Miltie needs a rant!!

[miltie]

Interesting article stating that the Latino Community as a whole does not necessarily support undocumented immigrants:


http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... e0410.html
Migrant issue divides Latinos
Dissenting voices drowned out by pro-immigrant rallies

Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 10, 2006 12:00 AM

Scenes of hundreds of thousands of Latinos marching nationwide to support immigration reform have helped promote the perception that Hispanics are united on the issue.

In reality, a sizable number of Latinos opposes the marches, strongly objects to allowing undocumented immigrants in the United States to earn citizenship, and wants the government to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Their voices, however, have been largely muffled by the massive protests, obscuring the divisions that exist among the nation's 40 million Latinos in the midst of a monumental debate over the status of the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

And today, in a gigantic show of support, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 demonstrators in Phoenix will join hundreds of thousands around the country to rally for immigrant rights.

"That's the objective of the marches. To give the impression that all Latinos are for allowing the illegals to become citizens. Well, I'm not," Phoenix resident Lionel De La Rosa said.

Born in Texas, the 71-year-old Vietnam veteran favors punitive measures more in line with the immigration bill passed by the House in December that would have made being in the United States illegally a felony.

"I'm for that 100 percent," he said. "As far as my Latino friends are concerned, they all agree on this."

Giving credence to De La Rosa's stance are surveys that suggest that many U.S.-born Latinos, especially the middle class and middle-aged, support immigration but don't like illegal immigration.

Gabriel Escobar, assistant director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., said there are significant political differences among Latinos.

"In general, there is this perception of the Latino community as being monolithic, when the reality is otherwise," Escobar said.


Immigration prism


Though views such as De La Rosa's are common among Latinos, they are rarely reflected among Latino leaders, said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank that favors greater restrictions on immigration.

"It's easy to tap into the views of the intellectual class, but harder to tap into the views of the common folks," he said.

What's more, Latinos who favor greater restrictions on immigration are often reluctant to speak out because so much of the debate over illegal immigration comes off as anti-Hispanic.

"That's extremely off-putting," Camarota said. "Whatever their views, they keep it to themselves."

Instead, the divisions among Hispanics over immigration are more likely to surface in conversations between family members, or among co-workers, said Ron Hoyos, 43, an information technology specialist who favors reducing the flow of illegal immigration.

"Having some control on the border is probably not a bad idea," said Hoyos, whose father came to the United States from Mexico.

Hoyos, however, said he opposes legislation that would turn undocumented immigrants already here into felons.

Though many Latinos have negative views of undocumented immigrants, they are often hesitant to express them openly out of fear of being ostracized, said Phoenix resident Frank Barrios, 64.

"There are a lot of Hispanics that are upset about the undocumented just the same way as the Anglo population. That group is larger than many people would believe," said Barrios, vice president of the Phoenix Museum of History's board of directors.

"But a lot of Latinos aren't going to brag about it because they feel they will be criticized."

Barrios, a third-generation Mexican-American who traces his family's roots in Arizona to the 1870s, said it's hard to pigeonhole Latinos' views on immigration.

"I'm very sympathetic to the immigrant cause and I go way back and I know others who have only been here one generation and they are very strongly against undocumented immigrants," Barrios said.

But Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies said Latinos with the strongest views against undocumented immigrants tend to be those who directly compete with them in the job market, or live in neighborhoods with large numbers of immigrants.

In some Phoenix neighborhoods, recent Latino immigrants have clashed with longtime Hispanic residents over lifestyles and education and housing opportunities. In some cases, city officials have been asked to mediate disagreements or enforce neighborhood ordinances.


U.S.-born Latinos


The 50,000 to 100,000 who organizers expect to march today in Phoenix is part of a nationwide effort to keep pressure on Congress to pass immigration legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants in the United States to earn legal status and, eventually, citizenship.

"People will take a snapshot of these marches and draw conclusions that this is representative of the Hispanic community in the entire country," said Escobar, of the Pew Hispanic Center.

But a significant minority of Latinos has views closer to the rest of the U.S. population and expresses concern about illegal immigration and its effect on the economy, Escobar said. A 2005 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos in general have favorable attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. But when it comes to illegal immigration, significant numbers have negative views of undocumented immigrants. Those feelings are strongest among middle-class and middle-age U.S.-born Latinos, the survey found.

For instance, though a majority of Latinos, 68 percent, said they believe undocumented immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost labor, nearly a quarter felt undocumented immigrants hurt the economy by driving down wages.

U.S.-born Latinos looked even less favorably toward undocumented immigrants than foreign-born Latinos. More than a third of U.S.-born Latinos said undocumented immigrants hurt the economy, compared with just 15 percent of foreign-born Latinos who felt the same way.

The survey also found that Latinos are divided over whether to allow undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship.

Though an overwhelming majority, 88 percent, of foreign-born Latinos favored allowing undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship, a smaller number of U.S.-born Latinos, 78 percent, said undocumented immigrants should be allowed to do so.

Meanwhile, south Phoenix resident Elsie Orta has no plans to participate in today's march in Phoenix.

"Other Hispanics have told me to go to the demonstrations," said Orta, 55, who said her mother is from New Mexico and her father's family traces its roots to Spain. "I think it's hurting them. They're making a fool of themselves."

The Phoenix native believes Arizona is under siege by undocumented immigrants who speak Spanish, use public services and take jobs away from citizens. Undocumented immigrants, she said, should be deported.

"They want us to cater to them all the time," she said. "They're coming over here, they're taking our jobs. And now, everything has to be in English and Spanish? I don't think so. They need to go back."

[Hmph]

and check this interactive chart out

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0603/ ... clude.html

[Hmph]

interesting movie airing on Starz cable channel this month. came and went when it was released originally, but now seems to be perfect timing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377744/
A Day Without A Mexican

oh and an update on a related issue: I have not heard back from the Italian Embassy about my request for:

1. luxury waterfront villa
2. 6 fine and gorgeous Italian men to wait on me hand and foot night and day
3. free Italian lessons
4. free food and utilities
5. free transportation
6. free medical expenses, including pre-existing conditions (I'm crazy)

I wonder what is taking them so long

[Hmph]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/13/intruder.ap/index.html

Feel-good immigrant story ends badly

Thursday, April 13, 2006; Posted: 2:29 p.m. EDT (18:29 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A young illegal immigrant who became a cause celebre in Minnesota after secretly living in a high school for weeks has been arrested here on home invasion charges, months after he was supposed to have left the country.

Francisco Javier Serrano, 22, had waved goodbye to supporters and journalists who saw him off at the Minneapolis airport in January, but he apparently never boarded his plane for his home country of Mexico.

Two weeks ago, police arrested him after finding him with a knife in an apartment in Boston's North End, struggling with the tenant, who was unharmed, The Boston Globe reported Thursday. He remained in Suffolk County Jail facing home invasion charges and eventual deportation.

Serrano, who overstayed a 2002 tourist visa to live with his father and attend high school in suburban Minneapolis, was embraced by Minnesotans after he was discovered sleeping in the school's auditorium in January 2005 and told how he had spent weeks hiding there, foraging for cafeteria food and showering in the locker room.

Students handed out "Free Francisco" T-shirts, and a developer gave him a place to live and hired an immigration lawyer for him.

Last fall, a federal judge ruled that Serrano must leave the country but gave him until January 5 to do so. That day Serrano went to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but his plane ticket was never used.

Serrano's mother said he had fallen in love with the U.S. and wanted to go to college and get a job that would let him send money to his family in Mexico. When his father moved from Minnesota to Connecticut, Serrano followed, but the two had a falling out, Guadalupe Flores told the Globe from her home in Mexico City.

"He decided to live his life on his own," she said, crying. "But he did it very badly."

A pretrial hearing was set for April 28. The charges against Serrano probably will be reduced to breaking and entering because he has no history of violence and did not hurt the tenant, said David Procopio, spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney.

[MsNikaPooh]

No Comment....What ya I do. They give him a pass for breaking into the school to leave and he does a home invasion.

[Silly Wabbit]

I still cannot believe over 12 million people marching to tell another country what it wants while being here illegally. Only in America.

[Hmph]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060418/pl_ ... georgia_dc

Georgia governor signs sweeping immigration law

By Karen Jacobs Mon Apr 17, 10:20 PM ET

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The state of Georgia approved a sweeping measure on Monday to crack down on illegal immigrants, while in a sign of the national division on the issue, Arizona's governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed undocumented workers to be prosecuted as trespassers.

The moves come as the federal government and states consider how to deal with an estimated 11 million to 12 million undocumented workers while immigrants, many of whom are Hispanic, are displaying their political power through mass demonstrations in cities across the United States.

The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, signed into law by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, denies many state services paid for by taxpayers to people who are in the United States illegally.

It also forces contractors doing business with the state to verify the legal status of new workers, and requires police to notify immigration officials if people charged with crimes are illegal immigrants.

"It's our responsibility to ensure that our famous Georgia hospitality is not abused, that our taxpayers are not taken advantage of and that our citizens are protected," Perdue said before signing the law.

But Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, backed by key law enforcement officials, vetoed the bill in her state, the nation's hot spot for illegal crossing of the roughly 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, saying there were no resources to pay police and prosecutors for an increased burden.

Under the proposal, first-time offenders would have faced a misdemeanor charge and up to six months in jail. A second offense would have been a felony, punishable by up to one year in jail.

Arizona officials also were concerned about its effect in the community.

"There is a real concern that crimes will go unreported by immigrants for fear that they would be turned into federal agents," said Wendy Balazik, a spokeswoman for the 20,000-member International Association of Chiefs of Police. "Law enforcement would lose valuable information."

But state Rep. Russell Pearce said the governor needs to take a stand to slow the flow into Arizona.

"It is a federal responsibility, it is everyone's responsibility," said Pearce, a Republican behind several bills targeting immigrants. "When are we going to wake up and start enforcing the law?"

GEORGIA BILL

Other provisions of the Georgia law prohibit employers from claiming a tax deduction for wages of $600 or more paid to undocumented workers, impose prison terms for human trafficking and limit the services commercial companies can provide to illegal immigrants.

Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated at rallies in major U.S. cities in recent weeks demanding rights for illegal immigrants in the United States.

"It's a punitive bill," said Sara Gonzalez, president and chief executive of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "This is a very complicated issue, and I don't see any good coming out of this."

Outside the Georgia Capitol, a few demonstrators cheered when word spread that the immigration bill had been signed. The measure had garnered overwhelming support in both houses of Georgia's Republican-controlled Legislature.

"If you are not a U.S. citizen, you should not receive a U.S. benefit," said Steve Bray, a Georgia resident who was waving a U.S. flag and said he supports legal immigration.

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix)

[miltie]

in light of border control issues...you have to try this, at least once. it's kinda funny!
http://www.militariacollecting.com/arca ... patrol.swf

[Hmph]

wow border patrol IS really hard. after about the 10th one, I was like F this! I'm going get a slurpee

[MsNikaPooh]

That was so wrong but yet so funny. Lol I had to applaud Perdue for having the strength to sign it. He kinda flaky got in telling rednecks( I mean true kill a black or mexican as soon as they look at one) that they could have the confederate flag back then put it to a vote(lol smart man) and said I tried.