Saint Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European city in the United States [September 8, 1565], and the people damn sure didn’t speak English.
The majority of those who lived the Texas Republic when it became a state didn’t speak English and looked like the brothers.
This is all a dodge to “cage” voters. If those brothers had a Miami address, no one would hassle them.
]]>Two Mexican American brothers do most of the lawn and pool maintenance in my apartment complex. They are employees, not contract or temp workers like me. They are American citizens. I am happy to say that I registered one of the brothers to vote, and Stella registered the other. Though they appear to speak mostly Spanish at home, their English is excellent, and their American political awareness appears quite high. But they are visually indistinguishable from members of their families who live in Mexico City, who are Mexican citizens, to whom they drive to visit every few weeks. Please note that neither are they border residents nor are their families atypical: most Mexican Americans I know have family who are still living in, and citizens of, Mexico.
How likely is it that the brothers will be asked to prove their American citizenship to vote or be employed, vs. the likelihood that I, who look like the combination of Dutch, French, British and Irish ancestors that I sprang from, will be asked for my papers in the same circumstances? The civil laws on employment and (criminal?) laws on voting will be enforced in a discriminatory manner based on physical characteristics the brothers cannot change. That’s as un-American as it gets… and I don’t doubt many GOPers favor that discrimination.
BTW, I did not ask them for proof of citizenship to register to vote: current Texas law strictly forbids me to ask that of them, and their signature on the registration application is their assertion under penalty of perjury that they are American citizens and residents of Texas and of this county. Will that, too, change? How far will the Bushists take this?
]]>I got into this doing background investigations: some states use church records of baptism or christenings rather than birth certificates outside of large cities. In a few the family Bible is an official record.
I have now idea what happens in cross border reservations because one applicant’s birthday was “awarded” by the US Army when he enlisted.
]]>It’s time to catch the criminals. The laws have been there, but they aren’t being enforced.
Consider the situation – it’s news that the government is enforcing the law.
]]>I don’t know a ready solution to the illegal immigration problem; indeed, there’s probably no partisan political issue over which I’m more conflicted. Of course the laws should be enforced, but they should be enforced uniformly on local homebuilders and gigantic agribusinesses alike… and I don’t see that as happening here.
I am curious what the public’s opinion on illegal immigrant labor will be when food prices quadruple; I’m moderately confident that will lead to changes in the law… but I still don’t know if any changes will resolve the issues of worker status. We have built a couple of important parts of our economy on the assumption of a large supply of cheap labor, illegal though that supply may be, and any way forward that we choose is sure to involve some economic pain for everyone involved.
(An aside regarding terminology: I detest the use of “illegal” as a noun, because there is nothing intrinsic in a human being that is illegal. Laws can be changed; people who are “illegals” today can be “legals” tomorrow at a stroke of a pen. If one is uncomfortable saying “undocumented workers” or “paperless folk,” or if one needs to emphasize the workers’ immigration status, “illegal alien” or “illegal resident” is to my ear far less derogatory than just “illegal” used as a noun.)
]]>Apparently Smithfield Meatpacking has a new TV ad out with a spokesmodel who more Southern that Scarlett O’Hara talking about how great something they make is. They local reaction from someone who has family near a Smithfield plant is that their workforce is from a good deal further South than Dixie and they don’t say Y’all, they say Ustedes.
If employer sanctions had been enforced, there would have been no flood of immigrants, but if they had done it, they would have had to create a way of allowing workers in legally or raising the minimum wage.
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