______________________
Another day, another gaggle of people who need something, feel neglected, oppressed, and discriminated against. A group of people have determined that they do not want Ted Cruz to come to McAllen, Texas and ride in the 4th of July Parade. It is a group named La Union del Pueblo Entero....or the Union of the Entire People. For the past fifty years, in the County of Hidalgo, Texas various groups and organisations have been established, Colonias del Valle, United Farmworkers, La Raza Unida, and so forth, designed to forward projects that would be helpful for the poor and oppressed.
Many were established as offshoots from the Cesar Chavez United Farmworkers Organizing Committee, back in the latter 1960s. Chavez, of course, was very anti-Mexican to the point he wanted the frontier closed down complete to Mexican legal (and illegal) labour. His lieutenant, Antonio Orindain was more intelligent, also from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, and had a genuine notion that he could fuse marxist dogma with capitalism and free enterprise somehow. I was graced to have had fifteen or sixteen fairly long 'platicas' with Tony back in the 1970s when "fighting poverty" was very vogue.
Since the dawn of the War on Poverty, one of the greatest sociological snake-oil schemes in human history, we have developed a residual group that was always ready to make the point that poverty was being caused by the wealthy, the industrious, by those who prepared for the future and for themselves and their families without expecting to be helped by a friendly government.
Programme after programme was proposed and implemented. Head Start, free school lunches, bilingual education, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Section 8 Housing assistance, various types of food stamp incarnations (food stamps, SNAP, Lone Star Card), Medicaid have all been provided for people who for one reason or another have not been able, or perhaps willing, to jump onto the train of plenty, no matter how slowly it passes by.
Now we are told by various communities through their elected officials that they do not want the State of Texas to require localities (counties and incorporated cities) to comply with the federal laws and regulations that require these localities to notify federal immigration authority to come and take possession of a known illegal alien who is being released from penal or administrative detention. Some cities and other jurisdictions declare that they do not want to force people into the shadows. They declare that if people are stripped of sanctuary "immunity" they will not co-operate with police in other local investigations involving "really serious crime". Such logic or rationalization is, to put it mildly, absurd.
We see the fusion of visions, ideas, movements, and a confusion of preconceptions that fog the intellectual view. First of all, the illegal aliens of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were of a different cut. The Braceros were of a different cut. Neither of these two groups caused much if any social disorder. The native Spanish / Mexican colonial types from the Escandon era caused little or no problem. At times, in spite of being a positive economic and social presence, they were dealt with in less than positive ways.
But, since the amnesty of 1987 and the flood of public assistance that removes the need for paternity for many, we have seen a decline. In recent years we have been inundated with undocumented people, and during the past eight years, the numbers have become insufferable.
We have a situation now that sees about 1,000,000 Mexicans entering and leaving the Texas and the United States daily. Legal day workers, tourists, buyers and shoppers, investors, and all nature of legal and beneficial activity. It was estimated by various analysts that during the period from 2009 through 2016, about 1,000 Mexican and Other Than Mexican (OTM), illegal aliens made their way past the Border Patrol and arrived at various destinations to the north. As that time period progressed, the OTM began to outnumber, substantially, the Mexican cohort of that population of 1,000 per day (estimate). Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Red China, and various nationalities of Middle Eastern origin frequently, and then almost always, outnumbered the Mexican illegal alien count.
Some of this can be directly laid at the feet of the Obama State Department personnel who would explain on Honduran radio and television how to circumvent American immigration laws simply by taking minor children, crossing the Rio Grande, and then surrendering to the nearest available Border Patrol Agent. The Roman Catholic Church and the national Episcopal Church and various other entities assisted passing these people as quickly as possible to the north where they would join up with "family" in Boston, Milwaukee, Harrisburg, Charlotte, etc. It is estimated that more than 85% will never report for their Administrative Immigration Hearing.
But we have a extra benefit. We have politicians, up to and including the Republican Rudy Giuliani (the numerous remainder are almost all Democrats) who declare that "sanctuary" is needed so that the police can rely upon the reportage of the illegal aliens who know that they will not be "turned it" after giving information to the local constabulary. But, the criminal element, which has exploded, has brought crime and rot into the Lower Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and many communities large and small, at such a level that could not have been imagined 20 years ago. We have seen a doubling of population, and a quintupling of serious crime. Murders, drive-by shootings, home invasions, kidnapping, rape, illegal detention of illegal aliens (holding them in a small "safe-house" while shaking down relatives in Honduras for another 1,000 dollars or their family member might not be coming back home). Some of these "detentions" are in houses with no ventilation, little or no running water for bathing or sanitary matters. At times there might be from 10 to 40 people jammed into pitifully small space.
It is almost daily that we hear of, or even experience, a police pursuit of a coyote driving 60 - 90 miles per hour through heavy urban traffic, with eight or nine police units chasing after the hapless sap in his stolen SUV with 15 people jammed inside, and/or with a tonne of marijuana and/or cocaine.
The idea of building up a body of illegal aliens to be available to turn in other illegal aliens is perhaps the best example of leftist social engineering madness that can be demonstrated. It is something akin to suggesting to the "Local Pyromaniac Community" that they should set a lot of fires every night so that the Fire Department can find out where the fires are. It would be best, of course, to have all the pyromaniacs in prison, making license plates.
While it is my personal thinking that the draconian procedures required for a Mexican, in particular, to obtain an American entry visa for either general or specified purposes represent a bit of over-kill, certain facts have to be recognised. In spite of the high fees, and seemingly endless paperwork, and the unpleasantness of American embassy and consular workers, the fact is that about 20,000,000 Mexicans have tourist or business or educational visas to enter the United States. Also, while the original procedures are cumbersome and difficult, laden with accusatory questions that often range well beyond insulting, renewals are fairly easy, especially if there are no "marks" on the record. And, the terms of validity are lengthy....sometimes five, even up to ten years.
Another category of visitor's permit is commonly accessed by people who live right along the frontier. It is the MICA which permits a visitor to enter for up to 72 hours, but only to the extent of penetration into the United States of one county's depth. There are about 12,000,000 of those cards. Both permits also require a Mexican Passport, and in these times, the very reliable Credencial Federal Electoral.
As one might imagine, the holders of these permits and visas are very careful and compliant with said documents.
Next, we would like to point out, when a Mexican decides to apply for American citizenship, it is a laborious, sometimes seven year process, which is very costly, and very inconvenient in many ways. Upon completion and the swearing in, the people obtain a massive parchment-like document with elegant script and heralds, and it confers the title Citizen of the United States of America. This business of people coming over and larding onto the system through the back door is an insult to those who have struggled and sacrificed to comply with an almost labyrinthine process to qualify for citizenship.
Honourably Discharged foreign persons (Mexicans predominate in this category) can request and receive American citizenship as well. A soldier, sailor, Marine, airman, or coast guard sailor can request this consideration (frequently it is offered) at the time of retirement or re-enlistment should the military person wish to re-enlist.
So, the colonial Latins of Texas and those other political subdivisions that were once part of Spain, then Mexico, those who trace their background in Texas or other colonial areas of what became the United States, feel that their birthright citizenship is somewhat or considerably cheapened by the illegals who come and lard onto the system. When it is said that "....and they (the illegals) work hard and pay taxes".....the whole truth is substantially different. The illegal alien, Mexican, Canadian, Argentine, or otherwise does not pay taxes as does a Texan or other type of American. They pay essentially only sales taxes, which are unavoidable.
It they are paying income tax withholding and medicare deduction, etc. that means they have stolen or procured a social security number illegally. Only the native, or legally naturalised, or legally-admitted with a work-permit can participate in the IRS system and Social Security Programmes. The illegal alien can only participate by means of fraud.
So the insipid response or observation that the illegal alien is building and contributing to the overall prosperity of a locale, a region, a State, or to the nation is ludicrous. We are besieged by women who have snuck into the Republic of Texas, and dropped a baby, and thereby gained all but permanent residency by virtue that, while she is an illegal alien, her baby supposedly is a Texas and / or American citizen, and needs the presence of his / her mother. The mother qualifies almost instantly for about 35,000 United States Dollars per annum for food, shelter, medical services, and myriad other services. A few more babies, a more dollars. It becomes a "way of life". An easy phrase to say, a miserable existence for the indolent, and the taxpayer.
Lamentably, still (and this applies moreso among the Mexicans), there is the illegal alien who actually comes to work in Texas or the USA, and then go back to Mexico. They actually are industrious, compliant, and careful about "walking the line", so as to stay out of trouble. The thing is that in the 1950s the percentage who thought and performed that way was something like 96% or more of the illegals. Now it might be 50%.
Jose', the assistant gardener and lawns-tender at the Country Club is increasingly rare. He has too frequently replaced by Balde, the Mara Salvatrucha - MS13. Just this picture (above) alone should chill even the most ardent "open borders" advocate to the spine.
We retire. Thanks for your time and patience, as usual.
El Gringo Viejo
Many were established as offshoots from the Cesar Chavez United Farmworkers Organizing Committee, back in the latter 1960s. Chavez, of course, was very anti-Mexican to the point he wanted the frontier closed down complete to Mexican legal (and illegal) labour. His lieutenant, Antonio Orindain was more intelligent, also from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, and had a genuine notion that he could fuse marxist dogma with capitalism and free enterprise somehow. I was graced to have had fifteen or sixteen fairly long 'platicas' with Tony back in the 1970s when "fighting poverty" was very vogue.
Since the dawn of the War on Poverty, one of the greatest sociological snake-oil schemes in human history, we have developed a residual group that was always ready to make the point that poverty was being caused by the wealthy, the industrious, by those who prepared for the future and for themselves and their families without expecting to be helped by a friendly government.
Programme after programme was proposed and implemented. Head Start, free school lunches, bilingual education, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Section 8 Housing assistance, various types of food stamp incarnations (food stamps, SNAP, Lone Star Card), Medicaid have all been provided for people who for one reason or another have not been able, or perhaps willing, to jump onto the train of plenty, no matter how slowly it passes by.
Now we are told by various communities through their elected officials that they do not want the State of Texas to require localities (counties and incorporated cities) to comply with the federal laws and regulations that require these localities to notify federal immigration authority to come and take possession of a known illegal alien who is being released from penal or administrative detention. Some cities and other jurisdictions declare that they do not want to force people into the shadows. They declare that if people are stripped of sanctuary "immunity" they will not co-operate with police in other local investigations involving "really serious crime". Such logic or rationalization is, to put it mildly, absurd.
We see the fusion of visions, ideas, movements, and a confusion of preconceptions that fog the intellectual view. First of all, the illegal aliens of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were of a different cut. The Braceros were of a different cut. Neither of these two groups caused much if any social disorder. The native Spanish / Mexican colonial types from the Escandon era caused little or no problem. At times, in spite of being a positive economic and social presence, they were dealt with in less than positive ways.
But, since the amnesty of 1987 and the flood of public assistance that removes the need for paternity for many, we have seen a decline. In recent years we have been inundated with undocumented people, and during the past eight years, the numbers have become insufferable.
We have a situation now that sees about 1,000,000 Mexicans entering and leaving the Texas and the United States daily. Legal day workers, tourists, buyers and shoppers, investors, and all nature of legal and beneficial activity. It was estimated by various analysts that during the period from 2009 through 2016, about 1,000 Mexican and Other Than Mexican (OTM), illegal aliens made their way past the Border Patrol and arrived at various destinations to the north. As that time period progressed, the OTM began to outnumber, substantially, the Mexican cohort of that population of 1,000 per day (estimate). Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Red China, and various nationalities of Middle Eastern origin frequently, and then almost always, outnumbered the Mexican illegal alien count.
Some of this can be directly laid at the feet of the Obama State Department personnel who would explain on Honduran radio and television how to circumvent American immigration laws simply by taking minor children, crossing the Rio Grande, and then surrendering to the nearest available Border Patrol Agent. The Roman Catholic Church and the national Episcopal Church and various other entities assisted passing these people as quickly as possible to the north where they would join up with "family" in Boston, Milwaukee, Harrisburg, Charlotte, etc. It is estimated that more than 85% will never report for their Administrative Immigration Hearing.
But we have a extra benefit. We have politicians, up to and including the Republican Rudy Giuliani (the numerous remainder are almost all Democrats) who declare that "sanctuary" is needed so that the police can rely upon the reportage of the illegal aliens who know that they will not be "turned it" after giving information to the local constabulary. But, the criminal element, which has exploded, has brought crime and rot into the Lower Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and many communities large and small, at such a level that could not have been imagined 20 years ago. We have seen a doubling of population, and a quintupling of serious crime. Murders, drive-by shootings, home invasions, kidnapping, rape, illegal detention of illegal aliens (holding them in a small "safe-house" while shaking down relatives in Honduras for another 1,000 dollars or their family member might not be coming back home). Some of these "detentions" are in houses with no ventilation, little or no running water for bathing or sanitary matters. At times there might be from 10 to 40 people jammed into pitifully small space.
It is almost daily that we hear of, or even experience, a police pursuit of a coyote driving 60 - 90 miles per hour through heavy urban traffic, with eight or nine police units chasing after the hapless sap in his stolen SUV with 15 people jammed inside, and/or with a tonne of marijuana and/or cocaine.
The idea of building up a body of illegal aliens to be available to turn in other illegal aliens is perhaps the best example of leftist social engineering madness that can be demonstrated. It is something akin to suggesting to the "Local Pyromaniac Community" that they should set a lot of fires every night so that the Fire Department can find out where the fires are. It would be best, of course, to have all the pyromaniacs in prison, making license plates.
_________________________
While it is my personal thinking that the draconian procedures required for a Mexican, in particular, to obtain an American entry visa for either general or specified purposes represent a bit of over-kill, certain facts have to be recognised. In spite of the high fees, and seemingly endless paperwork, and the unpleasantness of American embassy and consular workers, the fact is that about 20,000,000 Mexicans have tourist or business or educational visas to enter the United States. Also, while the original procedures are cumbersome and difficult, laden with accusatory questions that often range well beyond insulting, renewals are fairly easy, especially if there are no "marks" on the record. And, the terms of validity are lengthy....sometimes five, even up to ten years.
Another category of visitor's permit is commonly accessed by people who live right along the frontier. It is the MICA which permits a visitor to enter for up to 72 hours, but only to the extent of penetration into the United States of one county's depth. There are about 12,000,000 of those cards. Both permits also require a Mexican Passport, and in these times, the very reliable Credencial Federal Electoral.
As one might imagine, the holders of these permits and visas are very careful and compliant with said documents.
___________________________
Next, we would like to point out, when a Mexican decides to apply for American citizenship, it is a laborious, sometimes seven year process, which is very costly, and very inconvenient in many ways. Upon completion and the swearing in, the people obtain a massive parchment-like document with elegant script and heralds, and it confers the title Citizen of the United States of America. This business of people coming over and larding onto the system through the back door is an insult to those who have struggled and sacrificed to comply with an almost labyrinthine process to qualify for citizenship.
Honourably Discharged foreign persons (Mexicans predominate in this category) can request and receive American citizenship as well. A soldier, sailor, Marine, airman, or coast guard sailor can request this consideration (frequently it is offered) at the time of retirement or re-enlistment should the military person wish to re-enlist.
So, the colonial Latins of Texas and those other political subdivisions that were once part of Spain, then Mexico, those who trace their background in Texas or other colonial areas of what became the United States, feel that their birthright citizenship is somewhat or considerably cheapened by the illegals who come and lard onto the system. When it is said that "....and they (the illegals) work hard and pay taxes".....the whole truth is substantially different. The illegal alien, Mexican, Canadian, Argentine, or otherwise does not pay taxes as does a Texan or other type of American. They pay essentially only sales taxes, which are unavoidable.
It they are paying income tax withholding and medicare deduction, etc. that means they have stolen or procured a social security number illegally. Only the native, or legally naturalised, or legally-admitted with a work-permit can participate in the IRS system and Social Security Programmes. The illegal alien can only participate by means of fraud.
So the insipid response or observation that the illegal alien is building and contributing to the overall prosperity of a locale, a region, a State, or to the nation is ludicrous. We are besieged by women who have snuck into the Republic of Texas, and dropped a baby, and thereby gained all but permanent residency by virtue that, while she is an illegal alien, her baby supposedly is a Texas and / or American citizen, and needs the presence of his / her mother. The mother qualifies almost instantly for about 35,000 United States Dollars per annum for food, shelter, medical services, and myriad other services. A few more babies, a more dollars. It becomes a "way of life". An easy phrase to say, a miserable existence for the indolent, and the taxpayer.
Lamentably, still (and this applies moreso among the Mexicans), there is the illegal alien who actually comes to work in Texas or the USA, and then go back to Mexico. They actually are industrious, compliant, and careful about "walking the line", so as to stay out of trouble. The thing is that in the 1950s the percentage who thought and performed that way was something like 96% or more of the illegals. Now it might be 50%.
Jose', the assistant gardener and lawns-tender at the Country Club is increasingly rare. He has too frequently replaced by Balde, the Mara Salvatrucha - MS13. Just this picture (above) alone should chill even the most ardent "open borders" advocate to the spine.
We retire. Thanks for your time and patience, as usual.
El Gringo Viejo
_____________________
