Immigration thoughts

[Luke]

After waiting in line for 15 minutes at the Post Office to buy 2 cent stamps it occurred to me that there were lots of non-English speaking folks purchasing money orders. Upset by the wait I later entered into a discussion with a friend who prepares taxes and I must admit that many points were addressed that I had not thought about.

1. True there is an enormous amount of money being sent out of this country, however, for all the money being sent out, someone had to be paid for working. This means that the government most likely received its' share of taxes/FICA/ other withholdings. Most illegals I know will not file for overpayment of taxes, forfeiting them to the government. That amounts to a lot of money!

2. The Federal government does very little to crack down on Social Security numbers. In order to work for "major corperations" all you need is a Social Security card, or drivers license. Both easily obtained. Even if there are 15 names with the same number, it is rare for them to be checked. So if there are 15 illegals working in 15 different states at the same time the government collects on the same number X15. Again a lot of money.

Not that I condone illegals, I do not! Still I can't help but wonder how serious the government is about immigration reform, all things considered.

And I still had to wait 15 minutes for 6 damn stamps!

[Aplomb]

I seem never usually to be able to spare the time to get to the post office, Luke. The lines take awhile no matter what time of the day it is. I do get my stamps there usually, though, because I like to make selections out of what is available. I know I can get them at other places though, like at the grocery stores, and in the lobby at a post office, and from the post office via mail.

That aside, let me chime in about the illegals in the Denver area, specifically speaking of only one family, since I have a great deal of knowledge about this family. The father in the family came over from Mexico for many years to work at good-paying factory jobs mostly. He would return to Mexico frequently, either losing one job and getting a new one when he came back for more money. He is not doing this at the present time.

Instead, his sons and other relatives have come over to work. Some of the men return to their home country after a year or so of working and sending money back to their family in Mexico. They will either be allowed to return to their positions on gentlemen's agreements, or they will look for work elsewhere, depending upon what happens upon their return. Half of them are still living here and have not returned once in over 10 years. Yet they are not intending on living here, it's just that work is harder to come by which means they want to hang onto whatever employment they already have. Assuming that they all discuss what things they ought to do, along with their own experience and many extremely helpful places of business, I believe that the majority of the illegal immigrants from Mexico operate in the same or similar ways.

Here are a few of these: They have babies at the best hospitals, prenatal care for the females and the preborn at clinics that cater to the disadvantaged. All of these things are paid for through medicaid. Then there's the food stamps when the female claims that the husband has gone back to Mexico, and WIC for food for children through age 5. Medicaid also pays for mental health care so that is also taken advantage of by some. The children can easily qualify for medicaid for years, dependent upon how much income the parent must show proof of. What makes the most sense to them, then, is for the male to appear to be absent in all paperwork. Those monetary incomes will then, consequently, never figure in and disqualify the children under the terms of medicaid. As for taxes, in order not to come under any extra suspicion on the job, they do pay taxes....after claiming to have 10 or more dependents. I'd say that the money needed for them to stay here far outweighs any money our country gets out of them.

Lastly, when they arrive here they expect, yes they have expected this for years as a direct result of the last round ...amnesty. Now, with so much talk in the news about what are we to do about illegals, I've actually heard it said by more than one family, "no problem, it's a free ride home. But how am I going to make any money there?" I haven't heard anybody yet even suggest that they will be separated from their children who were born here, no, they will go to Mexico along with them, or they will stay with other relatives here who haven't been caught and have to leave because of any legislated decisions that may come to be on this issue.