Give me your tired and your poor

This is an emotional topic that affects taxes, driving, crime, culture, housing, the work force etc...There are several current bills having to do with undocumented people and workers here in the US. Before you chime in and tell me what you think please take time to read and think about these different points.

1. SEND THEM BACK ! Many people say "Let's just send them all back and that will solve the problem" "Close the borders, patrol them with machine guns, shoot anything that moves or put mine fields in to deter or prevent crossings. Ask yourself if any of these options are reasonable. I am not against tightening security on the borders nor am I supporting illegal immigration. I believe most would agree that sending them all back is not reasonable unless some program was put in place for a scaled operation. This would only work if the amount coming in was stopped or slowed and then a gradual program was put in place.

2. STUDENT VISAS AND TRAVEL VISAS. Undocumented people come from many countries and not just Hispanic areas. Many come on student visas or on travel visas and just don't leave. Many were children and were brought here without any say in the matter. Yes and others do come in by crossing the borders illegally.

3. LACK OF SHARING INFORMATION : The lack of information sharing is a large part of the problem because The Social Security Administration does not communicate with ICE or with the IRS. You can purchase a fake SS card and start working because all employers want is the social security card and some other form of ID such as a Driver's Lic. Granted there are workers being paid under the table with cash but overwhelmingly employers turn their head and say, I have a copy of their SS card and drivers license. Working with a fake SS number poses some problems and is negative and positive for the country. How can it be positive you say?

4. FAKE SS CARDS AND ID: When they work using a fake card, federal and state taxes are taken out and they do not get any of those taxes back so the government is making money on this point. This is major money and the government knows that. Some estimates are around 25 billion dollars a year. Then we ask ourselves why the Gov. is not doing anything?

5. CROSSING THE BORDER IS CLOSER TO A CIVIL OFFENCE NOT A CRIMINAL OFFENCE: First we need to understand a few important facts. Fact: Coming across illegally is not a criminal offence. When they cross without permission it is closer to a civil offence. There is crime and then there is crime and it could be compared to driving 30 in a school zone or 65 and clearly the later poses more of a danger to the public even though both are illegal. I am not justifying someone committing a civil offence although you do need to understand the law and the people before passing your own personal judgement or coming up with solutions.

6. DRIVING CARDS BAD? There are those who oppose giving them driving privilege cards. Why? Is it not better to have some information and records and have them take the drivers test "In English"? The undocumented workers are here isn't it better to keep track of them someway. They are working, buying and driving whether or not they have a license.

7. BE HARD ON CRIME: Crime statistics show a very high percentage of Hispanics and part of the problem is the way we process undocumented criminals. Rather than putting them in prison many times we will send them back through ICE or even on what is called voluntary deportation. Meaning you just trust them that when they sign a form that they will leave the country. This is so we don't have to house them here and pay for them while they are in jail etc... I believe keeping good records, fingerprints, fotos etc... and putting them in prison and not allowing felons to get off by saying they will leave will send a clear message that we are enforcing the laws.

8. ICE AUTHORITY FOR LOCAL POLICE: Giving Local Police ICE authority would be Positive and Negative. If a bill passes giving police authority then they would not have to wait for ICE to show up (very limited man power agency) and process undocumented workers. The negative side would be people that suffer domestic abuse or other crimes would be less likely to report those crimes because they would be scared the police would send them back. I have neighbors that already are nervous about having police in the area and they are good people but they are undocumented.

9. NO COMPASSION:Without knowing the family situation it is hard to just be cut and dried and say "Send them back". We have a family in our neighborhood that has interesting circumstances. The mother came over without documents and had children while here in the US. All the kids are US Citizens. The children don't speak Spanish other than a few words they use at home. If the mother is deported she can take the children with her to a central American country if she has the money to fly the kids back there (Which she does not) she also sends money to her parents in that foreign country so now the support she is sending will stop. Unknown to many some countries require you pay while on extended visits if you are a US Citizen so now her 4 kids who don't speak Spanish will have to live in a Spanish Speaking town and their mother will have to pay about $25 every three months for each child or $100 per quarter. In her country this adds up to almost $400 and she does not make anywhere that much money so does she leave her children in the US to be taken care of by the State? This mother met with me and explained this all to me and I called a lawyer and verified these items with the lawyer and even if this mother marries an American Citizen she is not free and clear. She would still need to go back for 6 months to a year and have the Husband petition for her and they may say yes and they may so no. In the meantime what happens to the children? Here she pays taxes using a false security card, makes enough to support her family. The kids are in school and doing well and she even sends money home to help her extended family. She has an ex boyfriend in her country that beat her while they were together and he will be waiting for her in the town where her family lives.

10. SENDING MONEY OUT OF THE COUNTRY: Those undocumented workers who send money home do so at great sacrifice. Besides taking many low paying jobs and sometimes working two jobs they don't get the tax refunds like most low income families. Do the easy math here if you will.

Example:
A. Send 10 million people that are working here illegally back to their country. Who will do these jobs? The last time I was on a construction site (This week) all the workers were Hispanic. (most likely most were undocumented) Much of the hotel and food service work is done by undocumented workers. We are not just talking about jobs such as picking fruit, we are talking about the backbone of the country with construction and service industries. If they are sent back the economic effects will be devastating for many countries. Not only would prices on everything go way up but the demand for low paying jobs would go up without workers to fill those jobs. Yes we could make adjustments but it would take time for the economy to recover.

B. Now the money they were sending to Mexico will not arrive but they, the displaced workers will arrive and Mexico already has a high unemployment rate. Now with 10 million additional workers without jobs, Mexico is also missing Billions of dollars in income that is no longer coming into the country, and the US is missing Billions of dollars of income that was going into taxes and Social Security that normally would not be claimed by illegals. The effects of this will also be devastating.

C. It is true Hispanics and undocumented workers and people place a large burden on the health industry and that is one of the reasons healthcare costs are raising. Sending them back will ease some of this burden but realize that many of the hospitals have staff to clean and maintain the grounds and many of them are undocumented so the hospitals will suffer and benefit if we send the undocumented workers back.

D. Separating families will be a horrible thing. Leaving children here and separating husbands and wives. The children could decide to give up their US citizenship but why would they? Their parents came here so they could have a better life and get a good education. Many of these countries have such corrupt governments and such low wages these people could never have gotten their children a college education never mind a good one.

E. Some would say we should invade Mexico and take over and this would solve the problem. Some would say we should buy Mexico and this would solve the issue. Those people don't understand that these people come from all over the world not just Mexico. They bring their culture, religions and language with them. Many times the kids loose the language after 1 or 2 generations. Sometimes if Grandma is living at home then the kids will keep some of their Spanish. If not and they spend most of the time with their friends they loose it. We need to come up with solutions that take into account that these are people just like you and I and they have families, mothers, fathers, children, bills to pay, health issues, they fall in love just like we do they suffer abuse just like we do. We should not just say "SEND THEM BACK"
I don't claim it is right that these people are either staying here and not going back after a vacation or being a student. I don't claim that it is ok that they are coming across the border. What I do say is "IT IS HAPPENING" we are having to deal with it. We need to be reasonable. I have lived outside the US. I have shared one bathroom with many families. That bathroom emptied out over the side of a hill. There was no hot water or TV, The floors were dirt floors, life was hard, rent was $15 a month and it was allot of money for people to come up each month. Most US Citizens don't understand where these people are coming from. They are willing to risk everything to get here for the dream. Right now there are some places in Mexico where the Min. wage is $5 a day. In Guatemala in a good job the wages are $15 to $20 per day.

Rather than say "Give me your tired and your poor" We say "There is no room in the US Inn, go back" apply legally. Many of these people can't apply legally. If you live in Mexico City and your life is ok you can earn the money and apply legally. I know someone that applied legally 3 times and was turned down each time. It cost her over $350 each time she applied.

If we up the number of approved Visas (They are coming in anyway so lets track it) , charge a fine to those that are here without permission but make it known they don't have to be affraid of the law, create a Federal ID program for undocumented people and have their fingerprints and photographs scanned in, link this database with ICE, Social Security Administration and the Other Gov agencies and then we could better track these people. They could be issued this ID card allowing them to work and stay in the US contingent upon certain rules. The technology exists to make these cards almost impossible to forge. The criminals would have a much harder time gaining false documents or changing IDs as they have been doing.

Some of the people in my neighborhood took a month or more to get here. I talked to a grandma that just came over the border and she has not seen her children in years and had never met her grandkids. Don't treat these bills as a simple matter. We need to be tough on crime and tough on drugs and fair to people. To have them pay a fine and get documented is not amnesty it is a reasonable route to control what is getting out of control. We do need to do something with the influx of people. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I live in a Hispanic neighborhood. My children go to schools with mostly Hispanic kids. One of the sixth grade classes at my daughters school has one white girl in a class of 29. I would be interested in your point of view and honest answers not racist remarks or solutions that are not real solutions both economically and socially.

I was a Scoutmaster for a Hispanic Scout Troop, I also serve as a voluntary church leader in a Hispanic church in my area, I was a Volunteer IHC Translator for Alta View Hospital and I serve as a commissioner and a Chairman on 2 Division of Occupational Licensing boards with the State of Utah. I wrote this article as an outline as to how we can go about solving some of the issues that are related to undocumented people in the US reasonably. We need to look at how these issues affect our communities and our Nation and then look at how the proposed changes or proposed solutions would affect the people and our nation. Thank you for your help with the review of this article.