In reply to Saffy's comment on yesterday's post:
"Let me start by saying that I have a MAJOR issue with illegal immigration. After having to go through the process legally, it infuriates me that these people SNEAK over the US border and then start having their 'anchor babies' and claiming food stamps and a host of benefits whilst someone else in their household brings in wads of cash from being paid (a low wage) under the table in cash with no taxes paid."
Ok, I never mentioned anything about illegals, but the fact that the people you are talking about have food stamps show they have a social security number and are here legally. Illegal Immigrants do not get food stamps.
But let me put this to you in a different way: Who are the people employing illegal immigrants 'under the table'? Americans. The reason there are illegals here is because Americans have created a 'demand' for them. If Americans refused to employ anyone without a valid work permit or proof of status, there would be no illegal immigrant problem. Why would there be? They wouldn't be able to claim any benefits and they wouldn't be able to get a job. There would be no reason for them to come here.
I also have to point out that America has shared a border with Mexico for hundreds of years. It's entirely possible (and probable) that a high percentage of 'Mexicans' you see are actually second or third generation citizens. Asuming all Hispanic people are Mexican is like assuming all red head in England are Scottish.
I also worked for the benefits agency in England, and I know that for every foreign benefit cheat, there were at least a hundred 'domestic' ones. I'd also like to give you something else to think about: Maybe some of these people are on benefits because no one will hire a Mexican to do anything other than yard work at two bucks an hour. My immigration status is what has stopped me from finding work in the US, and I'm a white male.
Think about it, you've deduced, just by looking at a Hispanic family, that they are:
- Immigrants
- Arrived in America Illegally.
- Are benefit cheats.
- Don't pay taxes.
If that's not profiling, I don't know what is. Maybe you should consider that they may be born American citizens who are on benefits because no-one's going to employ a 'spick' unless they want to rake leaves or clean houses for two-fifty an hour with no benefits. They can't go 'back to Mexico' because they're not Mexican citizens.
"The whole time, they are babbling at each other in F*CKING SPANISH! They can't even be bothered to learn the language of the country they so desperately want to live in. I understand a few words of Spanish, but I REFUSE to make it easy for them when they tell me 'No Habla Inglese'....Hell no, i'm as awkward as I can be.
I loathe and detest having to be polite to them when they best they can usually manage is a grunt whilst they wave their benefits card at me."
Question: If America's official language was French, would you be able to become fluent quickly and easily? What if you couldn't afford language classes because the only work you could get was below minimum wage? More importantly, if you were walking around a store with your family, would you speak French to each other, or English?
Sure, you'd make the effort, but learning a new language as an adult is no easy task. Especially when having the time and money to go back to school to learn it is out of the question.
I'd also like to point out one other thing. There's a massive English community in Spain, very few of them speak Spanish.
"Now, I am in a position to state for a FACT that 75% of the users of EBT cards I see in Wal Mart are Hispanic, they also usually have a minimum of 3 kids with them."
Well, I can state for a FACT that 99% of Walmart shoppers are from low-income families period. Given that people automatically assume that Mexicans are illegal benefit cheats who will work for two bucks an hour under the table…it's hardly surprising that a high percentage of them are on benefits and choose to shop at Wal-Mart.
Just one final thought…You're a foreigner yourself. You're just 'lucky' in the fact that you're white and speak English.
Imagine if you'd come from Mexico or Spain…even though you came to America legally, people would look at you as just another goddamn Spick taking their jobs.
…except, if you were from Mexico, you probably wouldn't even have your job at Walmart.
3 comments:
Ok.....in response.
The fact that they are illegal does NOT prohibit them from getting a SS number, that much I can assure you. It might not be technically theirs, but it's one that they use and one that will allow them to get Food stamps. I promise you, illegals DO get food stamps. They also (after squeezing out a baby or two) get WIC.
How do I know this? Because around here where there are miles of orange groves, the people these companies employ are primarily illegals and since Toby did work for one of them at one time shortly after I moved here and the boss said 'huh, you went through all that? You should have told me, I could have sorted her out with some paperwork in less than two weeks and she'd have been able to work'.
Now that leads me clean into your next point, about Americans employing them and creating a demand. On that issue I completely agree, and I believe anyone caught employing illegals should be held accountable. Their reasoning is that would make much less profit if they had to pay higher salaries/hourly rates to 'legal' workers. Extremely frustrating.
I do not assume all hispanic people are Mexican, but I assure you, living (as I do) where their is an extremely high percentage of hispanics, I have learned to differentiate between them (to some degree). The majority of them make absolutely NO attempt to assimilate into the rest of the community, preferring instead to just be with others from their country and speak their own language. Well, if it was that great there and they want nothing to do with the rest of us what did they come here for?
The point I was making is that since mexicans are the WORST offenders for illegal immigration, so hispanics as a whole DO get 'racially profiled' in this sense yes. BUT, if they as a community started raising hell about illegals immigrants the same way Americans do, then perhaps it could eventually be stopped in it tracks. The fact is they encourage their families/friends to cross the border and they provide them with a place to stay food etc until they to can profit from the system.
Oh, and even if they are 2nd or 3rd generation, that might give them citizenship rights, but if Grandpa Jose crossed the border illegally and started having kids here, then THAT is why they are here now with al the rights of a US citizen. Is it fair to blame them for it? No, probably not, but the anger at illegals sometimes descends into irrationality.
Now, if America's official language was French would I become fluent easily? Actually yes because i'm pretty nifty with French anyway....so lets say the official language was Spanish. I've always hated the arrogant way that English folks go on holiday somewhere and expect everyone else to speak English, SO, anytime I have visited a foreign country I have always made an attempt before arriving to learn at least the basics so that I can get by in a conversation without expecting them to know English. Now, that's French (which I can speak anyway) Italian, German and Greek. I've learned some of all those languages because I believe that's how it should be done. So the very long answer to your question is YES. I would learn to speak the language before I arrived. Would i continue to speak English in front of people who couldn't understand me? No. I think it's rude. That's not to say I would never speak English again, but i'l use my friend Kasia as an example. She is Polish but moved to England 16 years ago when she married an English Army guy. She learned English VERY fast, and she never speaks Polish unless she is talking to a friend from Poland on the telephone. She said she even thinks in English now because she lives in a place where English is the first language and so she has made it her first language. I have absolute respect for her.
Skipping back to what you said about no one hiring Mexicans. I don't know about where you live, but here, there are places that will employ LEGAL mexicans. Wal Mart for example, but they have to run checks to make sure that they are paying a legal worker and that the SS number is valid etc. I had to have the same checks done to me, I had no problem with it.
As for 99% of Wal Mart shoppers being from low income families. Yes, you are correct. I shop there too and I am the coupon queen. I save money where I can. People assuming that 99% of mexicans are illegal benefit cheats is not because people don't like that they have darker skin, or that they were born elsewhere, they assume it because in so many cases IT'S TRUE.
it's so bad that states like Arizona are implementing new and harsher laws to tackle it.
You may not agree with my views and we all have our own opinions, but this is something Toby and I have discussed at length. He and I are of the same opinion.
Crack the whip on illegals - make it damn near impossible to survive, make it so the penalties for being here illegally are severe. Get the law on illegal immigrants sorted out. Implement decent border patrol, .but allow only legals to be here, then after a while people will stop assuming al Mexicans are illegal because it would be so difficult to get here and remain here illegally.
Also, I haven't gotten around to my citizenship test yet, but I know to live in UK permanently now you have to pass a test. You also have to be able to speak a good level of English. That ought to be the rule here to.
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