The real danger of anchor babies

I applaud her for recognizing her roots. You don't get to reap the benefits then slam the door shut when its convenient.

 

I think we should all be able to agree that the country as a whole, and the impact of illegal immigration in particular, are night and day compared with 80 years ago. qtlaw, i believe you said you just volunteered on a budget committee at school in the bay area -- if it is a standard-issue bay area school district, then you know the budget and educational issues that schools and teachers face with kids who are illegal or whose parents are illegal. this also severely affects the court system and hospitals out here. it's just not the same situation as it was in 1930.

 

If that's the case, then there should be no immigration laws at all.

 

This is so overstated. Sure illegals cost $$, by definition they add costs. But no one ever looks at the tax revenues that they generate and pay. Every study I've seen shows they pay more than they receive.

Its not the same as 1930? Well taxation rates are lower now and discretionary income is up. Yet compassion is down.

 

Compassion is a much better argument against this woman than her lineage.

 

Well that grandfather did abandon her family, so it's possible that event could have slanted her view of illegal immigrants.

 

Exactly right. And at least in my neck of the woods, school are funded by taxes that illegal immigrants pay every bit as much as legal citizens.

 

Those studies tend to start with the researcher's belief that immigrants are all good, and proceed from there. Related to schools, though, I'm not just talking about tax dollars. I'm talking about the quality of education, which suffers when a first-grade teacher has to spend 80 percent of her time with kids who are woefully unprepared to be there, because the kids' parents never bothered to get him into the (usually free) pre-K or kindergarten and they don't care much about education anyway. I'm talking about the gang problem that is very real, so real that at least at my son's school, kids are not allowed to wear a speck of red because the Mexican gang the Nortenos has claimed the school as their turf.

This issue hits nerves all over the place, of course. But having lived in California for more than 20 years, I can say the group that is more likely to paint a distorted picture is the group that supports illegal immigrants at every turn and rejects all attempts to address the very real problems.

If that is the world the New Mexico governor's grandfather entered in 1930, then the background is relevant; otherwise, it really isn't.

 

Obviously, illegal immigration is a complex issue. Certainly problems need to be fixed. That said, you seem to be doing quite a bit of scapegoating there.

Uninterested students and gangs are problems in places that aren't convenient for border crossers too.

 

I know, right? I'm so tired of those who use the term "illegals" to describe actual human beings with needs and feelings. To use the shortened term "illegals" objectifies people who came to this country as undocumented immigrants. There are so many other terms that could be used to describe people with a particular citizenship status. I believe the term the AP uses is "illegal immigrants."

Oh, and use of the term "anchor babies" also makes my head explode. So vile to talk about children that way.

 

http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs32/32146/gangs.htm

According to the DOJ, gang activity is significantly higher in the Pacific, Southwest and Southeast regions than in the rest of the United States.

Must be the weather.

 

You're reaching here. The link you posted says that gang activity is a bigger problem in the Southeast than in the Southwest, despite the Southeast having significantly fewer estimated illegal immigrant numbers than the Southwest.

Based on that information, your line about the weather seems just as reasonable as your implication about illegal immigrants, presumably from Mexico.