Illegal Immigrants Are Favored Over Unemployed Americans
The Obama Administration has decided it would be a great idea to revamp the illegal immigrant detention facilities run by ICE (Immigration Customs & Enforcement). Clearly, individuals who have been caught entering the USA illegally should be housed in a secure, humane environment.
However, the proposed upgrade levels for these detention centers are so extensive, that many of the perks are comparable to a concierge level service in a fine hotel, or spa, including: expanding programming for detainees to include movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance, walk and exercise classes, health and welfare classes, basic cooking classes, tutoring and self-paced computer training on portable computer stations.
In addition, several aesthetic renovations are proposed, including softening the look of facilities with hanging plants, flower baskets, new paint colors, different bedding and furniture, wall graphics and framed pictures on the walls, and enhancing the overall appearance of the living areas.
Contrast these proposed enhancements for facilities designed to detain illegal immigrants,with the treatment of millions of US Citizens who are experiencing challenges in this country. The Obama Administration sent Eric Holder on a mission to ignore the will of the spacious majority of American citizens and sued the Situation of Arizona for its new law to manage illegal immigration, despite the fact that 1). Arizona's legislation mirrors Federal Law and, 2). The Federal Government has failed to do enough to adequately derive Arizona's border.
Rather than support and protect its own citizens, this administration sides with a corrupt Mexican Government that should be censured for not treating its contain citizens better.
When juxtaposing the US Government's treatment of illegal immigrants with its care for unemployed US citizens, again the differences are horribly incongruous.
For weeks Congress had been playing a repulsive game of partisan politics, deciding whether or not to extend Unemployment benefits to jobless Americans. Never mind the fact that the stimulus package has failed to generate a meaningful number of private sector jobs. Pelosi, Baucus, and other members of congress declared that 'no one should be paid benefits beyond 99 weeks.'
In a "normal" economy that might make sense...but when millions of Americans have earnestly been searching for work and there are clearly not enough jobs to go around--it is callous and cruel to just write these desperate souls off who would like nothing better than to land a job--and do food on the table for their families.
Despite the recent extension, there still was no provision granted for American "99ers," whose unemployment benefits had exhausted in June. The overwhelming majority of jobless citizens in this category have diligently searched for jobs to no avail, because the sad reality is there are more jobs lost than created--Translation: There are not enough private sector jobs to go around!
Progressive and Conservative pundits alike have tended to show little if any sympathy or interest in the plight of this disenfranchised class: the former, because it is more convenient to ignore the group that most blatantly underscores the failure of this administration's policies; the latter, because since conservative members of Congress were continuously unsuccessful in their attempts to convince Democrats to NOT add to the deficit in connection with the extension through Tier 4, the prospects for creating a new Tier 5 that would be paid for through existing, unspent stimulus money or other fiscally responsible means, has been regarded as a fruitless endeavor.
Proponents of "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" often state, "Undocumented immigrants are just coming here to make a better life for themselves and their families."
Well, Americans also strive to create better lives for their families--but when times are tough and the economy is in the toilet, compassion seems to be sorely lacking for a certain class of US Citizens, who increasingly seem to fall between the cracks.
If one is over 60, unemployed for over two years, having exhausted unemployment benefits, yet still searching for gainful employment, the odds are you will be left without a safety-net. Unless Unemployment Extension legislation is amended, there will be no "5th tier" of benefits forthcoming. Many, as I write this, are losing their homes, cars--and yet cannot even qualify for food stamps.
However, if you happen to be an illegal immigrant who has been detained--fear not! You will be given a free facility to discontinue where you will be fed, given health care, free movies, water, tea, classes, free internet service and a whole array of services including correct services. (And if you are here illegally and have escaped detection and detention--not to worry. You can qualify for a whole host of benefits to ensure you will be better off than you had been in your country of origin).
Among the proposed improvements and upgrades for the Level-1 facilities (housing those allegedly "only" caught entering the US illegally) are:
Eliminating "lock downs" and "lights out" for appropriate classification levels, reducing the frequency of and, in certain cases, wholly eliminating, pat down searches.
The overhaul of these centers is to include the following modifications as well:
Allowing visitors to come for as long as they like during a 12-hour period each day and on weekends, increasing availability of legal supplies and postage for legal correspondence, providing extra research resources at the law libraries, increasing contact visitation space for lawyers, designing and providing a special area at each facility for contact visitation, allowing free movement within the institution for detainees of appropriate classification levels, allowing detainees of appropriate classification levels to wear their own clothing, within reasonable limitation, and providing "non-penal clothing" for detainees to wear.
Jobless Americans do not have a concierge level service they can rely on when their benefits hurry out. Many have sent kids to college and may currently have a roof over their heads, but now, despite this economic crisis, in most instances, struggling US Citizens in crisis are considered above government "poverty levels," thereby disqualifying them for government assistance that could prevent further losses for them and their families.
Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day when my government would provide a higher degree of services for illegal immigrants than for its own law-abiding citizens.
Our country, despite its flaws, continues to be the greatest source of humanitarian aid in the history of the world.
I am certainly not suggesting we should refuse to show compassion to any group in this country, including illegal immigrants.
Nevertheless, is it not ludicrous that it's easier for undocumented immigrants to be issued food stamps, health care, and other Federal & State assistance than for Americans who are out of work,without benefits--and have discovered that there simply aren't enough jobs out there to be filled?
When an illegal immigrant has violated our laws, is caught and placed in a detention facility, it is preposterous that they are provided more perks and benefits than a law-abiding American citizen who has worked hard for decades-- but has lost a job and exhausted unemployment benefits.
The total number of long term unemployed Americans is at its highest level since the government began keeping the statistic in 1948. If you include the 1.2 million jobless Americans who no longer are counted in the statistics, there are at least 15.8 million unemployed Americans, not counting the underemployed (which raises the number closer to 20 million).
The total number of illegal immigrants is the USA is estimated to be between 12 and 20 million; despite these broad numbers, the government has never taken a serious stance relative to securing our borders to ensure these numbers do not increase any further.
It is inane that our government has chosen to provide comfortable, secure facilities, meals, bingo nights, dance classes, tea, free internet and other extras for detained, undocumented immigrants, plus: food stamps, health benefits and other entitlements for illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities and other places throughout the country; meanwhile, there are American citizens, unemployed for two years or more, left without a safety-net-- in a virtually jobless economy (prolonged by policies that not only do not stimulate job creation--but actually foster a climate of business uncertainty).
Never did I dream that my country would indicate more compassion for illegal aliens than its own citizens.
Our only hope for real change that we may be able to believe in, is to carefully vote in November for individuals who will support policies that favor its contain citizens over those who enter our country illegally.
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Filed under Portable Translation Equipment by on Dec 18th, 2011. 
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