Dallas Morning News names “illegal immigrant” the 2007 “Texan of the year”
Update 12/31: Lonewacko has reax.
***
The Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News carries a lengthy lead editorial extolling the “illegal immigrant” as the 2007 “Texan of the Year.” The full piece is here. (hat tip – Freedom Folks and MM.com readers). I’ll cut to the chase and give you the paper’s rather underwhelming, “on the one hand, on the other hand, time will tell” ending:
If critics are correct, we could be seeing the advent of the kind of fractiousness that bedevils public life in Canada and other nations where peoples who speak different languages, and come from different cultural backgrounds, live together only with mutual suspicion and unease.
On the other hand, perhaps the alarmists are wrong. Maybe these ambitious, hard-working immigrants, whatever their documentation, will write the next great chapter of a story that’s still deeply American, though with a different accent. If the optimists are right, much work remains to be done to incorporate all immigrants fully into new cultural traditions.
We end 2007 no closer to compromise on the issue than when the year began. People waging a culture war – and that’s what the struggle over illegal immigration is – don’t give up easily. What you think of the illegal immigrant says a lot about what you think of America, and what vision of her you are willing to defend. How we deal with the stranger among us says not only who we Americans are today but determines who we will become tomorrow.
I respect the Dallas Morning News editorial board’s desire to foster debate and break new ground. But it always amuses me when newspaper editors think they’re doing something fresh and new in putting a “human face” to illegal immigration. Most immigration news coverage amounts to little else besides peddling illegal immigrant sob stories and whitewashing the negative consequences of open-borders chaos on the law-abiding population. This is the rule, not the exception.
Question: Why is it that the human face they want us to see belongs only to the law-breaker…and not the human face of those who have to enforce the law or bear the costs of lax enforcement?
Question: Why is the “illegal immigrant” the “Texan of the Year”–and not, say, the “Border Patrol agent?”
Question: Why is the “illegal immigrant” the “Texan of the Year”–and not, say, the victims of catch-and-release and failed deportation policies…like 15-year-old Dani Countryman of Kaufman, Texas–who was murdered in August by two illegal aliens with prior records who had entered the U.S. from Mexico illegally.
We’re also always lectured by many newsroom types about the “complexity” of the issue. But who’s guilty of oversimplification here?
There are non-violent, hard-working illegal aliens. There are violent, dangerous illegal aliens. There are moochers. There are militants. There are border-crossers. There are visa overstayers. There are earnest dishwashers. There are drug smugglers. There are jihadists. There are gangbangers. There are con artists. There are legitimate victims of bureaucratic screw-ups. To lump them all together under the “hard-working illegal immigrant” archetype and award them a “Texan of the Year” award strikes me as an unhelpfully reductionist and hackneyed approach. And a missed opportunity.
Instead of planting themselves safely in “middle ground,” wouldn’t the DMN’s readership be better served by an editorial board that could tell them where they stand on substantive policy questions facing communities across Texas–and across the country. Try these for starters:
- Should the government continue to provide funding to cities that adopt sanctuary policies or not?
- Should illegal alien ID cards issued by foreign consulates continue to be acceptable in the face of strong opposition from homeland security and law enforcement experts?
- Does the board support or oppose the expansion of the federal employer verification system being challenged by the ACLU?
- Would the board back efforts by sheriffs and police who want to participate in the 287(g) immigration enforcement training program?
- What exactly is the board’s position on the DREAM Act?
Instead we get this:
The newspaper’s Editorial Board recognizes the myriad, profound ways in which this group of people impacts Texas, ranging from the economy to politics to the most basic sense of culture. Lamenting that “there seems to be little middle ground in [the] debate,” the Board notes that “spectacular fights over their presence … broke out across Texas this past year, adding to the national pressure cooker as only Texas can.”
“Everything’s bigger in Texas, and history and geography guarantee that the immigration problem is no different. And many issues are flaring sooner here,” the editorial reads, as it dedicates unusual length to explore all sides of the issue and put a face on the people at the center of the debate. “Illegal immigration exacerbates the natural tension in American society by injecting more change than can be absorbed — and by defying laws designed to control the rate of change,” the editorial reads.
“The story of the illegal immigrant in Texas is rich in history, complexity and controversy, and the impact on the state is pervasive,” said Keven Ann Willey, vice president and editorial page editor of The Dallas Morning News. “Because of this complexity, and also because of their illegal status, it was not possible for us to call out a single individual, but as the Board debated it became clear to us that as a group, these people merited recognition.”
“How should we deal with this stranger among us?” the DMN editorial asks.
Well, wouldn’t it have been truly novel for the paper to take real, clear stands on immigration enforcement policies and provide some concrete answers to the question is so grandiosely poses in its Sunday showpiece?
Or would that have “exacerbated” too much “natural tension” and pushed them off the safe space of “middle ground?”
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- Webloggin - Blog Archive » Dallas Morning News Names ‘The Illegal Immigrant’ as their 2007 Texan of the Year
- The TIW Blog » Blog Archive » My heros have always been illegal alien criminal residents
- Theodore's World
- First Putin, Now the “Illegal Immigrant”: The American Media Continues to Honor Criminal Behavior
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- Michelle Malkin » Dallas Morning News: Wow, people are mad about our illegal immigrants-as-Texan-of-the-year editorial
- December, 2007 Archive « Right Minded Online
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“Texan” of the year? They’re not citizens of the US but apparently the Dallas Morning News considers them citizens of Texas.
I usually only buy the Dallas Morning Snooze for the Fry’s Electronics ads. I may have to start getting the Ft Worth Star Telegram now instead.
On the news up here, its rare for anyone to be asked what their status is, the news just isn’t interested.
Like the case of a 6 yr old, left home to baby sit her 3-4 yr old brother, and called 911 when her house caught fire… NO ONE in the news asked the question WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER, and gave the kid a medal (for being home alone). (didn’t ask the mother later where she was from, even tho she couldn’t speak English very well.)
Also, has anyone looked into the status of the Hanna Montana Mother, and Grandmother? The press talked to both, and the Grandmother spoke broken english. That in its self is nothing, but it seems that whenever a hispanic is in trouble here (in Dallas), the press goes out of its way to ignore the real possibility that those people shouldn’t have been here in the first place!
Typical MSM nonsense. No solutions, no answers, just navel gazing sophistry. I’m sure they think they’re terribly clever.
Texan Of The Year. Yawn.
Its the same old story
Same old song and dance, my friend
Its the same old story
Same old story
Same old song and dance
with apologies to Aerosmith
“Texan of the Year” my a$$! Not in THIS Texan’s book. There’s a reason I won’t subscribe to a newspaper…
Well, Sam Houston, they tried but failed to take you back militarily. Now, they quietly infiltrate the state and take over in sheer numbers. As you can see, many are welcoming the new “conquerors”. I suppose “remember the alamo” and “remember golidad” will be considered racist and hate speech soon, announced as such on the new state holiday, “Santa Anna Day”.
I think I’m going to be sick…
Ah yes. “It’s a complex issue”, “Rich diversity”, “This is a divisive issue.”
I can’t help but wonder why the United States seems to be the only country who gets blasted in the media when they try to put a cap on legal immigration and crack down on illegal immigration.
Well thank goodness Huckabees’ got his eye on the real up and coming threat, those d*mn Pakistanis. Let’s hope some old codger doesn’t plug a couple of them in the middle of a felony, er, tryin’ ta scrape out a livin’ here in Ws’ facist version of Amerika.
Say, is it too late to include our east Indian brothers and sisters in the Hucksters D.R.E.A.M. act ?
My guess is; the DMN will soon be a thing of the past (a dinosaur-if you will)
I will not be subscribing to my daily newspaper next year-it’s too slow and gives me too many articles from the AP and NYT.
I get my news from the web-it’s faster ane more accurate. Of course, I am careful about which sites to read.
The liberal press deserves an award for Idiot of the Year. Unfortunately, “idiot” is a three syllable word and probably beyond their comprehension.
I have another question, in addition to the ones posted: what about legal immigrants??
I am Italian, and I am living with my wife, who is an american citizen, in Italy; we are considering moving to the US in a couple of years, so our kid can be exposed to both cultures.
The process to become a legal immigrant is lenghty and complex: file an application, wait for months, show up with a bunch of documents, have a medical examination (price tag of that alone: 180 euro, I guess around 250 US$), vaccinations, and so on and so forth. Plus we are in Milan, and we need to travel to Rome and Naples… add hotel rooms and airfare to the proceedings, then.
I am a law abiding citizen, so I have no problem with complying and following the procedure. I know it is the law of the land. I respect it.
Recently, however, it looks like, from here, that the debate about immigration in the US is about illegal immigrants, i.e. illegal immigrants = immigrants.
NO!! There are legal immigrants, too.
I think that in the US you should uphold the law: for yourselves, but also for us prospective legal immigrants.
From my point of view, it feels like standing in line, and doing a lot of homework, while others cut in front of you, no homework, and get rewarded!
Illegal immigrants choose not to respect US law; specifically, immigration laws and regulations.
And some people think that is OK.
Question: once you are down this road, where do you draw the line?
Which other laws do not suit them?
Maybe polygamy? Maybe age of consent? Spouse abues? After all, laws regarding those issues are different in different countries.
I will be happy when a newspaper in the US will choose “the legal immigrant” as their person of the year.
Paolo
It appears The Dallas Morning News is redefining it’s customer base as those who can not read or write English and are grade school droop outs who probably have committed felony caliber identity theft to get their first job. The Dallas Morning News can now say their customer base is the fastest growing criminals demographic in America. A good reason it identify them as “Man of the Year” if you know what’s good for you.
Paolo, you would be most certainly welcome to come to the U.S.. We are a nation of immigrants…legal immigrants. As long as you follow and respect the laws, you and your family will do very well here. What we are against is those who “sneak” across our borders and live off of the legal, tax-paying people, and offer nothing in return; encouraged by the various politicians in hopes of winning their votes. Around here, they hang around shopping malls waiting to do day labor by people who underpay them and don’t provide any benefits, or pay the deducted taxes. I read this morning that some European countries seem to have the same problem. I had a chance to spend a couple of days in the beautiful city of Milan, back years ago. Very nice. I couldn’t visit Rome/Naples because of major flooding at the time. Having “the legal immigrant” as person of the year meets no objection from me. My grandparents were immigrants and worked very hard to build a good life here…legally.
Texan of the year? ..but ..but ..THEY AIN’T TEXAN!
oxymoron.. and I stress the *moron*.
Just to clarify – if they were talking about legal immigrants, I would have no issue whatsoever.
Why didn’t I think of this?
Great response Michelle. The questions and bullet points you pose are the right questions. The DMN is too afraid to ask them.
And of course, nyc123me hit the nail on the head. They are not Texans. They are law breakers who selfishly crossed our border because they think they deserve a better life. Seeking a better life is wonderful, just file the papers, make your application, do it the right way. Don’t break our laws, steal our identities.
When I saw that I thought: This has got to be tongue-in-cheek. But, I guess it isn’t. I hope that all the legitimate Texas citizens flood that rag with letters and e-mails. They cannot be that stupid, especially with all of the increase in crime thanks to the virtual open border policy. Well, on second thought….
Thanks grayonsret!
BTW, I live in Milan, I am glad you enjoyed your visit here!!
Yes, that was my whole pont: I see some in the US equating “enforcing immigration law” as “against immigration”. Which is not true, as you are saying!!
As a prospective immigrant, who wants to do everything according to the law, I expect and want authorities to enforce immigration law!
Thanks again,
have a nice day,
Paolo
nyc123me said pretty much all that needed to be said …
I’m sure that they didn’t consider Michelle because SHE AIN’T TEXAN!
This is like 1930s Chicago making Al Capone the Man of the Year … Or the Cubans living in Florida naming Fidel Castro as Man of the Year …
In other words it is utterly ridiculous.
“…the debate about immigration in the US is about illegal immigrants, i.e. illegal immigrants = immigrants.” – Paolo
You are 100% right-on, Paolo. There is only one kind of ‘immigrant’ – only those who have legal immigration papers are indeed immigrants. So-called ‘illegal immigrants’ are not immigrants – they are criminal aliens, nothing more, nothing less.
Yet, activities of US government, and US businesses have been doing all they can to put ‘lipstick on the pig,’ that is the invasion of millions of law-breaking criminal aliens – many of which continue to break the law in many ways after crossing the border.
US business and government have become criminal – acting first by calling them immigrants, second by handing them drivers licenses, third by hiring them… and of course anti-American liberal media runs cover for all such criminality.
It’s time for another Revolution, IMHO.
This must be the direct result of using ‘fuzzy math’.
Ciao ClearBlueSky
Sono stato alla città bella di Milano. Molti anni fa ero un allievo di scambio in Italia. Ho vissuto in Calolziocorte, vicino a Lecco.
Yours is a truly beautiful area of the world filled with lakes and the beginnings of the mountains.
You and anyone else that follows the laws and rules and comes to the United States legally is always welcome here. It is the illegal aliens we are against.
Unfortunately, as evidenced by your post, much of the world is getting the impression we are anti-immigration, which is not true. The MSM has gradually moved the commentary by changing their references from “Illegal Aliens” to “Illegal Immigrants” to “Immigrants” and “Undocumented Workers”.
This gives the false impression to the rest of the world we are against all immigrants.
Share what you hear from everyday Americans on sites like this with others and you can help correct the influence of the MSM.
TexanIllegal Mexican Alien of the Year.There, fixed it. Pretty soon, the Dallas Morning News will be the Dallas Noticias de la mañana.
How pathetic.
Exactly. At least they got it right.
lol. these people have no principles. that’s the democrat’s problem in general. their only goal is to oppose that which conservatives support…which leaves them bogged down in inconsistencies and hypocrisy – which incidentally has fueled my new found disgust of them.
to ask these people to take a stand is futile. this is what passes as intellectualism these days – the continuous round of questions (that you know they don’t want the answers to). this way since they never take a stand, they can never be wrong, and even if they are wrong…well, they weren’t really.
What? No mention of the rape trees along our Texas border? Anyone who has spent much time along our border has seen the trees. They’re the ones with the panties and bras nailed to them, to commemorate the women the drug smugglers and coyotes (human smugglers) have raped as a part of their payment to cross the border illegally.
Making the illegals out to be anything except what they are; ILLEGAL disgusts me!
Hi Desertlover!
Lecco?? Davvero?? Io ho fatto il liceo scientifico (high school) a Lecco! Yeah, I know where Calolzio is…
Yes, it is a very nice area!
Thanks for your explanation; and yes, I can see how MSM has changed the language about the issue.
I just wanted to add the voice of the people who are following the rules and respecting the law, and seem to have no voice in the debate simply because they are law abiding and don’t like to claim “rights” but want to earn them.
BTW, I am trying to do my share to correct the perception of people here in Italy; e.g. I donated to Michael Yon and offered to translate his posts in Italian…
Paolo
To sum up:
So, you want to come to our country and do it right and by the law?
*slap slap slap
You’re such an idiot!
*slap
You are making it harder for the others who do not wish to abide by the laws!
*punch slap
Now, get the hell out of here, you make us sick.
*kick
/sarc off (of course)
Dallas Morning News=DMN=Desiring Mexican Newsworthiness
Clear Blue Sky,
Glad to read about someone following the laws and making an effort to work with the system. I’ve only heard how bad it can be and you have my sympathies.
Perhaps if you here someone in Italy carrying on about how the U.S. opposes immigration, you can point them here. It would be nice to think we can get more people on our side in this debate.
I also favor LEGAL immigration. I know many LEGAL immigrants here in New York City who not only work hard but are even enterprising and start businesses, sometimes succeeding. The scandal here is that some of them have to wait 20 years or more to gain entry while illegals sneak in and become politically protected. That is the true injustice here, as well as the necessity of border security.
*Because there’s a lot of them, they’re on a roll and we’re so worried that we might offend that we are losing our identity and our nation.
#Because, shockingly, this and previous administrations actually consider even some horrific consequences of illegal immigration as acceptable and necessary trade offs in the cheap labor competition.
An invader as something of the year – such gibberish – what would you expect from a failing media company that the Dalas Morning News has become – of course they are still trying to sort out the great fiasco where the auditors finally discovered that not so many folks were paying letting alone reading them.
FWIW, I don’t see a DMN article posted on a number of sites – they are not relevant, that hurts them, and they lash out.
This is Dallas
http://www.aim.org/guest_column/A3998_0_6_0_C/
This is Fort Worth.
http://www.pr-inside.com/texas-woman-hangs-herself-3-children-r138005.htm
A fantastic article by CIS on media mis-truths and biases on all matters immigration, a must-read
http://www.cis.org/articles/2007/back1107.html
Michelle,
It isn’t all like this, I was at the Lewisville Mall on the 26th Dec., and took some photos of a Van in the parking lot it was a testimony to supporting our troops, apparently a Veteran’s Van. I used my cell phone to take the pics. I would be happy to send you the pics if you are interested.
The woman in Fort Worth, was a legal alien, who could not get the father of the children to pay child support. I don’t recall the entire story if the children had different fathers ect..this woman was not an American.
This is getting tiresome. What part of “illegal” don’t they understand.
On the bright side, at least it wasn’t Putin. Or, and watch for this, the “Jena 6.”
I do too.
Notice though the immense pressure that Americans have place on Congress and the President to enforce the law and quit betraying us only to see the weasels gut the fence and back stab us again and again.
Imagine how quickly solutions would be instituted if a moratorium on all immigration were declared.
IMHO, the illegal immigration issue is so large and our government is so underhanded in its dealings with illegal aliens that a stoppage might be necessary to get something done to end the full scale nonstop invasion.
I have never understood the picking and choosing which laws you want to obey as acceptable. Illegal means nothing to these people and it’s always the race card that gets thrown out. It’s so old. However, I think mainstream Americans are getting fed up.
ClearBlueSky
Excellent post. My wife is a legal immigrant and we went through all the hoops to get her here-paperwork, waiting, paperwork,interviews, paperwork and lots of money. The MSM only rarely mentions this and they will never mention how the flood of illegal aliens are making it to find an entry level job for those here legally. I certainly welcome people like you here legally and wish you the best of luck.
Given their endorsement of Mike Huckabee for president, their choice of “Texan of the Year” comes as no surprise to me:
http://tinyurl.com/2d77ze
I understand your frustration but I can’t say I agree with you. Stopping ALL immigration, including legal immigration, would amount to punishing the innocent in an effort to reach the guilty. Also, it implies that the government would be willing and able to stop the illegal immigration. If the government were to stop the illegal immigration, the problem would be solved, with no need to punish those who are trying to follow the rules and do things the right way.
Someone please ask all of the Legal Immigrants in America how they feel about ‘the cheaters’. I love it,…you work very hard to become a meaningful American Citizen, & the MSM renders you invisible.
In the meantime, Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean spent their Christmases in prison, not being feted by a bunch of open-borders aiders and abettors.
The fools at the DMN must spend their working days drinking LA/NY Times Kool-Aid.
Of course the silence of those who might help Ramos and Compean, but choose instead to titter at the antics of dimwitted newspaper hacks, doesn’t help.
Those men are in prison because they (a) made Jorge Boosh mad and (b) were railroaded for protecting you.
Do you care?
You’ve nailed one of my biggest beefs with the open borders people. So many of them try to assign racism as my motive for opposing illegal immigration.
If they were right and racism was my motive, then they would be justified in calling me wrong. However, racism has nothing to do with it. I have no problem with anyone of any race or national origin who obeys the rules and comes here legally. The open borders people are using racism to avoid dealing with legitimate arguments against illegal immigration.
Its not about punishing anybody, it would be about finally forcing a resolution which has not been forthcoming and in fact more betrayal has occurred instead.
Believe me solutions would come quickly if no more new visas were to be issued.
Besides we’ve survived just fine with no new immigration for quite some period of time previously.
ClearBlueSky
Quello è molto piacevole da sentirsi… la famiglia che ho vissuto con ha avuta un piccolo deposito ed il padre ha lavorato per il cademartori… uno dei miei lavori era di lucidare l’olio di oliva sui grandi tondi del formaggio ogni giorno e di pulire e riempire le bottiglie restituite del vino…
Paolo … I am sure many here support your legal efforts to come to our country … I hope that you get an opportunity to do just that …
For everyone else … to explain the Italian posts … I was an exchange student to Italy and lived in a small town NE of Milan … Paolo attended a school in that small town … I just told him the father of my host family worked for Cademartori … a dairy company … and my daily chores involved rubbing large rounds of cheese with olive oil so they didn’t crack and cleaning and refilling the dinner wine bottles that people brought back each day …
I am not anti immigrant, orderly immigration from many friendly countrys of people who want to assimilate and become American Citizens. This isn’t what is going on in Texas one of the links I left above for Dallas. Mandatory: Administrators in Dallas Schools must be bilingual, but not just any language, they have to be able to speak Spanish too. What about all the other immigrant’s native tounges?
If I were an illegal and was caught, I’d say (using the usual celebrity snarl):
“Don’t you know who I am? I’m Texan of the year!“
Yeah, they ‘merit recognition’ to be deported for breaking the law. The people who are for illegal aliens are people who don’t have a problem giving away other people’s money and resources. They try to make it an issue over race when really it is an issue over resources. If they agree to not take any of the American government’s resources then I don’t have a problem with them. But if they become citizens, they’ll demand all the benefits that the government can’t afford to pay the LEGAL citizens.
I can’t believe that they picked the ‘illegal alien’ as their person of the year. I guess that includes all of the 9/11 hijackers then – oh wait, they only meant the MEXICAN illegal immigrants didn’t they? Those racists.
Folks, please. DMN doesn’t give a dang about the illegal alien, or anyone else for that matter. This is about generating a sensational and inaccurate news story to stir up some readership. MSM rags have lowered themselves to nothing more than supermarket tabloids.
…oh and BTW, while the DMN will sell an English language version of their paper, they give away a Spanish language version, Al Día …gotta suck up to the only folks that might read their rag.
There has been tension outside of Dallas, like Farmers Branch, over this very subject it isn’t cut and dried as the MSM would like to portray the situation. I couldn’t tell anyone what the illegal alien makeup is here, Ethnicity or Country of Origin, anyone can come across the southern border!
Willful ignorance. Sick pandering. It is clear this paper feels the illegals are superior in many ways to other Texans, but it does not know any reason why other than they are from another country, do not speak English and are not the dreaded white people that inflict the State.
Why is it the “Texan Of The Year” isn’t a legal immigrant that has jumped through all the hoop’s, became a citezen, worked hard, became successful and is a true beacon of the American Dream? or as MM stated Border Patrol agent’s that have to deal with illegal’s daily.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319028,00.html It just makes me sick that this is occuring. I have also read that people…citizens…living near the border have to hid in their houses at night, in fear of the drug smugglers and illegals. I guess I would never be a good President, being CinC of the military, faced with an invasion attacking our citizens. A “good” President would sit for months/years discussing the political ramifications of the issue; I would be on a plane down to the border, after mobilizing the National Guard and what Military is there. Pelosi would be grabbing her chest and gasping, Kennedy would be finishing another bottle, Congress would be forming committees and I would be down there with orders…if they shoot at you, shoot back. Ramos and Compean? You’re pardoned. Grab your guns. We’re going to clean up this mess once and for all. Being sworn to protect the citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic, this would be something I would have to do. Yeah, I’d make a lousy President.
DesertLover, ClearBlueSky,
I am looking forward to returning to Bergamo this coming spring (not too far from Milan). I usually stay in the upper city at a very small bed and breakfast. Very beautiful, friendly people.
One of the great ironies here is that a former editorial writer for the DMN, Richard Estrada, was also a member of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform back in the 1990s. This “editorial” by the DMN reads as if they never heard of the commission, which made these recommendations on illegal immigration in 1997: * Improve border management: The CIR found current enforcement inadequate to deter illegal immigration and increased training for border officials and increased resources for enforcement. It emphasized the need to prevent illegal entry to minimize the need for apprehension afterward.
* Eliminate the “pull” of jobs: A main motivator for illegal immigration is the ease with which illegal aliens can work in the U.S. The CIR recommended additional barriers to illegal employment, including a computerized registry to verify work eligibility and the full use of already-existing (but seldom invoked) penalties against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.
* Mitigate impact costs: Because immigration policy and enforcement are controlled by the federal government, the CIR recommended that the federal government be responsible for mitigating the fiscal impact of illegal immigration on the states and local communities. This responsibility includes making illegal aliens ineligible for non-emergency public services, holding sponsors financially responsible for the immigrants they sponsor, and assisting states and localities with the financial burden for incarceration, education, emergency medical care, and other costs associated with illegal immigration. (The commission noted that methods for accurately establishing such costs need to be implemented.)
Wow…
Making a FELON the Texan of the year…
No wonder we have a breakdown of law and order in this country…
And if I was CINC? I certainly would NOT be expanding the Army base in Colorado Springs CO… I’d be moving that Army Division to TEXAS… right smack dab on the border… and buy the land THERE!
Illegal aliens (they are NOT immigrants) are not Texans, nor do they want to be Texans. The mantra we continuously hear from the Hispanic advocacy groups is that they will not assimilate. Period.
They export the money they make here back into Mexico, which does not help the economy in the US one bit. They do have an impact on the economy here, and it is all negative:
–They use public hospitals as their primary form of health care. That is an enormous strain on our health care system.
–They receive assistance from both the federal and state governments, which is a huge cost to taxpayers who are actually citizens.
–They impose a heavy burden on the judicial system, which appoints interpreters and passes the costs along to taxpayers. Not to mention the cost of incarceration.
–They impose a large financial burden on schools, who not only have to educate the children of illegal aliens but are forced to teach in Spanish.
–The crimes they commit cost untold dollars to the victims of those crimes.
With all of this, we still provide money to Mexico in the billions of dollars every year. And the thanks we get is to have Mexico promote illegal alien crossings into the US.
Mexico should be made to pay for this mess. And the way to do it is to start with the money the US gives to Mexico every year. That total would be offset by automatically deducting the costs of arresting, trying and incarcerating their citizens; the cost of health care provided to their citizens; the costs suffered by the victims of the crimes they commit (in the event of murder, automatic compensation in excess of $1 million); the costs of schooling children of illegals; the costs of welfare or other public assistance; and any other expense attributable to illegal aliens.
And while we’re at it, change the anchor baby rules – a child born here as the result of an illegal act should not enjoy the rights of citizenship.
If Mexico were faced with the prospect of having their annual lotto cut to nothing, my bet is that they would start doing something about the problem. The American taxpayer should not be burdened with the costs forced upon us by a corrupt government.
In real estate the three most important words are location, location, location.
To liberals it’s victimhood, victimhood, victimhood.
This is what our country has become…from today’s parade mag…”Why Deport A
Hero?”
U.S. Army Sgt Hicham Benkabbou, a decorated soldier who is fluent in Arabic, as well as French and English whose offense is not reporting an annulled marriage in his immigration papers when he came here in 1998. He is a
Morroccan born legal immigrant who should have been
the absolutely stupid DMNs man of the year. ICE has begun removal proceedings against this man even as he is on active duty in Afghanistan.
He will be deported if he returns to American soil. Too bad they can see the
millions and millions who make up the DMNs man of the year because this
one soldier is blocking their view!
Correction…too bad they can’t see…
It’s no wonder that newspapers are going down hill, one step at a time.
Reason #856 why newspaper subscriptions and readership continue to drop. People are tired of this type of crap.
Not only are daily newspapers full of liberals, they are full of liberals who in all likelihood NOT from the area where they are working. I would imagine a lifelong Texan would recognize the problems of a porous border and know that it’s Americans’ sense of fair play, not xenophobia or racism, that drives much of the opposition to illegal immigration. But a prestige school graduate, especially from the Northeast or the Left Coast, would automatically sympathize with those with visibly less money and more melanin.
Paolo, I hope you can come to this country soon. Or maybe you should just go through Mexico? Kidding. All this stuff offends me SO MUCH! We should have a rally celebrating people like you that we welcome. Then the MSM can’t accuse us of being negative and haters.
Awesome analysis, MM.
As you know, this ‘human face’ whitewash mentality is rampant in our own congress, as well, with the repeating deception of no-fence/shamnesty legislation.
Is it any wonder that blogs thrive & antiquated news printers dive?
Remember the Alamo, Never Forget Goliad and Thank God for Gen’l Sam and San
Jacinto has long been the mantra among me and mine and all of the rest of our
families and our friends!
We don’t do Dallas any more than we have to because whether or not it is officially
a sanctuary city, it is known as one unofficially. Dallas can’t get anything right.
Everything they touch seems to end up in a mess and the DMN is no exception. I
have heard their police chief say that his officers do not have either the time or the
energy to check on an arrestees legality. So there goes that……..
The rape trees in south TX are an horrific disgrace. They should be a forced tour
for all of the politicians (from the city level to the federal) in this country. They
should be photographed and posted by the media so they are never forgotten
because I cannot describe the horror and abject sadness that you feel when you
see them, including one with a diaper and the ones with tiny panties, before the
fury sets in. How dare the pols in this country and Mexico ignore this?How dare they act as if this is business as usual and a sad fact of life?
Also, what about the young woman in TX that was recently killed by an illegal who afterward tried to burn up her body to keep it from being found?
There are so many crimes that could be listed and should be listed. The media
promotes illegal immigration when it doesn’t say, ” This person is here illegally.”
Border hopping must be stopped and naming illegal immigrants Man of the Year
by the absolutely ignorant (while trying to promote themselves as quite erudite)
Dallas Morning News is just plain stupidity.
To call illegals Texans is to slap legal Texans in the face. If this was the FW Star-
Telegram (no prize there, either), there would be a rash of “de”subscribing to it.
I doubt Dallasites will really notice. They like to think of themselves as cosmopolitan, especially up against “Cowtown” Fort Worth.
Personally, when you get past the pc cr*p about only wanting a better life, blah,
blah, blah, the illegal immigration problem is like any problem that has been
allowed to get out of hand. It looks way too big to fix. However, you handle it
the same way you handle any problem. First identify, the problem. Second, start
with one thing (person). Don’t try to do the entire thing in one sitting. Close the
border and have a serious discussion with Mexico ( and don’t worry about
diplomacy ) about the fact that they need to straighten themselves up and quit
expecting an “allowance” from us. That they have to create substantial work and
wages for their people that have stayed home and the ones we are sending home
and they can have all of our liberals they want, while we are deporting people LOL.
We wouldn’t win this war ( and it is a war…a war on legal Americans..and don’t
give me the Central American and liberal dreck that We Are All Americans because we all live in North America, Central America and South America) in a year or even ten years, but we could make a severe dent in the problem.
Nobody should care what the people at any Dinosaur Media Inc. has to say.
zorro
Bergamo is SE of the town I lived in … Calolziocorte … it is just below Lecco on Lago di Garlate … I have been to Bergamo many times as wll as Milano … If you go from Bergamo to Lecco you will pass through there …
TXRose
Because he has made something of himself and won’t work for tamalles! The dirty little secret, this has nothing to do with compassion, people who are smuggled into our country are abused entering, and they are abused once they are here. How is that compassionate? I guess the paper is referring to somekind of squatters rights? That is a real old concept! Well the people coming in are not progressive but they don’t mind the progressives giving them cover.
We can have legal orderly immigration but we would have to pay people coming into the country a fair wage, and make sure they are protected from exploitation. Why isn’t legal immigration touted as a compassionate solution?
Howdy everybody came back from my self imposed vacation from watching the blogs today (needed to take a break to get my mind right and step back from the internet) to see this BS from another paper that doesn’t understand how bile like this will hurt their circulation. I do enjoy watching the dinosaur media continue its slow death as is continues to circle the drain, but this is a total insult to every legal Texan. I will have to give my brother living in McKinney, TX a call later today to check his reaction to this paper’s so called “Texan of the Year.” Count me in as one that is total disgusted.
How warped must one’s world view be to so openly endorse illegal and destructive behavior. How warped American society must be now that open endorsement of illegal and destructive behavior is just shrugged off by so many people.
I see at the core of a lot of this that “American” is not seen as a distinct culture. We are expected by the world to assimilate or at least tolerate any behavior from any party within our borders if they declare it to be a cultural behavior or activity. Sorry world, America already has a distinct culture. Like every other culture it continues to evolve and adapt, however, we, not you, will decide the changes and pace. We owe nothing to the rest of the world, especially considering how much we have already given in our short existence and continue to give, often at the expense of domestic concerns. Still, despite any obligation to do so, Americans remain the most generous charitable givers on the planet by large margins.
We have been a beacon to the world since shortly after our inception. We need to build fences to keep people out, unlike most other countries which build fences to keep people in. The gift of the Statue of Liberty is further attestation to how we were viewed in the world in the halcyon, pre-socialist days, of expanding liberty and enlightened thought.
We became great through self-determination and individual liberty. Now the rest of the world, which has not known such greatness and liberty, individually or nationally, with the support of liberals within this nation, wants to impose their unsuccessful economic, social and cultural ideas upon us. Those of us who understand why and how this nation achieved greatness reject their overtures. We welcome those who respect our laws and our culture, those who seek to immigrate and assimilate, those who are fellow seekers of liberty and greatness. Simultaneously we reject and deride those who refuse to follow our laws as by this very act they prove that they do not hold our same ideals, they do not hold the same dreams of greatness and they do not wish for the same liberty. If they understood and respected all that makes us free and great, they would understand that the only way to contribute to that freedom and greatness is to follow the laws of this land and assimilate into the culture of this great experiment we call the United States of America.
Zorro,
I wish you a nice trip to Bergamo; Bergamo Alta is really cute!
Desertlover,
yes, Calolzio is between Lecco and Bergamo…
actually Calolzio was part of Bergamo province, and then in 1992 became part of Lecco province…
I am really happy when people come to visit from overseas and have a great experience; I have travelled to the US many times, and I have always found nice and kind people, so I try to reciprocate: whenever I find somebody poring over a map, I ask if they need help!
(since I live close to Santa Maria delle Grazie, where l’Ultima Cena, the Last Supper is, that happens a lot…).
Anyway, I am looking forward to experiencing the US as an immigrant, not only as a tourist.
Ciao,
Paolo
ClearBlueSky
The American people welcome you with open arms. If you ever make it to the real middle of the country Kansas City let me know I will be more than happy to hang out with you and show you some of the great thing’s this part of the country has to offer.
Well, why not take their own propaganda and beat them over the head with it.
From now on ‘everyone’ should refer to illegal immigrants as the Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrant.
All stories, written or spoken, should begin this way. Can you imagine the fallout from web stories and ‘real’ news headlines that begin.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrant kills six in 5th DUI incident.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants shoot at border guards.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants successfully smuggled tons of cocaine accross our borgers this year.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrant pedofiles prosper in Texas.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants protest the flying of the U. S. Flag.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants murder dozens in gang related drive by shootings.
Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants demand rights, threaten violence.
Dallas Morning News in fear of Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year illegal immigrants.
Etc… you get the idea
Make them pay for their own stupidity.
BTW: I was being nice, I could have written much worse.
If you are a ‘legal immigrant’ you are most welcome. Illegals you are breaking our laws, nothing you do here is a real asset to our nation. No matter how you dress it up, you are takers, you are stealing something that does not belong to you. Disrespect for our laws is disrespect toward us. You cannot expect me respect you, when you show so little respect for others.
Graysonret at 11:50. I am writing you in for Pres. I wish everyone in Iowa would read this piece from the DMN. And then carry a copy into the voting booth to read again before they pull that lever.
I am a native Texan.
The Dallas Morning News does NOT speak for me.
How utterly preposterous to name a group of people who are breaking our laws “Texan of the Year”. NO they are not. That’s just downright shameful!
“Criminal of the Year” is more fitting.
JimM…I always look forward to your comments.
This is and isn’t off topic but I came across this from Mike Nichols about political
correctness.
“On one hand, there is this blight of correctness, which teaches you to lie about
everything that is your instinct and your feeling, and to take a dip of the pabulum
and dish it out, because at least it’s correct.”
I just wish, for once, we could hear someone in the public eye’s true feelings about illegal immigration and what it is truly doing to this country and to the
legal citizens of this country. Cheaper prices be damned! That is not what this is about. What unfettered border hopping is about is cheaper bottom lines for
all employers and whether or not the votes are legal, for
more votes for dems. They don’t care if the voters have no right to be in those
booths just so long as they vote appropriately.
I really do not know if the people at the DMN are as ignorant as this action makes them seem but you can bet that when they are called on it, their response will be that they were trying to initiate intellectual debate about the
problem. This is what liberals always say instead of Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa,
my most blithering fault.
The last lines of the story are: “How we deal with the stranger among us says not only who we Americans are today but determines who we will become tomorrow.” How true.
I want America to still be here tomorrow.
This is really getting to me. How dare they? There are literally millions of people more deserving of any such title, however I must commend the DMN on convincing me what a bunch of fapping asshats they are.
Wait until their identity is ripped off and they are left holding the bag with a ruined credit rating and tens of thousands of dollars of legal fees in the hope of proving their innocence, which will still make no difference to their credit rating, thanks to ‘Texans of the Year’.
Wait until their daughters are raped and their sons shot dead by ‘Texan of the Year’ illegal alien gang members.
Wait until their little sister is addicted to heroin and selling her body to pay for another hit, imported by ‘Texans of the Year’.
Not if, but WHEN this happens to them, I hope someone is standing by to rub their face in this irresponsible piece of literary feces naming the ‘illegal immigrant’ Texan of the Year.
Back to reality, illegal aliens are certainly not all bad, but my sweeping generalizations are no different from theirs, which is the point I’m trying to make.
At least they’re not calling them undocumented immigrants.. for now.
DesertLover, ClearBlueSky,
I look forward to seeing Northern Italy once again. One of our suppliers is in a village Osio Sopra, very nice people there. Very good wine too.
As for the employers that hire illegal aliens, when you sit down and think about it, they are guilty of stealing from the American taxpayer. The line about Americans not wanting to do the work is total BULL. It is an excuse to pay substandard wages and deny benefits. And the difference between an honest wage and one paid to an illegal is NOT passed onto the consumer as a savings – it is pocketed as profit by the employer.
And when they cut out benefits, someone has to pick up their healthcare costs. We do. And when they pay a substandard wage, someone has to pick up the dollars involved in getting them above the poverty line. We do in support of welfare and public assistance.
I have absolutely no sympathy for employers who hire illegals. They know exactly what they are doing and it is corporate greed driving that. It is nonsense for them to even suggest that it keeps prices low. What it does is keep profits up. And because they are dealing with illegals, they have virtually no labor issues – the fear of deportation keeps them silent.
Factor in the expenses of free health care, welfare and the other expenses, and an American worker would be a bargain at a livable wage.
These employers are stealing from all of us. It is theft of services. From the American taxpayer. They need to not only be forced to reimburse the taxpayer, they need to be heavily penalized in addition to the reimbursement.
A rule of thumb in business is that benefits are around 30% of salary expenses. If we made that 30% of their entire payroll and multiply that by 4 as the penalty for the first offense, double that plus minimum jail time if 1 year for a second offense, and the administration of the “corporate death penalty” plus 7 years minimum incarceration for a third offense, my guess is that we’d see a quick stop to hiring illegals.
There are plenty of people in this country who need the work and are more than qualified to handle it.
I heard from a friend that works with the homeless that some of the recent homeless, caused by downsizing, went to a company that hires illegals and offered
to work for that company for the same wage as they pay to illegals. The owner of
the company said NO! Someone in the company told the men, that if they hired
them, they would eventually want at least minimum wage and benefits and they
never had that problem with illegals. He also mentioned the deportation issue.
If they got out of hand, the company could have them deported. These men said
that they would sign a paper that they would work for one year at these wages
but that to was refused.
Jobs that Americans won’t do? Not!
Jim M.
You need to check out our new employment law that goes into effect on January 1 here in Arizona … Businesses are required to use the federal employment eligibility website to verify an applicant’s documentation …
It’s all over the newspapers here today … several links on front page …
Arizona Fair and Legal Employment Act
First offense for knowingly hiring illegals is a 10-day suspension of the business license …
Continued illegal hiring results in permanent suspension of the business license …
Already many screaming they have had to raise their wages to get workers …
It was never “jobs americans wouldn’t do” … it was always “jobs Americans won’t do for sub-standard wages” …
Thanks, Nikita.
. If we had a President who refused to be intimated by votes/politics, maybe the conservative part of the country would tell Congress to “shut up” and support the Guard/Military/border patrol at the border. It would be like President Washington marching to put down the “whiskey rebellion”. No committees to study the problem, and no meetings to consider the ramifications of the action.
The sob stories don’t sway me, we are not the welfare and job office of the world. If these illegals and their supporters had any gumballs, they would march on Mexico and demand that it provide their jobs and care, instead of abusing and taking advantage of US citizens.
To see a metric of how derelict in duty our federal government has been, in opposition to its own citizens, see how many (46!) states enacted legislation in 2007 to make up for the inaction of President Bush and Congress.
Read the full report referenced at the story, because the MSM won’t read it for you.
Of the four states that did not enact legislation, AK, WI, and NH presumably have minimal problems, while the NJ Attorney General finally rescinded the state’s sanctuary policy after the violent attack on 4 Newark students bound for college this year. Don’t you dare say better late then never to the 4 families of the students.
My original reference.
I got this rant out of my system on Power of One Vote at Townhall, but I am so tired
of being told that because I am not a bleeding heart liberal or a member of an
hispanic group that supports illegals, that I don’t count in this country because in
order to count I have to sit down and shut up and say that it is okay that while I have to have a passport to get back into this country if I travel
outside of it, they can come and go with impunity. I am tired of being taxed to
support the government, welfare, social security, medicaid, etc and now I have to
support people that are not supposed to be in this country while they suck our
programs and schools and health care dry.
I am told by DMN that instead of a legal Texan that has actually contributed in some way that is worthwhile to this state, that no, we think the collective illegal
alien is much more worthwhile.
We are told sometimes verbally sometimes tacitly that we, as citizens, are worth
less than these lawbreakers. That all we are are deep pockets to support these
criminals and we’d better not say anything about it or we are racist b*****ds.
I don’t expect the subscribers to that paper to say anything about what they have
done, but other areas in this state won’t stay quiet.
Bush and Chertoff appear to have intentionally sought to destroy America and seem to revel in the crime by illegals.
Puhiawa, don’t forget the Congress. They’re the ones who pass the bills/laws, not the President. They’re the ones (House) who allocate the spending, not the President. He can only recommend. And Cheney, can’t do a thing. The V.P. has no power, except vote in a tie vote. There is plenty of blame to go around. We have 3 branches of government, not a 1 man Bush government, as some seem to think. And we have state/county governments too, who seem to want to place the blame elsewhere…passing the buck.
This all started with the first amnesty. Everytime there is an amnesty or talk of an amnesty, illegals pour across our borders, so, blaming President
GW Bush is nonproductive. As graysonret said, there is plenty of blame to go
around. Plus, you have pols in every phase of government in this country
and the MSM that just do not seem capable of or just won’t believe that there is a large number of voters in this country that want the law obeyed.
graysonret,
You’re right, but also wrong. Bush is providing the “leadership” to sidestep the rule of law and throw the borders open. It was his “pal” Johnny Sutton who railroaded Ramos and Compean, his pathetic inaction that has allowed the rot to flourish.
Note that Congress, which ordinarily blasts Bush for everything, has remained resolutely silent on the border issue. Why? Because they agree with him.
I expected to see Congress turn into the sniveling pack of wimps and appeasers they have become. They’re programmed by donors and big supporters to do that.
But it’s quite another thing to see the supposed “moral leader of the nation” turn out to be so eager to sell out his own nation and its citizens.
Be of good cheer: the Ariziona law, not in effect until Jan. 1, is already working just fine. Happy 2008!!
Maybe the actions of the states will give Congress and President Bush a well-deserved kick in the pants to DO SOMETHING in his last year. (My emphasis)