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Don't buy Hickman's ploy
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Also, simply because the majority believe something doesn't make it right. For example, the majority of Americans supported the Chinese Exclusion Act which targeted a specific nationality and denied them the right to immigrate. That act was immoral and those who broke it, while lawbreakers, were good people while those who supported it were immoral.
I am glad this editorial board stands up to oppose immoral laws. You probably go to Church and pretend to be a good person when in truth you are as bad as the racists who came before you who used all the same arguments you now use on every immigrant group that has come here. You would have us believe you aren't even though we know their motive was racism.
The Slovaks, the Irish, the Chinese, etc had the same said of them. Bur of course you would have us believe that their racist motives are not yours. Tell me why "they should be illegal." Don't tell me the law is the law and therefore the law should be enforced. The law is wrong and should be repealed.
The folks at the News are mostly hopeless - but this next legislative session will be in an election year.
What don't you understand about "illegal"? It used to be a minor problem because there were only a relative few of them. Now they are and economic disaster, a significant financial drain on the economy in several states.
Hickman's bill may not be the best one, but something has to be done to get the government's attention of the ongoing disaster. Instead of critizing Hickman's bill, why don't you use your collective intelligence(?) and come up with a better answer? It is simple and I would supply it to you, but frankly I don't think you are smart enough to understand it.
When we let the Savages and Tancredos and Dobbs and Romneys and Hickmans set us against each other, we'll produce the very things we're most afraid of.
I also don't claim that all illegal aliens are bad people. I, myself, may have followed a similar course, for the good of my family, if I had been placed in a similar situation. In some ways I see them as victims of our country's broken immigration system, which seems to embrace the "don't ask, don't tell" philosophy. But none of this means that the system shouldn't be fixed, or that our laws shouldn't be, or begin to be, enforced.
I'm tired of the blurring of the line between legal and illegal, there is a big difference. And I'm tired of anyone differentiating between legal and illegal being labeled as a racist.
If Utah became known as anti-immigrant, the Church's missionary efforts would be harmed. I don't like it, but that's the way it is folks.
I've lived in what used to be California. I've seen the holes at the border. Just wait until Utah is as overrun as California and Arizona. It is a wholesale invasion which has devastated the environment, schools, medical care and entire communities - and increased Utah's population as Californians flee their state.
As for racist - I really believe that all the smug, self-righteous "we's" out there know we are not racist. They throw out that word to silence their opposition. Those of us for border security know it is a lie and we will not be silenced nor intimidated by this false label.
The writer reveals this hometown notion that Utah is somehow morally superior to the rest of the nation, therefore our bleeding hearts need to bleed more profusely than other states. Throwing in Utah's self-righteousness does not bolster this shameful view that we need to roll out the red carpet for criminals.
Illegals shouldn't be allowed benefits reserved for the law abiding citizenry for the same reason felons are denied such benefits--because they're not abiding by the law.
Police aren't supposed to keep law and order at the local level? Since when?
It would be good for the Deseret News' editors to explain why they want a section of society to not be held subject to current law. But, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.
Many of them are very frustrated by special amnesties and privileges being offered to the criminals who have made a conscious decision to violate our laws. One of my friends spent 10 years converting his student visa into permanent residency.
Another family friend in California is a legal immigrant from Jamaica who owns a small grocery store. He is constantly dealing with grafitti, burgalry and street shootings all brought in by the illegal Hispanic gangs that the Deseret News is so proud of.
I've been taught my entire life that LDS people were supposed to sustain the laws of the land. Yet, the Deseret News and by extension, LDS church seem to want anarachy. Perhaps it's good for business, since the Deseret News can now report on shootings, rapes, drug busts, etc.. almost daily now.
Keep in mind that even if we only targeted the "illegals," who crossed the border without waiting in an immigration line that has reached a virtual standstill, we would still be shooting ourselves in the foot.
Estimates of ILLEGALS (not hispanics, illegals) suggest that if they were to all leave Utah tomorrow it would be the equivalent of 14 of Utah's 29 counties instantly having a population of zero.
How would that benefit Utah's economy?
I personally believe they are every bit as capable of following the law as anybody else. All people should be treated equally under the law.
I oppose illegal immigration for the following reasons...
1: It is illegal
2: There are thousands of citizens who fall prey daily to criminal acts of illegals.
3: Social costs are transferred from employers to the taxpayer to the tune of $19000 a year per illegal family.
4: There are americans who will do the work...simply pay them a livable wage.
5: Unwillingness to assimilate
6: Mexico needs to fix their mess (Majority of illegals are Mexican0
I wish to be humane to the american people rather than to illegals as this is OUR country.
And why do they focus on hispanics? So far as I know, Hickman's bill does NOT mention ethnicity nor race at all. It focuses only on the legal status of the person in question. Of course, when one realizes the vast majority of illegal aliens are hispanic and that upwards of 50% of the hispanics in this State are illegal aliens, maybe we should start to ask about culture and how it affects a willingness to obey basic laws and rules.
Why is it so hard to understand that WE want the laws enforced; that WE want US Citizens, not foreign criminals to set US immigration policy; and that WE want the laws enforced?
I do not want socialized medicine, nor more welfare, nor ever high taxes. I do not want a national ID card. I want a secure border. And I want illegal aliens encouraged to go home, NOT pandered to.
I am not sure where you get your information from but it is blatantly false.
The US is a sovereign nation and we have a constitution which made us great. I for one will uphold that great document and ensure that we maintain our sovereignty and do not allow the invading illegal hordes from changing what this nation is i.e. a land for thos ethat understand the american spirit. That spirit is self reliance, free enterprise and the rule of law with a strong belief that our rights come from God.
Illegals breach the majority of these great values.
Currently there seems to be discord within the leadership of the church and they seem to want to remain aloof on this issue. However, I've heard members of the legislature say that during discussions on bills that revoke rights to illegal aliens, calls come in from the church Headquarters urging that these bills go away.
Last year when the House was on the verge of repealing in-state tuition for illegals, Elder Ballard (listing his position in the church) and other community members sent out a letter to every member of the legislature asking them to vote against the bill. Just enough members of the legislature changed their mind to kill the bill.
I've heard from multiple accounts that Elder Ballard frequently holds firesides with Utah stakes, marvelling at the influx of Hispanic immigrants and how it is a wondrous fulfillment of Book of Mormon prophecy. I haven't heard any official proclamations at General Conference, but if they believe this, it's obvious why they would oppose Hickmans Bill.
The truth is that there are too many of them to "judge individually." They'd clog up the courts for decades, and the ones who would win would be the ones with the biggest (often fake) sob stories.
12 million may seem like a lot of people to get rid of, but if we don't start the deportations and don't encourage policies that discourage them coming here and encourage them to leave (driver's licenses, in-state tuitions - i.e., Hickman's bill), then 12 million will be considered a small number 10-20 years from now.
These illegals already have their country - Mexico or wherever. We Americans have only this one. We need to look after it to enure the future for our own posterity's sake.
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not taken a position on HB224, church spokesman Scott Trotter said. His comment came in response to a statement issued Monday by the Alliance for Unity opposing the bill. The statement was signed by alliance member Elder M. Russell Ballard of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles."
Deseret News, Feb 1, 2007
To any who find Ballard's politics offensive, I'd suggest informing your bishop, withholding tithing, or whatever you feel is best.
If you can't do that, then at least don't give any money to the United Way. They're up there every year advocating for benefits for illegals.
I don't know what "the Church's" stand on illegal immigration is. All I do know is that an alarming number of Mormon politicians seem to support open borders - Huntsman, Leavitt, and Walker all do; Bennett, Hatch, Smith (OR) and Reid do, also. Sen. Crapo of Idaho has been a mixed blessing.
The two people the Church has chosen to run its newspaper, Ivory and Cannon, are also pro-open borders.
Instead of criticizing those who want to stop the flow of illegals into our country, why don't I hear these bleeding hearts support legislation to increase legal immigration limits so that they can come here legally and get paid an honest wage and live in decent conditions?
You can draw your own conclusions.
At least so far, any Bishop I've brought this issue up with agrees with me, that the church teaches members to obey the laws of whatever country they live in.
I strongly disagree with this editorial and the attempt to slander Sen. Hickman. The same thing has been done to Reps. Donnelson, Thompson, Throckmorton and others who've tried to listen to "We, the people" and end some of these ill-conceived enticements for illegals.
With an estimated 30 Million illegals in the country today, and hundreds of thousands more entering each year, the government must act swiftly to fix this situation. Illegals feel entitled to blatantly break the law and are becoming more bold through their protests.
If it continues to fester, I would not be surprised to see widespread violence and perhaps even a Civil war emerge. If needed, Americans will rise up in defense.
you buy gas, food, clothes and it is taxed.
you join the local church
you provide a Publican business owner with cheap labor.
you send money back to your family in Mexico
you want a better life
you work hard
The Mormon/Publicans claim to be from the "law and order party" but make exceptions for people that break the law, use our taxpayer dollars, and provide cheap labor.
I guess the Publicans have a different sense of law and order than the rest of us. A criminal is a criminal when they break the laws, not a fine upstanding citizen, oh right, they are not citizens,
even though they march for their "rights" and wave the Mexican flag.
We may need a guest worker program, but we do not need ILLEGAL ALIENS supporting Mormon/Publicans
The DesNews would have us believe that this is all about bigotry, but that is not the case. It is about depressed wages due to the labor market being flooded by the flow of poor illegal aliens. It is also about our teenagers not being able to get part-time jobs because of the ease of hiring illegals. There are other issues, but not enough space here to list them.
Some of my students are illegal yet they've grown up in the United States. They've been educated in the schools. They're good people and have the potential to go to college. And yet a lot of the posters here are telling them "you're not wanted here. Go back to where you came from." They forget that these illegal immigrants committed their crime when they were small children, and many of them cannot remember Mexico at all.
Change needs to happen. Overtaxing our cops with illegal immigrant hunts is not the way to do it. And since our entire military force is busy on some stupid war, there's no one else to round up all 12 million and send them back. Obviously, we need another solution.
There's too many dumb comments here for me to address all of them, but...
If an illegal immigrant is a criminal, are you one too if you go 67 instead of 65 on the freeway?
Some of you also get your information from weird places...out of room, but watch your sources, they may be lying.
WE BELIEVE in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
Can anyone tell me if this has been re-written or "updated?"
When can we say, that we want them to STOP spending in Congress, the money that we don't have...?
It seems that, FINALLY, this 'illegal' issue has gotten Americans off of their couches and they are having a voice. It is a good thing. Lets bring back our Republic.
� In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
� A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the bloody 18th Street Gang in California is illegal (estimated membership: 20,000); police officers say the proportion is undoubtedly much greater. The gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the dominant force in California prisons, on complicated drug distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations, and is responsible for an assault or robbery every day in Los Angeles County. The gang has dramatically expanded its numbers over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, a vast proportion
illegal, from Central America and Mexico.
Tim J, you wanted hard evidence? This is a report from the center for immigration studies on the impact on local law enforcement. If you want to stick your head in the sand, so be it. Don't complain when you become a victim.
I've met a lot of illegal aliens during the time I was growing up in California schools. Many of the kids from illegal families had a bad attitude, and created problems in the school
My mom drives a school bus in Cache county and runs into the same attitudes today. She finds it strange that these children emerging from trailer parks and low-income housing are wearing the most expensive clothes and have the newest phones, ipods and other gadgets, yet instead of gratitude, they express belligerence and make comments about how much they hate our country.
One year I volunteered to make phone calls to arrange gift delivery for the sub-for-santa program. I was shocked to find not gratitude but a sense of entitlement by the Spanish speaking recipients. Some of the families had actually signed up with multiple agencies to get double or triple the amount of gifts.
The "we" you are asking about is the DMN's editorial board, mostly comprising of their full-time editorial writers, and input from key and senior editors. No different from any other newspaper in the free speech arena in the business of gathering news, reporting on events, and yes, writing opinions.
We tell drivers you MUST have a driver's license to drive.
We tell workers you MUST pay taxes.
We tell parents you MUST send your kids to school.
We tell 18 year old men you MUST register for selective service.
We tell property owners you MUST pay property taxes.
We tell car owners you MUST get your car inspected and registered.
We tell businesses you MUST withhold taxes from your workers' paychecks.
We tell businesses that do business with the government that you MUST have an affirmative action program.
And on, and on, and on, ad infinitum.
If "we can't" enforce laws against 12 million people then we sure as heck can't enforce them against 300 million people, so let us just cancel all the laws and get rid of the government and not even bother, OK?
Hatch does not support illegal immigartion but is sensitive to the effect of removing illegals on the children. We can disagree on what to do with "the children" which is a convenient call to emotions by the looney left when they certainly do not care about the children.
The rest may or may not be supportive of illegal immigration and writing to each of them does not result in any clarification.
I do not care how many of these men claim to be Mormon they are in violation of official church policy and will never get my vote.
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Perhaps you believe your own press, which seems to dictate obfuscation when it comes to revealing the names and legal status of many of the crimes committed by illegal aliens.
Your paper ran story after story about the questionable study conducted by the University of Utah last year which allegedly showed the illegal aliens benefit the State of Utah. Yet a more recent and better researched report published by Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies which showed illegal aliens live in poverty and use more resources than they pay in taxes was totally ignored.
Utah is currently a Mecca for illegal aliens mainly due to several policies which blatantly violate Federal immigration law with regards to in-state tuition and driving licenses. Every time an attempt is made to rectify this situation this Editorial board is quick to condemn the act and actor.