Mayor has a few questions amid heavy lobbying for agency......

    Once again we have local politicians, newly elected, doing an about face on what they stood for when they were campaigning. Well, can someone tell me something new?? This type of behavior has been going on forever. Let me see, tell the people what they want to hear and as soon as you manage to be elected to office you reveal your true colors, right?
    Another of a very long line of articles that expose the truth after the fact. Yes, this was printed in one of my local newspapers and I thought it was worth while to write about it.
  "Tom Leppert's mayoral victory (Dallas, Texas) was less than a week old when the lobbying intensified from an unusual camp, immigrants."
  "They wanted an office of immigrant affairs, dedicated to assimilating immigrants, legal and illegal, into the city of Dallas."
    Now on the surface, to establish an office of immigrant affairs of sorts is not such a bad idea. Actually, it would be a very good idea to assist all the newcomers to this country that are here legally.
    I know from personal experience with my own family and many of my friends that if something of this sort existed when they first arrived in this country it would have helped them tremendously.
   It can be a very overwhelming and intimidating  experience to be in a new country and not be familiar with the customs or language. Being alone, without any assistance will take any person a very long time to learn all they need to learn before they can begin to feel comfortable.
   However, I do draw the line for only the legal immigrants, not the illegal immigrants. Please do not talk with me about the "migrant workers", "undocumented workers" or any other cover term because illegal is still illegal.
   "At a victory reception held by Latino groups for the new mayor Thursday, Mr. Leppert said he is committed to opening an office of immigrant affairs."
   "Last week's defeat of a massive immigration overhaul proposal will probably place more heat on cities and states with high immigration to deal with a variety of issues from day labor sites to bond programs for new schools to proposals to crack down on those who provide services to those in the United States illegally. Groups such as Numbers USA are calling for more deportations of illegal immigrants or "attrition through enforcement and self removal."
   "Claudia Herrmann, an immigrant who heads one of the largest Mexican hometown or homestate associations in the Dallas area, is also bending Mr. Leppert's ear.
   "We applaud that you have recognized the need to create a Dallas Office for New Americans," it read, "to help immigrants from different countries as well as international refugees to adjust to their new life in Dallas."
   "The proposed office could focus on connecting the foreign born to social service agencies in the city, Ms. Herrmann said, and on teaching immigrants about basic services, such as how 911 works for emergencies and how to use the Dallas Public Library."
   "One of the major things that this office would have to work on is to let the immigrants know about all the resources to learn to speak and write English and about educating their children and about knowing the laws so that they can obey the laws, she said.
   Well, as I mentioned earlier in this article, if it is to render assistance to legal immigrants then I am all for it, but they are painting a very blurry line. I still do not see the value in rendering assistance to someone who has broken laws in the first place because they want to live here.
   There are many people from around the world who have been trying to enter this country and are continuously turned down. Should anyone, from anywhere, at anytime be allowed to live here just because they want to?
   Our public facilities are so overwhelmed already and the tax dollar that you and I have confiscated from our salaries is only going to go so far. All of our systems are already stretched beyond capability. Is the answer for all of the legal citizens to be taxed more to continue paying for the illegal population?? Or should we continue to band together to refuse assistance until either they are deported or leave on their own because they can no longer find work and housing??
    "The foreign born make up twenty seven percent of Dallas population, according to 2005 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Immigrants come from El Salvador, India, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Canada. But the majority, seventy two percent, come from Mexico. The next highest group, Salvadorans, make up four percent of the foreign born total."
    Of these figures, all of the people are not illegal, it is the reporting that blurs the figures. However, I do find these figures interesting because I also know of people from Germany, England, Ireland, Egypt, France, Italy, Russia that are all here legally.
   Where is the "Office of Immigrantion Affairs" for them? Where do these newcomers go for assistance or is it okay to discriminate against them?? Now would it not be a nice idea if this office they want to establish was there to help ALL legal immigrants?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I do appreciate it and enjoy your comments.....Karen