Illegal immigrants are being treated like criminals, are they? From my own personal experience with these immigrants I have gathered that the picture fed to us about them is far from clear. Most people that work with the immigrants have shared with me there admiration for the hard work being done by them.
On one hand the media depicts Hispanics negatively with images of crime, drugs, gangs and recklessness. On the other hand they depict Hispanics as taking American jobs, destroying our traditions by insisting on Spanish translations and ruining our economy by absorbing public assistance and educational resources.
Both views contradict each other. If Hispanics are lazy then why are they taking all the jobs? And what jobs are they talking about? The jobs that most Americans reject, the jobs that you don't even need to speak English to carry out? Spanish is not ruining our traditions. We are a melting pot of cultures and have had a hard time accepting cultures in the past but it has been done successfully. This is no different. On the economy, I believe our economy is better off as a result. The reason being is that as US workers, immigrants help the companies and businesses. They also serve as consumers in our markets therefore making the economy stronger. With all that immigrants contribute to our economy they are in return entitled to any assistance and educational opportunity as the rest of us. Their money is good money. The images portraying Hispanics in a negative light should not be tolerated just as they are not tolerated by other minorities in the USA.
Illegal immigration is illegal but we should not treat these hard working immigrants like criminals. They have families and have planted roots in this country and should be given the opportunity to redeem themselves by becoming citizens.
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Moral and economic debates aside, the very act of crossing the border without proper documentation is a crime, for both sides. Americans cannot cross into Mexico without it; Mexicans cannot cross into American without it. The rule of law must be followed, or it sets a dangerous precedent for other laws to be similarly disregarded.
When we do not like a law, we have power to change it. But, when a law is in effect, it must be followed. Your premise is correct: immigration without proper documentation is illegal. And it should be treated as such, until the law changes.
Although as you said illegal immigration is crime, some severe actions should not be taken on them.. They also must be treated as human beings and they can be warned for first time..
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LAPLACE
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New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky,
located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the
New York metro area and across the United States
in all immigration and naturalization matters
http://www.e-us-visa.com
I think your argument hinges on the flaw that something is only a crime if it punishes people with a "criminal persona." Perfectly decent people can still commit crimes.
><>Brian
what are you saying?
We have a lot of laws in this country being broken by good people. Some of the laws stupid, others good. My point is that hard working illegal immigrants should not be descriminated against. They should not be taken from their homes in the middle of the night, leaivng behind their family, possesions and job responsibilities. That is not the answer.
1) No-one is being discriminated against. What would be discrimination is allowing hard-working people to break the law and those who don't work so hard to be punished.
2) A crime, by definition, is breaking the law. You don't have to be a bad person to commit a crime. You seem to think that since Immigration Laws punish good people, it's not a crime.
3) I'm all for immigration reform. Caps are stupid, our current system is overrun with bureaucrats, all that Jazz. But we shouldn't allow people to just come in here and get preferential treatment for doing it the illegal way.
America needs to send a message: We welcome immigrants who want to live with us, but we want them to respect the rule of law.
><>Brian
I agree that immigrants should respect our laws. I do not believe illegal immigrants should get a speed pass through our naturalization process that would not be fair for all those immigrants currently legally waiting for citizenship.
I disagree with your #1. If you are a minority, most likely you have been discriminated against. Even majorities go through discrimination. If you have not been discriminated against, great, but it is being done. I also disagree with your #2. Okay, I know illegal immigration is illegal and a crime however I believe we should not treat illegal immigrants inhumanely. That is being done all over the country. Being an illegal immigrant is not a violent crime yet in many cases they are being treated violently by authorities and people in general. I know this for a fact because I met with a representative of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in my state almost a year ago and we discussed several specific issues. It's a fact you must open your eyes to because it is going on, maybe not to your personal knowledge, but it is going on. There are different laws out there that when broken deserve consideration. Not everything is black and white. If that were the case we would have a lot of people in jail for premarital sex/sexual activity. In many states there are laws against that but breaking those laws are not considered a crime. The severity of illegal immigration is big, but my issue is the treatment of the immigrants. Some are treated like murderer or animals. These are facts.
there is no doubt the hispanics do work hard. But the simple fact is that they are ILLEGAL in this country and for that reason they are criminals.
Liv Life Your Way
Research by George Borjas (Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University), Jeffrey Grogger (the Irving Harris Professor in Urban Policy in the Harris School at the University of Chicago), and Gordon H. Hanson (the Director of the Center on Pacific Economies and Professor of Economics at UCSD) found that a 10-percent immigrant-induced increase in the supply of a particular skill group reduced the black wage by 4.0 percent, lowered the employment rate of black men by 3.5 percentage points, and increased the incarceration rate of blacks by almost one percent.
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LAPLACE
============================
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky,
located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the
New York metro area and across the United States
in all immigration and naturalization matters
http://www.e-us-visa.com
I don't think there is a better labor economist in the country.
Borjas has calculated that these reductions in employement and wages result in low skilled Americans, a group disproportionately represented by blacks, other minorities and recent legal immigrants, are being deprived of about $200 billion of wages annually. That is an enormous number which would have a dramatic impact on their lives. Think how much better our 40 million or so black people in America would be doing if you gave each of them their share of $200 billion every year.
The $200 billion is essentially a cheap labor subsidy and the businesses that hire the illegal aliens get most of the benefit. The poorest Americans get less job opportunity and lower wages. The middleclass gets taxed to educate, provide healthcare and criminal justice for the illegal aliens.
it's not rocket science, when you increase the supply of unskilled labor, the price falls. Economics 101. That's why the Chamber of Commerce is so anzxious to bring more of them no matter how much it hurts poor Americans. In many ways the tolerance of illegal immigration is a racist policy aimed at Blacks.
To directly answer the question in this blog, the act of crossing our borders illegally is a misdeameanor for a first offense and a felony for a second offense. The punishment in the former case is deportation and in the latter case could be (but is usually not) fines and jail followed by deportation. Of course these punishments should be carried out in a manner consistent with the way we treat other criminals. There is no reason for our law enforcement to be abusive.
In addition to the crime of illegal entry, most illegal aliens also commit one or more of numerous other crimes such as: fraudulent use of a Social Security Card (felony), Identify theft (felony), working in violation of our employment laws (mideameanor or felondy depending), tax evasion (felony). These are all serious violations of laws that American citizens are expected to follow. There should not be a double standard! When illegal aliens break these laws they should be treated to justice at least as harsh as would be imposed on an American citizen. I think they should be treated more harshly because of the aggrevating circumstances or their illegal presence. If they were not here illegally, the subsequent the violations would not have happened.