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News from Indiana, the region and the nation
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WorldNetDaily, October 1, 2004
U.S. officials are probing the possibility the al-Qaida terrorist network sought to infiltrate a Texas company in order to contaminate ready-to-eat meals designated for the military.
A high-ranking al-Qaida operative provided information leading authorities to nearly a dozen illegal immigrants working for the McAllen, Texas-based Wornick Co., the largest supplier of the meals, according to McAllen's The Monitor newspaper....
"Today's indictment alleges that Remedy hired a number of illegal aliens and did so basically knowingly and then they falsely certified that they had in fact checked the information provided by those unauthorized workers when in fact, they had never even attempted to verify the information for hundreds of people," Shelby said.
The Times, September 20, 2004
TCF Bank is the first bank to open the door to home loans for undocumented immigrants in Northwest Indiana; Fifth Third Bank plans to follow suit this month....
These banks face challenges from critics such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which charges that banks are putting profits before security.
It also says people in the United States illegally should not be extended the same benefits at those who have gone through proper immigration channels....
In the past, banks and mortgage lenders have required loan applicants to provide Social Security numbers when applying for mortgages. Since people in the United States without valid work visas or green cards cannot obtain Social Security numbers. They are unable to borrow money to buy homes.
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, September 9, 2004
When Maytag shifts its refrigerator production from Galesburg, IL to Reynosa, Mexico, the effects will be felt throughout the local and regional economy.
A study by the Rural Economic Technical Assistance Center (RETAC) found that there will be 3,600 to 5,600 fewer jobs in the region after Maytag closes. That includes the 1,600 IAM members who will lose their jobs at Maytag.
"When a company like Maytag abandons a community like Galesburg and moves to Mexico, the collateral damage is far greater than many people realize," said Midwest Territory GVP Alex Bay. "The big lie of NAFTA is right here for anyone to see."...
By Rhasheema A. Sweeting, Chicago Tribune, August 16, 2004
Several Chicago-area banks are leading rapid growth in a new, more flexible type of home loan that allows immigrants without Social Security numbers [that means illegal aliens] to secure a mortgage...
Chicago has the second-largest Hispanic population in the nation, trailing only Los Angeles, and an estimated 425,000 undocumented immigrants...
Since April, the bank [First Bank of the Americas] has made 14 loans to those without Social Security numbers. The loans average about $128,000 each, with the majority of them insured, according to Frank Montanez, vice president of loan origination for the bank. And an additional $5 million in loans based on tax numbers are pending, he said...
by Fred Kelly, The Indianapolis Star, June 25, 2004
[Elizabeth] Lang, 40, and her husband, Adam Lang, 41, allegedly ran a scheme to obtain licenses and identification cards for Chinese nationals, working with the three men who live in New York state...
Investigators have not found evidence linking the illegally obtained licenses to terrorist activity, but they said that possibility is a concern...
Illegal immigrants from China, Pakistan, Mexico, Bulgaria and Africa obtained Indiana identification fraudulently, investigators have said...
By Vicki Urbanik, Chesterton Tribune, June 10, 2004
...Though the amount of money involved was relatively small -- $2,000 for interpreters for Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper and $150 for Porter Township Assessor Catherine Hall –the requests clearly demonstrated the budget predicament faced by the county...
Harper said most of the interpreters needed in court are for Spanish-speaking defendants, though there has also been a need for sing language interpreters. Harper said while she knows enough basic Spanish to understand what’s being said at preliminary hearings, she needs certified interpreters when the cases reach a more critical stage, such as a change of plea or sentencing...
...Harper also said one defendant has been sitting in jail since early February – at an expense to the county of about $33 a day – waiting for a court-appointed interpreter...
Posted by Robert Klein Engler, ChronWatch.com, May 26, 2004
The fact of the matter is, illegal immigration, especially illegal immigration from Mexico, is hurting Black Americans. If Democratic candidates ever [get] around to speaking the truth, they will have to tell Black voters that illegal immigration is taking jobs away from Black American, cutting into resources available for welfare, and restructuring public schools and many urban areas. In short, the votes of Latinos are bought by the Democrats at the expense of Black America.
Tony Brown, author of What Mama Taught Me, knows all too well how Black Americans are injured by illegal immigration. He writes, “’The U. S. Census Bureau reported in the New York Times…the poor Black and Latino communities lose the most income of any group of Americans, including all Americans who did not finish high school and all Americans who are paying higher taxes to subsidize welfare benefits for illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. Illegal immigrants overuse welfare benefits and services and underpay income taxes for a net loss to local, state and federal taxpayers.”
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has also documented the detrimental impact of illegal immigration on Black Americans. In California, Blacks are being forced out from communities like South Central, Los Angeles, where they have long lived. “This once predominantly Black neighborhood is becoming largely Hispanic. South Central is being transformed. Here we talk about ‘Black flight.’ People are leaving neighborhoods where they have lived for years because they don’t feel like they belong any more reports Terry Anderson in the San Francisco Examiner, (Feb. 3, 1999.)”...
By Patrick M. O’Connell, South Bend Tribune, May 6, 2004
Using tabletops, laps and friends’ backs, demonstrators signed petitions Wednesday evening in Morris Civic Plaza during a protest of what organizers call the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ “illegal, unconstitutional and discriminatory” driver’s license policies...
The driver’s license issue has been muddled and confused with counterterrorism efforts and citizenship concerns, rally attendees said, forcing immigrants to operate underground instead of legally...
In previous Tribune reports, BMV officials have stated the main motivation for the change is that they cannot issue driver’s licenses to people who cannot prove their legal right to be in the United States, especially since a license serves as a primary identification document...
Worldnetdaily.com, May 6, 2004
A federal court ruled yesterday a Florida hospital that provided over $2 million in care to an injured illegal alien was wrong to send him back to Guatemala, which means the man could possibly travel back to the U.S. for additional medical treatment...
Jimenez suffered brain injuries in a 2000 car wreck and spent two years at Martin Memorial, racking up more than $2 million in unpaid medical bills...
“He’s not getting medicine…his condition is deteriorating,” Schell said. “there is medicine available, but they don’t have any money to buy it. There is no free healath care in Guatemala.”...
By Lewis W. Diuguid, Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 29, 2004
Jose Angel Gutierrez, a Dallas lawyer and author, said it best as Friday’s luncheon speaker; “We are the future of America. Unlike any prior generation, we now have a critical mass. We’re going to Latinize this country.”...
Gutierrez said people from Mexico, Central and South America are not immigrating to the United States. They are simply migrating because this land had been theirs. Spain had held it, and before that it had belonged to the indigenous people. Hispanics should never put up with others telling them to go back where they came from. “You don’t have to apologize to anybody,” Gutierrez said. But he urged Hispanics to develop a plan...
In 2000, the nation had 35.6 million Hispanics, representing 12.6 percent of the U.S. population. Census projections show the Latino population will rise to 102.6 million people by 2050, amounting to 24.4 percent of the country’s 419.9 million people...
By Bill Ruthhart, The Indianapolis Star, April 5, 2004
Demand for Spanish-speaking church services is on the rise throughout Central Indiana as the Hispanic population boom continues, particularly in Hamilton County, which has one of the fastest-growing Latino communities in the state...
“The latest numbers from our Hispanic office in Washington, D.C., show that the No. 1 fastest-growing area for Hispanics is Las Vegas, No. 2 is the Carolinas and No. 3 is north central Indiana,” Castillo said. “The growth of Hispanics in our diocese is amazing.”
When he started in 1991, Castillo said there were 8,074 Hispanics in the Lafayette Diocese. Today, he said, the number is more than 50,000...
By Erin Walsh, New York Daily News, March 30, 2004
“My son is dead because of driver’s licenses,” said Peter Gadiel of the Coalition for a Secure driver’s License, whose 23-year-old son, James, died in the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001.
According to the coalition, 15 of the 19 terrorists on Sept. 11 were able to legally obtain a total of 63 driver’s licenses...
After Sept. 11, New York began requiring Social Security numbers with all license requests, or proof the applicant is not eligible for a card. The Department of Motor Vehicles verifies the numbers with the Social Security Administration, according to spokesman Joe Picchi...
By Fred Kelly, The Indianapolis Star, March 25, 2004
Crystal Rodriguez, considered the ringleader in a scheme to defraud the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, told The Indianapolis Star that over an eight-month period, managers did nothing to stop as many as 10 foreign nationals a day from fraudulently obtaining identification from the license branch at 4050 Meadows Parkway.
“I know of at least 15 people who take large (numbers of illegal immigrants) around to different license branches,” said Rodriguez, who is cooperating with investigators. “It is common knowledge (in the branches). It is still going on.”...
Rodriguez is among four employees at the Meadows Parkway branch accused of forging documents and providing answers on driving tests for illegal immigrants from early 2003 to November...
[Rodriguez said that when she found out a co-worker was “helping” African immigrants obtain licenses, she wanted to help Hispanics do the same. She is fluent in Spanish and charged immigrants as much as $300 for her assistance. She said that fraud is rampant at the branches in central Indiana. Bribery, attempted identity theft and corrupt business influence were among the charges filed in connection with this case.]
By Kevin Leininger, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, March 24, 2004
Allen Superior Court provided translators for 2,245 people last year, at a cost of $56,246. That was nearly 100 people-- and $20,000-- more than the year before.
Since all but 160 of the people needing translators in 2003 spoke primarily Spanish – and because as many as 1 million people enter the country illegally from Mexico every year—the statistics raise an obvious, if politically incorrect, question: How many of the people arrested every year in Allen County on various state and local charges also are guilty of breaking federal immigration laws? The answer is: No one really knows...
“We’ve called the INS before and they told us, ‘send us the person’s address and send us the information,’” said Bill Smallwood, chief deputy in the Allen County Sheriff’s Department. “If we’d pick people up, they wouldn’t do anything, and it’s not much different after 9/11. We even had an interpreter who turned out to be illegal.”...
By Bill Dolan, The Northwest Indiana Times, January 2, 2004
He [Angel Torres, who has been director of E. Chicago’s Hispanic Catholic Ministries] said he tries to help these lost soul obtain the Matricula Consular, identification cards issued by consulates in Indianapolis, Chicago and across the country “because they are without any proof that they belong to any country, that they are human beings. The people against (Matricula) don’t see the suffering of these wonderful people.”...
“If you go to any place and someone asks you your name, your identification, you don’t have anything. They are under a shadow, particularly after Sept. 11 with police and the FBI looking for terrorists,” he said...
The card gives Mexican nationals access to banking—Mexicans in the U.S. are projected to send $15 billion home this year—and allows them to be more active in their communities, [Consul General Sergio] Aguilera said...
The NorthWest Indiana Times, January 2, 2004
They are only wallet-sized, laminated photo identification cards, but to some law enforcement officials and advocates of less immigration, the Matricula Consular are the seeds of America’s destruction.
“(Cardholders) are not immigrants. They are illegal aliens. They are criminals,” said Dave Gorak, executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration...
He [Brian Perryman, recently retired director of Homeland Security and Immigration Enforcement officer for 34 years] said Mexican consulate officials give out large numbers of the cards without doing criminal background checks and only a cursory glance at the applicant’s birth certificates, which he said are easily faked. He said even those without the rudimentary documents can still persuade consulate staffs to issue time-limited Matricula...
Friday, November 22, 2002:
Mayor, Governor, Consul open new consulate office
The Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs has been working for about two years with the Mexican government and the State of Indiana on establishing a Mexican consulate in Indianapolis. To help move the process along, Mayor Peterson offered rent-free space for two years in Union Station for the new consulate.
Monday, June 23, 2003
Indianapolis, East Chicago & Fort Waynewill recognize Mexican ID cards
INDIANAPOLIS – Mayor Bart Peterson today said Indianapolis city government would recognize the matricula consular, or “matricula card” or a “Mexican ID card,” as a valid form of identification
Mayors Robert Pastrick of East Chicago and Graham Richard of Fort Wayne said their cities also would recognize Mexican ID cards.
Matricula consular are cards issued by the government of Mexico at consular offices in the United States that identify the cardholder as a Mexican national living abroad. The cards can be used for routine, day-to-day identification purposes, such as obtaining a bank account or purchasing goods and services.
Mayor Peterson pointed out that the cards do not change laws related to immigration or legalize undocumented aliens, but can help Mexican residents enter mainstream life more smoothly.
Updates from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vechicles
June 21, 2004:
Update on Central Verification Process
The Central Verification Process (CVP) for documents from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) began March 17, 2004. When a customer presents CIS documents at a license branch, photocopies of the documents are sent by courier to a central processing area in the Indiana Government Center. The original documents are returned to the customer.
Customers who pass all required tests, pay appropriate fees and meet other standard criteria may receive a temporary, 60-day authorization to drive pending verification of their documents. (Applicants for an identification card do not receive a temporary document.)
Document verification is based on information provided by the CIS. Upon verification, licenses, learner permits or identification cards are mailed directly to the customer.
In the first four months of the Central Verification Program (through June 17, 2004):
4673 CIS documents received
3840 BMV documents issued
227 Denied
606 Still in process
Many documents that cannot be verified through CVP are later verified when a customer works with the CIS to resolve the question.
Customers whose CIS documents cannot be verified may request an administrative hearing at which they may present evidence regarding their documents.
March 12, 2004:
New BMV Commissioner Announces Chantes
Contact: Dan Henkel or Media Wilson (317) 233-2521
Commissioner Mary DePrez (DEP-ree) today announced strong measures to bolster security and accountability at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. "Good security is good management and good management is good security," said DePrez, quoting from the Michael Carrington report whose recommendations she has already begun to implement.
DePrez, who just became commissioner March 1, announced that the following initiatives either now are in place or will begin within the month:
* Independent audit of cash collections and internal audit procedures
Auditors have begun a review as called for in the February 19 report prepared by former U.S. Marshall Michael Carrington at the request of Governor Joe Kernan. Under examination are the license branches' handling of cash transactions as well as the BMV's internal audit function. Commissioner DePrez said, "I am looking forward to the recommendations of these outside experts. They will help us identify best practices and move toward a Performance Measurement System to better carry out our mission."
* Central verification of immigration documents
"Security requires that driver licenses, learner permits and identification cards are issued only to those presenting valid documentation," said DePrez. "We are
obligated to the people of Indiana to improve the security and integrity of the driver database," she said. "Central verification is an important step toward that goal."
Effective Monday, March 15, the BMV will verify documents from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, or CIS (formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service). After the original documents are photocopied and returned to applicants, license branch employees will forward the copies to a central location for verification. At the same time, the branch will issue applicants a temporary document authorizing them to drive for 60 days pending authentication. Applicants will receive, by mail, either the license, permit or identification card or-in the case of documents that cannot be verified-a denial letter and an explanation of the process to request a hearing.
* Changes to the executive staff
DePrez already has put many new staff members in place, drawing expertise from the best-run license branches as well as from outside the agency.
"The people on our front lines have a virtual treasure chest of expertise that we need to utilize," said DePrez. "I have tapped some of these experts and given them leadership roles so that we can bring all branches up to the highest level. It is imperative to have the right team in place immediately to get things done."
* Police officers in Marion County license branches
A pilot program begins this month in Marion County, placing uniformed police officers in every license branch. "The physical presence of uniformed police officers will deter criminal activity in our license branches and send a clear message that the security of our driver license system is the number-one priority," said DePrez.
* Changes to Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commission hiring practices
DePrez will ask the Commission next week to reform personnel policies for license branch employees. Her proposal calls for a more extensive criminal history check on new applicants and requires current employees to report immediately to their supervisors any criminal arrests and convictions during their employment with the agency.
DePrez said that in working with the Commission she is confident that they will embrace this new policy. "I know that the commissioners share my determination to get this done," she said.
DePrez says this announcement is only the first in a long line of changes in the works at the BMV. "Everything is on the table," she said. "We are using every available resource to examine all facets of the agency and make appropriate changes that will result in increased security, accountability and improved customer service."
INspiring and INformative Articles
By Ian de Silva, Op-Ed in Washington Times by a legal immigrant, November 19, 2004
Center for Immigration Studies, August, 2004
By Joe Guzzardi, VDARE.com, August 28, 2004
By Allan Wall, August 14, 2004
By Frosty Wooldridge, The Washington Dispatch, July 28, 2004
By Brenda Walker, LimitsToGrowth.org, 2004
By Jonathon Moseley, Insight Magazine, April 27, 2004
Edwin S. Rubenstein, VDARE.com, April 24, 2004
Federation for American Immigration Reform
By Kelly Patricia O'Meara, WorldNetDaily.com, February 21, 2004
By David Shepardson, The Detroit News, January 16, 2004
By Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Steven A. Camarota, and Amanda K. Baumle, Center for Immigration Studies, October, 2003
By Steven A. Camarota and Nora McArdle, Center for Immigration Studies, September, 2003
Federation for American Immigration Reform, July 8, 2003
Letters to the Editor - Examples
Bayh should worry about immigration laws
Indianapolis Star, October 20, 2004
The Star reports that Sen. Evan Bayh can't debate candidates Marvin Scott and Al Barger because he might be called back to Washington to vote on the 9/11 commission's recommendations. Why bother? S. 2845 contains none of the 9/11 panel's recommendations with regard to immigration and securing our borders. Doesn't the senator know that most of the 9/11 attackers were in our country illegally or that 3 million unknown persons will cross our borders this year?
Bayh's campaign flyer says he's concerned about Hoosier jobs. Doesn't he know that almost one-third of the 1.3 million jobs created during the Bush administration went to illegal aliens? If he's so concerned about jobs, why does he repeatedly vote against legislation that would secure our borders and strengthen our immigration laws?
Bayh's time would be better spent debating his opponents than voting for S. 2845 if the immigration safeguards are not included.
Cheree Calabro
Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform & Enforcement
Valparaiso
Illegal immigrants good for Mexican economy
Indianapolis Star, July 5, 2004
Everyone has heard people say that illegal immigrants are hard-working people who are good for the economy. The problem is, they are good for the Mexican economy, not American.
The Pew Hispanic Center released a report analyzing information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau. If found that the U.S. economy added 1.3 million new jobs, and more than 28.5 percent of them went to non-citizens, while unemployment rates for U.S.-born Hispanics remained high. Nearly one-third of the new jobs went to illegal aliens.
A separate Pew report states that money sent home by Mexican nationals increased from $9.2 billion in 2001 to $13.2 billion in 2003.
Exporting poor people to the United States has become a lucrative business for Mexico. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to export entire factories and the jobs that go with them to Mexico. There’s nothing fair about this trade.
Cheree Calabro
Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform & Enforcement
Valparaiso
Wake up and put federal Dream Act to sleep
The Times, December 23, 2003
In The Times Local section Dec.1, there was an article about the Dream Act, which would allow illegal aliens who have been in America for five years the right to apply for legal residency and in-state tuition at any American university.
Americans pay $7.4 billion annually to educate illegal aliens, enough to by a computer foe every junior high student nationwide. Indiana spends $51 million on educating people who do not belong here. If America is a nation of laws, why is this injustice being accepted by our elected officials?
America has lost millions of jobs the past three years, and education is our only way of getting Americans back to work. The Dream Act is just a back-door amnesty for illegal aliens. We cannot afford to let this continue.
Contact your congressman or join the Federation for American Immigration Reform at www.fairus.org to put the Dream Act to sleep.
Greg Serbon, Crown Point
Reader Responses about Inland Outsourcing
The Times, February 9, 2004
Question: What do you think of Ispat Inland’s decision to send 20 local information technology jobs to India?
RESPONSE:
The government needs to step up and do something about it.
Why send only 20 jobs? Might as well send them all. Everyone else has been doing it.
The government needs to step up and do something about it. Quit giving away our jobs, our future.
I'm sick of hearing about Americans losing jobs because companies are moving operations out of our country. We need to quit buying those companies' products. Politicians need to start worrying about what is going on in this country as opposed to what is happening everywhere else.
Why do American's keep losing jobs? The answer is simple. The government is letting you lose your job because it is letting all of these companies leave the United States so they can pay someone a dollar an hour to work.
Magnequench decided to leave Valparaiso in order to go overseas and employ people for a lot less than what workers are paid here in the United States.
Is the government going to wait until absolutely no companies are left here before it does something? Probably. Because they have jobs, they don't have to worry about their jobs going overseas, although they should. How about voting in someone from India for governor? We can pay him a lot less.
Dustin Fant, Hammond
Stop Social Security for illegal immigrants
The Merrillville Post-Tribune, August 29, 2004
On June 29, U.S. State Department and Mexican government officials signed the agreement that opens the door to illegal aliens receiving Social Security checks.
This treaty will cost $79 million the first year and climb as high as $650 million annually as more illegal workers and their families in Mexico stake their claims. It's bad enough that our elected officials turn a blind eye to illegal immigration; now, they are going to reward it.
This agreement has been in the works for over a year, yet most of us haven't heard about it? The amnesty-guest worker proposal put forth by the Bush administration and the one proposed by Sen. John Kerry would make millions of illegal aliens eligible for benefits, just at a time that the baby-boom generation begins to reach retirement age.
In addition, the SSA, by its own admission, does not know how many people have paid into the system using bogus Social Security numbers or ones that belong to other people. Contact your congressmen and let them know what you think about them rewarding lawbreakers with Social Security, a system that may not be able to deliver what was promised to us in the years ahead.
Also, you can join us at www.ifire.org and help us work against illegal immigration in Indiana.
Greg Serbon, Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement Crown Point
Illegal aliens prohibited from getting licenses
The Indianapolis Star, May 24, 2004
Contrary to the assertions of the immigration attorneys in their May 17 letter to the editor, “No law prohibiting immigrant licenses,” there is a law that precludes illegal aliens from obtaining a driver’s license. Indiana code 9-24-9-2 says that a license applicant must have a Social Security number. If those who illegally reside in our country cannot lawfully obtain a Social Security number, then they do not meet the requirements for obtaining a driver’s license. If they illegally entered our country, then they also lack other primary proofs of identity such as visas or passports.
I take issue with the lawyers’ statement that absolutely nothing in the law prohibits an undocumented immigrant from obtaining a driver’s license.
Yes, it does. The key word here is undocumented. They must be able to prove their true identity.
Identity theft and a black market for fake Ids have increased right along with the illegal immigrant population. Once a driver’s license is obtained, the illegal aliens can more easily access privileges reserved for citizens, like voting. If they appear to be legitimate citizens, they can obtain welfare benefits to which they would not otherwise be entitled. It also makes it easier for them to set up bank accounts out of which they can pay the attorneys who help them skirt the law.
Cheree Calabro
Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform & Enforcement
Valparaiso
Teach English instead of translating ballots
The Times, April 29, 2004
I have been an inspector in our precinct for more than 25 years. The voters are from many nationalities and cultures. We have Polish, German, Slovak, Mexican, Russian, Italian, Greek, Asian and Middle Eastern—too many to list here.
Some are first-generation Americans who have escaped from many horrors.
These voters have learned to speak, read and understand the English language. They have never needed translators and consider it a privilege to vote.
The “voters rights” in Spanish posted in our poll in prior elections drew many comments—not complimentary.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund of Chicago, instead of wasting time and money on lawsuits, would better serve the Hispanic community by helping them to learn the English language so they would know how to vote and who to vote for.
Other nationalities manage to learn the English language and move into the mainstream of our society. Why not the Hispanic community?
A provision fro voters who need help already exists, and has for years. The voter can come to the poll with a person of his or her choice and sign a simple form that allows the voter to have assistance.
Taxes are high enough without the additional cost burden of catering to special groups.
Terry Hildebranski, Hammond
Enforce immigration laws to protect U.S. jobs
The Times, April 15, 2004
April 7 on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program, it was reported there are 310,000 Illinois residents ages 16 to 24 unemployed and unable to find work.
The latest census sttistic indicates there are 500,000 plus illegal immigrants in Illinois. This is a real problem.
As a country founded on the rule of law, why are we not enforcing our immigration laws?
No other country would let this many illegal immigrants displace its own citizens and look the other way. With millions of Americans out of work, our government continues to allow more than 1 million immigrants into our country yearly.
Is anyone paying attention? Doesn’t anyone care?
I read a parable I would like to share with you: First they came for the unskilled blue collar jobs, and I did not speak out because I was not an unskilled blue collar worker. Then they came for the union jobs, and I did not speak out because I am not a union worker. Then they came for my job, and there was no one left to speak for me.
If we don’t speak up and stop this mass influx of immigrants coming into America at this moment, whatever job isn’t outsourced will pay minimum wage, skilled or unskilled.
From doctor to engineer, all our jobs are up for grabs without effective immigration law enforcement.
Greg Serbon, Crown Point
Guest workers program is really gift to business
The Times, February 11, 2004
I have many questions about President Bush’s plan for guest workers. Who will benefit from all this?
Mexico says guest workers are taking jobs Americans don’t want, because of low pay or the work itself. The goal for the guest worker is to send money home to their families in Mexico.
Just taking basic math, how can these goals be reached? Can you pay for an apartment, feed yourself, pay car insurance, electric bills and the normal responsibilities we all have, plus send money home to your family, on $6.50 an hour? Not unless you put six or seven workers in a small apartment, breaking housing codes, plus causing bigger slums and a bigger burden on police, hospitals and schools.
One article in the business section states some banks are wanting to make mortgage loans and more. So are we looking at guest workers or people staying for good?
None of these amnesty plans will stop illegal immigration. The people who come here illegally have already figured out all they have to do is overwhelm American with large numbers of illegals, and America gives in.
If you look around, many legal Americans are working jobs Mexico says we won’t. So it looks like the people who benefit the most are the banks, corporations and Mexico.
Joseph. R. Claus, Munster