Free Health Care for Illegal Aliens

Looking for a water cooler topic? Here's one: What do you think about U.S. programs that help illegal immigrants find free health care in the U.S.? According to www.corruptionchronicles.com, such programs exist and are set to expand. "Ventanillas de Salud (Health Windows) in Spanish and its mission is to help illegal immigrants find U.S. hospitals, clinics and other government programs where they can get free services without being deported for violating federal immigration laws."

Apparently the programs are available in a number of states and are reported to "annually costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars." But, according to the same article, "The Mexican consul in Los Angeles proudly announced that nearly 300,000 Mexicans in the area have benefited from his government’s health referral program, which he says actually saves the county money by encouraging immigrants to seek preventive care rather than waiting for more expensive emergency treatment."

As you can see, if one takes the time to obtain all the facts, this is a tough topic to pick sides with. On one hand, it is hard to hear about illegal immigrants getting free health care when over 40 million U.S. citizens still lack health insurance. But, on the other hand, if the immigrants are here and do need health care, would we want to be a society that would turn the other way? And, it does make sense that it would save money in the end with prevention.

Source - http://personalinsure.about.com/b/2007/05/31/free-health-care-for-illegal-immigrants.htm

HOUSTON, TEXAS - No Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

Culberson promises to fight any bill rewarding people who break our laws.
Congressman John Culberson issued the following statement today in response to the Senate’s proposal to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

“Republicans in the House are in a state of shock and disbelief. Legalizing illegal immigrants means amnesty and we will do everything in our power to stop it.

“Our country must have the rule of law and order and it is wrong to reward people who have broken the law. We need to make sure people are coming here for the right reasons. We need to focus on enforcing our existing laws and securing our borders first and we cannot permit this bill to pass.

“This amnesty bill, along with final approval of the Mexican totalization agreement, will allow every illegal immigrant from Mexico and their entire extended family anywhere in the world to receive benefits from our already overburdened and nearly bankrupt Social Security system. Even worse, they will be able to vest after only six quarters, while hardworking Americans can only vest after forty quarters.

“If they want to work here and eventually become citizens, illegal immigrants should go home and reenter our country legally to show they are willing to respect our laws. They need to use the existing visa system and get in line with everyone else.”

The Senate bill would grant amnesty to the 12 – 20 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.

Source - http://www.culbersonforcongress.com/en/rel/45/

Video - Amnesty Will Cause a National Security Nightmare

Illegal Alien Arrested for Selling Both Marijuana and Frozen Treats from His Ice Cream Truck

Imagine walking down your neighborhood street when you hear the enticing tune of the ice cream truck roll down your block. This is what many Americans across the country view as just another summer scene. However, residents and their children in Mission, Texas got a little more than just frozen treats from their local ice cream man.

According to the Associated Press, Mission Police arrested Raymundo Flores, a 40-year-old illegal Mexican immigrant, for selling $5 and $10 bags of marijuana from his ice cream truck in Mission, Texas.

Police relied on kids in the area to tip them off about Flores' illegal and drug-related activity. The Associated Press stated that Mission Police believed that he was selling to younger children, roughly between third and fifth grade. Police also believe that Flores advertised and sold to an older crowd, but used his ice cream selling occupation to cover up his real business from unsuspecting residents. When Flores found out that younger children might also be interested, he targeted them as his marijuana buyers too.

The Associated Press quoted Mission Police Chief Leo Longoria as saying "It's a scary thought, but that's the info we received."

Luckily, Raymundo Flores now sits in Hidalgo County jail after he was arrested and put on $30,000 bail. Assistant Police Chief Robert Dominguez believes that because he was both a drug dealer and especially an illegal immigrant, he will probably be turned over to federal immigration officers. Whether or not deportation will be his punishment is unknown at the moment. Most likely he will be imprisoned at a United States Jail in Texas.

The Associated Press also said that police never caught any drug sales in the process. What drug sniffing dogs found was small bags of weed in Flores' ice cream truck right next to normal frozen popsicles and ice cream.

Tons of pot leaf and other marijuana and drug paraphernalia was also found hanging from the inside his truck, which led police to believe Flores did some advertising of his own, and not for the ice cream, says the The Associated Press. "Cops: Ice cream truck sold 'pot-sicles.'"

Source - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/259848/illegal_immigrant_arrested_for_selling.html

NY Times/CBS Poll Finds that 69% Believe Illegal Aliens Should Be Prosecuted

A New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday found that 69% of American adults believe illegal immigrants should “be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally.” Just 24% disagree and say they should not. The survey of 1,125 adults was conducted May 18-23, 2007.

Ultimately, while supporting prosecution, the poll shows that just 33% of Americans believe that most illegal aliens should actually be deported. Sixty-two percent (62%) say that most illegal aliens who have been here at least two years should be “given a chance to keep their jobs and eventually apply for legal status.” Giving them a chance to keep their jobs is a continuation of the status quo requiring no change in policy.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of those surveyed believe the federal government could be doing more to “keep illegal immigrants from crossing into this country.” Only 14% said “the U.S. is doing all it can reasonably be expected to do along its borders.” Sixty-one percent (61%) consider illegal immigration a Very Serious problem for the United States. Seventy-five percent (75%) favor higher fines and increased enforcement of employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

The attitudes are consistent with virtually all other polling on the issue. Rasmussen Reports data released Wednesday showing that 72% of Americans say it’s Very Important for the U.S. to “improve border enforcement and reduce illegal immigration.” By a 2-to-1 margin (60% to 28%), Americans believe it is more important to gain control of the nation’s borders than to “legalize the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States.”

Underlying these attitudes, the New York Times/CBS News survey found that 53% of American adults believe most recent immigrants to the United States “cause problems.” Just 32% say they contribute to this country. Sixty-two percent (62%) believe the immigrants don’t make enough of an effort to learn English (that’s one reason most Americans support making English the nation’s official language).

Like Rasmussen Reports, the New York Times/CBS News survey found that concerns about illegal immigration do not dampen enthusiasm for legal immigration. According to the Times, 24% believe all immigrants should be welcomed while 48% believe “some” should be welcomed. Rasmussen Reports has consistently found majority support for an immigration policy that welcomes all except national security threats, criminals, and those seeking to live off the U.S. welfare system. In fact, even among those who favor enforcement-first reforms, a majority ultimately supports a welcoming immigration policy.

The New York Times/CBS News did not specifically ask about the immigration bill currently being considered in the Senate. However, in the article written about the poll, the Times states “large majorities expressed support for measures contained in the legislation.”

The survey found, for example, that 67% would allow illegal immigrants to “apply for a four-year visa… as long as they pay a $5,000 fine, a fee, show a clean work record, and pass a criminal background check.” That, too, is similar to a Rasmussen Reports survey which found 65% support for a compromise proposal allowing illegal aliens a “very long path to citizenship” provided that “the proposal required the aliens to pay fines and learn English” and that the compromise “would truly reduce the number of illegal aliens entering the country.” The proposal, specifically described as a compromise, was said to include “strict employer penalties for hiring illegal aliens, building a barrier along the Mexican border and other steps to significantly reduce the number of illegal aliens entering the United States.”

However, while 65% were willing to support such a compromise, only 26% support the legislation currently before the Senate.

The gap between the 65% potential support for a compromise and the 26% actual support for the Senate bill is due to two factors. First, the debate in the Senate has focused on how to legalize the status of illegal aliens. For most Americans, that’s missing the point (just 29% of American voters see legalizing the status of illegal aliens as a Very Important issue).

Second, there is enormous skepticism about the government commitment to enforcing the borders (as the Times survey noted, only 14% believe the government is doing all it can at this time). To most voters, immigration reform is all about border control. Until voters are convinced that the enforcement is both real and effective, there will be no popular support for reform.

Source - http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/ny_times_cbs_poll_finds_that_69_believe_illegal_immigrants_should_be_prosecuted

Video - Lou Dobbs on Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Insanity

No Amnesty!

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/286e93af-4112-446e-a354-e8bb5b7f1729.html

New York - Two of three illegal aliens have been arrested for rape

(Central Islip - WABC, May 17, 2007) (WABC) -- Police have arrested two men and are searching for a third accused of raping a Long Island student.

Authorities say the attack happened near the teenage victim's high school in Central Islip, on Carlton Avenue. Now, there are questions about whether the rape was part of a gang initiation.

Long Island reporter Lauren DeFranco has details from Central Islip.

The details of this crime are horrifying. Prosecutors say the victim was grabbed right off the street and gang raped at knifepoint. Police are still searching for a third suspect.

"It really is a shame that it did happen," one student said. "My heart goes out to the girl."

It is a crime that has young women thinking twice about walking alone. Prosecutors describe it as a brutal attack, in which three alleged gang members are accused of abducting a high school girl at knifepoint and simultaneously raping her in a parking lot behind a bar on Carlton Avenue.

"You just got to pray to God and just hope for the best for her," a student said.

"I think that's horrifying, especially for the parents," another said. "Knowing that their child just left the house and then to be attacked."

Police say 26-year-old Leonidas Bonilla grabbed the girl off the street. Now, he and 17-year-old Ariel Memejia are facing multiple charges, including kidnapping, rape and sexual assault.

"The allegations of this crime involve a brutal rape," defense attorney Ed Yule said. "Again, it's an allegation, and it's about as gruesome on paper as it can be."

Investigators say the accused gang members are illegal immigrants from El Salvador. Sources say the men left clothing behind, which led to their arrest. Police are searching for a third suspect, which is leaving high school students nervous about their own safety.

"I'm a walker," one student said. "You don't want to wish that upon nobody. That's the worst thing that can happen to a girl."

Both men are being held on $250,000 cash bail. Anyone with information on the third suspect is urged to call police.

Source - http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=5314965

Video - Rush Limbaugh on Illegal Immigration

Video - Illegal alien prisoners bankrupt Raleigh, North Carolina

Illegal Alien Gangs Battle on Fla. Beaches

On the Gulf Coast of Florida, just south of the metropolitan Tampa Bay area, lies once-sleepy Manatee County, which today is experiencing gang warfare waged on its beaches by illegal aliens.

In the past four years, Coquina Beach, a county park extending along the Gulf of Mexico for roughly three city blocks has become a gathering center for Hispanics. One such gathering turned ugly fast. On Easter Sunday, 2007, as in previous years, music began blaring, and "low-rider" cars and other personalized vehicles began cruising the unpaved parking lots that parallel the beach.

Throngs gathered until they packed the beach area.

Local officials estimated the crowd at 10,000 to 15,000 people. Off and on during the day, law enforcement officials, including officers on horseback, admonished the revelers to tone down the music, which carried for miles across the Bay to residential neighborhoods.

As the temperature rose, so did instances of alcohol and drug abuse. About 4:30 p.m. shots rang out, and even with heavy police presence, gang violence erupted.

Three critically wounded Hispanic gang members from a neighboring county were airlifted to the St. Petersburg Trauma Center. No arrests were made. Law enforcement officials estimated that 15 local Hispanic gangs were present along with more from neighboring counties. Manatee County, established in1855, remained for more than a century an agricultural and commercial fishing area known for its trailer parks – the most and the largest in the state. With a spring training center for a major-league baseball team, it generally attracted blue-collar tourists.

Lacking the social standing of its southern neighbor, Sarasota County, Manatee had neither the size nor the name recognition of its northern neighbors, St. Petersburg and Tampa. Manatee County was a nondescript stoplight or two on the Tamiami Trail connecting Tampa and Miami.

After World War II, Manatee County began to grow as farm production increased and soldiers who had served in Florida retired there. In 1970 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 97,115 people resided in Manatee County. By 2000, the population had risen to 264,000 people, and by 2005, the estimate was 306, 779 (a 16.2 percent increase in five years).

Among the newcomers were illegal aliens, whose numbers, uncounted in 1970, were estimated at 36,000 in 2005 — the vast majority being Hispanic workers filling menial labor jobs. Since an accurate count of illegal aliens in the United States has yet to be made, estimates are all we have to go on, but in 2007 the number of Hispanics in Manatee County may be upwards of 40,000, with some 80 percent of them having crossed the U.S. border illegally.

Supporting this estimated number are the numbers of Hispanics in Manatee County's criminal justice system, in the juvenile justice system, in the social services programs, and in the public school system.

Because it is politically incorrect to question the citizenship of those unable to speak, read, or write English, precise numbers and costs to the county for services, such as providing interpreters, remains a "guestimate." In the criminal justice system, however, the five most wanted criminal fugitives in the past five years have been Hispanic; and according to the "Most Wanted" posters, they have all been illegal aliens. To avoid prosecution many fugitives return to their native land or simply use aliases. With no fingerprint record (unless previously arrested), these criminals assume multiple identities.

Such facts remain unreported by the news media demonstrating a definite bias of left-leaning reporters and editors. Elected officials treated the Easter 2007 shootings as an aberration; merely the juvenile acting out of a foreign culture. City and county law enforcement officials, in an effort to be politically correct and in a hope that gang violence will mysteriously go away, choose to deal with gang warfare by means of a program called Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPED).

A multi-phased effort, CPED will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Phase I will realign Coquina Beach parking to stop "low-rider" cruising by means of barricades placed every 500 feet or so and the addition of more parking places to relieve gang tensions. Phase I will cost Manatee County $650,000 — tax dollars that could be spent on deporting illegal alien criminals.

CPED Phases II and III will devour $5 million in county tax monies to enhance the beach trolley system, spruce up beach amenities, and add more playgrounds. One politician was concerned that these efforts were overacting. She opined that we must view the gang-bangers as just kids venting a little steam and no big deal (despite the critical injuries).

With Cinco de Mayo upon us, Manatee politicians are worried that they will not have enough safety plans in place. None of these measures will be in effect by May 5, so more police will be present. In step with state and federal legislators, Manatee County and municipal officials choose to ignore the root problem — illegal immigration — by failing to report violations of federal immigration laws. The fear of political incorrectness blinds elected officials. This is the fault of the voters who have only to demand enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and proceed to unseat those politicians who are weak on enforcement.

The Hispanic gangs in the United States have proliferated in the last six years to where they compete with and usually best other ethnic gangs. If a gang member is wounded, he gets the best medical care free, paid for by local taxpayers. Illegal aliens already have socialized medicine. Just ask the three gang members wounded at Coquina Beach. An April 27, 2007, NewsMax article reports that the Republican-dominated Florida legislature appears to be ready to provide more health care for illegal alien children and children of illegal aliens. Such legislation would ignore the full medical services that these children now receive at no cost; it merely shows how inept these officials are – catering to the immigration special interest groups.

The Hispanic gangs are not dumb. They are sophisticated criminals who deal in all phases of illegal activity with the aplomb of old-line mafia dons. Their street smarts are international, as are their criminal enterprises. Gang leaders know that they have a shield – they are protected by the political correctness and moral weakness of politicians.

Immigrant advocates who support unbridled immigration play right into the gang tactics and strengthen their recruitment and expansion.

Immigration-related cases clog the federal courts in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; and, if immigration laws were enforced, such cases would clog the courts in Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and metropolitan Washington, D.C. A recent Associated Press story stated that "an estimated more than 1 million people sneak across the southwestern U.S. border . . . every year." Some officials along the border estimate the number is 4,000 per day or 1.46 million per year or 10.2 million illegal entries since 2000.

It is time for U.S. voters to say enough is enough, because the news media, unprincipled politicians, and immigrant advocates are wrong when they support open borders. Today more than 30 million illegal aliens reside in the United States (40,000 of them in Manatee County). Meanwhile the powerful immigrant lobby demands ever more benefits for illegal aliens (including criminal aliens) — as if new trolleys and playgrounds at Coquina Beach will thwart gang warfare

Source - http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/5/4/133806.shtml