Cross posted from Common Sense America
From The Washington Post:
With bipartisan talks on immigration near a standstill, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) moved yesterday to bring last year’s broad overhaul of immigration laws back to the floor of the Senate next week, appealing to President Bush to save what could be his last hope for a major second-term domestic achievement.
While any immigration reform should be focused on what is in the best interest of America and the American people, Senator Kennedy shows that the needs of ‘We the People’ are not even being discussed.
Both parties are battling for the allegiance of Latino voters. Indeed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered immigrant groups virtual veto power over this year’s bill.
“Unless the stakeholders are going to believe that it’s worthy of their support, no matter what we do here in the United States Senate, it isn’t going to work,” he said.
To put it mildly, cowards that live in submission to the illegal immigrant groups now run the Senate. They have handed the sovereignty and the legislative branch of our nation to illegal aliens because, in the mind of Senator Kennedy, we must now have the approval of groups such as La Raza and others before ANY immigration laws are passed.
We have heard many of our elected officials roll over and bare their throats to the illegal aliens, their activists, and to corporations wanting to line their pockets with cheap labor. We hear them say, “We have welcomed these people, we have allowed them to come here illegally to work, we have looked the other way, and now we must change our law to accommodate them.”
I disagree.
We, the people, have not welcomed nor allowed anything. Perhaps ‘We, the corporations’ or ‘We, the pandering politicians’ have welcomed and allowed this to continue but make no mistake, “We, the people” have been screaming against this since the 1990’s.
On June 10, 1999 at the Illegal Immigration Issues Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims many Americans from the border region pleaded with the government to enforce our border laws. Americans testified that because they live along the border, they must remain armed at all times. They testified of losing children and loved ones to illegal alien murderers, of being beaten and robbed, of losing hundreds of acres of prime land, and they spoke of the high cost of cheap labor to their job market, to their schools, to their hospitals and to their lives.
If you have the time, I suggest you click here to read all of the testimony because I’m going to quote just a small fraction of it below. Bear in mind that these hearings took place 8 years ago and yet, even today, our elected officials refuse to listen.
The Hearing began with some remarks from Lamar Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims:
In this situation we have real people who have confronted personally some of the consequences of the illegal immigration that we see in our country, as opposed to having a panel of government witnesses or individuals who have never encountered some of the situations we are going to hear about.
The Clinton administration has halted the buildup of the border patrol that Congress mandated in 1996. Actions have consequences. Today we are going to learn the consequences of having too few Border Patrol agents to protect Americans.
Below are just a few quotes from some of the witness testimony and I urge you to read the rest of the hearing at the above link:
STATEMENT OF LARRY VANCE, RANCHER, DOUGLAS, AZ, CHAIRMAN, COCHISE COUNTY CONCERNED CITIZENS
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members, thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. My name is Larry Vance. I am the second son of a legally naturalized American of Mexican origin. I live approximately 3 miles west of Douglas, Arizona, about a mile north of the Mexican border.
A brother and his family and my parents are my neighbors on a 20-acre family plot. My wife and I have lived there for 25 years. In that time we have had some problems with illegal aliens. I have been burglarized, had a truck stolen, and property vandalized. My brother and parents have had similar problems. We have adapted to this by installing high expensive fences, expensive burglar alarms, mean aggressive dogs, and other measures.
However, for the past 7 years, in particular the last year, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of illegal border crossers. The occasional illegal alien has grown to literally thousands crossing every night, men, women and children. I have seen groups where the majority will likely become public charges, and with the accompanying noises of dogs barking, people yelling and screaming, babies crying, horns honking and occasionally gun shots, I haven’t had a complete night’s sleep in more than 10 months. Six months ago I witnessed some sort of a shoot-out about a mile from my house. We live in constant fear of being robbed, assaulted or worse. We must remain armed at all times because border bandits prey upon the helpless within close proximity of our homes, and armed drug smugglers transport drugs past in the night. We are like prisoners in our own homes.
My parents or someone must remain on the property at all times to guard against foreign invaders. An 81-year-old neighbor who is a widow has been burglarized approximately fifty times. Another one has had his homeowners insurance canceled.
The area along our Mexican border has become a no-man’s land, where lawlessness prevails. Criminals strike and flee to freedom in a country where they are coddled, even admired. They rape, rob, and beat their own countrymen and others, with impunity. I have been asked why don’t you move. The answer is I can’t. Nobody wants to move to an area like I described.
My property values have declined to the point where I owe more than what it can be sold. I can’t begin to convey to you the feelings of helplessness, frustration, and fear that has overcome border residents. Livelihoods are being threatened and destroyed. Tracts of pristine desert-ecological treasures have been permanently disfigured or lost. Pastures of prime grassland have become the equivalent of landfills, littered with clothing, diapers, feces, and plastic and other debris. U.S. citizens and legal residents are being deprived of their rights, property, and piece of mind by individuals who have sneaked across our border in violation of U.S. Federal law while the U.S. Government allows it to go on and the Mexican government encourages citizens to migrate illegally.
Some aliens rights groups shout racism when the issue of establishing control of our borders is brought forth. I ask you, what is it about race that entitles a person to sneak across our border, violate our laws, destroy my property and take advantage of the benefits we have set aside for our citizens and legal residents?
STATEMENT OF ANGIE MORFIN, SALINAS, CA, MOTHERS TAKING ACTION AGAINST GANG VIOLENCE
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Angie Morfin. I am an American-born Latino from Salinas, California. I have come here today to tell you of a personal cost that I have paid due to illegal immigration.
The price I have paid for nonenforcement of immigration laws and the presence of illegal aliens in my community was a big one. It is a price that I truly hope that none of you ever have to pay.
I told you that illegal alien gang activity is a problem in my community. Well, in 1990 I found out just how bad it could be, when an illegal alien gang member from Mexico killed my 13-year-old son, Ruben. My son, Ruben, was not a gang member. He was just a little boy walking with some friends to his grandmother’s house. As he and his friends tried to run, they were approached – I am sorry. As he and the others tried to run from the gang members who approached them, Ruben was shot in the back of his head. He died 3 hours later. His killer fled the country, running back home to Mexico. He was an illegal alien.
I was paralyzed with grief. I just wanted to die. I couldn’t bear to live without my little boy. I cried and I prayed for God to give me the strength to go on. I prayed for justice, but I also prayed that I would never have to see the face of the person who had just changed my life forever.
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, it is not enough to talk about fixing the system. We must act. You must act now. And not just Congress, but all Americans need to get involved to solve the illegal immigration problem. I especially believe that more Latino Americans should get involved. Together we can make a difference. The time has come as American-born Latinos and all American citizens to stand up for our rights as citizens.
And I identify myself – now, I identified myself as a Latino American woman at the beginning of this testimony. Actually, I don’t like or approve of hyphenated Americans. We are Americans, and whether we are Latino Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans or European Americans, the common denomination is that we are Americans; and it is our citizenship that we have in common; and as citizens, we need to encourage lawmakers to ensure that the laws you make are enforced and that includes immigration laws.
I thank God that I was born in this country and lived during a time when people were proud to be Americans. I am proud to say I am an American. We should not be afraid to say how proud we are or that we want to enforce our immigration laws to stop illegal immigration because, ladies and gentlemen, if we don’t act like we care about this country, we are not going to have a country, and a Nation that cannot control its borders won’t be a nation for very long.
STATEMENT OF TERRY ANDERSON, AUTO MECHANIC, LOS ANGELES, CA
Thank you, sir. I feel very privileged to be here, and I thank you for inviting me. I want to tell you of my reality. I live in South Central Los Angeles. I have lived there all my life. And I speak from the black perspective because I am black, and I live in a predominantly black community.
The problem with illegal immigration whenever it comes up is that people always give one side and never give the other side. They talk about the poor, poor immigrant who comes here for a better life. They talk about the poor immigrant child who must be educated in our schools. They talk about the immigrant worker who works harder than the black person works, and he will take the job that nobody else takes.
What you never hear is the other side of the story. You never hear that every time that illegal alien comes here, he displaces somebody else. That side is never mentioned. Whenever the subject comes up, you have organizations who step forth and advocate for the illegal alien.
You have MALDEF, MECHA, LULAC, LA RAZA, and other race-based organizations who are exclusive only to one race of people and advocate for those people only. You never hear the other side of that story is that somebody is harmed by them being here. I speak of my community because it is where I live. You will never hear from these people about the 17-year-old black kid in my neighborhood who went to McDonald’s and was told you can’t work here because you don’t speak Spanish.
I sense racism here. See, racism isn’t just from white folks to black folks. It is from anybody to anybody. And that is what I see happening here. This is out and out racism. It is a definite problem.
Not just – and it is not just the entry-level jobs. It is not just the housing, not just the schooling. Our skilled black workers in Los Angeles cannot find jobs. I am talking brick layers; I am talking concrete; I am talking roofers; I am talking framers; I am talking body and fender men who were taking $20 an hour in the 1970’s. Now they can’t get a job in South Central unless they are willing to make 7 or $8 an hour. This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
And the problem is not being addressed by our elected officials. We have gone to them, we have begged them, please help us, and a deaf ear is turned. It has been my experience, my personal experience, that when black elected officials talk, they speak in terms of minorities and people of color. When the advocates of the illegal alien speaks, he speaks about Latinos. We are always left out of the equation. We are never included in the equation.
We have laws on the books to address these problems but, we are not – nobody has the resolve to step forward and use these laws. We could get these people out of our community.
I have no axe to grind with anybody. I don’t dislike anybody, but these people have completely ruined my community. We have things there now that we never had before. We have chickens, we have goats, we have people with laundry hung on the front fences of their houses. This is not a stereotype; this is my reality of where I live. We never had that before. We have got corn growing in the front yards 8 feet high. That is my reality where I live.
And I don’t hate anybody. I am just saying that my culture, my American culture, is being phased out; and I wouldn’t care where these people came from in the world, be it the Balkans, Africa, Iceland. I wouldn’t care. If my American culture is being phased out, I am upset. I am upset.
This is just a small fraction of what our elected officials heard eight years ago. They made a conscience decision to ignore the pleas of the American people. Now, with the illegal aliens marching out of the shadows, insulting our laws and our nation, politicians are backed into a corner of their own design. THEY looked the other way. THEY did not fulfill their duty to uphold the laws of this nation. THEY benefited from their lobbyists in the form of donations and support. And now, THEY must have the courage to stand up for what is right for the American people rather than cowering and submitting to demands of foreigners illegally in our nation.
“We, the People” are watching – we are taking names – and we will not forgive nor forget.
**This was a production of
The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.
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