Immigration Reform/ La reforma migratoria
Posted by: Tere
This past week, amidst all the happening with Healthcare Reform, thousands of people took to the streets in favor of Immigration Reform. Rallies were held in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and other cities. The majority of those who marched want current immigration law reformed and they want the immigration raids, which many say are separating innocent children from their parents, to stop.
President Obama has pledged, on several occasions, his commitment to fixing the broken system that is Immigration today. Originally the President wanted the debate to begin by the end on 2009 with the hope of getting legislation passed by 2010, but because of the economy and Healthcare, Immigration Reform was put on the back burner.
With all of our other issues present in mind, Immigration Reform has not been a concern for many. However, there are many people living in this nation, including in our community, who consider
Immigration Reform to be a top concern. Their lives and the lives of their families may even depend on it and it is one goal they wish to see the Obama Administration achieve. Sooner or later the issue will have to be addressed by lawmakers because the current system is broken and it benefits no one to remain that way. For more information please see the links below.
Esta semana pasada, durante todo que pasó con la reforma de salud, miles de gente marcharon de nuevo
a favor de la reforma migratoria. Tuvieron marchas en Washington DC, Los Ángeles y otras ciudades. La gente quiere que las leyes sean reformadas y que paren las redadas que muchos dicen están separando a niños inocentes de sus padres.
El presidente Obama ha jurado en varias ocasiones su meta de arreglar las leyes migratorias y mejorar un sistema considerado roto. Originalmente la meta del presidente fue empezar el debate este año con la esperanza de pasar legislación en el 2010, pero con los otros problemas como la economía y la reforma de salud, la reforma migratoria no fue prioridad para muchos.
Sin embargo, hay mucha gente viviendo en esta nación, incluye en nuestra comunidad que considera la reforma migratoria una prioridad primera. Sus vidas y las vidas de sus familias dependen de esta legislación y es una meta que quiere que la administración de Obama logre. Tarde o temprano el gobierno va a tener que reforma el sistema corriente por que no funciona y no beneficia a nadie si sigue así. Para más información vean los siguientes links.
Posted by: Tere
This past week, amidst all the happening with Healthcare Reform, thousands of people took to the streets in favor of Immigration Reform. Rallies were held in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and other cities. The majority of those who marched want current immigration law reformed and they want the immigration raids, which many say are separating innocent children from their parents, to stop.
President Obama has pledged, on several occasions, his commitment to fixing the broken system that is Immigration today. Originally the President wanted the debate to begin by the end on 2009 with the hope of getting legislation passed by 2010, but because of the economy and Healthcare, Immigration Reform was put on the back burner.
With all of our other issues present in mind, Immigration Reform has not been a concern for many. However, there are many people living in this nation, including in our community, who consider
Immigration Reform to be a top concern. Their lives and the lives of their families may even depend on it and it is one goal they wish to see the Obama Administration achieve. Sooner or later the issue will have to be addressed by lawmakers because the current system is broken and it benefits no one to remain that way. For more information please see the links below.
Esta semana pasada, durante todo que pasó con la reforma de salud, miles de gente marcharon de nuevo
a favor de la reforma migratoria. Tuvieron marchas en Washington DC, Los Ángeles y otras ciudades. La gente quiere que las leyes sean reformadas y que paren las redadas que muchos dicen están separando a niños inocentes de sus padres.
El presidente Obama ha jurado en varias ocasiones su meta de arreglar las leyes migratorias y mejorar un sistema considerado roto. Originalmente la meta del presidente fue empezar el debate este año con la esperanza de pasar legislación en el 2010, pero con los otros problemas como la economía y la reforma de salud, la reforma migratoria no fue prioridad para muchos.
Sin embargo, hay mucha gente viviendo en esta nación, incluye en nuestra comunidad que considera la reforma migratoria una prioridad primera. Sus vidas y las vidas de sus familias dependen de esta legislación y es una meta que quiere que la administración de Obama logre. Tarde o temprano el gobierno va a tener que reforma el sistema corriente por que no funciona y no beneficia a nadie si sigue así. Para más información vean los siguientes links.
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24 comments:
Tere--thank you for posting about this, as it is a big issue, both for those in favor and opposed to providing a responsible path to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. I hope we can have a respectful conversation about this on line, as there are many things that people do not understand about this issue, and to have a responsible and civil discussion, we should come with as many questions, as we do statements about our feelings.
One thing that is important for all Americans to remember, is that with the exception of Native Americans, we are all either immigrants, or descendants of immigrants (voluntary, or involuntary). On the Statue of Liberty reads one of our most famous pledges of the American spirit: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, send them the homeless tempest tossed to me." Immigration is what has made the U.S. a superpower. I would love to hear some great immigration stories posted here.
Bienvenidos gente por el blog, mi Espanol no es muy bien pero estoy tentando apprender y practicar! Espero ler sus estorias de imigration aqui--escrivan, por favor! Gracias.
This is what Obama and demccrats are trying to do to Fox news.Only cowards try to hide the truth.You see you set up asite like this so you can control your liberal hate speech.Not working Americans are wakeing up. We all must join The Tea Party. God bless !
celticwarrior,
I'm a contributor to this blog and do not consider myself a liberal, hate spitting, truth hiding, Obama loving Democrat. Although my Christian worldview certainly may clash with others who contribute, I do not consider any of the others to fit your description.
While I welcome the free exchange of discourse particularly in the Socratic tradition this blog encourages, I am opposed to the radical promotion of a particular agenda absent of the willingness to reason equitably and respectfully through another's position-whether you end in agreement or not.
I learned long ago through my own pride and arrogance that people often advertise their weaknesses. I suggest you consider the level of hate, prejudices and cowardice you project on this forum.
I know what it is like to be a bigot. I've been an overt one in the past and still wrestle with my own tendency from a white European presupposition to discriminate, particularly in suspicious thought, with the diverse cultures and people I share this city, nation and world with.
I think you can bring a lot of value to the table. You've raised some good points in the past. But whenever it comes to race and culture your hate blinds you and all prejudices are rooted in fear.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote,
'Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
At one time in this country, people like you today, hated the Irish-something that should resonate with your heritage. It was through the love of people seeking justice for the Irish that they were able integrate into this nation and truly become part of the melting pot.
Can you imagine if they were still hated and feared? Where would you be?
HopeUnseen
Thanks, Terrence. I'm leaving this comment by Celticwarrior up as an example of why I have had to delete him in the past.
Dan, you are always welcome to post here if you are being civil rather than insulting and come to the forum with a genuine curiosity to consider other points of view, rather than just posting hate propaganda. I have said it before, and I will say it again, this is not the Express Times on line--go there if you want to post hate without being deleted. I welcome any sincere exploration into the complexities of this issue, i.e., concerns about lost jobs, or the burden on taxpayers, but only if presented civilly and without insults, i.e., your references to Obamacrats, etc. If you can control that impulse, you are welcome and encouraged to disagree and participate in the conversation. Otherwise I have no qualms about deleting bigoted comments.
Terrence makes important points about ancestry--all white people in this country are immigrants or decendants of immigrants, and it is one of our most American tenets to welcome immigrants from all nations, not just those of your ancestors. To be completely against immigration is unpatriotic and un-American.
As for anger over lost jobs, this is a reasonable concern, but what indicates bigotry to me is how these concerns are so often expressed in hate for immigrants, rather than criticism of the (often white) Americans that hire them. This selective focus says a lot about a person.
As for your comments in the past about punishing women and children for the crimes of men in the drug business, this hardly seems fair, and seems a convenient rationalization of bigotry.
One of the things that strikes me as hypocritical, is that often the most outspoken bigots also love to espouse personal responsibility and denounce laziness. But there is nothing lazier than bigotry, because it is the desire to believe that one is already better than entire groups of other people without lifting a finger--for simply being born.
The poorest immigrants that I see are waiting at 5am on street corners with lunch boxes waiting to be picked up to work on a construction site for an American. Or I see mothers with small children taking literacy classes to learn English in hopes of getting a job doing things most Americans don't want to do. The wealthier, more educated immigrants that I have met in Easton are either entrepreneurs, educators, or working for departments that focus on improving the community. One thing I never see them doing is espousing hate.
Like immigrants before us, immigrants now contribute the richness of our community, and it is the personal responsibility those who have issues with that to take on the challenge of healing themselves from the fear and hate that consumes them, and that requires being brave enough to have an open mind, and to participate civilly in public discussion on the topic.
While you're more than welcome to have your opinion this, or any given matter, I'd suggest its your approach to expressing this opinion that might be the problem. And for the record, one of the great things about the democratic process is that there are more than one "truth" and thankfully, more than one way to see a particular problem.
This blog, and this country are about more than liberals v. conservatives and it bothers me how quickly some lose sight of that. The idea that we as a society can selectivly decide who has the right to persue the American dream the majority of our nation's forefathers came to persue is problematic at best, biased at worst.
Beyond that, there's no place here for namecalling. Unless you can rise to the ocassion and have rational discussion with your neighbors and other members of the community, find another venue please.
And for the record, there's a very clear difference between indentured servitude, which typically lasts 7 years (which Irish immigrants tended to come to the States under in the late 1800s) and a lifetime of caste slavery. Beyond that if you want to discuss accultration (the gradual acceptance of groups into what it is to be American) within 2 generations the idea of Irish people being considered inherently and essentially of the In Group had been normalized, and African-Americans were still being denied the right to vote. Hardly the "way worse" you depict.
thanks, Gavin.
para la gente que hablan espanol, por favor digan sus estorias de migratorio a los estados unidos aqui--muchas buen gente en este blog quieren ler sus estorias personales, o estorias de historia de sus familias : )
Will some one please show me were Im wrong that illegal aliens are not helping California to go bankrupt.That about 3 years ago on cnn a liberal news channel reported that some 80 hospitals went bankrupt.And that it has cost our schools billions of dollars. On the census question # 8 says that they will use your tax money to administer bilingual programs. There is a mexican grocery store on north ampton st. there is nothing in English in that store but we will spend tax payers money for bilingual programs. Someone HELP>
celtic warrior,
when I moved to the Lehigh Valley in the 60's the town where I lived had people who spoke pennsylvania dutch. I couldnt understand any of it but for some reason we were taught to be respectful.
Moving to Little Italy in the 80's on Prince Street my neighbors grandmothers still only spoke Italian and in many of the shops all the foods had (and still do) their Italian names. The had festivals in the streets marching around with statues - very exotic to me. Its simply not true that when "our" ancestors came to "america" (in quotes because we too often forget that our country is just one country - the United States of America - there is quite a bit of America that is other countries like Mexico and Brazil) it is simply not true that our ancestors right away learned English - they didn't. They all had their own little corners where they kept their own little culture for some time before blending in. You still proudly wear a badge of celtic origin. The spanish discovered america before the english - so they were here first if that is your argument. California is bankrupted because of Enron and other corporations that continue to make fools of the tea party folks who still are basically backing the republican party and still not taking responsibility for the mess they put us in by voting for George Bush.
Not that this is going to solve anything or change opinions much, but just to reinforce some points...
Certain parts of Texas in the early part of the last century were writing all their public signage in two languages, English and...wait for it...German! Seemed the folks down there did OK allowing the German-speaking population (who settleed the area) to assimilate at their own pace with some gentle coaxing.
Many look back historically at Prohibition as a way to free society of excessive drinking and lazy attitudes towards work during a somewhat puritanical age. (It actually reduced available work by putting breweries, bottling plants, lable making companies. etc. out of business.) My point though is that prohibition had a more sinister goal: eliminating the German beer hall from American culture.
German families got together on weekends at these venues to build community spirit, help each other with the new language and generally provide a coping mechanism for a lot of people far from their comfortable surroundings. It was a wholesome place for men, women and children and included not just beer but meals and music. If you want to learn more about this and read a great book on community building through neighborhood gathering places read The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg
WWI had a mean spirited blowback effect on those of German descent in America. A lot of people wanted them to just go away and anything that could be done to make them more uncomfortable - like a prohibition on alcohol that might put an end to a key community building block like the "beergarten" - was all the better.
I grew up on a street of all Hungarian and Lithuanian families. Some of them never mastered English that well but they kept the textile plants running and made Easton the boomtown it was for part of the last century.
Bottom line...I can't tell any person how to feel about any other. Whatever made them feel the way they do will have to be reconciled within them somehow at sometime through whatever means necessary. Only they can change their own condition.
Judge each individual by their words and their actions as you see and know them. Each of us is unique. Do not transfer generalizations to individuals you do not know or haven't spoken to yourself. I'm doing OK with this method so far.
DRL
PS: If you want to have a laugh over how "fair and balanced" Fox News is considered these days, copy and paste this link...
http://www.kunstler.com/Grunt%20Archive.html
Well anonymous.If you know my grandfarther you would know he has legal citizenship.I thought this was a debate about immigration reform. This is a (liberal I cant debate you so you must be a racist debate.)Its called immigration reform because there is a huge problem on the Mexican borders.I know all about racism I experience it every day.Look I understand Im on a liberal site I Knew I would be attacked this way.Thats why Im CELTIC WARRIOR! Anonymous it makes me to think you are one to be crying like others about the school tax hikes.But not the billions of tax dollars that illegals are costing americans.
I must say this is fun.What I also have notice here is that Miss jones delets me but no one else.So what you are doing is not showing what im saying.Just everyone calling me a racist.Good job Miss jones.(My kilt off to you.)
And I will ask you again.How many illegals are you willing to support out of you own funds.
Para los hispanohablantes y los immigrantes, digannos sus historias y sus opiniones de la reforma migratoria. Sabemos que es un tema muy controversial pero aqui tratamos de ver todos puntos de vista!
My grandfather was from Ireland and my grandmother born of Welsh/Irish immigrants. On my mother's side, my grandparents came from Puerto Rico in the 50's. Even though they were American Citizens, they did not speak English and had a hard time asimilating. They were treated as if they were not US citizens. My Irish grandfather was overlooked for jobs and promotions because of were he came from.
I have worked with immigrants, i have taught immigrants, i have helped immigrants, i have socialized with immigrants, i come from immigrants, and some of my closest friends are immigrants. So I cant't think about immigration reform and not be draw in by the memories and faces of all the people I know. These are the faces behind the debate. I think when you know people first hand and you know how hard they work all day and they go to study English at night you can't not want them to suceed.
I am in favor of immigration reform and will be until it happens. When the proposed solution is to deport all foreigners and close the borders that feels like racism to me. How do people know if your an immigrant or not? Because you have a foreign sounding name, or you speak Spanish? How can you tell the difference between a Puerto Rican and a Colombian? Most people can't just by looking at them or even hearing them speak. You can not blame people for wanting a better life and more opportunity. (This is still the reason the majority of immigrants are in this country.) That is human nature.
Money is always mentioned too! How much money immigrants (documented and undocumented) take out of the system, but is never mentioned how much they put back in like into Social Secuirty for example. Immigration reform can also be a revenue generating process. There was much discusion of placing a fine on immigrants who had enetred the country with out documention etc.. I feel the large majority of immigrants would gladly pay to have their status changed, and then they would be required to pay taxes. Sooner or later the issue has to be fully addressed and faced head on. People form all over the world will not stop coming here, nor will they stop wanting to as long as The USA is a land of opportunity, just as it was for our parents, grandparents and ancestors.
Hay Tere I didnt just cross the border two years ago.I know a bit about history even though many are trying to change it. No one is saying that we all werent immagrants or that we didnt come from immagrants.And they are not the faces behind the debate. Let me tell you a little story Tere.I went back to S.I. N.Y. were I grew up.Went out drove around a little bit. Turnd down a street that I used to be able to walk to.It was Irish Polish and very little Italians.store fronts that you could sit down eat and feel safe.It at times hard to understand some but they tride very hard to speak good english.Streets very clean stores well kept.Stores all in english but a bit of there culture.I asked the woman in the polish store why wasnt everything in ploish .She told me that she just did not want polish people to come in she wants everyone to come in.But now I go there the streets are just filled with litter.All the stores and building are amess and fallen down.Not one sign in English.Every corner had 10 or more waiting to be picked up for work.I found some old friends of mine and ask what the hell happend to thi once great island.The Mexican mafia moved in and noone did adamb thing about illegal immigration.And this just wasnt one location there is several locations.So tell me is tis the american dream and why I have lost friends in the military. Immigration Reform thats what I see.
Again I will ask miss jones how many illegals are you willing to support out of you own funds.
I do hope you are working for someone who has such an opinion.
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