No, you are NOT Americans
Tuesday, June 19th, 2012Below, you’ll see the cover of this week’s TIME magazine.
I’m sure everyone pictured on the cover are decent, hardworking folks who only want the best for themselves and their families.
But they are NOT Americans, unless they mean they are Central Americans or South Americans.
They are not undocumented workers. They are not economic refugees.
They are criminal aliens who have no respect for American law.
The cover, of course, is TIME’s response to Our Dear Leader’s proclamation that effectively offers amnesty to a million or more illegals who were brought here as children. It is a slap in the face to every young American and to every young person who is here legally. With the economy still swirling around the toilet, Obama just effectively told young Americans and legal immigrants, “Sucks to be you, but my political future is far more important than your economic or social stability. You’ll just have to get used to all the criminal invaders driving down wages and taking jobs that should have been yours.”
Honestly, I do feel badly for the young illegals. They were burdened with parents who put them in a terrible position by bringing them illegally to a place they should not be. But my feelings do not change the facts.
Criminal invaders calling themselves Americans is an insult to every immigrant who waited their turn and came here legally, my father included.
If TIME is willing to accept that those people on the cover are Americans, *Just not legally, then surely they’ll support me in my contention that I’m a retired billionaire, *Just not legally, and cut me a check to make it true.
Hey, if the scam works for them, why can’t it work for me?
So…what are you, *Just not legally?
June 19th, 2012
. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Your tirade saddens me and makes me worry about the future of freedom in the world. Authoritarians rarely think of anything but increasing their own power over others.
June 19th, 2012
A fine quote that never applied to anyone who tried to enter the country illegally, as those people did.
America is a nation of laws. Those who break those laws by coming here illegally declare, by their actions, they are not Americans.
I welcome all immigrants from everywhere who play by the rules, as my paternal grandparents did nearly a century ago and my maternal grandparents did decades before that.
Not nation can prosper if it cannot control its border. No nation can support unlimited numbers of people flooding in, depressing wages and consuming services that citizens have to pay for.
Remember, when the words you quoted were written, there was no free anything. People came here for the opportunity to make their lives better through hard work, not through government benefits financed by the government extorting tax money from citizens.
My father once told me that many others from his party of Italy came here after hearing the “streets were paved with gold.” They were appalled to discover the gold was the golden opportunity to work hard and prosper, not the easy pickings they imagined. They soon returned from when they came and my father, and others like him, were happy to see them go.
I have to wonder how many of these illegals you, personally, and others who think like you, have volunteered to house and support?
My guess is zero, because it’s far easier to look down one’s nose at folks who are tired of paying for nothing as they watch their once-great nation disintegrate, than it is to pony up and support one’s beliefs with one’s own efforts and funds.
June 19th, 2012
And we accept those teeming mass,
the ones that come here with some class,
we grow so with the worlds cast-offs,
who come to blend in well,
but not the ones like rats,
who sneak in through the walls,
with avarice then stalls,
the blending of our melting pot.
June 19th, 2012
What am I?
Disgusted . . . legally!
June 19th, 2012
I agree!
June 19th, 2012
Something to remember. If it wasn the safety valve of illegal immigration to the United States, the Mexican government would of likely been overthrown again by now. The Mexican government stays in power because the malcontents and likely fodder for revolution sneak into the U.S. Not dissimalar to the way the British Empire used to dump their unwanted on the colonies.
June 19th, 2012
There’s a reason they’re called “illegals.” It’s because they’re here against the law. There’s no reason they’re here other than they’ve been permitted to stay. PERIOD. If you’ve ever registered a child for school, gotten a driving license, registered for college, submitted an application for a job, marriage license, or even a BANK account, you’ve had to present your “papers.” Many of those in this list require a BIRTH CERTIFICATE…which in this case..unless FORGED would say born in [insert other country here]…..Therefore, there is a SCAM to allow all these illegals to remain.
That said, I must wonder what the end game is to allow them to remain. One theory is so we can promote more good Democrat voters…of course IF they’re signed up to vote at ALL that, too is against the law and thus ILLEGAL. So, let’s assume that is crap. What is the ultimate end game? It’s been documented over and over that illegal workers claim MASSIVE “child tax credits” for kids living in Mexico and points south of here to the tune of BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars. One man interviewed said he got back $30K last year doing that by claiming his nieces/nephews/chidren/neighbors, etc IN MEXICO under the “child tax credit” on his taxes. This was documented in IRS records, yet they do NOTHING to these people.
There has to be an end game. If not votes, what is it? I’m a healthcare provider, and believe me we have plenty of illegals on the “medical cards” of their respective states, as well as on public assistance projects like WIC and other things. They’re here living FREE and EASY compared to [insert other place here]. So, clearly, they want to remain.
However, I still contend….what is the government’s END GAME if not VOTES for the next election. Clearly, there is a LEGAL method of gaining citizenship, but if you do that, you lose a TON of the freebie perks, so why bother? And as for “give me your huddled masses?” THEY CAME LEGALLY!!!!! If you want to speed up the system, then dear GAWD just create more NIS jobs with stimulus money (beats the heck out of failed [insert Solyndra type job here] stimulated disasters.
But behind the smoke and mirrors, I believe, is an end game that we SHOULD be looking at instead of crying “poor babies…their parents did something illegal” when it’s clear that these folks should have been deported LONG ago and weren’t….something’s rotten in the state of the federal government.
June 19th, 2012
Yes, America is a land of laws, and writers published here have also stated that there’s way too many laws…
Just like any group of people, there’s good and bad. Yet when I see hard working illegal immigrants, and extremely lazy citizens who are on government assistance yet have 52″ flat screens and cable, I think that laws alone are not a very convincing argument against allowing illegals to stay.
Granted personally I feel everyone should earn their citizenship instead of just being given something by birthright that over half our population will take for granted and act like their DVR not recording the latest reality show is the most tragic thing that happened to them this year.
I’d accept that there’s legal ways to enter, they only cost more money than even our citizens could afford in the long term. Sure, it CAN cost only $800 but then that’s doing all the paperwork yourself. We may say “well, they should know English, so they should have no problem with that!” yet, how many of us hire lawyers to file paperwork to make sure the government does not go the wrong way with it? (see gun trusts?) By the time you have a competent lawyer and go through the whole process, you are looking at 10-15k USD to immigrate legally…
June 19th, 2012
we have set up a system to allow people of other nations to come into our country legally and become citizens and enjoy the benefits that we as citizens enjoy….what is wrong with these illegals doing what every other nationalized citizen has done and go thru the legal process??? what makes them special and why should they be put above other hard working LAW ABIDING people who are trying to become or became citizens??? oh wait…..its election time….
June 19th, 2012
“Coming to America” changed the lives of all four of my grandparents. The process of getting here was complex and challenging. They knew they were legally earning the priivilege of living in the greatest nation this world has ever known. They were humbled and honored to be allowed to work for their freedom and all that freedom offered. That humility and sense of appreciation inspired them to become Americans and to participate in the continuing miracle that is American liberty.
Today, those who desire to live here, but refuse to come here legally, enter our country as lawbreakers. Desiring what we have to offer, but contributing nothing to our foundation, they hide and they lie and they take all they can, without honoring our rules or our process. They want to be numbered among us, yet they cheat and steal from us by disrespecting our system. They burden our schools, hospitals, and welfare system to the point that honorable, legal Americans are forced into second place, so great is the load.
While I empathize with the desire to be here, I have no honor, no respect, no tolerance for those who want something for nothing, and have no concern for the legality of their behaviors. Just as I have no respect, no tolerance, and do not honor the man who is dismantling our beloved America in an attempt to win an election.
June 19th, 2012
I read this blog when it shows up on facebook because I think it is healthy to know how other people think. I do not dismiss people because their views are different than mine. However, quite often, I am left feeling gutted. I see the way the world is full of the idea of separation. It permeates all conventions. So much so that most people think that it is just the way things are, or worse yet, it’s the way things should be. It is this attitude that makes the world at odds with itself and pits human against human, brother against brother. Even those who claim to follow the Jesus of the bible overlook his message of love. It is disheartening. In the end, it will be the inability to put oneself in the shoes of his fellow man that will cause convention to crumble.
June 19th, 2012
The sins of the father are not the sins of the son. I do not agree that children who grew up here without a clue of how their parents got here should be punished and maligned. Decades ago, I had an *friend* who blasted the effort to rescue Amerasian children because they in her eyes weren’t AMERICAN. This blog maligning the cover of Time Magazine and its corresponding article smacks of that mentality. My father, now retired, was a Marine. I myself served proudly. I was Active Duty Army. My brother served in the US Navy. He is retired as well. As a soldier, I served for God and Country. The spirit of the legalizing of this group is shared in the Biblical teaching. The sins of the father are not the sins of the son. This blog totally ignores His Word.
June 19th, 2012
I agree with Oliver on this. Many BHM subscribers are libertarians who mistrust government intrusion in their lives, there are reasons for government to work to secure the borders and remove illegal immigrants.
Indeed the very values that BHM readers have are under threat from today’s immigration for the following reasons:
1. Immigration more than anything else is a cheap labor subsidy. Employers of illegal immigrations gain profits from low wage workers but pass on the cost to the taxpayers in the form of EBT Cards, emergency room costs, and other expenses.
2. Immigrants today come from outside Europe, from places that mainstream America has frankly, had a very difficult time assimilating. This has impacts on increased social and political tension. Further government intervention is then needed to quell tensions-Tito’s Yugoslavia is a pretty good example of that.
3. Don’t like government intrusion due to wars? I’d even go so far to say that America’s foreign policy is in many way’s pressured by recent immigrant lobbyists. Recently, I did some business in Washington DC where you’d have no idea the rest of America is struggling through a terrible recession. On every bus were messages from the country of Azerbaijan imploring America to avenge some outrage done to them in 1992! Azerbaijan is easy enough for Congress and the American people to ignore, but what happens when America’s national interests comes into conflict with Mexico?
June 19th, 2012
Yes, we are a nation of immigrants. yes, we are a nation that has laws and rules about immigration. Now, we have a strata of immigrants who are here illegally through no fault of their own. Many of them don’t even know how to speak their native language, becuase to them, that language is ENGLISH. Some are old enough that they could remain in America as tax paying, contributing citizens if given the opportunity. Some are not old enough and would have to be ripped way from everything they know to be deported with their parents. We would rise up in protest if children were ripped out of their environment, if those children were ours. We sit appalled at what Americans did to the Native American’s children during the days of assimilation. Complaining about the situation isn’t enough. Provide a solution. As Pogo once said, if you can’t be part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
June 19th, 2012
Lady Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
“Give me,” “to me,” “I lift my lamp.” These are not statements made by the United States, these are the statements made by Liberty. Give Liberty your tired, your poor. Liberty will lift her lamp beside the golden door.
I want liberty for all who walk this earth, but I am not so arrogant as to feel that liberty can only be the property of the United States, and that one must come here by any means necessary to achieve it. Liberty can exist in any country, and should. We were to be a beacon of liberty so others may follow our example.
And those who ignore the duty of equality under the law as the foundation of liberty can only serve to extinguish that lamp that shines as much for the citizens in the United States as it does for those of other countries, longing for the example-the beacon- of liberty we once were.
June 19th, 2012
Nancy, first, thank you and your father for your service.
I believe Jesus also said to render unto to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Immigration is a state issue, not a religious issue.
If Obama had announced a plan that would move those young people to the top of the immigration list after they voluntarily returned from when they came and applied to come here legally, I could support that. But that is not what he did. He made a political decision to try and “buy” votes of an interest group by trying an end run around Congress.
Illegal = criminal. It really is as simple as that.
June 19th, 2012
Scout — well said!
June 19th, 2012
I agree with ‘Carl R’.
If we wouldn’t hire them, they wouldn’t come.
Think about that next time you want your grass cut cheap or you hire the low bidder to drywall your house, etc.
Refuse to buy from companies that hire illegal labor.
In this country, we need to take some personal responsibility and “be the change” we want to see even if it means we pay a little more to hire our legal neighbors.
June 19th, 2012
All four of my grandparents ‘came over’. My dad’s father, and my namesake, came through Canada, served in the later 7th Cav. during the last Apache wars, and earned his citizenship and farm in Ionia County Michigan as a result. His mother was Irish from County Galway. Mother’s folks came from Cornwall, surnamed ‘Corney’, BTW, and Geordies from Nothumberland and Scotland.
And still I call myself a native American, here in the heart of Lakota territory.
Lady Liberty (the real one) speaks to not just coming for the hand outs, but coming for the opportunities of full participation in the citizenship process. True the strangers get the crumbs from under the table, but the children of the house eat the goodies from the table.
June 19th, 2012
I was just skimming my home posts on my fb and started to scream at my fb page…..NO, NO YOU ARE NOT AMERICANS!!!!! Then I read your article and the comments left on your page and calmed down. It’s good to know you’re not alone. I believe I will follow your blog for a while. Thank you for your wisdom.
June 19th, 2012
I live in Delaware, where there is a large immigrant population to work the chicken processing plants and huge chicken houses. Many of them are here illegally. My issue is that many of them have forged papers and get Welfare, WIC, food stamps and many other benefits that they never paid a dime for. Some have two sets of papers. One set for working under. Another set for getting benefits, which are of a far higher value than what they are paying in taxes with the working set.
Further, if you read the legislation, they only have to have been here for five years. However, they can be up to thirty years old to apply. So, that means one could have come over at the age of twenty five and still qualify. I am hoping I misunderstood what I read, but I don’t have a lot of hope…..
Frankly, I have issues with anyone abusing the system, period. I like Oliver’s solution that they could be moved to the top of the immigration list. That acknowledges that there were things beyond their control, but still keeps it legit, as it were. Honestly, I know that not all illegal immigrants are milking the system, but I have come into contact with enough that do to make me disgusted with the pie in the sky, take care of everyone, oh the for the love of the children nonsense.
June 19th, 2012
Here is a suggestion. Have a referendum. All those unfavourable of supporting illegal immigrants to pay a special tax to cover the cost. Those that don’t are exempt. Then watch the support melt away. As long as the true cost of illegal immigration, both financial and social, is hidden there will always be supporters. As soon as it appears on there tax statement as a separate amount the support will wither. Despite what supporters of it tell you the vast majority of illegals are unskilled and through out their lifetime cost the taxpayer more that they ever put back. We are blighted by this problem in the UK. Over the past 13 years we have admitted millions of burger flippers. At the same time skilled people are leaving. We ourselves have had enough. Both myself and my brother have sold our business and homes and we are off to New Zealand. The irony of this article is that we had initially looked at the USA but the process was complicated and very expensive. Maybe we should have just sneaked in instead so that BO could have squared things for us after.
Ma
June 19th, 2012
Oliver, I could not agree more with your blog entry and the response to Lady Liberty (above)! I am one of those legal Immigrants that jumped through every hoop the government threw in my way (rightly so, I might add, as it was my own decision to come here); which included DHS “loosing” my “biometric data” (that is fingerprints and picture) twice while I was waiting for my green card. It wasn’t cheap, either, and I got my citizenship before DHS raised the fees to almost double.
That’s the reason why I am vehemently opposed to any kind of “amnesty”; it would be, like you said in your post, a slap in the face to any immigrant who played (and still plays) by the rules.
Thanks for a great post!
June 19th, 2012
I see that there has been a lot of criticism about this article on Facebook already. What people aren’t seeing is that first, this is an editorial, so it is someone’s opinion, and second, BWH is about more than just off-grid power… it is about a way of life, and that way of life is indeed affected by illegal immigration. I too feel sorry for these younger folks who were brought to the US by their parents; however, the law is the law, and all immigrants need to follow that law. Almost all of our population is due to immigration; however, our ancestors followed the immigration rules almost without fail… and for a reason. No one says they can’t be here; just come in correctly! Pay taxes. Be legit. Do it right.
June 19th, 2012
One small correction, Amy. My blog is not a BHM editorial. It’s just my ramblings and does not reflect anyone’s opinion other than my own about anything.
June 19th, 2012
Wow Oliver, this is the biggest hornets nest you’ve poked in a long long time….
Irrespective of empathy for those who are caught in the cross hairs of this argument, IF we are to remain a sovereign nation governed by law… we MUST accept the enforcement of law. The numbers are a secondary issue. The only issue on the table, is if the people are here with legal documentation or not. If so, they stay, of not, they go.
The bigger issue for legal US citizens however, is the ONE WORLD government being jammed down our throats by a Marxist president and a corporate owned legislature and supreme court. We need to exercise our right to vote in an individualized educated manner, not by goose stepping behind party politicians. (just an opinion)
June 19th, 2012
What to do…Write a letter, make a phone call, voice your opinion to your representative. Keep your Powder Dry!
June 19th, 2012
So … if we’re a country of laws why don’t our own government officials obey them?
And if those officials pass really terrible laws, we should all just obey them without question and persecute anybody who doesn’t obey them?
Do YOU obey every single law at all times, Oliver?
Really, Oliver, you’re going to let politicians define who’s an American and who isn’t?
America is an idea and an ideal. The illegal immigrant who worked on my property and was diligent, polite, happy, and excited about his future and his achievements is a waaaaay better American than the native-born meth-head down the street who sits on his ass bitching while he enjoys the nanny state.
A just country would keep that Mexican kid here and deport Charles Schumer and Eric Holder and their ilk.
June 20th, 2012
I agree with Ann On.
Furthermore, there are just laws and unjust laws. Because a law is on the books doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it “legal”. We should know this by the multitude of laws passed since 9/11!
My ancestors all came over _before_ the immigration laws were written, before the government WAS a government and decided to define America by its own prejudices. No, they didn’t come on the Mayflower, but one of them did come on the debtors’ boat – and all of them were “tired and poor” when they got off the boat. We helped found this country before it turned into a teeming mass of “legal” biases.
Immigration is a subject that will never be fully settled until the immigration laws are *taken off* the books and America is allowed to be open and free again… until it’s allowed to function with equal “privileges” for all. We took this country from the American Indians – that can’t be changed now. But to disallow others the same opportunities we had is a prejudice unworthy of our own heritage.
June 20th, 2012
Those who insist that America is a “nation of laws” may find this article interesting.
June 20th, 2012
Lady Liberty – America is a nation of laws. Sadly, those laws are frequently ignored and abused. Worse, the abusers are infrequently held accountable because so few people notice or care if they do notice.
We get the government and leadership we deserve by virtue of our votes. But that does not mean we live in a state of anarchy. Yet.
June 20th, 2012
There is another thing that BHM readers should consider with Obama’s back door amnesty.
Essentially, if an administration chooses to ignore a law that has been supported through the normal political process-that is to say the DREAM Act has been defeated every time it has come up in Congress-what stops an administration from ignoring other laws? How about ignoring private property rights?
June 20th, 2012
A purely political move, made by bypassing Congress in an attempt to garner votes by a sitting President desperate to be re-elected. This is just as illegal as crossing the border without authorization and should be handled in the same manner. What part if “illegal” is so hard to understand. We are, and must be, a Nation of Laws and those laws must be enforced.
June 20th, 2012
Once these “children” of illegal immigrants (people that have immigrated into a country in violation of that countries laws) have green cards or citizenship they can then sponsor family members to legally immigrate. The expansion of immigrants becomes exponential.
June 21st, 2012
Just another data point in case you’re interested.
June 21st, 2012
LL – more like another propaganda point. The New York Times is more liberal than even the Boston Globe, once known as The Kennedy Family Newsletter.
I have friends and family in California, Arizona, and elsewhere who will tell you illegal immigration has had a huge negative impact. In matters like this, I tend to trust the word on the street over that from ivy covered brick buildings.