Sunday, August 07, 2005

The American Street And Illegal Immigration

Contrary to the Washington Post headline "Hate Calls Swamp Herndon Town Hall," WMAL is not fostering hate. I know because, on that particular morning, I was listening to WMAL when Mark Williams, filling in for the suspended Michael Graham [here, here, and here], made an announcement which resulted in a flood of calls to Herndon Town Hall.

The following excerpts are from the abovementioned article in the Washington Post:
"Herndon Town Hall unplugged its phone lines yesterday after listeners of a talk show on WMAL-AM flooded the switchboard with what officials said were hate calls against a proposed day-laborer site.

"The phones began ringing nonstop about 9:30 a.m., officials said, just after a substitute host on 'The Michael Graham Show' called the proposed gathering spot for immigrant workers a 'day-care center for illegal criminal aliens' and urged listeners to complain to Herndon Mayor Michael L. O'Reilly.

"'You need to help . . . Mayor O'Reilly understand he's advocating breaking the law . . . and assisting criminal aliens who are in this country destroying this country, stealing jobs, running drugs, raping people. This is not an approved activity for the mayor of Herndon, Virginia,' host Mark Williams said, according to an audio recording on the station's Web site. Williams broadcast from KFBK-AM in Sacramento.

"He then read aloud the telephone number of Town Hall dozens of times and urged listeners to 'melt that switchboard' and picket O'Reilly's law office a block away."
Such was the flood of calls that the switchboard shut down for several hours. The managers had to pull the plug.

Some people in Northern Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere in the United States, are fed up with the day-laborer situation. Many of us have hesitated to speak out, but with a little encouragement the other day, some citizens decided to make their voices heard. Previous to Mark Williams's broadcast, citizens had turned out in volume for the hearing at the Herndon Planning Commision, and the commission had decided against the day-laborer center. Despite that decision, the matter of the day-laborers center is still unresolved. According to the Washington Post,
"The struggles of the four-square-mile town of 23,000 in northwest Fairfax County to absorb newcomers, many of them in the country illegally, have mushroomed into an emotional debate over immigration policy. The Town Council will vote this month on whether to formalize what has been an informal gathering place at a 7-Eleven parking lot, where about 150 laborers seeking work assemble most days.

"The town's Planning Commission this week narrowly rejected a proposal from a local social service group to build a tax-supported site on the Loudoun border. But the vote was not binding, and the council often differs with the commission."

The congregating of day laborers is, of course, not limited to the town of Herndon. These day laborers congregate around many convenience stores throughout Northern Virginia, and my husband and I, both of us now middle-aged, have had the uncomfortable experience of having to walk through hordes of immigrants just to purchase a morning cup of coffee. Often one or more police cruisers is present, and I sometimes wonder what other law-enforcement matters are going untended because our officers have watch duty at the convenience stores. In fact, several months ago, when I called the police one early weekday morning to report a possible theft from my car here at home, the officer didn't arrive for several hours. Could there be a connection between his delay and the monitoring of day laborers? Maybe, maybe not.

It seems that loitering laws are no longer in force. It used to be that such gatherings were not allowed here in Northern Virginia. In fact, when I was growing, individuals who wanted to do yard work or other odd jobs went door to door to try to find work. They were not allowed to hang around the doors of businesses.

Besides, Mark Williams recent broadcast at WMAL also emphasized that there is a question as to the legal status of many of these day laborers. Apparently, local law enforcement does not address the issue, but they should.

Furthermore, some citizens here are outraged that the proposed Herndon center for day laborers would provide many "creature comforts," including air-conditioning and television, according to what a Herndon friend of mine has told me. Taxpayers in the D.C. suburbs are already overburdened with an outrageous real-estate tax and don't appreciate assuming an additional tax-burden. Believe it or not, some Northern Virginians don't have such comforts in our own homes; for example, I can't run my air-conditioning as high as I would like to because of the expense involved. Government-run programs, however, pass along the burden of those electrical bills to the taxpayers.

Yes, some of the calls to Herndon Town Hall were ugly, but none of the threats materialized. People are angry! And anger about paying taxes is an American tradition. Think of the American colonists, some of whom had reputations as rabble rousers. Had the American colonists lived in our day, would their reaction have been much different? Perhaps the profanities would have been fewer, but the resentment about the tax burden was the same. Remember the Boston Tea Party?

Bottom line: Taxpayers should not have to subsidize a special work-force, especially one which involves illegal immigrants.

And citizens have the right to phone town hall.

15 Comments:

At 8/07/2005 8:02 PM, Blogger LA Sunset said...

The border will be issue #1 in 06 and 08. And it desperately needs to be.

Good post, AOW.

 
At 8/07/2005 8:21 PM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

LA Sunsett,
Thank you for the compliment.

The border issue is of paramount importance, on several levels.

 
At 8/07/2005 9:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bill O'Reilly hopes to be able to deliver 1 million names of Americans and Petition the White House to match the 1 million illegal aliens estimated by the government to be permanently settling in the U.S. each year. O'Reilly will also deliver the names to every member of the House and Senate.

Here is the text of the petition:

Mr. President, Please Secure Our Borders Immediately

It has been nearly four years since the 9/11 attacks inside our country by foreign nationals. Yet, tens of thousands of foreign nationals every few weeks continue to be allowed to enter this country illegally through our loosely guarded borders. All of these illegal entrants threaten American citizens in one way or another—either as unfair labor competition, tax burdens, instruments of organized crime including drug running and slavery, or as terrorists.

* We can no longer allow such disorder on our borders. One of the clearest responsibilities of the federal government and of the President is to protect this country's citizens from attacks across our borders.

* We urge you to direct your officials in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to create and institute plans to ensure that foreign nationals who attempt to cross our borders without permission will be (a) detected, (b) apprehended and (c) either removed from this country or detained for appropriate punishment under the law.

* While your Administration is implementing long-term sustainable programs to achieve border security, we urge emergency measures that begin to provide the same protection immediately by mobilizing some combination, as necessary, of Border Patrol, other DHS personnel, the military, other federal personnel and technological tools.

Various pilot programs at selected locations have proven that zero tolerance of illegal human traffic across our borders is achievable if the federal government places a priority on protecting its citizens. We submit our names with the appreciation of your consideration and action.


If you are interested in participating, kindly go to this link and add your support to the 461,577 names already on the petition . . .

http://www.reformus.org/

 
At 8/07/2005 9:19 PM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

Anonymous,
Thank you for the link. I've also forwarded it to several people in my address book.

 
At 8/07/2005 10:28 PM, Blogger David said...

"The struggles of the four-square-mile town of 23,000 in northwest Fairfax County to absorb newcomers, many of them in the country illegally... "

Gee. What struggles? The illegals can have the first boxcar south and the legals can have the dayworker (or other) jobs that are available.

What's so hard about that?

Oh. That's right: PC stupidity and fake "liberal" whining from the pseudo-left that comprise the Loony Left Moonbat brigade and their co-conspirators in the work to bring down the USA, the Mass Media Podpeople's Army.

And the so-called "conservative" politicians who lay down and roll over in submission to the LLMB and MMPA.

 
At 8/08/2005 12:54 PM, Blogger G_in_AL said...

After I make a third post about politics (the last two were liberalism destroying the country, and conservatism breaking the Union, next will be my favorite topic... fence riding is the way to go).

I will start posting on this topic too. This is just dippy to not even try to control our boarders.

 
At 8/08/2005 8:00 PM, Blogger G_in_AL said...

AOW, when you get a chance, will you drop by and throw down your comments on the "Conservatism" post, and any info you might have on the newest Fair Tax post.

 
At 8/08/2005 9:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In New York, currently, Long Island is facing a similar problem. There is also the problem of the "slumification" of neighborhoods, where five or six families live in a one family house.

 
At 8/08/2005 10:08 PM, Blogger G_in_AL said...

I am here in Huntsville Alabama, and we see the same thing here. There are numerous people here that rent out trailers to families (migrant workers), and what ends up happening is about 20 people live in it. The "land lords" charge about $20/week per head. The migrant workers keep quiet so they dont have Immegration pay them a visit, and the land lords stay quiet because they are making a killing.

 
At 8/08/2005 11:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

NY girl said:

"In New York, currently, Long Island is facing a similar problem. There is also the problem of the "slumification" of neighborhoods, where five or six families live in a one family house."

In northern Virginia, it is more than just five or six families in one house. Think about 19 people in an 1000 sq ft rambler with one kitchen and one bathroom. Wall to wall beds. That was not in my neighborhood, but in my development.

We original neighbors in my neighborhood believe the house across the street is now a "safe house" for illegals. We watch them come and go - many, many people. They have constructed a building in the back yard - which the county supervisor inspected and stated that, in his judgement, it was for living quarters, because of the doors, insulation, etc.

Those people moved in on a Saturday. Tuesday morning there was a wide band of red paint spray painted the full length of the street-side of my husband's white pickup. We have lived here for more than 30 years without incident.

There are always 14 vehicles, at least three of which are commercial, parked on the street in front of the house which is situated on a slow curve, giving more room than other homes have for street parking. AND, there are two people who, in the morning, park their cars in front of that house - one person gets into one of the white commercial vans. The second person walks to a house two doors down the street and joins another person in a commercial vehicle at that house and they drive away. Of course, one person who drives the second van in front of my house lives in the "illegal safe house." I reported the first white commercial van to the president of the company of the business. One white "signed" van was promptly replaced with two "no sign" white commercial vans. How is that for cooperation?

A few days ago, my daughter and I arrived home in one vehicle followed by her fiance in another vehicle to find no parking places in front of our house - on our side of the street! People were, of course, standing around talking in the yards of the house across the street and next door. Since there was a party next door, I asked if they knew who the cars belonged to. They moved one so we could park one of our vehicles on the street in front of our house!!! We pulled two vehicles as far as we could into the driveway so that my husband could get most of his truck into the drive when he arrived. I called him on his cell to let him know the situation and to ask that he not cause a scene. We do have to live here until we are ready to sell to some more of their kind.

AND, before my neighbor sold, she took her son to kindergarten orientation in the neighborhood. The staff at the school HUNTED for an English welcome package. After some time, they thrust a Spanish package in his hands and told him to enjoy. My neighbor was able to get the county to agree to enroll her son in the school in the neighborhood they were moving into several miles away. She transported him daily for eight months - more than 20 miles.

That is the joy of living around illegal immigrants. They come in and "slumify" the neighborhood. As we drive into the neighborhood, daily, we see more junk added to the yards of our wonderful neighbors - welcomed by the government - (who I am sure helped them buy their house!!!!!)

 
At 8/08/2005 11:33 PM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

David,
I'm with you! Ship out the illegals, ASAP. And the Lefty Moonbats can go, too, as far as I'm concerned. Communities such as Herndon shouldn't have to be involved in a "struggle."

Today I heard on WMAL Radio that the 7-11 is fed up with the presence of all the immigrants. So the government's solution is to build a center?

 
At 8/08/2005 11:35 PM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

G,
The immigration issue may well decide the next Presidential election. But I'm not sure that either the Democratic or Republican candidate will take a strong enough stand. We'll see.

 
At 8/08/2005 11:46 PM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

Mr. Ducky,
I won't be reaching for a razor blade. I don't have a mortgage. In fact, I've never had a mortgage because my property was part of the family farm; those who bought parcels may have mortgages, however.

Carrying debt is against my principles. Also, no member of my family has a government job (To be honest, a few family members retired from government positions, but all but one is gone now, God rest their souls). So I'll be okay if the government jobs pull out of Northern Virginia.

Personally, I'm all for reducing the size of government. The presence of the government and the dot-coms has ruined this area.

Thanks for your concern.

 
At 8/09/2005 12:53 AM, Blogger Esther said...

Great post, AOW. If they can't secure our borders and keep us safe, what the heck is our government doing?! That's their major job.

 
At 8/09/2005 1:23 PM, Blogger G_in_AL said...

As a side note... in doing my Fair Tax research, a point occured to me about immegration.

Under that plan, it may be that industries relying on migrant workers would suffer (becuase they now would compete on a level playing field), and hence, it might kill some of the drive to allow in the illegals, and there goes lobbiest support in Washington against boarder security...

Just a quick thought though, no real time invested in research.

 

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