A Letter To The Editor

[ABM]

FWIW.....

ORANGE COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWSPAPER-New Immigrants
This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points..

For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper...................

From: "David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.


Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.


Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people.


When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German- American or the Irish-American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed)
Rosemary LaBonte

...

 

[Eastoff]

tl;dr

 

[Colonel Ronan]

tl;dr

 

[julius]

tl;dr

tl;dc

 

[Colonel Ronan]

tl;dc

tl;dr

 

[oldmangrouch]

Obvious fake. That's the way professional writers sound, not average people. Bets the author is a some PR hack?

 

[MARIS61]

Obvious fake. That's the way professional writers sound, not average people. Bets the author is a some PR hack?

Not sure what you mean by fake, but it's a good representation of the general opinion held by a large majority of Americans. Do you have a problem with the content, or just the fact it was well presented?

 

[BrianFromWA]

LOL at "professional writers" being the only ones who can write at a 9th-grade coherency level.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Not sure what you mean by fake, but it's a good representation of the general opinion held by a large majority of Americans. Do you have a problem with the content, or just the fact it was well presented?

By "fake", I mean it was most likely authored by a PR/political consulting firm, and is being passed off as a "letter to the editor from a concerned citizen."

If a politico wants to write a guest editorial, fine.......but don't pass it off as something it isn't. It's dishonest and manipulative.

 

[barfo]

The thesis seems kind of stupid to me, comparing people we allowed to legally immigrate with people who we don't allow to legally immigrate, and complaining that those we try to keep out aren't as loyal to the US as those we let in. Well, duh.

Where is the statue of Liberty on the Mexican border?

barfo

 

[julius]

tl;dc

wait...Ronan, why'd you edit my post?

 

[The Sebastian Express]

The thesis seems kind of stupid to me, comparing people we allowed to legally immigrate with people who we don't allow to legally immigrate, and complaining that those we try to keep out aren't as loyal to the US as those we let in. Well, duh.

Where is the statue of Liberty on the Mexican border?

barfo

The whole article is kinda dumb, tbqh.

 

[MARIS61]

The thesis seems kind of stupid to me, comparing people we allowed to legally immigrate with people who we don't allow to legally immigrate...barfo

Pure fiction.

The US does not keep Mexicans from legally immigrating to the US and becoming US citizens.

In fact, we strongly encourage it.

The people being referred to are criminals who have no desire to do things legally, nor do they wish to become US citizens.

They have no allegiance to any country, not even their own, and are here to mooch , steal, and sell drugs.

 

[barfo]

Pure fiction.

The US does not keep Mexicans from legally immigrating to the US and becoming US citizens.

In fact, we strongly encourage it.

Really? Tell me, what is the process for legally immigrating to the US from Mexico? How long does it take?

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Really? Tell me, what is the process for legally immigrating to the US from Mexico? How long does it take?

barfo

3.5 to 20 years to get a family member legal status, if you're a citizen or a legal resident.

Up to 8 years for employment based immigration (e.g. employer needs a certain employee)

 

[THE HCP]

I just had Brandon Roy write a letter and sponsor me!

 

[Colonel Ronan]

wait...Ronan, why'd you edit my post?

No racist remarks.

 

[MARIS61]

Really? Tell me, what is the process for legally immigrating to the US from Mexico? How long does it take?

barfo

Anything worth having is worth waiting for, but from scanning this it looks like Denny's estimate is pretty high.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

Don't like the laws, change them.

I just want them enforced.

 

[MARIS61]

Really? Tell me, what is the process for legally immigrating to the US from Mexico? How long does it take?

barfo

BTW, this comment reeks of racism. Are you saying Mexicans are too stupid or too lazy to follow simple procedures tens of millions of other people have followed?

 

[bluefrog]

That author seems to be viewing history through some rose tinted glasses.

The Immigration Restriction League, founded by young Harvard-educated Boston Brahmins in 1894, advocated a literacy test to slow the tide of immigration (Bernard 1980: 492).It was thought that a literacy test would reduce immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, which was sending an “alarming number of illiterates, paupers, criminals, and madmen who endangered American character and citizenship” (Higham 1988: 103).
Cities, where most immigrants settled, were derided and feared as places filled with dangerous people and radical ideas (Hawley 1972: 521). These sentiments were often formulated by intellectuals, but they resonated with many white Americans who were reared in rather parochial and homogenous rural and small town environments.

LINK

The author lauds the efforts of turn-of-the-century immigrants to assimilate but a study in 2008 shows that immigrants today assimilate faster than those 100 years ago.

Modern-day immigrants arrive with substantially lower levels of English ability and earning power than those who entered during the last great immigration wave at the turn of the 20th century. The gap between today's foreign-born and native populations remains far wider than it was in the early 1900s and is particularly large in the case of Mexican immigrants, the report said.

LINK

 

[Denny Crane]

 

[barfo]

Anything worth having is worth waiting for, but from scanning this it looks like Denny's estimate is pretty high.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

I couldn't find the time estimates on that site, can you be more specific?

Don't like the laws, change them.

Sounds like a great idea.

I just want them enforced.

I don't care whether stupid laws are enforced. Did you know it is illegal to ride a unicycle in East Tumbleweed, Nevada?

barfo

 

[barfo]

BTW, this comment reeks of racism. Are you saying Mexicans are too stupid or too lazy to follow simple procedures tens of millions of other people have followed?

Sure Maris. Asking you how immigration works and how long it takes reeks of racism. Good answer.

I'm saying that there is no realistic path to citizenship for most people - as Denny's rather nice flowchart clearly shows.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...gration/58_favor_welcoming_immigration_policy

58% Favor Welcoming Immigration Policy

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 58% favor a policy that would welcome all immigrants except “national security threats, criminals and those who would come here to live off our welfare system.” Just 26% disagree with such an approach, while 16% more are not sure.

Support for a welcoming immigration policy is a bit higher among Republicans than it is among Democrats or voters not affiliated with either of the parties. Just 19% of GOP voters oppose a generally welcoming immigration policy. Opposition is at 28% among Democrats and 31% among unaffiliateds.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Pure fiction.

The US does not keep Mexicans from legally immigrating to the US and becoming US citizens.

In fact, we strongly encourage it.

The people being referred to are criminals who have no desire to do things legally, nor do they wish to become US citizens.

They have no allegiance to any country, not even their own, and are here to mooch , steal, and sell drugs.

This from the guy who thinks cellular towers are out to get him.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Our company wants to hire a Canadian. We're told he's expected to have a work visa in about 4-6 weeks. Once he has that, he can come here legally. Who is the "capper" at the 10,000 or 85,000 on Denny's chart above? Can the President, instead of bitching about racism and profiling, just say "Hey everyone, we're estimating there's 400,000 of you fine people here undocumented. We'd like to fix that. So we're going to start issuing 500,000 work visas a year." Or talk to his pal Nancy and get it going?

Is there a reason that migrant workers, Pro's Ranch Grocery workers, "honest laborers" cannot do the same? I don't care if you don't want to be a citizen...just go through the legal route of coming to the country and/or working here.

 

[barfo]

Our company wants to hire a Canadian. We're told he's expected to have a work visa in about 4-6 weeks. Once he has that, he can come here legally. Who is the "capper" at the 10,000 or 85,000 on Denny's chart above? Can the President, instead of bitching about racism and profiling, just say "Hey everyone, we're estimating there's 400,000 of you fine people here undocumented. We'd like to fix that. So we're going to start issuing 500,000 work visas a year." Or talk to his pal Nancy and get it going?

Is there a reason that migrant workers, Pro's Ranch Grocery workers, "honest laborers" cannot do the same? I don't care if you don't want to be a citizen...just go through the legal route of coming to the country and/or working here.

Yes, there is a reason. Note that in the case of your company hiring a Canadian, your company is involved. Your company filled out the forms, your company probably paid the fees.

Now, how many migrant workers have employers that are willing to spend the time and money to do the employer portion of the visa application? Very very few, I'd guess.

The "legal route of coming to the country and/or working here" doesn't exist if you don't already have a job lined up and an employer willing to do the paperwork.

barfo