rat

Wow. I don't know what to say after reading this thread, and reading some of the responses. Guess I'll start with a little background history of my family since everyone wants to pull things out of the history books.

My father's side of the family includes (but is not limited to): A physical signatory of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States; two presidents (one a great-great-great-so-on-and-so-forth uncle, the other HIS grandfather, and my great-great-great-on-and-on grandfather) in Benjamin Harrison (23rd) and William Henry Harrison (9th); Harvard law school graduates; officers that have fought in every war America was involved in on this continent, and enlisted men who fought on several other continents; a great-uncle who was a Seabee in WWII and a Japanese POW--he left for the war at 17 with a full set of teeth and when he came back several years later, he had none; a cousin who spent 22 years in the Marine Corps including multiple volunteer tours in Vietnam as a USMC Scout Sniper, purple heart and silver star recipient.

My mom's side is made up of Polish immigrants who came to America early in the 20th century to avoid the instability of Europe at that time. My grandfather, son of an immigrant, joined the UNITED STATES ARMY and served in WWII along with post-war stations across Europe, including West Berlin. He also spent 35 years working in a FORD manufacturing plant making AMERICAN cars because he was an AMERICAN.


Reading the story regarding the lady from Cambodia reminds me of my family. Parts of it go back further on this soil than the name United States of America. Other parts only go back to the turn of the century. This is a land built on immigration and emmigration. It is a land built in the mongrel image of equality. But the problem doesn't lie in legal immigrants but rather those of the illegal variety. Living in Texas, I find it disturbing the lack of vigilance on our southern border.

While illegal immigrants may be willing to work jobs most Americans wouldn't, and work hard at them, I find their ability to gain the same sort of social support and rights as legal aliens and citizens problematic. I find their very presence here an insult to people like that lady from Cambodia, or the dozens of legal immigrants I've worked with from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia and Peru. So many people every year try to legally enter this country, and yet our country's response to the constant influx of illegal immigrants is negligible. I'd hoped that with a Texan in the White House, someone who lives near the border and knows how permeable it is, there'd be something done to bolster Border Patrol and INS efforts. Sadly, I was mistaken.

Have a friend of mine whose social security number is used illegally every year for the past decade to register a hunting license by an illegal immigrant. Every year for the last ten years, my friend has gone to get his hunting license, and he's forced to jump through hoops of multiple IDs, credit cards, background checks and other proofs of his identity. Yet the Department of Fish and Wildlife won't pick up a phone, call the central office, find out the name of the illegal, and report his name and whereabouts to INS. They've let it slide for a decade.

And experiences like that are an insult to hardworking immigrants nationwide who get in legally to work hard and make their dream.

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