Illegals Are Not A Catastrophe - And Response (6)

Re:  Roy Exum: Our Illegal Catastrophe 

Roy, 

With all due respect, each of these children has parents/relatives/caretakers who, like you, pays property tax (either directly as a home owner, or indirectly as a renter/leasee -- to the property owner who then pays the government) at the same rate as you, although I concede that your Lookout Mountain home is valued higher than the Chattanooga barrios/slum houses/apartments they live in, so you pay more in actual dollars toward educating their children.  Would you rather have their children go uneducated?  

Additionally, each of them pays sales taxes at the same rate you pay, although the money they earn from working is much less than the amount you receive for not working, so effectively, their taxes (generally around 9.75 percent constitute a greater amount of effort on their part to earn they money they pay in taxes, so it is an insult to them that you blame them for their lower earnings/learning potential when they are doing the best they can to improve the lot for their children by sending them to public schools where they hope their children will learn to communicate in English, and basic math. 

How can you blame them for that?  If, instead of being born into privilege, you were born in Honduras, El Salvador, or Mexico and you and your family risked your lives coming to Chattanooga in hopes of obtaining a job, finding a home, learning in real schools, etc.  How would you like it if your father was blamed for working hard at minimum wages but paying a smaller dollar amount annually to the Hamilton County tax man than a citizen in the wealthiest portion of the county? 

Roy, you are good at taking off your skewed glasses of privilege when you advocate on behalf of horses or Orange Grove Center clients.  Why are these destitute Hispanic (and other heritage) children not just as deserving of an education as a child of any other Hamilton County resident/taxpayer?  Their parents work hard to come here and pay for that public education through their property (and other) taxes. 

Roy, these so-called "illegals"/"undocumented" human beings are paying the same rates for property taxes and sales taxes as you and your neighbors.  It is not their fault that your abode is worth exponentially more than their humble dwelling, so they do indeed pay less in actual dollars for their taxes, just as their food budget is less than yours, so they pay fewer dollars (but at the same rate.) 

Shame on you, Roy.  Certainly you do not blame these children for being brought here by their parents, or for attending school, do you?  Do you blame their parents for working?  Or for doing the best they can to improve the future of their children?  You most certainly are not advocating that your tax rate be less than theirs is on their hovel? 

The birthrates for U.S.A residents has declined (for many reasons including high abortion rates, declines in the average number of children per family, poverty based disincentives to having children, hostility and disparate treatment by employers toward working parents of children, and many other reasons.)  Our businesses need workers, and if the citizens here are not born fast enough to fill those jobs, then workers must be imported to fill them.  The preferred way it legal immigration, but some folks, as you know, take the shortcut by coming here without the proper bureaucratic procedures/paperwork being complied with (mostly because of their ignorance of same, or sometimes due to the complexity of the laws/regulations.)   

They are victims of that bureaucracy, so it is not fair to blame the uneducated, unsophisticated immigrants, or their children, for that political morass.  Just as (I'm sure) you advocate for less complexity in the tax system for both individuals and businesses, it is logical to assume that you would not object to a less complex mechanism for immigrants to obtain approval to come to the us to work and learn.  That is all these families have done, is come here to work and learn.  And I interpret your opinion piece as complaining about the cost to taxpayers of educating their children, yet you over look that their parents are also taxpayers. 

Mark Regan 

* * * 

Thank you, Mr. Mark Regan.  I don't feel so abandoned knowing you're still keeping watch.  

Lest we all forget, those immigrants, illegal or not, wouldn't be forced to flee their countries if powerful nations weren't in those countries tearing them apart, forcing those "illegals" off their land, and fighting for control of the lands and control of their natural resources. Surely, no one wants to come to where they are going to experience even more persecution and hate than from the place which they were forced to flee. They have no choice.  

I've truly missed the wisdom and courage of you and Mr. "K". Hope he and his family are faring well. Better than when they felt the need to" flee" from Chattanooga amid threats.  

Brenda Washington 

* * * 

In reading Mr. Regan's and Ms. Washington's opinion it seems that having a job and paying some taxes qualifies individuals to come to the U.S.A. in violation of our laws. Maybe they will list the other of our laws that do not have to be obeyed.

I have written about the regular swearing in of new citizens who have met the qualifications set forth in our federal laws governing our country.  These new citizens come here by meeting the requirements set forth by our immigration laws. Because of the quota system some have waited months and some several years. Why do they follow our laws - because they want to be good citizens and enjoy what this country has to offer. 

In many cases, if an illegal is caught in Mexico they can spend a couple of years in jail. I find it strange that when Asians are caught trying to enter this country illegally and are quickly sent back, but no one ever speaks to their issue. 

It appears the writers don't believe in obeying the laws as most all citizens do, but give all kinds of justification not to obey them. I would believe that at least 50 percent of the world's population would fall in the category of most illegals and I guess we should have an open door policy for them as well.

If Mr. Regan and Ms. Washington really have a heart for hurting immigrants there are means for them to sponsor one. 

N.D. Kennedy Sr. 

* * *

According to the Pew Research Center net immigration has been down over the last five years which means more people are leaving than coming in.  I think the outrage by people like Roy Exum is because brown people are showing up in areas that they weren't previously living and working in.

What is forgotten in all of this though is that we're talking about people, not statistics. There is a tendency to reduce these people to statistics because it helps people like Mr. Exum dehumanize them.  Where is the compassion?  

Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves; He didn't make an exception for brown people.  I wonder how many Hispanic people Roy Exum has been around in his life?  I would say the number is really low.  If he was more familiar with them I doubt he would be saying the kinds of things he's saying now.   

What about the income taxes and social security taxes that immigrants pay but never see?  Will Mr. Exum be refunding a portion of his social security checks to the government? 

R.J. Mitchell
Chattanooga 

N.D. Kennedy...spot on. 

All agree the immigration system is a total mess and needs reform but we still are a country of laws and even if Obama doesn't want to obey them they are still on the books.  

Big business moved south with NAFTA, we import more autos from Mexico then we export to them.  Big business moved there and workers make a very low wage - very low. Twenty years ago I visited Juarez and the guide told me the weekly wages were less than $25.  This forces single men to cross the border and work illegally and until your social security number is illegally used and you've got to go the social security office and prove who you are in order to fight the IRS on reported income that isn't yours, then your bleeding heart doesn't trump mine.  

On any Friday you can go anywhere that does money transfers and watch how much money leaves America and goes back to Mexico.  It's time for the employers to experience those high fines for working illegals, it's time for laws of this country to be implemented and not subverted by career politicians who become millionaires on less than $185,000 per year.  Not only is the taxpayer on the hook for education, medical coverage, food and housing but we're also on the hook for the $60 million+ we send to Mexico every year for education, "democracy" etc. 

Kudos to N.D., well said. 

Sue White 

* * *  

After reading the editorial and comments about the column "Illegals Are Not A Catastrophe" it behooves me to present a solution I came up with many years ago.  It's quite simple.  Annex Mexico. 

I know it sounds silly but it could work. Instead of having to patrol a border of almost 2,000 miles long, we would only have to worry about 800 miles (Belize and Guatemala). We could break up the territory into three or four states. Would have an endless supply of hard working labor and some new tourist areas to tout to our European buddies. New oil fields to plunder and "imported" Mexican beer would now be considered "domestic". 

But my fear is not that the American people would be against it.  That the Mexican people would not want this.  With U.S. statehood comes federal income taxes, social security and medicare taxes and endless government interference in commerce.  The people of Puerto Rico a few years ago were all a twitter (sorry about that) about statehood and some even wanted independence from the U.S.  Then the "staters" discovered they would have to pay federal income taxes and the independent movement faded when George W.Bush kind of agreed with them and showed them the cost of independence. The movements died quickly.   

Everyone wants a piece of the American pie.  Some are willing to pay for it in taxes and some are happy to live on the "dole".

Scott Harrington
Ooltewah

The one thing that should be perfectly clear to everyone within our borders is that breaking the laws of our country, regardless if you are a hard-working legal or illegal citizen with or without children, is not acceptable.  It really is disturbing that you are advocating breaking the law when nobody is above the law nor should they get a free-pass from justice and the rule of law.

John Madzin