Grey's blog: "Immigration"

National Guard troops working at an observatory post near the Mexican border were forced to flee after being approached by a group of armed individuals, authorities said. The event occurred about 11 p.m. Wednesday at one of the National Guard entrance identification team posts near Sasabe, said National Guard Sgt. Edward Balaban. He said the troops withdrew safely, no shots were fired and no one suffered injuries. U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident and trying to determine who the armed people were, what they were doing and why they approached the post before retreating to Mexico. The incident occurred in the west desert corridor between Nogales and Lukeville in the vicinity of Sasabe, Balaban said. "We don't know exactly how many because obviously it took place in the dark," Balaban said. "Nobody was able to get an accurate count." The Guard troops are NOT ALLOWED to apprehend illegal entrants. "We don't know if this was a matter of somebody coming up accidentally on the individuals, coming up intentionally on the individuals, or some sort of a diversion," said Rob Daniels, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. The west desert corridor has been the busiest in the Tucson Sector for marijuana seizures since last year. Agents have seized 124,000 pounds of marijuana there since Oct. 1, Daniels said. With more Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops patrolling the Arizona section of the U.S.-Mexican border, it has become more difficult to smuggle drugs and people across and "that heightened frustration may have been connected to what took place last night," Daniels said. Officials will make a decision following the investigation about whether changes need to be made in regard to the entrance identification teams, Balaban said. Since arriving in mid-June, the Guard has assisted the Border Patrol by manning control rooms, doing vehicle and helicopter maintenance, repairing roads and fences, constructing vehicle barriers and fences and spotting and reporting illegal entrants in entrance identification teams. There are dozens of National Guard entrance identification teams along the Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and Sasabe and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand post on hilltops next to army-green tents and serve as extra eyes and ears for the Border Patrol. Time to arm them and turn them loose to apprehend the illegals in my opinion.

As a result of lawsuits, the U.S. government released this week the actual U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement, an understanding signed between the Bush administration and the Mexican government in 2004 that would funnel billions of U.S. Social Security funds to Mexican citizens. TREA Senior Citizens League, a Washington-based nonpartisan seniors group, announced this week that after Freedom of Information Act lawsuits it filed against the government, it had received the secret agreement document. Brad Phillips, a spokesperson for TREA, told NewsMax that the language in the agreement "raises more questions than it answers — such as what is the cost and who is going to pay." The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has already warned that as a result of this agreement, the number of unauthorized Mexican workers and family members eligible for social security benefits will likely increase. The Dreaded Loophole TREA and other watchdog groups were hopeful that the agreement would directly address, and perhaps even moot, the hot-button issue of illegal immigrants at some point claiming U.S. Social Security benefits. "A law called the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 forbids illegal immigrants from claiming Social Security benefits — but a loophole exists," Phillips explained. "If an immigrant gains what's called a valid ‘work-authorized' Social Security number at some point, then he or she could eventually file a claim for benefits. The government would use all earnings to calculate the retirement benefit — even earnings while working illegally," Phillips added. The U.S. commissioner of Social Security signed the agreement with the director general of the Mexican Social Security Institute on June 29, 2004. TREA has fought to make it public for over three and a half years, according to a press release from the organization. In the meantime, the agreement has been slowly making its way through mandated reviews by the State Department and the White House. Once the White House submits it to Congress, lawmakers will have 60 legislative days to review it. Either chamber may vote to pass a Resolution of Disapproval of the agreement — or it will take effect automatically at the end of the 60-day period. Furthermore, the Mexican Senate must affirmatively approve the totalization agreement. In general, Totalization Agreements are between the United States and other countries to coordinate their respective social security programs. For instance, such agreements typically work to eliminate the need to pay social security taxes in both countries — when companies in one country send workers to the other country. Also they are crafted to protect benefit eligibility for workers who split their working careers between the two countries. According to TREA, if an illegal worker working in the United States today gets a "work authorized" Social Security number — through guest-worker immigration legislation, the Totalization Agreement, or perhaps just over time — that worker could eventually apply for Social Security benefits once the worker has met eligibility requirements. Unfair Advantage For example, say TREA officials, a worker who turns 62 after 1990 generally needs 40 calendar quarters of coverage to receive retirement benefits. Under Totalization Agreements, workers are allowed to combine earnings from both countries in order to qualify for benefits. The agreement with Mexico, like other Totalization Agreements, would allow workers to qualify with just six quarters, or 18 months, of U.S. coverage. In addition, advised TREA, that worker could be able to claim credits for work performed while in the United States illegally. The SSA maintains an "earnings suspense file," which tracks wages that cannot be posted to individual workers' records because there is no match for a name and Social Security number. Once an immigrant gains access to a work authorized Social Security number — whether a legal citizen or not — wages earned while in the United States unlawfully could be reinstated to the worker's new Social Security account, warned TREA officers. Warnings by the GAO In a recent special report to Congress, the GAO voiced a number of issues latent in the agreement: # SSA has no written policies or procedures it follows when entering into Totalization Agreements, and the actions it took to assess the integrity and compatibility of Mexico's social security system were limited and neither transparent nor well-documented. # SSA provided no information showing that it assessed the reliability of Mexican earnings data and the internal controls used to ensure the integrity of information that SSA will rely on to pay Social Security benefits. # The proposed agreement will likely increase the number of unauthorized Mexican workers and family members eligible for Social Security benefits. Mexican workers who ordinarily could not receive Social Security retirement benefits because they lack the required 40 coverage credits for U.S. earnings could qualify for partial Social Security benefits with as few as six coverage credits. # Under the proposed agreement, more family members of covered Mexican workers would become newly entitled because the agreements usually waive rules that prevent payments to non-citizens' dependents and survivors living outside the United States. # The cost of such an agreement is highly uncertain. In March 2003, the Office of the Chief Actuary estimated that the cost of the Mexican agreement would be $78 million in the first year and would grow to $650 million (in constant 2002 dollars) in 2050. The actuarial cost estimate assumes the initial number of newly eligible Mexican beneficiaries is equivalent to the 50,000 beneficiaries living in Mexico today and would grow six-fold over time. # This previous proxy figure does not directly consider the estimated millions of current and former unauthorized workers and family members from Mexico and appears small in comparison with those estimates. The estimate also inherently assumes that the behavior of Mexican citizens would not change and does not recognize that an agreement would create an additional incentive for unauthorized workers to enter the United States to work and maintain documentation to claim their earnings under a false identity. # An analysis performed at the GAO's request shows that a measurable impact would occur with an increase of more than 25 percent in the estimate of initial, new beneficiaries. For prior agreements, error rates associated with estimating the expected number of new beneficiaries have frequently exceeded 25 percent, even in cases where uncertainties about the number of unauthorized workers were less prevalent. # Because of the significant number of unauthorized Mexican workers in the United States, the estimated cost of the proposed Totalization Agreement is even more uncertain than in prior agreements. Playing by the Rules "The Social Security Administration itself warns that Social Security is within decades of bankruptcy — yet, they seem to have no problem making agreements that hasten its demise," said Ralph McCutchen, chairman of TREA. "Our 1.2 million elderly members didn't play by the rules and sacrifice through difficult times so we could fund millions of workers who crossed the border and decided to work here illegally," McCutchen added. TREA officers also warn that Mexico's retirement system is radically different than that of other participating countries. For example, only 40 percent of non-government workers participate in Mexico's system, whereas 96 percent of America's non-government workers do. In addition, the U.S. system is progressive, meaning lower wage earners get back much more than they put in; in Mexico, workers get back only what they put in, plus accrued interest. Uncovering the Ugly Truth "I applaud the persistent efforts of TREA Senior Citizens League to try to get documents from the U.S. government about the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. "The American people are finally beginning to get some of the information regarding this Agreement that they have been seeking for so long." According to the Social Security Administration, the Social Security Trust Fund will begin paying out more than it is taking in by 2017, and will be exhausted by the year 2040. Phillips noted that [before the emergence of the agreement] "the Administration always called it ludicrous to suggest that illegal immigrants could get their hands on our Social Security." "We not hearing that anymore," Phillips lamented.

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico. According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region about 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat. The Border patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident. The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor, Last year, 124,000 pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area. The Border Patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico. Pretty sorry situation when the people who would have the manpower, firepower and knowledge to protect our country from illegal invasion are empowered ONLY to report it to the Border Patrol who are woefully understaffed and armed only with 9mm pistols against invaders who are armed with automatic weapons. And if you think the situation or the "fence" will be funded and built now that the Democrats are in control of Congress... think again.

Here is something to pass around. Recently buried in the news was this information. Did you know... Back during the great depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of all illegal aliens in order to make the jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work. And again in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported 1.3 million Mexican nationals (called "Operation Wetback") in order that returning American WWIIand Korean veterans had a better chance at jobs. It took 2 years, but they deported them. If they could deport the illegals back then, they can sure do it today!! If you have doubts about the veracity of this information, just type Operation Wetback into your favorite search Engine and confirm it for yourself. Reminder - Don't forget to pay your taxes... 12 million illegal aliens are depending on you! We should deport some of our politicians too.

This should make everyone think, be you Democrat or Republican... From a California school teacher - - -"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration there are some things that you should be aware of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower social economic and income level. Most of the schools you are hearing about South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park,etc. where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools. One hundred percent of the students in this school and other Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center; half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" whores and throwing things that the teachers were in tears. Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements? To my liberal friends: I hope you're really proud of how our congress has helped to sell-out this country with this pro-illegal policy. To my bleeding-heart liberal friends who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs. Higher insurance, Medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes. We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return? There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way. It does, however, have everything to do with cult ure: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about "politically correctness" that we don't have the will to do anything about it. If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know. THERE IS NEVER A RIGHT TIME TO DO SOMETHING WRONG......NOR IS THERE EVER A WRONG TIME TO DO SOMETHING RIGHT.

President Bush has finally signed a bill to build 700 miles of fencing along the border. Will it ever get built? We don't know. But if it does, it might turn out to be the U.S.' best anti-poverty program ever. With the election looming, Democrats have been on the warpath about "declining median incomes" and "persistent poverty." It's all about what they further call the "failure" of Bush's economic policies. Bush's signing of the border-fence bill on Thursday, and Democrats' carping about poverty, might seem not to be linked, but they are. As a new report shows, the U.S. is importing poverty... mostly from Mexico. That's why real median incomes are lagging and poverty rates are stubbornly high. But few politicians talk about it. In 2005, U.S. median household incomes rose for the first time since 2000. To Democrats, that was an indictment of Bush's policies. In fact, it was an indictment of years of lax border controls. Some 500,000 illegals flood into the U.S. each year, more than half from Mexico. This alone is having an enormous impact on the U.S. economy, one that will be felt for generations to come. Take median income, the Democrats' favorite gauge. Since a median pinpoints the exact middle of a population's distribution, and since those 500,000 undocumented newcomers are virtually all on the bottom end of the income spectrum, soaring illegal immigration tends to push median income down. A recent study by Heritage Foundation economist Robert Rector, shows that immigrants, though just 17% of the population, represent a quarter of all poverty. But even that figure is deceptive, because by far the highest poverty rate is for Hispanic immigrants... again, mostly from Mexico. Fully one-quarter of Hispanic arrivals earn below the poverty income of $15,219 for a family of three. Most come illegally. Contrary to Democrats' claims of a "shrinking middle class" and the "end of the American dream," the reality is somewhat starker. The vast majority of American citizens in fact are doing very well, and have been for decades. Last year, the U.S. median annual household income was $46,326 after inflation... up a third since the mid-1960s, as Forbes.com reporter Tom Van Riper recently noted. Since 1995, average household wealth has soared 35% to $465,970 currently. It's a fact: We're richer than ever... living in better houses, with more and better things to fill those houses, driving better cars, and having more education. It's mostly illegals, whose numbers are pegged from 12 million to 20 million, who are faring poorly. ("Poorly," of course, is itself a relative term. Most Mexican illegals, though considered "poor" in America, are actually quite middle class in Mexico). Though just 9% of U.S. population, Hispanic immigrants account for 17% of the poor, and their number is growing. So is the percentage of those without health care coverage: 43.6% of all noncitizens versus 13.4% for those born here. For Mexicans, the number is 54%. Rector's study reveals just how much poverty the U.S. has imported over the years by condoning more or less open borders. Before 1960, he notes, immigrants had education and skill levels roughly equal to those of the native population. That's no longer true. Today, a third of all immigrants live in families where the head of the household lacks a high school diploma. One of six poor kids in America comes from a family headed by a first-generation immigrant lacking a diploma. "So what?" open-border advocates say. "Immigrants supply cheap labor, and we all benefit from that." True enough, except for one thing: The National Academy of Sciences estimates that every immigrant lacking a high school degree will cost U.S. taxpayers $89,000 during his life, net of taxes paid. The academy further reckons total costs for illegals economy-wide could be as much as $2 trillion. When viewed in this context, it's the open-borders platform that sounds expensive, not the few billion dollars proposed for a border fence.

About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. From bondage to spiritual faith; 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; 3. From courage to liberty; 4. From liberty to abundance; 5. From abundance to complacency; 6. From complacency to apathy; 7. From apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage " Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election: Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million Bush: 143 million Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000 Bush: 2,427,000 States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29 Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2 Bush: 2.1 Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom. P.S. If the Senate grants Amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then goodbye USA in less than 5 years. A very sobering prospect.

From the L.A. Times 1. 40% of all workers in L.A. County ( L.A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card. 2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens. 3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens. 4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers. 5. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally. 6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages. 7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border. 8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal. 9. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking. 10. In L.A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish. (There are 10.2 million people in L.A. County). (All the above from the Los Angeles Times) Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States' annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration. The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was, (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay), a NET $70 BILLION/year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University ]. The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a NEGATIVE number. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens. If they can come to this country to raise Hell and demonstrate by the thousands, WHY can't they take charge over the corruption in their own country? We are a bunch of fools for letting this continue. THE U.S. VS MEXICO On February 15, 1998, the U.S. and Mexican soccer teams met at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Mexican even though most lived in this country. They booed during the National Anthem and U.S. flags were held upside down. As the match progressed, supporters of the U.S. team were insulted, pelted with projectiles, punched and spat upon. Beer and trash were thrown at the U.S. players before and after the match. The coach of the U.S. team, Steve Sampson said, "This was the most painful experience I have ever had in this profession." Did you know that immigrants from Mexico and other non-European countries can come to this country and get preferences in jobs, education, and government contracts. It's called affirmative action or racial privilege. The Emperor of Japan or the President of Mexico could migrate here and immediately be eligible for special rights unavailable for Americans of European descent. Corporate America has signed on to the idea that minorities and third world immigrants should get special, privileged status. Some examples are Exxon, Texaco, Merrill Lynch, Boeing, Paine Weber, Starbucks and many more. DID YOU KNOW? Did you know ... that Mexico regularly intercedes on the side of the defense in criminal cases involving Mexican nationals? Did you know ... that Mexico has NEVER extradited a Mexican national accused of murder in the U.S. in spite of agreements to do so? According to the L.A. Times, Orange County , California is home to 275 gangs with 17,000 members, 98% of which are Mexican and Asian. How's your county doing? According to a New York Times article dated May 19, 1994, 20 years after the great influx of legal immigrants from Southeast Asia, 30% are still on welfare compared to 8% of households nationwide. A Wall Street Journal editorial dated December 5, 1994 quotes law enforcement officials as stating that Asian mobsters are the "greatest criminal challenge the country faces." Not bad for a group that is still under 5% of the population. Is education important to you? Here are the words of a teacher who spent over 20 years in the Los Angeles School system. "Imagine teachers in classes containing 30-40 students of widely varying attention spans and motivation, many of whom aren't fluent in English. Educators seek learning materials likely to reach the majority of students and that means fewer words and math problems and more pictures and multicultural references." WHEN I WAS YOUNG I remember hearing about the immigrants that came through Ellis Island . They wanted to learn English. They wanted to breathe free. They wanted to become Americans. Now, far too many immigrants come here with demands. They demand to be taught in their own language. They demand special privileges ... affirmative action. They demand ethnic studies that glorify their culture. NOW ... WHY CAN'T WE SEND THEM HOME?