I can barely imagine how much guts it took to be one of the young undocumented immigrants who “came out” yesterday near CPCC. They’re primarily people who were brought here at a very young age and grew up in this country as the children of undocumented immigrants. Faced with a stubborn streak of nativist prejudice that condemns them, and supposed allies in Washington who jerk them around, yesterday’s protesters took their situation into their own hands, raising public awareness of their existence and their plight. All told, 15 protesters were arrested, according to the police.
What the protesters want, besides increased awareness, is for the federal government to pass the Dream Act, which would offer a path to legal status for people in their situation. Despite — or, more likely, because of — Obama administration support of the Dream Act, Congress has failed to pass the bill on several occasions.
Last month, the Obama administration suspended deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety — people who have no criminal records and are considered “lower priority” because they are attending school, were brought here as children, have family in the military or have primary responsibility for other family members’ care. The White House says it wants to see Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) focusing more on cases involving serious criminal acts. Immigrant advocates, among them activists who support the Dream Act, say full legislation is necessary since the new ICE orders could otherwise be reversed by future administrations.
Last month’s move by Obama was the right one to make, as we noted at the time, but the protesters are right: go ahead and put the Dream Act on the books. Here’s wishing success to the gutsy protesters, and a long future in America. One of the people arrested yesterday was Alicia Torres, who is part of the N.C. Dream Team organization which organized the protest. Here is a video of Torres, explaining why people like she are coming out publicly.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2011.
“They are a proud people!” way to proud to get the correct documentation to be here. They rip off the system that was put in place to help Americans and pitch a fuss when they are asked to prove citizenship! WTF? Get em the hell out of here and open up jobs, help counties save money, and stop the degrading behavior towards legal citizens and vets that actually did something for our country! NO ILLEGALS ALLOWED OR WE CAN ALL BE ALLOWED TO BREAK THE LAW!
See John, this is why you will never be a real news reporter. Hold back your own political viewpoints and actually look at the story from a LEGAL standing and not following all the rhetoric hatred that people want to spew. It’s not a question of hatred, prejudice, racism, or hell for that matter even stupidity. It’s about BREAKING THE LAW! Why is this concept so f***’ing hard to understand? It’s illegal to break into someone HOUSE and stay there, but it’s somehow perfectly acceptable to illegally enter a Country? I’m sorry, but why is it that everyone wants to pass some form of “law”? Why can’t these people do something like APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP?
Kick the ingrates out! They are here illegally!! End of story! Brave? Hardly! Notice how they all got arrested in the afternoon? Outta make it to jail in time for dinner!….just sayin!
What a bunch of Horse S *** Grooms!! Romanticizing law breakers. They are not brave their criminals. Stealing from the mouths of American’s. What crap is this. They go to our colleges and get educations while they are breaking the law. Written like the liberal moron that you are. They take and take and take and you just keep telling them have more. When are they going to start giving back. Can you really be this big of a D-Bag??
SEND THEM BACK HOME IT’S THE LAW!!!!!!BY THE WAY WHO PAYS FOR THERE EDUCATION? TAX PAYERS IT IS TIME TO CUT OFF THE PAYMENTS.
Judging by the grammar I think most of those posts were written by the same person.
Can any of you tell me why the Dream act is a bad idea?
the system is broken needs to be fixed .i know a lot of illegal immigrants i havent met one yet who wanted to be illegal they just want to survive like all of us. when slavery was legal it was wrong when helping them was illegal it was still the rite thing to do when laws opress people or groups of people its wrong they got as much right to be here as we do on this great nation we stole or maby they should kill us and take it.same way we got it
They are here illegally. I am an american citizen, I guess you would call me a “Liberal Moron”, But they are illegal. What would happen if i Walked around downtown smoking a joint? I would be cuffed and put in the back of a cruiser, Why? Because it is illegal. What makes this any different. I have been laid off of work and i know of plenty of other TAX paying AMERICANS who have been laid off as well, and illegal immagrants are working all over the place. Employers are as much to blame as the illegal workers. This sickens me that the media glorifies these people. I understand they want a better life for themselves and their family but follow the rules and stop complaining. We have laws we need to follow. Just because you dont like it does not mean it needs to be changes. Also They get all sorts of assistance with college education, and I a 27 year old White male cannot afford to go to college without having at least two jobs. The fact is they entered the country without permission wether it be their parents fault or their own they are here illegally. Look up what would happen if they did this in countries like russia or Iran, Germany or the most funny one Mexico. Now how is that fair?
Yes coming here illegally is a federal crime but is that really a serious crime? I mean come on, there are murderers and thieves and rapists and child abusers and women beaters out there and you guys are worried about some people that come here to work and better their lives? Honestly, why not at least give them a chance let them have a shot at some papers make them legal us citizens because really the government has nothing to lose they will just be gaining extra tax money that they might not have gotten before and I completely agree that a criminal should be deported and there are plenty of those out there but most of them are hard working people like anyone else.
The reason why we don’t do anything about “illegal aliens” is simple. 95% of them that do hold jobs….do pay the payroll taxes. It is free money into state and federal coffers. None of them can ever collect the social security that is being withheld. Now add to the fact that these people are spending the majority of their money here. They support local businesses, even the so called specialty shops. There was a study done about the financial impact they have on local communities as wells as the federal Economy. Many factors were studied including the burden of medical services that never seem to get paid for. It was found that the benefit far outweighed the burden. The study also looked at the jobs and pay schedules that most aliens had. So let me ask you, just what job is it they took that you want so badly? Do you want to be doing roofing in the summer heat? Do you want to be mowing grass? Are you capable of doing new construction carpentry? How about being in a hole with a shovel to clean out a broken septic system? If you can and want to do any of these jobs all you need do is apply and you will be hired. I worked for a local landscaping firm for 10 years in management and in that time period not one single american came and asked for those jobs. The Americans that did work there for the most part were family and friends of the owners and more than half of them had drug and alcohol problems. I never knew day to day which ones would show up to work (if you could call it that) and which ones would just disappear. If you don’t have a college education and you are competing with theses honorable people for jobs…all you need to do is show up and do the same quality work that they do. You don’t have a right to expect 30k plus a year in wages because you shot your lazy ass in the foot when you didn’t take your education seriously. I suggest you quit your whining, cut your hair, clean yourself up, stop smoking pot and drinking budweiser and go get yourself a job.
well said Steve Smith
I AM A VIETNAM VET AMERICAN CITIZEN YOU IDIOTS DONT EVEN THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
ITS NOT THE LATINOS THAT ARE KILLING OUR ECONOMY . YOU AS AMERICANS WANNA GET OUT MOW LAWN IN 100 DEGREE TEMP HELL NO YOU WONT, YOU WANNA ROOF A HOUSE IN 100 DEGREE TEMP NO YOU WONT, LATINOS WILL, MOST LATINOS ARE FAMILY BASED AND SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES. WHERE THE PROBLEM IS PEOPLE FROM INDIA COME HERE GET INTREST FREE LOANS FROM OUR GOVERNMENT AND HAVE MOST 95% OF OUR HOTELS AND GAS STATIONS, THEY HAVE MOST IT JOBS IN BANKS AND ALSO IN IN MAJOR COMPANIES THERES QWHERE THE PROBLEM IS. WE EDUCATE THEM FOR FREE DO I HEAR ANYONE COMPLAIN ABOUT THAT NO YOU DONT, YOU ALWAYS WHINE ABOUT THE MEXICANS, LATINOS……… MY HEALTH IS NOT GOOD MY WIFE IS BRAZILIAN YES WE ARE LEGALLY MARRIED AND SHE HAS SUPPORTED US FOR LAST 3 YEARS BECAUSE MY OWN GOVERNMENT WHO I PAID INTO FOR SO MANY YEARS KEEP STOPPING MY DISABILITY. MY WIFE HAS NOT COMPLAINED JUST DID WHAT HAS NEEDED TO BE DONE.
SO WAKE UP YOU FOOLS AND YOU IDIOTS WHINE ABOUT SOMETHING CORRECT IF YOU HAVE TO
Actually dbankbroke, the times I was unemployed, I would have taken a job doing any of that. None were available though because illegals had them. Also, why are you equating illegals with latinos? Don’t you know here in Charlotte we have Russian illegals, illegals from various countries in Africa and Asia, as well as illegals from Latin America? People who are against illegal immigration are against all of these, not just the Latinos. And if you’re going to say I won’t take those jobs because I expect minimum wage, I ask you this: Do you support the exploitation of these people then? Because that’s what you’re doing if you’re using wage as an excuse. I’m a vet too, I fail to see how that makes my, or your, opinion more important than those that aren’t though. Also, caps lock is your friend. Please press it.
The problem is not the immigrants, I would love to keep them here for mow my lawn and roof my house. What I have a problem with is ILLEGAL immigrants, the ones that live off of welfare and pay nothing. As we all know MOST are illegal, and the law is the law. Send em back or make them pay like the REAL AMERICANS!
Every illegal immigrant I’ve ever known has worked twice as hard as these moron, entitled, “citizens” that do nothing for our country other than try to dodge taxes and look out only for themselves.
You people against illegal immigrations are disgusting subhumans not fit to live in this fine country.
If you are not here legally, get out. I don’t care how you got here, why or how long you have been here. If you didn’t go through the process, get the F*** out! America is going to be defeated from within.
This country would be much better off if the boneheaded, subhuman trash like Big Chuck would get out before our hard working immigrant friends.