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An American Story
An early knock on the door usually means trouble. Today was
no exception. At my door were Ruth, Cesar and their son Danny. Their story:
Cesar is from Cuenca Ecuador. He came to the US illegally in
1998. His mother pledged her house to Coyotes for the ‘fee’ required to get
Cesar to US soil. That fee was
$8,000 plus interest at 10%. The
Coyotes delivered Cesar to Brownsville, Texas where he took a Greyhound bus to
NYC and finally he made it to his new home in Ossining NY.
Cesar was a hard working guy who had skills. He knew cement
and stone and he would dig holes with a shovel all day long. He worked six days
a week and paid off the Coyotes in just two years. There was plenty of work, no one cared much about illegal
aliens back then. Housing was easy to find. There were hundreds of illegals
arriving in Ossining and life was good.
Cesar had a wife, Ruth, in Cuenca. They had a daughter. In
2001 the process with the Coyotes was repeated. But the outcome was not as
good. Ruth was raped and abused on her trip to America. She spent several days
in an airless panel truck as it crossed Mexico. She thought she would die. She
was dumped at the US border, promptly caught by the Border Patrol and arrested.
In those days the policy was to release illegals that were not Mexicans. There
was no money to pay for a return flight to Ecuador. Ultimately she made it to
Ossining. I don’t think anyone fully recovers from an experience like that. Her
greatest pain was that she had to leave her daughter with the grandmother. She
has not seen this child for ten years.
Ruth got work and this couple did what many illegals did.
They got remarried in the Catholic Church and had a child. Their son Danny was born in the US and
therefore had automatic citizenship. The belief by the parents was that they
would be protected from deportation if they had a child who was a US citizen.
The re-marriage was a desperate attempt to prove that that they belonged here.
They got an official document, a wedding license from Westchester County. The only papers they had.
Ruth and Cesar worked for me. I don’t like this process but
it was very hard to find workers who could do the work that I needed. In an
effort to make this right I hired a lawyer for Ruth. I sponsored her to be
legal. I paid her wages and the taxes she would have been responsible for. She was officially in the Immigration
system five years ago. There have been no green cards issued for any of the
thousands of applicants. The process was an expensive waste of time. We tried
and failed to do the right thing.
Danny is a normal American boy. He speaks English perfectly.
He goes to the local public school and is a good student. He plays little
league and loves basketball. He does not play soccer. He wants to succeed at
American sports. He has never seen his sister. He can’t talk with her on the
phone because he has refused to learn Spanish.
Everything collapsed for this family in 2008. Unemployment
for illegals went from 0 to 50% in the course of months. They had stopped
working for me long ago. Their car was repossessed; they were behind in the
rent. They had gone through their savings from the good years. There was no
more money for food. To make matters worse the legal system was closing in on
them. The police were harassing them wherever they went. Employers were no longer hiring any illegals.
So they came to me this morning for help. They wanted two
things. They wanted the money for a plane ticket back to Ecuador for Ruth and
Cesar. They wanted me to take Danny and raise him until he was an adult. They were prepared to give up their son so that he would have a shot. I gave
them money for three tickets. I could not take Danny. It damn near broke my
heart to say no.
I know that there are many who will read this story and say,
“Good, they should not have been here in the first place”. And those people are
right. But the fact is that America is culpable in this disaster. We let this
Diaspora happen. It was not an accident that 10,000 people crossed our border
illegally every day for years.
The Cesars, Ruths and Dannys are leaving. In the general
area that I live the illegal population has been reduced by 40% over the
past eighteen months. That is the recession. For these people it has been a
depression. Cesar said before he left, “There is no opportunity in America any
more.” Maybe he is right.
The muse of this is that all of this happened because of easy credit. All that construction was from hot money. There were not enough workers as a result. But where there are jobs, people will come. Even from far away places like Cuenca.
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Sorry, Cheeky Bastard. While I am descended from immigrants, I'm from the United States of America. I'm not ashamed of it, and for all our faults, whouldn't want to be from or live anywhere else. You clearly have an odd love for the country that you appear to be ashamed of being labeld as "From the USA." You seem to want to play some weird semantics game.
As for this whole conversation, yeesh. Everyone put down the emotions. There's a whole lot of black and white on this issue, but there's also tons of gray.
The tragedy of the illegal immigration issue and the associated blame is first on the American people ONLY because we've failed to dump idiot politicians who've created this problem with horrible policy after horrible law. The bulk of the blame and the continued problem lies with our government. The same government that has created every other problem we've faced. It's become big, bloated, and full of people who's only job now is to find ways of growing government (not because they really care to help people) so they can grab more power and be reelected/reappointed over and over.
Illegal immigration has real consequences, affecting real people (as we read in the story above), and will cause real pain for the forseeable future because we have a government that doesn't really care to adress the issue - with all its complexities. They just want a way to gain more power, get more votes, and stay elected. That's where the problem lies. It's not with the folks who tried to take advantage of the system (legal or illegal aliens).
When you have shitty policy, you get shitty results - and people get hurt. But politicians are more interested in using that hurt and pain to further their pitiful policies. It's all a bit circuler with them. They know their policies don't work, but are fine taking advantage of the pain and broken people to argue for more of the same policies.
So, put down the verbal weapons people aimed at each other. They should be squarely aimed at our federal government that created this mess in the first place.
And, yes, Cheeky Bastard you're from America - these United States - but descended from immigrants. Embrace it and love it for all its glory and pain. We will never be perfect, but we are by far and away the best available.
And, yes, Cheeky Bastard you're from America - these United States - but descended from immigrants
Actually im not .... yes a descendant from immigrants; but no, im not from the US.
I was born in SF, Ca, my mum was born in Santa Monica, Ca in 1920, my grandma was born in Sedona, AZ 1892, my greatgrandma was born in Arizona, 1860, her mom was born in Arizona early 1800's and her grandma was born in Arizona 1700's and on and on. My family has always been here, including when Arizona belonged to Mexico. My ancestors did not land on Plymouth Rock, they were Knocked out by Plymouth Rock!!!
"My family came from the United States." No they didn't.
"The point of my rant was to point out that this family has not been the only family that has suffered catastrophically due to illegal immigration." There's a time and place for everything - this was NOT the time or place for your rant.
You missed the point of the story, this was a human story, a story of a family who would be willing to leave their only son behind so that he could have a better life. May I suggest that you put your rage over illegal immigration (whatever the hell that is) to one side and read the story with an open heart instead of a closed fist.
Really, last I looked my birth certificate said born in Seattle, Washington. Parents born in Ohio and Virginia. Grandparents born in Ohio and Virginia, and so on. So I guess the states of Washington, Ohio and Virginia aren't part of the United States?
So then exactly where did they come from?
What you fail to realize is that for every sob story an undocument migrant has we can find a multitude of truely tragic stories that have been perpetrated on citizens of this country all in the name of open borders, easy access to cheap labor, and endless social benefits.
Lets take a look at California, how's that paradigm working for you.
It must be nice to be able to look askance at the illicit profits made by corporations on the backs of virtual slave labor.
Of course the American population also benefited. We were able to buy cheap goods from the Chinese, while we fed them trillions of dollars. So far everything worked out fine.
We also had a housing construction industry that implicitely made excessive profits, anyone remember Toll Brothers, by displacing hard working blue collar US citizen construction workers with foreign migrant workers.
I guess its a sad tale that tax paying US citizens were displaced by immigrants in the housing construction industry more than willing to work for less than an American citizen can support a family of four.
I mean when you live in a $300,000+ dollar house, drive two SUV's and a BMW, vacation in the Bahama's twice a year and live a lifestyle of the rich and famous, but, who cares about those other assholes.
It's all about finding the cheapest labor, the free movement of labor, and the freedom to sponge off the social services of tax-paying law abiding US citizens.
It's nice to know that while I was making over $180,000 a year, all my Federal, State and property taxes were going to pay to educate the children of the immigrants, provide medical services, food stamps, welfare, and in state tuition for immigrants and their families.
So who really benefited from this cheap labor, was it the CEO of Toll Brothers, or was it the corrupt assholes that were encouraged to purchase houses with liar loans and no real income on houses built by foreign labor.
If the whole fucking thing worked so well, why are we facing the second greatest depression this country has ever known.
missing the point of the story...oh boo hoo hoo. talk to the hand. i hope they go back home and do what is necessary to make their countries of origin, livable instead of coming up here and mucking up my country. anyone that hires these people is a small minded nitwitt, who is not thinking this thing through and is only thinking of saving himself some money now and of course not looking at the horizon and realizing what is happening in this land. this country is being destroyed, piece by piece on many fronts. do you know how many gang members there are in the city of los angeles alone? anyone that hires illegal aliens is a traitor. enough said. if the founding fathers were alive, i am sure they would agree wholeheartedly with that statement for sure.
Truly the masses have been hoodwinked on this issue.If I tried to dump my kids on your porch because you had more money or whatever I'd be in jail (rightfully so) but when poor old "family values" illegal alien does it, we sympathize and cry a river. Talk about delusional thinking.
There is a lot of talk on this site about the "sheeple" when it comes to things financial but the sheep dung is 3 miles deep when it comes to illegal aliens.
Obviously if you had good family values, you would take your Danny boy with you and not try to pawn him off like a cuddly kitten, when he reaches the age of majority he can come back to America and enjoy his citizenship if he so chooses. WTF are people thinking here?
Thank god someone on this site has some common sense.
Why not just bring more jihadists over to fly more jet airliners into more buildings.
Remember its all about the free movement of labor and peoples, who cares whether they believe in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Bill of Rights.
I say we open up the flood gates and let every mother fucker that wants to move do so.
Doesn't matter whether they're serial murders or serial rapists, or child molesters or terrorists. It's all about finding the cheapest labor and endless profits for the global fascist corporations.
why not send some more $$$ over to the jihadists via CIA black boxes and then shaft them over in some drug deal gone haywire, so they use that $$$ to brainwash a bunch of adolescents to hate US for our 'freedoms'?
the rabbit hole goes mad deep evil kitty.
how far do you wanna go?
i get no satisfaction from any human tragedy as this certainly is but as you suggested in no way, shape, or form do i condone or accept illegal immigration no matter what mitigating or aggravating circumstances attend it.....
but your other point is well honed - why were they here in the first place and your response that it was no accident is so correct....
illegals were here to feed the ravenous appetite of the elite (and not so elite) who wanted modern day slaves...anyone remember that fraud zoe baird and her tim geithner response on her confirmation hearings as ag?
so whatever labor could not be exported to china could be replaced with illegal slaves....
you make a mockery of the law when you egregiously violate it and that is what administration after administration did since reagan on immigration....
thank you for making an effort to clearly understand the overall issue, although you may not agree with the circumstances on the surface.
Wonderful story! Wonderful people!. You know, if Danny were to be "left behind" the "State" would be responsible because he is a U.S. citizens and then place him in a home and pay the folks taking care of him a lot of money. And given the decline in the economy a lot folks are signing up to take care of foster kids. If Danny worked this right - he could get a college education out of the deal, get a FHA loan and a 15,000 tax credit - and on his 16th birthday a new GM crappy car.
At this point I'm pretty pissed at the "State" so I vote screw the "State" to the wall and have Danny take'm for everything he can - before the "too big to fails" get all the worthless greenbacks...!
Incredible story that validates many thoughts. We've had a Ponzi economy and many people have been harmed by it. God have mercy on us all.
>>Cesar was a hard working guy who had skills. He knew cement and stone and he would dig holes with a shovel all day long.
>>Ruth and Cesar worked for me. I don’t like this process but it was very hard to find workers who could do the work that I needed
Really Bruce, you couldn't find qualified Americans to wholes, mix and pour concrete? I guess I'm ignorant. This must be one of those jobs that they need those special H1 Visas for. You know, high skilled work.
Isn't it more likely that you just didn't want to pay Americans (white, black, latino, whaterver) a fair wage? There are plenty of Americans coming out of high school in your area who would eagerly have done that work. All they expect is a fair wage. Just too much for you though, eh?
>>There was plenty of work, no one cared much about illegal aliens back then.
Speak for yourself and the boosters of endless low wage immigration. Most Americans have been damn angry over the failure/refusal of the government to enforce these laws. And whatever enforcement we do have is undermined by you and those like you.
>>The police were harassing them wherever they went.
Stop making things up. The police in Westchester county New York are overly sensitive to being perceived as harassing illegal aliens. There is no profiling of illegals at all, though is quite evident who they are. An illegal has to almost commit bloody murder to attract the attention of Westchester country police.
>>We let this Diaspora happen.
No, again, YOU and your LIKE let it happen, along with the RepubloCrat party.
>So they came to me this morning for help. They wanted two things. They wanted the money for a plane ticket back to Ecuador for Ruth and Cesar. They wanted me to take Danny and raise him until he was an adult. They were prepared to give up their son so that he would have a shot. I gave them money for three tickets. I could not take Danny. It damn near broke my heart to say no.
Give yourself a hug. You're such a good fella, aren't you.
One man's unfair wage is another man's treasure. By choosing to pay 'fair' wages, you reduce the competitiveness of your country. Do that for 50 years and you'll be trying to sneak into China, where the jobs are.
Din't you hear? Many Americans are already heading to China where the jobs are. Increasingly, as things deteriorate to the point where the choice is between dying of hunger and/or in a tent in the good ol' US of A or immigrating, more and more Americans will chose immigration (LOL! what a surprise). In the words of Morpheus - "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony".
JPM and GS have 5 and 4 offices in China respectively...
Wonder what the bonus system is like?
One man's unfair wage is another man's treasure. By choosing to pay 'fair' wages, you reduce the competitiveness of your country.
--
Hardly. The only thing correct about your statement is the overuse of the word "competitive" with regards to the economy. The rest is rubbish.
The more likely conclusion is that our nation does something about the issue of illegal immigration and immigration law abuse. That is, if you're trying to end-run US citizens and call it "being competitive", it will not end well for you.
The problem with job funnels is that you eventually run out of other countries.
"The more likely conclusion is that our nation does something about the issue of illegal immigration and immigration law abuse."
well you should be happy for the meltdown then, because as Bruce explains, the economy is already resolving the problem to your satisfaction.
"That is, if you're trying to end-run US citizens and call it "being competitive", it will not end well for you."
you mean like Walmart, Sprint, Nike, Apple, Gap, etc etc etc?
in that case, let's hope so.
"The problem with job funnels is that you eventually run out of other countries."
the solution to the problem is that you never run out of central bankers who have an addiction to helicopters.
Good luck getting an American Gen X-er on down the line to use a post hole digger or mix concrete.
+10
The younger generation will not pick up a tool no matter how much you pay them. Last young white kid I hired could not even use a broom!
Pulled over last week to help an 18 year old in an army uniform fix a flat tire. He sat and watched me-he had no clue where his spare was, how to use a jack or how to loosen the nuts. He had no desire to learn these basic skills either.
I bet starvation is gonna make them learn all that in a jiffy.
No kidding my friend, I sometimes wonder at how much more our grandparents were able to do for themselves over us, and how it has exponentially declined in a few generations. Social networking and personal electronics "skills" are not exactly the kinds of things that help a body during hard times.
Their only usefulness will be as cannon fodder, truly sad.
To 87132 - Yes, but in the meantime we're a large government welfare state. Welfare state or open borders, pick one.
good point...fair enough.
i choose open borders.
anyone else?
It was not an accident that 10,000 people crossed our border illegally every day for years.
And did people with guns force them? Where is the personal responsibility?!! I know if SNEAK into another country illegally bad things will happen to me and it won't be the other countries fault. It will be mine!!!!
you aren't making an important distinction.
sure, there are illegal immigrants who want to come to screw the system & generosity that was America.
Most however are driven by the desperation in their home countries - and looking for a chance for a better life for themselves & their kids, what I would call refugees.
the ones looking for a shot at a better life generally don't abuse the system (they work hard, often in menial jobs that many Americans shun as being "demeaning", to keep a paycheck coming in so they can make a reasonable life for their family. they never complain not just because they fear it might get them booted out of the country, but they realize they have it much better in America than they ever could have in their home country.
I think they should obey the law & immigrate legally, but I can understand what motivates them and can't fault them for taking those risks - its like an unemployed guy robbing a store for food to feed his family vs. a guy who robs just for the money...there is hopefully a difference in how those two robbers are judged.
Sort of got side swiped by that very sad story - something you might see in the New Yorker perhaps (something I would normally skip over). But it got me to thinking that this is not an issue of the undocumented but of a failure of society. There are "American citizens" and families who have fallen through the cracks likely living on the street or in a shanty somewhere perhaps a car. We drive by them every day and in the city step over them as we make our way to whatever. In one of the main threads Cheeky Bastard posed a question about the state of Western society i.e. is it dying? or is it dead? - your post is a profound answer.
Give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
As mentioned above its easy to point a finger, but you may recall that many of us would not be here if not for some long forgotten relative that took a similar trip generations ago.
Similar but not the same. Legal immigration is a big plus which is how past generations did it, with sponsors, proof of financial responsibilty, etc., etc.. Illegal immigration is a travesty and continues to be parasitic to citizens.
Wow, that is one hell of a story. Thanks for sharing, and doing what you could for Cesar, Ruth, and Danny. Why is it so easy for people to forget that illegal immigrants are just doing whatever they can to make a better life for themselves and their families?
"are just doing whatever they can to make a better life for themselves and their families?"
Doing whatever?! So if I want a better life and rob and steal or deal drugs or any other ILLEGAL thing it not my fault it their are consequences because I "just wanted money" for a better life?
"rob and steal or deal drugs or any other ILLEGAL thing"
i sure hope you're not a judge. if so, please let us know so we can stay out from your next jurisdiction next time we take a piss outside in the park.
This is my first time posting on this website; but, I had to comment on what a good story this is. Thanks and will share with friends and family.
thank you for sharing Bruce...with them & with us.
we wish for a safe journey for Cesar, Ruth & Danny.
maybe when Danny returns to his native country again, he will find a place that is filled more with opportunity & compassion than greed & exploitation.
what you did for them was a good beginning methinks.
cheers
I hope you are rewarded thousands of times over for your generosity in giving them money to get back to Ecuador. That is a compassionate and very human gesture Bruce.
Thanks Bruce. Interesting and tough story. Anyone who thinks that this is a black-and-white issue doesn't know any struggling immigrants, legal or illegal.
Bruce, I appreciate the humanity in your story - a tragic reality in our flawed economic and political system. Sometimes we are so filled with venom regarding the FED and Goldman Sachs that we overlook the simple humanity and consequences of some of our actions.
Thanks for sharing this.
Cheers,
Pipgen
The last illegal I met was on his way back to Brazil leaving three foreclosures behind. The "Juan Valdez, hard working, full of family values" stereotype doesn't fly with this gringo. America is a predators paradise for many of these illegal aliens.
Keep in mind their progeny doesn't care to do the dirty work either, Javier jr. isn't going to pick beans after watching MTV, he'll typically just go gangster. No knock on legal immigrants though, that's what made America. This is the only bright side in a wrecked economy, the criminals leave.
Agreed. Many here pray for bearish news so their short positions can be profitable, but we fail to see the human aspect through all of this. We should all be wanting positive economic news. Believe it or not, (legal or illegal) immigrants serve an important economic purpose in this society.
Good luck and Godspeed to that family.
Forgive me, I couldn't help but read a bit of finger pointing at bears in your post. Bears are not to blame. Those who created this Ponzi economy - the FR and the member banks - are a good place to start. Anyone who is bearish is a realist and part of the process of restoring moral clarity to our economy.
Agreed, it seems anyone who tries to point out the rot underlying our economy and the desperate attempts to cover it up are labeled "bears", "unpatriotic", etc.
I believe it our our government and the Federal Reserve who have been immoral for perpetuating our Ponzi economy for so long.
hate to tell you this cyan, but this entire country is comprised of immigrants or recent descendents of immigrants,
except those Americans that are stuck on the Rez.
remember them?