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Archive for Sunday, May 7, 2006

As the country debates immigration, Emporia deals with reality

May 7, 2006

Emporia — "Ya soy un adulto," Roberta Shafer says, writing down her words for her first-grade class. "En mi familia tengo un esposo, un hijo, una hija y una mascota que se llama Bubba."

Welcome to Riverside Elementary School, where 76 percent of the school's nearly 400 students are Hispanic - most of them immigrants who speak only Spanish.

Nobody knows, however, how many are illegal immigrants.

"We don't ask," says Emporia Schools Supt. John Heim, a refrain repeated by officials across the city.

Riverside might be the front line of Emporia's struggle to adapt to an explosion of immigration over the last decade, as workers are attracted by meatpacking and other jobs. It's a struggle that has mostly played out quietly - until a national furor over illegal immigration sparked an April 10 protest by as many as 1,500 of the city's Latino residents, who marched across the city for three hours.

"We hadn't seen anything like it," said Mike Heffron, the city's police chief.

Maria Landeros, who came to Emporia from Mexico more than 30 years ago, helped organize the march, and also last Monday's follow-up demonstration at the Lyon County Fairgrounds.

"It's time for people to hear us, and know we're here," said Landeros, who owns an import business in downtown Emporia. "We're a big part of the United States."

The growth

Emporia, a town of nearly 27,000 people an hour down the Turnpike from Lawrence, is no stranger to immigration. During the early part of the last century, Mexican immigrants flocked here to work on the railroad - settling in the southern part of the city known as "La Colonia."

As the country debates immigration, Emporia deals with reality. See audio slideshow Â»

Those immigrants struggled to be treated equally, said Phil Solis, a 65-year-old Emporia resident whose grandfather, Gil, came to Emporia in 1910.

"As a youngster it was hard to go uptown," he said. "They dispersed you if you were in groups."

By 1990, though, immigrants and their descendants were a relatively small portion of Emporia's population. Hispanics made up just under 8 percent of city residents; foreign-born residents were less than 5 percent.

Then everything changed.

Drawn by jobs at the IBP - now Tyson - meatpacking plant, as well as other work in manufacturing and construction, the immigrant population exploded during the 1990s. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of foreign-born residents grew from 1,153 to 4,185 during the decade.

The growth only slowly dawned on city leaders.

"I don't know that there was an epiphany of any kind," said Steve Commons, the city manager.

Many people believe the Census undercounted, perhaps because illegal immigrants were avoiding the numbers-takers. They point to school district enrollment as proof; 43 percent of Emporia public school students are Hispanic this year, up from 7.7 percent in 1989.

"If you look at the Census numbers and the school district, there's a disparity," said Chief Heffron, who formerly served on the Emporia School Board. "The school district is accurate. The Census obviously is not."

Not asking

The assumption in Emporia is that many, if not most, of the newcomers are here illegally.

"They walk in and report a crime," Heffron said, "and we're not going to ask if they're legal or illegal."

Indeed, asking might not get you far - no one wants to risk admitting their status publicly and risking deportation.

One speaker at Monday's "A Day Without Immigrants" rally was Marcos Gordillo, a freshman at Emporia State University, who addressed the crowd in Spanish.

He said many illegal immigrants give false Social Security numbers to their employers, without penalty.

"The government accepts it," he told the crowd. "You know why? So they can have the money."

Offstage, he declined to answer a Journal-World question about whether he had entered the country legally or illegally. Gordillo did say, however, that he was a recipient of the state's immigrant tuition waiver that has been the subject of debate and lawsuits.

Officials with the Tyson beef plant, which employs 2,200 people, acknowledge that more than half their workers are Hispanic, earning between $11.10 and $14.79 an hour in production jobs - and up to $17.20 an hour for maintenance work. They say they use the most rigorous federal programs to screen out undocumented workers.

But Tyson says government screening efforts are not 100-percent effective.

"We have zero tolerance for employing people who are not authorized to work in the U.S.," said Gary Mickelson, a spokesman at Tyson's corporate headquarters in Arkansas. "We also realize the tools we're provided have limitations, limitations that do not help us, for example, in cases of identity fraud."

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he was unaware of any employment violations by the Tyson plant in Emporia. That didn't surprise Heffron, who said federal officials usually can't be bothered to deport illegal immigrants his officers arrest for petty crimes.

The federal government "is so overwhelmed," Heffron said. "They're not likely to come here."

Challenges

Heffron said the large number of illegal immigrants makes it hard to track crime in the community.

Emporia's crime numbers have remained static, he said, but probably because most immigrant-on-immigrant crimes go unreported. Crime victims won't risk deportation to get justice.

And there are cultural problems. The department has three bilingual members, he said, none of them street officers. Recruitment of such officers is difficult.

"We're not trusted," Heffron said. "The police in Mexico and Central America aren't trusted, so when they come here, we aren't trusted."

The Emporia school district also has had problems hiring Latino and Spanish-speaking teachers. Bilingual teachers can make an extra $1,200 a year, but Riverside still has only five dual-language instructors - they lead a portion of the school's students in a curriculum that teaches Spanish literacy before moving on to English.

"Bilingual teachers are at a real premium; finding bilingual teachers that want to move to Emporia is not always easy," said Heim, the superintendent. "We'd also like to employ more Latino teachers, but they just aren't available."

The school district, in fact, has taken the lead in helping immigrant families find their bearings in Emporia. The district has two workers who identify new families and help them find services and other help they need.

"I don't ask if they're legal or illegal," said Armida Martinez, the district's migrant recruiter.

Changing community

That help, though, gets under the skin of Amanda Logsdon. The 28-year-old Emporia woman organized last Monday's counter-demonstration, calling for tougher immigration enforcement law.

"Seeing our tax dollars go to welfare and health care (for immigrants) is upsetting," said Logsdon, who has lived in Emporia since 1983. "I feel this country's being taken advantage of."

Her opposition to illegal immigration goes beyond dollars and cents, though. She doesn't like that the local newspaper publishes a Spanish-language weekly, that she can hear Spanish-language advertisements on a local country radio station, and fears she might one day have to know a second language "to buy a loaf of bread."

"It's upsetting to be walking in Wal-Mart and hear today's specials in English and Spanish," she said.

And though at least one of her fellow demonstrators on Monday walked around with a placard that used a racial slur to describe Mexicans, Logsdon said her frustrations are "absolutely not racist."

Landeros, who came to the United States as a 10-year-old - legally, she says - is unapologetic about continuing to speak Spanish. During Monday's demonstration, she made announcements in that language, and repeatedly lead chants of "Si se puede!"

"I'm am an American and I'm proud of being an American, but I still have all my heritage," she said. "I still do everything the Mexican way. But people shouldn't be offended, because there's lots of Americans who like to ... do Mexican dinners at home. We don't get offended by that."

'We're trying'

On Tuesday, 73-year-old Jose Gallegos walked into a downtown restaurant, turned down the volume on a television, then began playing Mexican ballads.

His daughter, Rosa Aranda, said the musician was visiting from the Zacatecas region of Mexico, and would return at the end of a six-month visit.

Gallegos is rare; most of the new residents are here for the long-term.

Emporia is changing to meet the needs of the city's immigrant community. There are 10 churches that offer Spanish-language services - St. Catherine's Catholic Church constructed a new building in recent years, but still has standing-room-only services - and several downtown businesses have signs entirely in Spanish, while others have bilingual salespeople.

"It's a growing market, a growing opportunity," said Chris Walker, editor and publisher of The Emporia Gazette. His paper publishes Fronteras, a free Spanish-language weekly newspaper reminiscent of its south-of-the-border tabloid cousins.

The demonstrations of recent weeks, though, may have tested the community's tolerance for diversity.

"If we have another march, or another rally, in a few weeks, I think you'll hear people asking what all this is for," said Commons, the city manager.

But Heim, the superintendent, says he sees benefits to the city's unexpected diversity.

"I look at my kids and the experience that they're getting in school. The experience they're getting is a view of what the world looks like, what our country is like," he said. "Emporia, Kansas, looks like California and Texas. ... I think my kids are going to have the advantage of working with other students from different places in the world, and I think that's going to make them better people."

And Emporia's immigrants say that if they don't want to exactly melt in, like the model of 100 years ago, they do want to become American.

Rosa Aranda, who came to the United States 16 years ago, said making the transition to American culture was tough. Today, she works with newer immigrants as an employee of the Emporia school district.

"It was hard," she said. "Hard with new language, new culture, no family of my own. I learned very early that I had to learn the language if I wanted to survive, to live."

It's a process she sees repeated every day in Emporia.

"I know," she said, "that we're trying."

Discussion

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7 May 2006
at 8:07 a.m.

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tanzer (Anonymous) says…

Good grief! Knowing two languages is not the end of the world people. French Canada does it nicely - which helps commerce, trade, tourism, communication. Developing an infused culture can give Emporia something they don't have now - tourism, an interesting and exciting culture, and increased intellectual stimulation - seems like the school district has caught on to the idea already. Kansas spots are known for thier oddities or historical relevance for the most part. It could be exciting to have a spot in Kansas known for its multicultural flavor and bilingual expertise. But maybe I am overly optimisitic. Maybe Emporia is really 50 years behind like Kansas is often accused of being…
7 May 2006
at 8:52 a.m.

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xenophonschild (Anonymous) says…

Although it offends me somewhat to have to agree with a conservative troglodyte like macon47, he is essentially right. Too many immigrants simply want good jobs, or any jobs.

The long road is that their children will become assimilated. Their children will work, pay taxes, serve in the military, vote, and support local schools and businesses.

And I can't agree with the “fragile young liberals who can't get a job” nonsense. People will find their way in the world; some are merely WIP's (works in progress) and need to be understood as such.
7 May 2006
at 8:53 a.m.

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OldEnuf2BYurDad (Anonymous) says…

Does that graphic say that Emporia has 267,000 people? Surely not.

This is what I don't get: “It's upsetting to be walking in Wal-Mart and hear today's specials in English and Spanish,”. How is that “upsetting”? Does the use of the language hurt her ears? That statement drips of racism.
7 May 2006
at 9:08 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

I is by no means racist or xenophobic to insist that the United States adopt an official language and that the language be English.

I get tired of “Push one for……..”

Thanks.

Marion.
7 May 2006
at 9:11 a.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

And Emporia's immigrants say that if they don't want to exactly melt in, like the model of 100 years ago, they do want to become American”.
So, the plan is to become Americans without assimilating.
They have much to gain by acquiring legal status. while the taxpayer has much to lose.

Reports I recently read states that “for each household the net annual fiscal deficit at the federal level is $2,736. If these same illegals gain legal status that amount is expected to increase to $7,668 per household .

The costs increase dramatically because unskilled immigrants with legal status, which is what most illegal aliens would become, can access government programs but still tend to make very modest tax payments. This is because the modern American economy offers very limited opportunities to those with little education, regardless of legal status”.
They are already costing taxpayers 29 billion dollars annually- just to school their children. How can this not be effecting the education American children are receiving?
I also find it hard to believe that Americans do not want jobs that pay between $11.10- $17.20 per hour.
7 May 2006
at 9:46 a.m.

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ASBESTOS (Anonymous) says…

Now they are bring pregnant women and kids across the desert as “proof” they have lived in the US the required length of time.

The border rush is on with all these rumors of amnesty and our country cannot withstand it.
7 May 2006
at 11:36 a.m.

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bhanson (Anonymous) says…

Regarding teaching students in Spanish the conservatives can blame that one on Bush. No child left behind requires all students to pass proficiency exams. These students are being taught English, but the main concepts in other classes often are taught in Spanish. This is much better then allowing students to fall a year or two behind while they learn English. I think it is unfair to rant against the education issues that are a part of the immigration issue. All kids deserve the same chance to learn and grow regardless of where they come from. I am also sure that if there were Americans applying for the jobs at the Tyson plant that were capable of doing the job they would hire them. We have no one to blame for the immigration issue but ourselves. Years of being pompous lazy Americans has caught up with us and a hard working group of people are moving in and taking decent paying jobs. We do have Americans who need jobs so lets get rid of welfare and government subsidized benefits and force poor people to move to towns like Emporia and Garden City that have a large number of immigrant workers and force them to take the decent paying jobs like the ones at the Tyson plant. If we want to slow down illegal immigration we must stop going after the illegal immigrant and start arresting and jailing the rich white owners of the businesses that are hiring them.

7 May 2006
at 12:09 p.m.

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xenophonschild (Anonymous) says…

Tyson's corporate headquarters would simply make a “campaign contribution” to a few congressmen, maybe the national Republican party, and the problem would disappear. Pluralistic democracy at its finest.
7 May 2006
at 12:50 p.m.

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Jamesaust (Anonymous) says…

ljreader: “Reports I recently read ….”

What are these reports? Who puts them out? [Note: please don't reference some crypto-racist thinktank like the Center for Immigration Studies] The truly academic literature on this subject is mixed in large part due to the difficulty in taking account of all effects and adjusting for alternative approaches.

For example, many of the “costs” are less attributable to being an immigrant - or even that subset of “illegal” or “undocumented” immigrant - than the fact that a typical immigrant household is both poor (in relative and absolute terms) and young (both young as adults and young in having children).

Don't poor people “cost” everyone else a fortune regardless of their citizenship? (Indeed, doesn't the upper 5% of taxpayers foot the bill for the 95% “poor” in this country?) These “costs” are the costs of poverty and children. One might as well propose (a la, “A Modest Proposal”) eating the young of immigrants as a way of balancing benefit with cost. I'm not certain that we can put a firm number on the “cost” of educating a Spanish speaking (or even worse, native language speaking) child but we can be certain that all of the expense comes up front with all of the benefits spread out over decades (indeed, perhaps a full century) and thereby making it easy to overstate “costs” and ignore “benefits.”

And, what's more, in setting a “cost” for immigration one would need to include a “cost” for preventing that immigration. Just how many millions would Kansas need to spend searching for these immigrants? How many billions - year after year - would need to be expended to wall-off the U.S. from the rest of the world? Are these expenses being deducted from “costs” in these “studies”?

Also, “I also find it hard to believe that Americans do not want jobs that …”

Really? I bet I could find you several jobs so dangerous, so unreliable, and so backbreaking that you'd turn the offer down flat. Perhaps like the beefpacking jobs referenced in the article - jobs held primarily by desperate persons (legal or not) for a good century and a half - indeed, notoriously so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle

$11/hr. to sit in a climate-controlled office and push buttons all day? Dream-job. $11/hr. to wallow in offal and take a 1 of 10 chance of eventually sawing off a digit with a saw or permanently disabling your back? Not for even a $100/hr.
7 May 2006
at 1:36 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

ICE is probably ready to lower the boom on Emporia and Tyson.
7 May 2006
at 2:03 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

Please, Jamesaust. Every developed country in the world ver effectively controls their immigration. Sensenbrenner just released a study of this very issue.
How much will it cost to do the same? I think most Americans are willing to explore this.
Yes, all poor people cost taxpayers to some extent. We have our own to worry about. Do you think the situation is alleviated by importing an entire country of impoverished?
Furthermore, as the illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from the poorest and least educated of Americans, it is creating more poverty for those people.
I don't pretend to have the answers for how to handle the invaders who are currently living here draining the taxpayers, but it is clear this county needs to put an end to it and secure the borders.
I'm beginning to think you have illegals raking your yard, or are somehow else exploiting them. I will not be able to see your response as I am going out of town today.
As for ICE lowering the boom, I doubt that will happen as Tyson made huge political contributions to both Clinton and Bush .
7 May 2006
at 2:38 p.m.

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Jamesaust (Anonymous) says…

So the “plan” is to reserve crappy, poorly paid jobs for American poor?

Please! A little more sense and a little less Sensenbrenner.

Control borders? Exactly at what point in the last half millenia have the borders of this country been “under control”? Please state the year.

Draining taxpayers?

Uhh….well if taxpayers are being “drained” then one would expect that cities and localities with high levels of undocumented workers causing a “drain” would have severe budgetary problems and dismal financial prospects. As such, one would expect them to pay a premium to issue bonds for schools, sewers, roads, etc. over cities with few immigrants. Do we find this in practice? Nope! Cities like Tucson, San Antonio, San Diego, or even Emporia, Kansas, don't have to offer any more for their debt as a “risk premium” than places without the “drain” of immigration.
7 May 2006
at 4:14 p.m.

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xenophonschild (Anonymous) says…

It's the new world order. Borders are … subjective. Capital, and the needs of capital, are paramount. Just ask any Republican. If capital needs cheap labor, then capital will get all the cheap labor it needs. We can moan and gnash our teeth until they're blunt, but it will do no good.

Capital rules. The rich always eat the poor; in our country, under the pretense of due process. Hallelujah.
7 May 2006
at 5:05 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

Atheists, Islamists and democrats are trying to annihilate republicans and christians………….agnostics are neutral and druggies are out of it! Only Howard Dean is sure of the outcome.
7 May 2006
at 5:08 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

I really am hoping the middle-class is alive and well but can't be sure until I read it it in the LJW!

7 May 2006
at 8:26 p.m.

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mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

I think Emporia is doing it right, thinking more about the welfare of the people.
7 May 2006
at 8:27 p.m.

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mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

2000 census of Emporia, Kansas has 26,700 people.

one too many zeros in the graphic
7 May 2006
at 9:32 p.m.

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DaREEKKU (Anonymous) says…

I was born and raised in Emporia. This article paints a rosie picture that simply isn't true. Discrimination and racist ideology are RAMPID among whites in the community. I'd also like to point out that Tyson and IBP sure don't pay them 11-14 dollars an hour. That's complete crap. IBP even shipped some of these people in illegally…..so why blame the immigrants? Emporia is a cesspool. I'm glad I left. I'd also like to mention that the city commisioners there have mental deficiencies that render them incapable of handling money. The only spike of culture in that desolate barren wasteland is the University. If you're going down the turnpike, keep driving through….it's not worth the waste of time, energy, and certainly not gas to go through Emporia.
7 May 2006
at 11 p.m.

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avetaysmom (Anonymous) says…

After reading all of this I am still at a loss as to what side to take, do we take sides? They come here for a dream, “the American dream”, but some only play the system for years and I feel it's finally catching up to the U.S, I would have to agree that if certain Americans were offered a position on say a farm in kansas picking corn or whatever that they would want a starting wage of at least 10.00 an hour, the immagrants would be lucky to get half that and they take it because they know we won't. Read the Declaration of Independence. Do we consider even the words in it if they are illegal here I don't know.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

It says we have the right to alter or ambolish, so should we stand by them so our immagration policy will change?
7 May 2006
at 11:04 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

The effect of illegals on hospitals alone is staggering. It may not mean much to you, but I'm sure if you needed an emergency room in a hurry, and were in a community which lost it's hospital due to uncompensated costs from treating illegals, it might matter more then.
Bear in mind, some of these articles date back to 2002- with an estimated 3000-8000 crossing the southern border daily, the costs are no doubt much higher today.
These articles are but the tip of the iceburg:

Illegal immigrants cost Pima County taxpayers thousands daily
Reported on MAR 06 on KVOK Tucson, Arizona
On any given day, nearly 200 illegal immigrants sit behind bars at the Pima County Jail.
The cost to house an illegal immigrant inmate is $56 per day, costing tax payers more than $11,000 daily.
At University Medical Center, illegal immigrants cost the hospital $6.9 million dollars for a period of six months.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story…
New York State
In 2004, the department said 13,700 hospital visits by illegal immigrants were paid for by Medicaid in New York State.

Flood of Illegal Immigrants threatens to drown Hospitals
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/98…
7 May 2006
at 11:06 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

http://www.law.com/jsp/printerfriendl…
In 2002, Florida hospitals spent an estimated $40.2 million caring for undocumented immigrants, according to a study by the Florida Hospital Association. Nationwide, Florida ranks second after California on health care spending for illegal immigrants, with Texas third.
Last year, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami estimates that $41 million was spent providing free medical care for undocumented aliens.

California:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article…
84 hospitals in California have been forced to close because of the high cost of treating illegal aliens with only 50 percent of all treatments reimbursed by government.
New Jersey:
” Illegal immigrants inundate [NJ] hospitals” January 10, 2005. New Jersey's escalating population of illegal immigrants is placing an ever-growing burden on the state's hospitals, which expect to lose $200 million this year on care to the underground community.
lonewacko.com

usatoday.com - Border hospitals foot big bill for illegal immigrants
One recent study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition, an American lobbying group, found U.S. border hospitals provided at least $200 million a year in uncompensated emergency care to illegal immigrants, $74 million of that in Texas.
Brownsville Medical Center estimates losses averaging at least $500,000 per month. At Thomason Hospital in El Paso, officials said their first attempt to estimate the cost found $1 million over just three months.
Harlingen TX- $13 million hospital costs in 2004 fiscal year, many other health institutions are going out of business because they can't afford to treat patients without getting reimbursements.

Border overwhelmed, GOP lawmakers testify … Washington - Illegal immigrants are overwhelming hospitals, sheriff's departments, jails and courts … Patrol has apprehended two illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, two from …
www.oxfordpress.com
7 May 2006
at 11:54 p.m.

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Speicher (Danny Speicher) says…

So, ljreader… Let me make sure I'm getting your point… US Citizens have a right to better health care (i.e. better quality of life or, in many cases, life itself) than non-citizens?

I am pro-life… And, I am not a pro-life hypocrite. I oppose abortion, yes… But, I also oppose: War (unless undeniably necessary), the death penalty, euthanasia and, most importantly the eugenic mindset that one race, religion, ethnicity or classification of people deserve better healthcare than another.

Do I believe illegal immigration is a problem? Yes! Why? For me, at least, it is only because they don't pay taxes. I see no other harm in their immigration to America. But, instead of “shipping them back to Mexico”, let's, instead, make citizenship so ridiculously easy that they won't have to go through miles of red tape or cross the Rio Grande at night. When did America become a place in which certain groups aren't welcome? I suppose some would consider the term “the melting pot of the world” a bad term… I take that term with great pride. It makes me proud that I live in a nation that is multi-ethnic. Furthermore, it puts the United States far ahead of her time… It is inevitable that the world is going to a global community, it is only a matter of “when”.

In short, ljreader, I find it extremely dangerous to criticize the hospitals for serving the illegal immigrants because citizens are having to wait. The simple fact of the matter is that if it isn't Juan in the exam room taking “your spot” it probably would be some other ethnic group that we find “unworthy” to be taken care of by our doctors. Yes, certainly, they should be citizens… But, now that they're here, it's scary to think what would happen to the meaning of the hippocratic oath if we started turning them away for the sake of serving citizens only.

“'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she with silent lips. '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!'” (excerpt from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus… The poem written on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.)

—Danny Speicher
8 May 2006
at 2:55 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

Wow, Speicher, I simply posted articles with hardly any commentary. You certainly read alot into a person's post.
I don't feel that any population of people are “not worthy” of receiving healthcare! And I am not criticizing the hospitals!
Even though illegal immigrants, by the very definition of the words, have no right to be here, period, we do not live in an uncompassionate country that allows people to lie on the streets and die or to give birth to their babies in a parking lot because they cannot afford healthcare. I'm glad we live in a compassionate country. I am not glad that there are millions here (illegally) abusing our compassion.
My only point in posting the evidence of the impact illegal immigration has on hospitals, was to illustrate that impact to another poster who insists illegal immigrants are in no way a burden to taxpayers. This, of course, is not true. The negative impact on hospitals and the pricetag to taxpayers is only an example.
________________________________________

8 May 2006
at 3:17 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

In response to your other comments:

The businesses who lure illegal immigrants here to employ them at underpaid jobs should be the ones providing them with health insurance, as they are the ones profitting. It should not be the burden of taxpayers. Better yet, businesses should be punished for hiring illegal immigrants. We have a thing called “work visas” that are a legal means of allowing immigrants to come here to work.

Requiring illegals to pay taxes may contribute to the tax drain they create. However, studies have proven that those who do pay taxes are still a net drain on the taxpayers, as the services they receive exceed any taxes they pay. Most, if not all the taxes they pay are returned to them because of their low wages and often large family sizes.

Just as all humans “are worthy” of receiving healthcare, that also is the case for Americans who built those institutions. It is a sorry state of affairs that our own healthcare and institutions are being compromised because of uncontrolled illegal immigration.
As to your reference to “Juan”, you might notice I also included info about hospitals in the East that are in crisis.. I know New Jersey hospitals are having a problem with Mexican immigration, but I'm sure that part of the country also gets it's share of the 40% of illegals who are from all other parts of the world.
And speaking of 60% of illegals coming through the southern borders: We are a “melting pot”, and (nothing personal against Mexicans) we should not become Mexico Norte. There are many people from all parts of the world who hope to come here. They are respecting our process and patiently waiting their turn to come here legally.
It looks to me that life for an illegal immigrant in this country is already “ridiculously easy”. Not only are most allowed to ignore our border laws without consequence, they are given many of the same priviledges of legal citizens in the form of employment, (free) medicalcare, and social services. About the only thing they cannot do, legally, is vote. Yet, they are allowed (also at taxpayer expense) to assemble, exercise free speech, and make demands.
As for the quote from the the Statue of Liberty, immigration is quite another issue from illegal immigration. All countries have (and most exercise) the right as sovereign nations to control who enters their country and in what numbers.
That poem speaks to welcoming others to America for a chance at a better life. I'm not familiar with the part that says their better lives should be carried on the backs, or at the expense of existing Americans.
8 May 2006
at 6 p.m.

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Speicher (Danny Speicher) says…

Perhaps I overreacted, ljreader. It just seemed like your posts were indicating something that, obviously, they were not meant to indicate. I apologize for jumping the gun. I think we, certainly, agree on the fact that illegal immigrants are a drain to the American taxpayer. However, it is important to remember it is because of the red tape that stands in their way that there are more and more illegal immigrants and less and less legal immigrants.

Furthermore, I respect your comment about a compassionate nation who doesn't turn away those in need despite their status (no matter what criterion we are measuring at that time… i.e. legal vs. illegal in this instance.) You are correct. And, I believe that is what keeps this nation one that is great… We have compassion. However, do keep in mind, that even as legal immigrants, they will most likely come tired and poor… And, for a short time (or potentially mid to long-term) we will still need to “carry them on our backs” as you say. The American way, ideologically, has always been to help those who cannot help themselves. And, it is now (as in every other generation past) that we must live up to this ideology.

I digress and, once again, apologize for my hasty response. I ask for your forgiveness here, ljreader, we have far more in common on this issue than I thought. Thank you for your logical and less impassioned (than mine) response.

—Danny Speicher
8 May 2006
at 7:32 p.m.

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ljreader (Anonymous) says…

Speicher- An apology is not necessary, but appreciated and accepted none the less. I've been going back and forth with another poster on this illegal immigration issue on and off for some time. I had to go out of town in the middle of one of our disputes. When I came back, I was tired from a long drive, and failed to specify to whom I was directing my response. Honest misunderstanding, and I share responsibility for the confusion.
Peace.
12 May 2006
at 3:51 p.m.

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emu (Anonymous) says…

Amazing that a few Anglo Emporians can be so resentful. As if their ancestors were something other than a bunch of low-income foreigners who talked funny and had peculiar foreign customs.

Kansas has been losing its young people for decades because of a general lack of economic opportunity. As a long-departed native and a graduate of the cow college down the Kaw, i know whereof I speak.

The fact is, people were leaving in droves and nobody new was coming to Kansas in large numbers until the Hispanic influx of the last decade or two. Kansas was slowly drying up, becoming a land of Wal-Marts, minimum-wage jobs and an increasingly elderly population.

What these new people bring you is youth, vitality, a strong work ethic (maybe stronger than that of your own children, who won't take relatively good-paying jobs at places like Tyson) and growth. They are becoming your customers and employees. Eventually, they will be your bosses. Eventually, they will be your relatives. They will learn to speak decent English. You will learn to make decent enchiladas. You will both be better for it, and you will both have richer and more interesting lives because of it.

In the rest of the country, this kind of thing has been happening a lot more and a lot longer than in the small-town Midwest. The rest of us think it's pretty normal. We even have a word for it: We call it American.

Welcome back, Kansas. Once again, you're the most normal place in America. You should be glad.

Ernest Murphy
Honolulu, HI
19 May 2006
at 10:48 a.m.

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jus4fun (Anonymous) says…

Native Americans were forced to learn english, Hispanics should be forced to learned too.
19 May 2006
at 10:51 a.m.

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jus4fun (Anonymous) says…

Native Americans were forced to learn english, Hispanics should be forced to learn too.