83 Percent Blame Government, Not Immigrants, for Illegal Immigration

[teech]

A FRICKING MEN!! Blame the correct people

One-third of U.S. voters are still angry about illegal immigration, an issue that neither presidential candidate has made central to his campaign. But, voters blame Washington, not immigrants ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]).
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that along with the 32% who express "anger," an additional 27% are frustrated with the lack of action. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say it’s just one of many issues they have an opinion about.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of those angry about immigration direct their anger at the federal government while only 12% point towards the immigrants. This fact, perhaps more than any other, may explain how official Washington misread the public mood so badly last June. While the Senators believed they were solving the problem, voters believed that the government was the problem.
This is consistent with other recent polling data showing that an overwhelming majority of voters believe the federal government itself has become [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[The_Bammo]

To those who use the terms 'Hispanic' & illegal immigrants as if they are one

It might come as a shock to narrow-minded folks who devalue the richness of the English language by sending thinly veiled vile attacking Hispanics and immigrants - legal and otherwise as if the two are interchangeable - but this state's heritage, culture and economy has strong Latin overtures.

Three emails - of which one came from Southern California and the other from the Midwest - sent in response to a story that stated 3,000 foreign immigrants move to San Joaquin County every year blamed much of this nation's ills on Hispanic immigrants

I can fill at least two-thirds of this column with the names of men with Hispanic surnames I've had the honor of knowing who defended this country by putting their life on the line by fighting in World War II, the Korean War, The Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the current Global War on Terror. And guess what, many of them are fourth, fifth and sixth generation Americans while others are first generation.

Most are no different than others with different skin tones who work to provide a decent living for themselves and their families.

Yes, there are those that are Hispanic who belong to gangs. But guess what? There are an awful lot of Caucasians who belong to gangs including those with Hispanic names such as Sorentos and Nortenos.

Yes, there are Hispanics in this country illegally. There are also Europeans, Canadians, and Asians here illegally as well with many taking advantage of visa programs and simply over staying the limits. The numbers are indeed higher when it comes to Hispanics but let's not just paint them all as renegade lawbreakers.

There is no doubt that simply being here illegally you have broken the law.

But it is this country that created such a situation through its misguided morphing of the Bracero and other programs that were put in place because the American economy was in desperate need of unskilled labor to fill jobs. We pulled the plug on such programs but it didn't stop the need for the labor.

Get outraged all you want about illegal immigrants - particularly from South of the Border - but just keep in mind it is their backs that are keeping food costs down for the rest of us. They are the ones who will take menial jobs that no one else wants.

I have yet to hear an immigrant - whether they are legal or not one shouldn't assume - with an obvious Hispanic background whine about minimum wage jobs. Yet I can cite at least four clear cut examples of American citizens who -in several of the cases never held a job but did go to the trouble of impregnating girlfriends and producing kids that they can't and won't support - have made it clear they won't work unless it is for $15 an hour or more.

Immigrants are here to make a better life. Yes, I know all of the stories about a small but annoying number who have played the system. But in the overall scheme of things that is nothing compared to those that don't. It would be like someone casting dispersion on Americans of European extraction because of stories of whites exploiting the welfare system.

Which brings up the point that needs to be made by those who lump Hispanics and immigrants into the same word.

It is not OK to do so and then have the audacity to call yourself an American. Debate the pros and cons, triumphs and travesties of immigration today but don't paint it by color. There is no ethnicity known as "American." The strength of this nation is the fact for the most part it is driven by ideals and not skin tone. That doesn't mean there isn't racism, bigotry or discrimination. What it does mean is that the core premise of why we exist is not a remake of the British Empire, France, Germany, Italy or any other nation you want to pick where ethnicity is virtually synonymous with nationality.

France may have Algerian immigrants and those from the Middle East but you can bet your last franc that the vast majority of that nation identifies themselves as being French in ethnicity and a citizen of France in such a manner that they use it interchangeably.

You're an American by birthright or legal immigration. And an American is truly a blending of the globe.

It devalues your own standing as an American when you cast a wide web of bigotry - intended or inadvertent - over other segments of the blend.

American is the sum total of its ingredients regardless of their origins, skin tone, views or religious beliefs.

And when dispersions are cast upon part of the whole and the rest of us stand by and say nothing we are given credence to bigotry and the cancer it festers.


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