Jumping the line

We had lunch today at a trendy new Mexican food place near our home.  Very good food and attentive service. 

While eating we had the chance to have a friendly chat with the 19-year old counter girl, who is from Chihuahua, Mexico.  She freely admitted in her excellent English that she's in the country on a tourist visa and is looking forward to studying at a local college in the fall.

Two things are very wrong with this situation, though - visitors on tourist visas are barred from enrolling in higher education institutions, and they are expressly forbidden to work while in this country.  This otherwise charming person is doing both, most likely with a fraudulent or stolen Social Security number. 

A significant percentage of illegal immigrants to this country don't arrive by trekking through the desert or wading across a river.  They simply arrive on a tourist visa and never leave.  This person is one of them, and she is knowingly breaking several of our laws in the process. 

Immigration reform activists, why should this person get to stay when so many others around the world wait their turn and come here legally?

Thanks for visiting

An illegal immigrant who made his way into the U.S. through Mexico, got caught, made a nebulous asylum claim of "religious persecution" from a government that no longer existed at the time he left his home country (but the rest of his family seemingly has no issues and stayed there), had his claim denied, is ordered deported in 1996 and not only ignored the order but subsequently missed not one but two court hearings to appeal his status, is finally located and picked up by ICE and is in jail awaiting return to his homeland, so naturally he's crying about how unfair the system is.

The man unwisely married and had five children while under that active deportation order, so of course it's America's fault that his family is apparently going to be split up.  Nope, he has no sense of personal responsibility whatsoever for his current predicament despite the choices being entirely his at every step of the process.

And no, he doesn't qualify for President Obama's illegal end-run around the law relaxation of immigration policy for certain individuals, which seems to be the main point of the story - let's let everyone unlawfully here stay!

By the way, the illegal alien is from Romania, about as white as a country gets, so the tired old racial bias argument simply won't play here.

Amnesty is officially here

The morale of rank and file ICE agents has virtually flatlined, for good reason - apparently the officers no longer can arrest and deport deserving candidates, thanks to that agency's taking of President Obama's unlawful declaration of amnesty for certain classes of illegal aliens (an action he took merely one year after publicly admitting he didn't possess that authority.  Well, he seems to have invented some) and extending it to include virtually everyone, even those who obviously don't qualify under the already liberal definition of "Dreamers":

"[National ICE Council President Chris] Crane said a case involving a veteran ICE agent is a perfect illustration. The agent arrested an illegal who was not a “primary target.” The agent’s superior officers ordered the illegal released – even though he did not meet the criteria listed by the Dept. of Homeland Security.

The officer refused to follow orders and is now facing a three day suspension. The 35-year-old illegal immigrant with ten traffic violations was released."  (All emphases ours)

Why even have a deportation process if it takes being a serial killer to qualify as a "primary target"?

When that drag-on-society criminal eventually smashes his vehicle into another car and kills someone (which happens all too often), the responsibility for those deaths will fall squarely on the heads of those who supposedly watch out for our "security".

Taking their ball and going home

"The Obama administration said Monday it is suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and said it has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline many of the calls reporting illegal immigrants that the Homeland Security Department may get from Arizona police."

(Washington Times)

This is a proudly raised middle finger to America by the feds in direct response to today's Supreme Court ruling allowing law enforcement officers to attempt to ascertain the immigration status of people already being investigated for other offenses whom they reasonably believe are in the country illegally.  For instance, resident aliens under current Federal law must have their immigration papers with them at all times.  Why is it so wrong, then, for police to investigate why someone given a ticket for a traffic violation or accident has no driver's license or ID that any normal citizen must produce, along with other indicators of unlawful immigration status?

Once again, as we have seen in so many other arenas (Defense of Marriage Act, internet gambling, marijuana, voter intimidation laws and unilaterally granting waivers to No Child Left Behind, among others), the Obama administration has basically abrogated its responsibility to enforce the laws on the books, this time by refusing to respond to calls for service from local police agencies who arrest illegal immigrants for committing other crimes.

We vehemently disagree with most of these statutes; the fact remains, however, that they are valid laws until repealed by Congress or stuck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and thus must be enforced the same as any other rule.  Otherwise one rapidly experiences anarchy and chaos, which on second thought is probably exactly what Mr. Obama wants.  That way he gets to swoop in and make up even more fanciful policies all on his own to ostensibly "clean up the mess", just like any other good tyrant.

What a statesman

Here's Dear Leader's warped idea of how to lead a "constructive and civil debate" on illegal immigration:

"'We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement,' Obama said. 'But even though we've answered these concerns, I gotta say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.'

'Maybe they'll need a moat,' he said mockingly to laughter from the crowd. 'Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat.'"

Yeah, that strategy is sure to win people who oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants over to your side, Mr. President.

Keep up your special community activist-learned brand of barely-disguised contempt for people who honestly disagree with you on issues and you'll be sure to "lead" yourself right out of a job in 2012.

It's about time

ICE is finally beginning to address the demand side of the illegal immigration dilemma. 

This kind of aggressive enforcement against employers who knowingly break the law in order to obtain cheap labor will do more than just about anything else to help resolve the issue in a humane and efficient fashion.

They don't want your help

The "Reverend" Al Sharpton has signed onto Dear Leader's amnesty scheme for illegal immigrants "comprehensive immigration reform plan", no doubt dashing the hopes of those who sincerely want such a circumstance to occur.

Because, you know, nothing says mainstream success like having the cretinous Rev. Al championing your cause.

A false "parole"

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-IL, is apparently planning to go on a rock star-like 20-city tour to force Dear Leader's feet to the fire over the president's campaign promise to deliver a blanket amnesty to millions of immigrants (of all races) living here illegally.

As part of this farcical publicity event Gutierrez has now introduced the term "parole-in-place" to replace the (rightly) skeptically-viewed word "amnesty", as the former somehow infers that a penalty will be assessed on the people who thumbed their noses at immigration law and jumped the line ahead of the millions of people worldwide patiently waiting to come here the legal way.  A closer look at the plan Gutierrez is proposing reveals that nothing could be further from the truth:

"Under such a plan, Gutierrez explained, parents who are illegally in the U.S. but whose children were born in this country could come forward, go through a background check “and if it’s found that you haven’t violated any other law but immigration status,” you’d be 'frozen' and not deported."

In other words, arrive here illegally and immediately have a child and you would be able to stay indefinitely without so much as a fine, and even eventually apply for permanent resident status once those children turn 21.  That sure is some sweet "parole" indeed.

"Many of the immigrants attending the event were there with young children and babies."

But whenever reasonable people point out the very real concept of "anchor babies" those individuals are immediately labeled as being somehow racist towards Latinos.  This knee-jerk characterization is a complete fallacy, of course, as such kids are not only of Hispanic descent but also Chinese, Turkish and Irish, to name just a few.

Need some specific examples?  How about this story out of California, in which several houses in the city of San Gabriel were busted for hosting Chinese women who came here solely to have their children on American soil, after which the moms happily flew back to their home country with a newly minted U.S. citizen, with all the rights and privileges that status entails of course:

"Immigration experts say they can only guess why well-to-do Chinese women are so eager to get United States passports for their babies, but they suspect it is largely as a kind of insurance policy should they need to move."

How nice that the American peasant can provide such a valuable service for those matrons.

Another one?  Here's an upscale hotel in New York City which advertises month-long stays for Turkish women planning to do the very same thing as the Chinese women.  The place even throws in a free stroller and airport transfer:

"The Marmara Manhattan, a New York hotel which is part of the Turkish warmth chain, exploits the 14th amendment to the US constitution, which points out that all children born on American soil 'are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside'."

...

"Though the price is an inexpensive and easy one to pay for US citizenship. Many will ultimately use the newborn, known as an “anchor baby”, a stepping stone for the immigration of extended family. The hotel has up to now sold 15 of the packages."

Move along, citizen.  No anchor baby abuse going on here.

Look, we are extremely sympathetic to the plight of poor and oppressed people the world over, and even well-off individuals who reside in dictatorships or politically unstable nations that place restrictions on their freedoms.  The United States, however, simply can't accept everyone who manages to arrive here, and we must enforce our borders and immigration laws to prevent our nation from experiencing utter chaos.

Sorry, Mr. Gutierrez, that's the way it's going to have to be.  Good luck convincing the American people otherwise.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Welfare Tab for Children of Illegal Immigrants Estimated At $600M in L.A. County" [Alone]

According to L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

That figure does not include education costs, by the way, which would make the actual number even higher by another couple hundred million dollars or so.

This situation is one of the major reasons why California is utterly insolvent and is currently teetering on the unheard-of-by-a-state precipice of seeking bankruptcy protection.

The issue simply has to be promptly resolved on both the state and federal levels if any progress at all is to be made in reducing the massive debts that are being unfairly heaped upon the average citizen or legal resident.

The very real problems directly caused by unchecked illegal immigration

A faithful reader calls our attention to the story of an illegal immigrant and career troublemaker (which includes hard time in Illinois and Texas for killing people) who has been deported to Mexico at least three times (but not after his manslaughter and murder convictions, oddly enough), yet somehow manages to still be here in this country causing mayhem, most recently in Minnesota for a large amount of such lovely offenses as felony assault, indecent exposure and DWI.

"Federal and local officials acknowledge that they don't know why he's been allowed to stay despite so many run-ins with the law."

(Duh, don't ask us.  We're instead far too busy busting law-abiding people for such "crimes" as haplessly ending up in New Jersey with their checked luggage [which included properly-declared firearms and ammunition] after their airline strands them there.  The traveler, Greg Revell, spent ten days in jail after simply trying to check his bags back in at the Newark airport the next morning. 

The Supreme Court has decreed that Revell may not sue the Port Authority over the incident.  Lesson learned - don't accept your luggage from baggage claim if you're not at your proper destination, but instead let the airlines handle the issue.  And stay out of New Jersey at all costs.  They don't deserve your vacation dollars.)

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.  Mario Montalban-Ramirez has now finally been federally charged with illegal entry after deportation and he faces up to 20 years in prison for his decades of thumbing his nose at American society.  Just imagine the sheer amount of nonsense that would have been avoided had he been so charged for his being here unlawfully back in 1997 and 2003, the last two times he was tossed out of the country.

We reiterate - the vast majority of illegal immigrants do not commit crimes on the level of murder, assault and serial DWI.  But this one has (and shows no signs of ever stopping) without much at all in the way of sanction, and his case illustrates that our "leaders" need to take the vexing problem of illegal immigration much more seriously than they have to date. 

Until we get a handle on our sieve-like border and identify and figure out a way to return to their home countries the people who jumped the line and are already here in violation of our laws, irritating societal warts like Montalban-Ramirez will continue to come here to prey upon and injure innocent citizens and legal residents.  Demand your representatives fix the problem.

Our border sure is secure with people like this on the job

Here's about when everyone should pretty much throw up their hands in frustration:

"Investigators who searched the Imperial Beach home of a U.S. Border Patrol agent said they found an undocumented man in a hidden room along with evidence of drug dealing."

We don't pretend to know what the answer to the border morass is, but we're pretty sure what's in place right now isn't it.

On a side note to the story,

"'It looked like a movie. It was a big scene,' said neighbor Daniel Lazo. 'Seems impossible. They were everywhere.' 

"'They went inside every house,' Lazo said. 'We couldn't get out. It was crazy.'"  (Emphasis ours)

The Feds on those crack SWAT teams better had had search warrants for every one of the private residences they so cavalierly "went inside" or else they need to be hauled up on charges for unlawfully detaining and searching those innocent neighbors' properties and persons.

A must read

Victor Davis Hanson takes a multi-week field trip to observe firsthand the wreckage of his once-great home state of California, and the journey leaves him with several insightful (and poignant) observations.  Here's just one of them:

"Fresno’s California State University campus is embroiled in controversy over the student body president’s announcing that he is an illegal alien, with all the requisite protests in favor of the DREAM Act. I won’t comment on the legislation per se, but again only note the anomaly. I taught at CSUF for 21 years. I think it fair to say that the predominant theme of the Chicano and Latin American Studies program’s sizable curriculum was a fuzzy American culpability. By that I mean that students in those classes heard of the sins of America more often than its attractions. In my home town, Mexican flag decals on car windows are far more common than their American counterparts.

I note this because hundreds of students here illegally are now terrified of being deported to Mexico. I can understand that, given the chaos in Mexico and their own long residency in the United States. But here is what still confuses me: If one were to consider the classes that deal with Mexico at the university, or the visible displays of national chauvinism, then one might conclude that Mexico is a far more attractive and moral place than the United States.

So there is a surreal nature to these protests: something like, “Please do not send me back to the culture I nostalgically praise; please let me stay in the culture that I ignore or deprecate.” I think the DREAM Act protestors might have been far more successful in winning public opinion had they stopped blaming the U.S. for suggesting that they might have to leave at some point, and instead explained why, in fact, they want to stay. What it is about America that makes a youth of 21 go on a hunger strike or demonstrate to be allowed to remain in this country rather than return to the place of his birth? "

If you read nothing else this week at least check out Hanson's entire piece.

The old saying goes something like "As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation".  If that maxim is indeed true then we as a country are in big trouble indeed.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Greece plans border fence to keep out illegal immigrants"

Mostly people of Middle Eastern origin trying to enter E.U. nations via Greece's border with Turkey.

Does this necessary step (we've been to Greece and seen firsthand the illegal immigration problem that exists in that country, mainly in Athens) mean Europeans are now going to label themselves "racists" for taking the necessary steps to protect their sovereign borders? 

The next "offensive" term to be purged from the lexicon by the propagandists in the media

A self-purported professional journalism group reveals its utter lack of objectivity by appealing to the media to censor a term that's nothing more than an accurate description of certain peoples' legal status in this country:

"The Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is seeking to 'inform and sensitize' reporters nationwide about how 'offensive' the term 'illegal immigrant' is to Latinos."

Despite the fact that illegal immigrants as a group are ironically about as diverse a population as one can have - Chinese in San Francisco, Irish in Boston and Africans in New York City, to name a few examples.  Why, Dear Leader's own "Dear Auntie" Zeituni Onyango until quite recently was just such an individual, and there was nothing remotely Hispanic about her Kenyan background the last time we checked it out.

Sorry, Diversity Committee re-educators.  Your biased attempt to turn words you don't like into some kind of newly-created racial epithet in a desperate attempt to redirect the debate over "illegal immigration" (oops, we wrote it) simply isn't going to work.

Dirty car? Pull over there for the unconstitutional extra search

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eric Morehead (sp?), apparently working at an internal I-19 checkpoint (that is, not at the border), asking to search a motorist's trunk because his "car is dirty":



We can clearly observe a calm and polite citizen whose simple exercising of his 4th Amendment rights manages to fluster several agents (who seem to be at a complete loss as to how to proceed once their "request" is flatly denied).

"Don't take my picture, man. What's wrong with you?"

Photographing law enforcement officers in the public performance of their duties now makes one a weirdo worthy of chastisement, at least according to these particular cops.

Smile and say "cheese", sir.


(via CopBlock.org)

What a hypocritical worm

Some good old-fashioned reverse racism in support of the DREAM Act from the supposedly "learned" professor Kent Wong, Director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education (and previous staff attorney for the Los Angeles branch of the corrupt and thuggish SEIU, so our theory that he's a nakedly partisan liberal mouthpiece for the Democrat Party vote-getting machine seems to be well-established:



"'When that day happens, the young people of the DREAM Act movement, will go on to accomplish and do great things with your lives,' he said. 'You will go on to become lawyers, teachers, doctors and members of the US congress to replace those old white men... You are the hope and future of this country. You are hope and future of your generation.'"  (Emphasis ours)

How long does anyone think a conservative faculty member would last on that campus if he or she were to make a similarly biased public comment?

Mr. Wong must get a large amount of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate educate young adults in his collectivist philosophy, because he sure lives in a large (glass) house for one who takes such delight in calling out others for their supposed racist and sexist statements.

Good enough for the goose...

Certain Latin American nations such as Costa Rica are being swamped by illegal aliens from even poorer countries, Nicaragua in this particular case.  In response, Costa Rica has built walls along its borders and begun deporting large numbers of people caught unlawfully residing there.

Sound familiar?

Those widely-panned immigration policies seem perfectly good enough for all other countries save America, strangely enough.  We wonder why?

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

A few quick hits:


"High Court questions broad use of FOIA exemption"

By President Transparency's open administration, of course. 

"Obama may delay Hawaiian vacation over tax fight"

Don't strain yourself, sir.  Fret not; we're sure you'll still be able to score some prime tee times.

"U.S. Rep. John Conyers says he's sorry, will repay government for son's use of congressional vehicle"

Darn skippy he will.  In other news, an expensive 2010 Cadillac Escalade SUV apparently is a perfectly valid choice for a run of the mill "government vehicle".  An identical size but less-tony hence less-expensive Chevy Tahoe just wouldn't do?  It sure is nice to be one of the overlords who control the purse-strings.

"John Conyers III, 20, had worked in a $15-an-hour part-time job for his mother, Monica Conyers, a Detroit city councilwoman, before she pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges."  (emphasis ours)

Christmas dinner this year is sure going to be interesting in that particular household.

"Democratic Leader Says Will Force Vote on Dream Act" 

He doesn't have the votes; it's merely pandering to his base.  

Bring it on, Mr. Reid.  A failure to pass this amnesty bill during the lame-duck session will hopefully make it go away for a good while at least, as forever is probably too much to hope for.

The PR push for DREAM continues

The Arizona Republic continues the current full-court press for passing the unfair and ill-gotten-reward-producing DREAM Act by running a piece which profiles several young people (who proudly give their full names as well as the colleges they attend) who wish to take advantage of the proposed legislation's line-jumping privileges and become legal residents ahead of thousands of people in other countries who are waiting to come here in a proper and lawful fashion.

We admit to having a modicum of sympathy for the person who was brought here by his illegal immigrant parents when he was 2.  Two other people in the story, however, apparently crossed the border at ages 12 and 15, respectively, yet these supposedly super-smart "straight A" students claim to have had absolutely no idea that they were here illegally until quite recently.  Sorry, but we don't buy that excuse.  We can remember being that age; even then we were fully aware of our citizenship status and definitely would have noticed whether or not that status had been legally changed or not during a life-altering move to another country.  These definitely appear to be prime cases of "Be quiet, kids, and we'll work on fixing the issue at a later time once we're in America".

Yes, some of these illegal immigrants make for compelling stories, and it is true that it isn't always their fault that they are here in the first place.  The responsibility for their predicament, however, as we've stated on several occasions, lies solely with the parents, and as such no one in the families should be able to benefit from their unlawful actions.  The DREAM Act should be vigorously opposed for that reason.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Reid's priority is amnesty, not jobs"

It's gratifying to see that the newspaper of record in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home state of Nevada agrees with our position on the urgent need to kill the execrable DREAM act.

As we've previously noted, this shameless politician is going to attempt to jam the legislation (which is opposed by the vast majority of Americans) through the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress, in a cynical effort to appease the unions and liberal activists who helped Reid squeak into one more term:

"In fact, the bill lets anyone younger than 36 seek amnesty by taking a few credit hours or joining the Army. No doubt, many of the illegal immigrants who'll benefit from the Dream Act already have anchor babies of their own. The Dream Act is for grown-ups, not kids.

It won't be tough for illegals who don't qualify to claim they do. They'll find a way to create documents that falsify their age and the number of years they've been here. And once they get their amnesty, they'll use "family" preferences in existing immigration law to bring over the rest of their kin.

The Dream Act is presumably Sen. Reid's way of rewarding the Hispanic voters he courted so heavily this year -- and building a future Democratic voting bloc in the process. It creates another incentive for foreign nationals to drag their children into the United States. One act of amnesty inevitably leads to another, after all."

Yep.  The merry-go-round needs to stop right here and right now.