anything to help the family business, I suppose.

Sherman could not have picked a better judge for such anti-school nonsense. This same Judge Gettleman was the one who first heard the discrimination complaints about schools in U-46.

He heard the plaintiff’s complaint, declared that they did not have a case, then proceeded to PERSONALLY COACH THE PLAINTIFFS AS TO WHAT THEY NEEDED TO DO SO THEY WOULD HAVE A CASE.

Nice touch, don’t you think? Essentially he told them if they would do this and that and the other thing, they would then have a case and he would hear it.

There was no mention that the judge extended his free advice to the school district as well, telling them what he thought would be the best defense.

Here we are three years later and the school district is THREE MILLION DOLLARS poorer (legal fees) and we aren’t even getting to the meat of the case yet.

The lesson here is that if you’ve got an ax to grind with the school system, try to get Gettleman for the judge. Have we any hope that our judges will stop picking fly-poop out of pepper? As long as the crowd is buying tickets, they will keep performing.

And the Clinton connection? Gettleman was appointed a federal judge by Bill Clinton in 1994.

Who you callin' Hispanic?

There’s a racial profiling war going on in Chandler Arizona. One of the Spanish radio stations is calling the police racists (shouldn’t that be “ethnicists”?) for their description of a rapist on the loose.

Even the ACLU isn’t backing the radio station, so that should tell you something.

I’ve blogged before about the definition of Hispanic. The most accurate way to describe a Hispanic is someone who thinks himself to be one. Of course, it is to the advantage of Latino activists if more people are included in the group. And advertisers like to bunch them together and treat them the same. And it gives punch to media reports.

The term was really the brainchild of the government, who didn’t want all those scorekeeping forms they use to have 30 different choices. It all sort of falls apart anyway when dad is from Guatemala and mom is from Fiji.

But when you think about it, the same problem exists for everyone else.

It is about as accurate as the term Caucasian. Technically, unless you can trace your roots to the small mass of land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, you have no claim to call yourself a Caucasian. Even the term Caucasoid is of incorrect origin.

I guess I’ve never identified myself with the term Caucasian, although I check the box because it seems to be the most likely substitute for White. They never have a choice called “American.” I’m often tempted to check the box “Other” and write in “Caesarian” but I was always afraid of perjury if they checked my birth certificate.

So, how do the Hispanics themselves feel about the label? According to a Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation survey in 2002, 54 percent said they primarily identify themselves in terms of their or their parents' country of origin. About one quarter choose "Latino" or "Hispanic," and 21 percent chose "American."

Indeed, that question may be the litmus test for assimilation, or at least the willingness to work at it.

Anyway, you decide if the radio station has a valid gripe. Here are bits and pieces of the police bulletin about the suspect:

“The male was described as late 20’s to mid 30’s, approximately 5’03” to 5’05” tall. The suspect had short, dark hair, Hazel/brown eyes, and an unshaven face. He had dark brown/black thick, well-defined eyebrows.”

“The suspect spoke very clearly in English with a Spanish accent. Additionally he spoke Spanish clearly and fluently.”

“…male, about 5’06” tall who speaks clear English fluently but with a Spanish accent.”

One thing we are sure of…the truck he was driving was white.

The Feds are working too hard

I’ve never known a bureaucrat to sign up for extra work, but it seems to me that the feds are doing this thing the hard way. Let me explain a couple of enforcement efforts.

Last week there was a raid at O’Hare Airport where they caught 36 people in a fraudulent ID, illegal alien worker scheme.

Now, here’s an accounting of the program which netted 27 illegal aliens and nine citizens (if I read the newspaper reports correctly):
1) The investigation took eight months.
2) It involved several ICE agents and the Special-agent-in charge.
3) Also involved was the Cook County State’s Attorney.
4) U S Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald also participated.
5) The Chicago Police Department was involved.
6) The Chicago Department of Aviation had a hand in it.
7) TSA was also involved.

By my accounting you’ve got six government agencies, each with scores of man-hours devoted to the problem, and they netted 36 people.

This is not an isolated case. Remember the Little Village raid back in April? The three year investigation took 60 agents from ICE, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the U S Attorney …and it netted 12 arrests.

Or the sweep in October 2006 that netted 16 illegals who defied deportation orders. It took hours of preparation and investigation, seven agents, and four days to round them up.

Plain and simple, these folks are working too hard.

Compare these numbers to the ICE agent stationed in the Costa Mesa City Jail. He sits in the office and the local police bring him suspects in handcuffs. Sometimes the interview is conducted over the phone.

The people he is interviewing are accused of recent criminal acts in the community, not just running from an old deportation order.

So, how’s the productivity of this single Maytag repairman sitting at a desk in Costa Mesa? About 47 a month for each of the last ten months! That’s 468 deportation detainers from one police department in less than a year.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m glad they did these other sweeps. Those folks needed to go. But pound-for-pound, screening at the local level is obviously far more productive.

Of course, we need these special investigations. What I don’t understand is the resistance to the local programs, especially when they are taking the active criminal element off the street.

Spitzer sputters

Well, Gov. Spitzer of New York has abandoned his three tier drivers licenses for illegal aliens. His surrender sounded like, “I was only trying to help, but if you don’t want it, FINE! Just FINE!”

Well, Mr. Governor, if you want to work on this ignored federal problem, how about banning sanctuary cities in your state? Get a load of this report from Heather MacDonald in City Journal for a little background on the problem (and a nice slam at Prez-candidate Rudy):

“Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to “terrorize people.” Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.

“New York conveniently forgot the 1996 federal ban on sanctuary laws until a gang of five Mexicans—four of them illegal—abducted and brutally raped a 42-year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens. The NYPD had already arrested three of the illegal aliens numerous times for such crimes as assault, attempted robbery, criminal trespass, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses. The department had never notified the INS.

“Citizen outrage forced Mayor Michael Bloomberg to revisit the city’s sanctuary decree yet again. In May 2003, Bloomberg tweaked the policy minimally to allow city staffers to inquire into immigration status only if it is relevant to the awarding of a government benefit. Though Bloomberg’s new rule said nothing about reporting immigration violations to federal officials, advocates immediately claimed that it did allow such reporting, and the ethnic lobbies went ballistic. “What we’re seeing is the erosion of people’s rights,” thundered Angelo Falcon of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. After three months of intense agitation by immigrant groups, Bloomberg replaced this innocuous “don’t ask” policy with a “don’t tell” rule even broader than Gotham’s original sanctuary policy. The new rule prohibits city employees from giving other government officials information not just about immigration status but about tax payments, sexual orientation, welfare status, and other matters.” (end of City Journal excerpt)

And the Big Apple is only one of TEN sanctuary cities in your state. Here’s the list:
Bay Shore, NY
Brentwood, NY
Central Islip, NY
Farmingville, NY
New York City, NY
Riverhead, NY
Shirly/Mastic, NY
Spring Valley Village, NY (Added 7-25-07)
Uniondale, NY
Westbury, NY

How about getting your AG to follow the program of New Jersey and order screening for all criminals in custody?

Or, what do you say about getting your state troopers deputized as immigration agents. Give a call down to Alabama and find out why they have 60 troopers trained as 287(g) officers.

Wanna help, Governor? Then do an honest study of the cost of illegal aliens in the state.

Or maybe a state law that forbids marriages unless the couple can prove lawful presence?

Or browse this website for over a thousand pieces of state legislation aimed at doing something about this problem:
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/immig/2007Immigration831.htm

And give a call up to Albany. If Hillary isn’t on the campaign trail, maybe she can help you get something done about this problem.

But we’ve all had enough of state and local leaders simply wringing their hands and pointing to Washington. There’s plenty of support for governors taking some sort of action; you just picked the wrong approach.

Kiss my...

…fence. A group of open border types decided to protest at the fence near Calexico (about 120 miles inland on the California side). A fellow by the name of Rich Macgurn with No Borders Camp set up the stunt at the wire mesh fence.

The plan was to kiss some Mexicans with the fence in between. But the Border Patrol instructed the people to move away from the fence. Pepper spray and batons were eventually used. Three were arrested.

The article from the San Diego Union Tribune only tells the story from the side of the protesters (though they sought comment from the Border Patrol) but it is still an interesting tale.

It should be noted that this protest went on for a week with parties and dances. They put banners up on the wall and a hole magically appeared in the fence.

I particularly enjoyed the typo in the article that went like this: “Somebody taped a piece of paper over a whole in the wall and called it 'cross-border kissing booth.”

The video (taken by the protesters) shows an army of Border Patrol agents and a bunch of young adults who were in no hurry to obey instructions. Even from the biased video it looked like the BP used appropriate force after a week of restraint.

The newspaper allows readers to make comments about the article and I found them to be much more entertaining than the article itself. Here’s a sample:

DrewSD said, “They should of used their new Air Cannon to clear away all the protesters. You know what Kissing leads to. The USA having to pay for another Illegal giving birth In a USA hospital so they can be GRANTED, not EARNING, USA citizenship.”

MisterZeke said, “Aw heck (spit) Even our own president only gives lip service to the immigration problem.”

Borderview said, "All of the Illegals lovers in the U.S. do not have the GUTS to cross to the other side (Mexico) and start a grass roots effort over there. Because they know what would happen to them ;)”

God bless America for allowing the protest and the video to be made public. In most countries the camera AND THE CAMERAMAN would have disappeared for good!

I do hope these groups don’t tie up too much agent time. We need all of them we can get.

A top cop riddle

Why is it that the police chiefs who endorse drivers licenses for illegal aliens because they allow them to keep track of them…are the same ones who are opposed to 100% screening?

En ingles, pues.

Rough translation: In English, OK?
It could be my imagination but I’m hearing a little less “Press one for English” these days. Maybe the advertisers are sensing a little backlash.

For example, in Arlington Heights Illinois they have a party every year at the community center called “Hispanic Festival”. This year they are calling it “Fiesta Cultural”. More palatable for the Anglos? Perhaps.

Then there is the Spanish-language newspaper Reflejos. Last year the billboards were in English and Spanish; now they are in English only. And the bus banners are also in English; no Spanish at all except the name.

Then there's the government. They are still pushing Spanish down our throats.

Here in Kane County Illinois they are looking to hire 50 interpreters for election day in February, all part of a court order. (Thanks, US Dept. of Justice.)

Who started it? The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund who filed suit saying that the ballots in Spanish were not enough. What if someone shows up at the wrong polling place? Who will explain to them where they need to go?

How much? They need at least 50 people who will be paid $125 for their services.

Now, citizenship requires a basic understanding of English, right? So if these folks can’t find the right polling place on their own how are they possibly going to be informed voters?

Gee, you’d think non-citizens were voting.