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Political Suicide and Immigration
My friend, Bob Lee, says he found an LSU license plate for me, and on the back of the thing is the notice that it is an officially licensed NCAA license plate, which is much preferred to an unlicensed license plate, official or otherwise. Because the licentious licensing of unlicensed license plates can unleash all manner of licensed and unlicensed repercussions, particularly in a society that will go all litigious if an unlicensed licenser purports to license an unlicensed licensee in the licentious production and sales of unlicensed licensed merchandise, and Gawd help you if the federal Department of Unlicensed Licensable Licensers (DULL) wants in on the action, because they can really yank your license like nobody’s bidness.
Which is all well and good, I suppose, if the unlicensed or undocumented object is inanimate and not liable to hurt anyone. But what are we to do when such an object is animated and smashes in the skull of a lady cleaning the restrooms at a national monument? “It’s pretty amazing I survived,” said 60 year-old Karen Gonzales. “It makes me think that there is something else I have to do with my life.”
Beaten and left for dead by Gilbert Gaxiola, who is in the country illegally, Ms. Gonzales also sustained defensive wounds to her hands while attempting to fight back. Gaxiola beat her about the head with a rock, striking her so hard that the rock split in two. A dent in the metal doors bears testimony to the moment when he slammed her against the, before making off with her pickup truck.
Gaxiola was later arrested for drug smuggling, though he wasn’t officially charged with that offense, nor with illegal entry into the country (both crimes apparently falling into the “act of love” category so artfully framed by Jeb Bush and enthusiastically endorsed by the Democratic Party). He is, however, charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, kidnapping, and auto theft. And judging from the Department of Homeland Security’s 2013 release of 36,000 illegal immigrants with a combined 88,000 criminal convictions, perhaps Gaxiola could qualify for release into the general population as well!
Among the thousands of acts of love these 36,000 salt-of-the-earth, hard working illegal immigrants brought to America were 426 sexual assaults, 1,317 domestic violence assaults, 303 kidnappings, 1,724 weapons offenses, 15,635 DWIs, and 193 homicides. For this, they were released in our midst, just last year, by the same President who now laments that enforcement of immigration laws is, “…not smart,” and insists that he can be trusted to oversee something called Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which is Orwellian on a whole new level because it isn’t the immigration system that is being reformed so much as the country itself.
Entering the country illegally no more entitles one to the benefits of American citizenship than my entering Jeb Bush’s home illegally would entitle me to adoption, three squares a day, and a generous mention in the family will. Of course, the odds of me or anyone else being able to pull that off are slim indeed, given the protections the Bush family’s status affords them. The same cannot be said, however, of Americans living near the nation’s southern border.
Back in 2010, the government’s own Government Accountability Office reported that “illegal border activities” presented, “a threat to both public safety and health.” With over 500 tons of trash and 100 abandoned vehicles per year in a single national wildlife refuge in Arizona, the environmental impact across the southern border is significant, but it pales against the staggering financial toll it takes on American citizens.
As far back as 2008, the National Research Council reported that illegal immigration costs American taxpayers some $346 billion annually, including what may be the most common act of love of all, as some 300,000 pregnant women cross the border illegally each year to bequeath us their “anchor babies.” The average cost for a normal, healthy birth is now over $9,000, while the costs associated with Downs Syndrome, Autism, or any number of issues can send the bill into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, all financed by the coercive extraction of your earnings by a friendly IRS agent who reminds you that voluntary donations to conservative causes could be a bit of a problem. Add in the cost of years of free meals and public education, and suddenly that “nativist” citizen is starting to wonder why he at least doesn’t get a Father’s Day card from all the people he is supporting.
I grow weary of being lectured on my supposedly simmering racism by people who spend every waking hour drafting thousands of new rules and regulations, fees, taxes and requirements that I, as a citizen, must master and comport with on pain of any number of draconian penalties, while those same people applaud others who break the rules; extol their virtues and compose sonnets to their “love”; and reward them with my earnings. I expect such twaddle from Democrats, because they see millions of new voters. But when Republican leaders join in the chorus, they sign their political death warrant.
Speaker Boehner feels free to mock conservatives while Jeb Bush is at considerable liberty to lecture them, and the media marvels at the steely spine it takes to castigate those in their own party. But let the US Chamber of Commerce President ominously warn that if they don’t push through immigration reform, “…they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016,” and suddenly they prostrate their reason, fold up their spine, and abandon the people they claim to represent. President Obama threatens to grant amnesty by executive fiat if Congress doesn’t act, and Republicans start dancing as if he were aiming a six-shooter at their feet. These are leaders?
Karen Gonzales, who is back on the job (though walking with a limp since she was beaten by an illegal immigrant) deserves better. Millions of hard-working citizens, who play by the rules while watching their health care cost skyrocket and wondering how they will make ends meet, deserve better. Meanwhile, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to take seriously politicians who insist that we stick out our necks to support them while they break their own necks running away from one of the most serious domestic issues of the day.
Published in General
Then we should run Hillary as a white republican male in 2016.
That pretty much sums up my feelings about this. Thanks, Dave.
Well, Jeb did hand her the Liberty Medal, after all, thereby giving his answer to her question about what difference it makes.
Speaking as a wealthy elitist, I believe Ms. Gonzalez should accept her beating and take one for the team lest it disrupt my self-satisfaction regarding my empathy for undocumented persons. Similarly, I think residents of Central and Southern California should keep valuables on the lawn to minimize break-ins and that plumbing should be exposed as much as possible to permit easier removal of copper.
I think that unemployed inner city youth should welcome the wage-depressing effects of millions of new workers willing to accept cash payments well below prevailing wages. Entry level positions denied to inner city youth are a merely a gateway to ultimate benefit program ineligibility and thus should be avoided.
Senator Reid is right to reward successfully evasion of oppressive immigration laws with universal in-state tuition and other benefits. Those who actually complied with immigration law (AKA “suckers”) should be treated with the same contempt as other Americans.
When Consuela serves my aubergine salad, when Jose polishes my Prius (and cleaning the Obama-Biden bumper sticker) and when I look out over my manicured lawn, I remember what an exceptionally compassionate person I am and I bask. Shut up, Ms. Gonzalez.
Republican ” leadership” doesn’t grasp they will face a party-destroying mutiny if they try sneaking “reform” through.
Releasing people who commit violent crimes has nothing to do with “immigration enforcement,” it’s just plain “enforcement.”
Maybe if our laws didn’t treat illegals differently, our president wouldn’t have the ability to release people that should be in jail, no matter what their legal status.
But to smear non-violent people with heinous crimes because of their status is guilt-by-association that cannot be stood for.
Amen, Dave.
Racist.
If our laws didn’t treat illegals differently, then we would effectively have no control over the nation’a territorial sovereignty. Outside of John Lennon’s song, Imagine, is there a place where that has worked? As Milton Friedman pointed out, the combination of open borders and a welfare state is lethal to a nation.
As for smearing non-violent people with heinous crimes, Ms. Gonzales was non-violent and she wasn’t just smeared, she was nearly killed by someone who would not have even been here in the first place had the federal government lived up to its most basic of legitimate functions; namely protecting the lives and freedom of its citizens.
Tease.
Data in the link.
Oh, nice article.
The article cited is not about illegals. It states the obvious fact that LEGAL immigrants tend to be fastidiously law-abiding people who don’t do anything that would jeopardize the achievement of US citizenship. I think we already knew that.
To throw this out as a defense of those who by definition do not share the same attitude toward legal niceties is utterly disingenuous.
The issue is not about restricting legal immigration but about the costs imposed on this country by illegal immigration and the cynical refusal of politicians to arrest and deport criminals.
The excuse that we had to let them go because their home countries would not take them back is already addressed in federal law. Any such refusal triggers an automatic denial of ALL visas to persons of that country. If you don’t take your trash, your people don’t get to visit the US for any reason. Hillary/Kerry have not even hinted that the law will be enforced so the worst of the illegals will get to run wild all so that maybe, just maybe there will be a political opportunity to register them all as Democrats.
Huh?
Ok. So if somebody raises the issue of unemployment and crime rates among inner city males would you give me a statistic that says combining their crime rates with that of elderly suburban women shows into a single figure that there is no problem. That is what the cited study does. Produce a study that separates illegals from our very welcome lawful citizenship hopefuls. This is not about restricting legal immigration. This is about expelling illegals who break the law. There are a lot of them and they are a genuine problem. The failure to enforce is partisan, unlawful and cynical.
Here’s the conclusion of this study.
Ironically, the last thing we may want these immigrants to do is assimilate.
Hey, what a great idea! Let’s stop them at the border and weed out the ones we really don’t want.
MikeH:
you still miss the point. I asked for data about illegals. the fact that a pro-immigration group believes that immigrants on the whole are nice people is only relevant if the issue Is whether legal immigration should be curtailed. Please get focused. Crime by illegals is entirely unacceptable since they have no legal right to be here. The fact that people like you lump them in with good people –legal immigrants–in order to mimimize the damage caused by illegals is unfair to American victims and unfair to lawful immigrants.
I am not anti-immigration. I am against abuses and cynical political choices that make a mockery of the privilege of American citizenship.
Do you have data on illegals or are we going to base this all on hunches? I’m trying to separate illegal violent criminals from illegal otherwise law abiding residents. Even if a larger proportion of illegals are criminals, to paint all of them as such is wrong.
Fine by me. If someone seems like a likely criminal, there’s no imperative to let them through.
The only reason lawful immigrants would be adversely portrayed is if we are unable to deal with the bad guys because of (a) cynical political decisions; (b) misplaced sympathy; and (c) building resentment by adversely affected persons. The recently publicized figure of 16,000 crimes by recently released illegals does not include prior criminal acts nor acts created by those who have never been caught and reported as illegal. It is likely that a majority of LA gangbangers are illegals. It is likely that those who beat and direct racial slurs at African American residents of Compton are illegals.
I resent that my idiot local government mandates that the Mexican consular ID be accepted as valid ID when not even all Mexican state governments accept it because it is so easy to fake.
American citizenship is a great privilege, not a tool for Democratic Party operatives to replace defections or a welfare benefit to make goo-goos and limbs feel good about themselves. That privilege should be protected and respected vigorously.
So I am a denier of ‘The Science of Amnesty’?
I donno. The left is a denier of when humans are conceived. Though I’m a physicist, and I disagree with the consensus on global warming. Is it inconceivable that immigrants might not be as bad as the vast majority of people around the world assume that they are?
Do you enjoy burning down straw men?
You accuse others of judging a group for the actions of individuals, yet you refuse to acknowledge the difference between immigrants who follow the law and those who violate it.
What’s the strawman? There tend to be differences between legal and illegal immigrants. That doesn’t mean all illegal immigrants must be branded with the worst sins among them.
Well said, Sir.
Red herring alert! The American people in polls don’t really care for us to do anything about reforming immigration right now. It’s low priority. This issue is harped on by the Democrats to manipulate politicians on the right and bait them into taking a no-win position to undermine support within their own party, knowing it won’t earn them any support from the left. The left insists on hiding the word illegal from the immigration debate, thereby confusing the issue. Progressives try to downplay the law breaking and threats to public safety that rightly have citizens concerned. If this issue had support, the president’s party would have passed immigration reform when they controlled both chambers of the legislature. Instead, we see where their priorities were. Attacks on the right serve to misdirect the public’s attention away from the voting record of Democrats on this issue, giving them protection from the true sentiments of their constituencies.