I am stymied by how the author of “Stymied: Undocumented Students’ Rocky Road to a College Degree” and the people it refers to are expecting us to wave our hands and cheer them on [July 6 Xpress]. Yay! C'mon, you illegal immigrants, give us a hug! Mi casa es tu casa? Mi escuela es la escuela? Mi trabajo es su trabajo?
I have a friend attending A-B Tech who is all U.S. citizen and working many hours to pay her way through school. She has not gotten a scholarship or even a loan. She doesn't get to cut in line to be first. She didn't start her own group in school to get donations, such as HOLA did.
It's not fair on the kids. I can see some of that. But, I'm sorry, the parents gotta go and raise their kids in their own country. If they aren't going to go through the paces here to become citizens, goodbye! There are exceptions, such as those from war-torn countries whose lives have been literally threatened, but they can't just say that times were tough.
And there's the job picture. So this student at UNCA takes a couple of our jobs to further her education — so she can take one of our better jobs after she graduates? Is she ever planning to apply for citizenship? The politicians are wrong! We do want those jobs. Our social-services system is burgeoning from the weight of baby boomers that have started living longer and needing things that they paid taxes for, and here are the illegals again, with children, who need help from a social-services system that asks no questions of them. I've seen the Mexican people from one end of North Carolina to the other working the tough, lower paying jobs. I've seen them because I've worked the tough, lower paying jobs, right next to them. I don't want anyone to suffer but what's the point of borders or laws if nobody is going to respect them?
— Gail Caduff-Nash
Mountain Home
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Many illegals pay taxes, too.
http://reason.org/news/show/122411.html
(and that's from an economically right-wing site, too)
By mat catastrophe
07/13/2011
paying taxes does not make people illegally in this country any less illegal nor give them the right to be here.
By artart
07/13/2011
No human being is illegal.
By RHS
07/13/2011
"No human being is illegal."
Some inhumane humans will never be convinced of this fact.
By D. Dial
07/13/2011
Oh, you silly bleeding hearts with your slogans. If someone walks into my house without my permission, it is illegal behavior. If they enter this country without permission, it is illegal behavior. They are here illegally, therefore they are illegals. That term has nothing to do with them being a legitimate human being. One who murders is a murderer. Maybe you need some valid arguments for condoning law breakers by going beyond slogans......I am surprise the moderator passes through those empty slogans onto this site.
By artart
07/14/2011
When an illegal works a 35.00 hour job for 9.50, so the company shifts it's pay scale for "amuricans" to 10.50 out of "kindness". we all suffer. We have regressed 40+ years in the past.
By Theresa Mk-Ultraviolent
07/14/2011
The slogan is not and empty one at all. It just requires a little more thought than the term so many use to simplify a complex problem.
Jack Abramoff is not referred to as an "illegal lobbyist." Tom Delay is not referred to as an "illegal politician." If he is convicted Roger Clemmons will not be referred to as and "illegal athlete."
By RHS
07/14/2011
Illegal is illegal, no matter how you spin, time to ship them out, pronto.
By Asheville Dweller
07/15/2011
If only you had been around to advise the natives of this land.
By mat catastrophe
07/15/2011
"I have a friend attending A-B Tech who is all U.S. citizen and working many hours to pay her way through school. She has not gotten a scholarship or even a loan. She doesn't get to cut in line to be first. She didn't start her own group in school to get donations, such as HOLA did."
I don't know this for sure but I'm going to assume that your friend is white. I can assume this because your letter is so saturated with smug entitlement, typical of defensive white people. Your statement about your poor disadvantaged friend just comes off sounding so dis ingenuous, given that whites in this country enjoy such an immense privilege compared to people of color. We don't need to cut line (though we often do), the line is made for us.
By danny possible
07/19/2011