Basic disconnect ??

Question

A small suburb community in Texas is considering adopting an ordinance that will enable the town to join in on the fight against illigal immigration. It would punish businesses that employ illegal aliens with an escalating range starting with fines and ending with denial of business permits. The ordinance also requires all people who rent their domicile to apply to the city for a registration permit. Any property owner who rents to a person who does not have the proper permit would be fined. Part of the application process for obtaining said permit would be verification of citizenship or immigration status. Lastly, the ordinance would adopt english as the official language of the town for all town business.

Do you think that this town's effort to control immigration is inherently racist or simply common sense ???

To babi - yes employing illegal aliens is against the "Federal" law. However the federal gov't only enforces these laws selectively so the town wanted to take matters in their own hands.

Answer 1

I think its for the common good of that community.And in fact it is against the law and a federal felony to aid and abet an illegal alien.So they are in fact stopping people breaking the law by giving "aid" (a place to live)to a person also committing a crime.Although its only a federal misdemeanor to be an illegal alien,it is a felony to assist them. My state of Arizona also adopted English as our states official language ,and past propositions to protect its self from the illegal aliens encroachment into our state.I'm behind this town 100%.

Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A):

A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he:

* assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or

* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or

* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

Penalties upon conviction include criminal fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture of vehicles and real property used to commit the crime. Anyone employing or contracting with an illegal alien without verifying his or her work authorization status is guilty. Aliens and employers violating immigration laws are subject to arrest, detention, and seizure of their vehicles or property. In addition, individuals or entities who engage in racketeering enterprises that commit (or conspire to commit) immigration-related felonies are subject to private civil suits for treble damages and injunctive relief.

Answer 2

ok first of all i'm all up for cleaning up a town.but the person who suggested this ordinance also suggested that property values were going down because of illegal immigrants and that crime rates were high because of them. I mean does that mean that legal citizens cannot be contributing to higher crime rate and low property values? or perhaps that it could be due to low funding for the police department? and if this ordinance is passed then who is going to make sure that the landlords don't abuse it and that racial profiling starts to occur? are there going to be more police officers making sure that these landlords don't just check the paper work of a certain ethnic group when renting or that they don't use the "sorry but your papers aren't good" excuse whenever they wish to kick a tenant out? and lastly as far as english goes what does that mean? does it mean that you only speak english at work and school? or that you have to speak english even when your in the street? sorry but that last part I cannot really accept. I know english and worked hard to not forget spanish so that i could be bilingual,later on i learned german too and nobody is going to stop me from speaking whatever language i choose to in public. I shouldn't be forced to pay because some people are too nosy to want to know what others are talking about yet too lazy to take the time to learn another language. so to answer your question its a bit of both. on some aspects it does show a bit of common sense just not very well thought out but in some aspect it does have a racist undertone wich could easily surface.

Answer 3

It's completely common sense. But I thought it was already illegal to employ illegal immigrants. As for the renting, just make sure you don't refuse anybody who's not a citizen. I mean, would you refuse somoene who only rents the place for holidays?

The rules can be changed anyway, so if Spanish-speakers becomes a large group, the Spanish can be added as a second official language.

Answer 4

I am torn.My mother and her family are mexican.So I am really not sure how to feel but my mother's family did it the legal way.So I don't see why everybody else can't do the same.They all
also learned to speak English.I guess I would have to say common sense.I mean if they want to live in our country shouldn't they show respect for our laws and our language?

Answer 5

What will happen to all of these laws once the Federal Government does somethisng about it......which will soon be run by the democrats? They will be no good. Amnesty is going to happen.

Answer 6

Common sense. I hope more towns do this.

Answer 7

Common sense, but that usually does not work.

Answer 8

Common sense. I would love to welcome immigrants to our country, but please do it legally!