Children Of Minutemen Threatened By Tax-Funded Pro-Border-Jumper Group

Imagine -- you form a neighborhood watch group to keep track of suspicious -- and possibly criminal -- activities in the area. You take photos of individuals in public places to turn over to the cops.

In response, you are subject to a threat like this.

“We are going to be in front of their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are haters and snitches, that they are anti-criminal. They are going to hear from us.”

Such a threat ought to provoke outrage, and a strong governmental response to crack down on those who are supporting the enforcement of laws against those who break them.

But not in this case in Maryland.

Casa de Maryland, a taxpayer funded group that assists illegal immigrants, has made a public threat to the children of the grassroots Minuteman Civil Defense Corps that have made headlines since last fall monitoring day labor centers in the Washington DC area.

An article published yesterday by the Sean Sands of Maryland Community Newspapers Online quoted Casa de Maryland’s Executive Director Gustavo Torres saying “We are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us.”

The Minutemen have been photographing contractors picking up illegal aliens for work at the Wheaton day laborer center in Maryland spurring conflict with the illegal immigrant supporters.

Casa de Maryland, according to their own website, was “designed to address the multiple conditions of poverty and disenfranchisement that control the lives of many Latino immigrants and refugees“ and “achieves its goals through programs in areas such as leadership, organizing, women's empowerment, tenant support, employment, legal services, health, education, social services, and immigration assistance.”

Casa de Maryland offers an email and phone number where someone can coordinate potential employers with “experts in construction, carpentry, landscaping, babysitting, housekeeping, painting tiling, moving, odd jobs and more.” Casa de Maryland claims to have placed approximately 5,760 men and women in different daily, temporary and permanent job settings in 2004.

Not only is this group open about breaking the law, but in Maryland, those who make threats against the children of those engaged in legal political activity are subsidized by the government -- because the laws they are breaking are those against immigration crimes and the criminals they are assisting are border-jumpers. Not only that, but they proudly trumpet their efforts to help illegal aliens find work with the assistance of local government, business, and labor groups.

How much government help do they get each year? Take a look.

From Casa de MarylandÂ’s 2004-2005 annual statement the Minuteman Civil Defense Press Corps found 51% of the groups $2.7 million came directly from grants issued on behalf of Montgomery County.

That's right -- over half of this group's money comes from the government. They are openly conspiring to break the laws of the united States, and tye are receiving government money to do it! I'd suggest that you contact Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and the Montgomery County Council to voice your displeasure over the county's use of taxpayer money to fund the breaking of immigration laws, violations of the civil rights and liberties of the Minutemen by grant recipients, and the stalking of innocent children. In addition, you might consider contacting those that violate federal law by participating in the job's program -- Clark Construction, Allentuck Landscaping Company and the AFL-CIO (how do members feel about their dues funding cheap illegal labor over American workers). And for all the good it will do, contact Gustavo Torres and tell him that he needs to reconsider engaging in pedophile-like child-stalking to intimidate American patriots whose only offense is supporting the laws of the United States.

The founder of the Minutemen puts it well.

In response to the threats, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox said, “Threatening children like this is outrageous. Casa de Maryland’s funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior."

And lest you think it is all hot air, we've already seen the first assault on a Minuteman monitoring CASA de Maryland's illegal immigrant jobs program.

Hat Tip -- Jo's Cafe

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Shocking Discovery -- Law-Breakers Break Laws

All sorts of compassionate idiots have supported providing driver's licenses and other official documents to border-jumping immigration criminals. The idea was that, since they are here anyway (in violation of the law), they should be helped to live their lives in a legal fashion.

What these fools overlooked is that such criminals have very little respect for the law, and would gladly engage in fraud to obtain the legal documents that make continuing their law-breaking easier.

Tennessee has ended its policy of issuing "certificates for driving" to illegal immigrants, citing federal investigations that uncovered applicants using fraudulent documents — and even bribing state workers — to obtain driving privileges, officials said Friday.

The state began giving immigrants the certificates in July 2004, with the hope of balancing homeland security and traffic concerns. The cards give holders the legal right to drive but, unlike driver's licenses, they are not to be used for identification purposes. For instance, they cannot be used to board an airplane.

The Tennessee model was criticized early on from diverse quarters. Anti-immigration forces worried that it gave legitimacy to illegal immigrants. Immigration rights groups feared that police and others would be confused, and therefore inconsistent, in dealing with the cardholders.

Officials in the capital of Nashville grew concerned in recent months as federal investigations uncovered instances of fraud by illegal immigrants. Bob Corney, a spokesman for Tennessee's Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, said the governor's office was informed that immigrants were coming from other states to get the IDs, using forged residency documents.

Last month, a former worker at a driver's license office was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for issuing more than 40 certificates to unqualified immigrants, taking a $400 bribe for each fraudulent card.

So as you can see, trying to make life easier for criminals results in more crime. The proper solution to the problem of border-jumping immigration criminals is tough enforcement, including arrest, imprisonment, and deportation with a lifetime bar on reentry.

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Accept Core Values Or Leave – Aussie Pol

I think that Australia’s Treasurer, Peter Costello, pegs it exactly in a speech he recently gave.

No one is going to respect a citizenship that is so undemanding that it asks nothing. In fact our citizenship is quite a demanding obligation. It demands loyalty, tolerance and respect for fellow citizens and support for a rare form of government - democracy.

We have a robust tolerance of difference in our society. But to maintain this tolerance we have to have an agreed framework which will protect the rights and liberties of all. And we are asking our citizens to subscribe to that framework.

I do not like putrid representations like Piss Christ. I do not think galleries should show them. But I do recognise they should be able to practise their offensive taste without fear of violence or a riot. Muslims do not like representation of the prophet. They do not think newspapers should print them. But so too they must recognise this does not justify violence against newspapers, or countries that allow newspapers to publish them.

We are asking all our citizens to subscribe to a framework that can protect the rights and liberties of all. These are Australian values. We must be very clear on this point. They are not optional. We expect all those who call themselves Australians to subscribe to them. Loyalty, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - values worth promoting, values worth defending. The values of Australia and its citizens.

Change the words “Australia” and Australian” to “America” and “American” and this entire speech clearly defines what the view of every American patriot should be.

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Accept Core Values Or Leave – Aussie Pol

I think that AustraliaÂ’s Treasurer, Peter Costello, pegs it exactly in a speech he recently gave.

No one is going to respect a citizenship that is so undemanding that it asks nothing. In fact our citizenship is quite a demanding obligation. It demands loyalty, tolerance and respect for fellow citizens and support for a rare form of government - democracy.

We have a robust tolerance of difference in our society. But to maintain this tolerance we have to have an agreed framework which will protect the rights and liberties of all. And we are asking our citizens to subscribe to that framework.

I do not like putrid representations like Piss Christ. I do not think galleries should show them. But I do recognise they should be able to practise their offensive taste without fear of violence or a riot. Muslims do not like representation of the prophet. They do not think newspapers should print them. But so too they must recognise this does not justify violence against newspapers, or countries that allow newspapers to publish them.

We are asking all our citizens to subscribe to a framework that can protect the rights and liberties of all. These are Australian values. We must be very clear on this point. They are not optional. We expect all those who call themselves Australians to subscribe to them. Loyalty, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - values worth promoting, values worth defending. The values of Australia and its citizens.

Change the words “Australia” and Australian” to “America” and “American” and this entire speech clearly defines what the view of every American patriot should be.

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Irish Illegals – Going Home

I guess that since these illegals don't have a huge bloc of supporters urging that their staus be ignored, it is no surprise that they are departing for their homeland.

By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.

Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."

The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.

Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.

So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"

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Irish Illegals – Going Home

I guess that since these illegals don't have a huge bloc of supporters urging that their staus be ignored, it is no surprise that they are departing for their homeland.

By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.

Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."

The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.

Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.

So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"

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Rights? They Have the Right To Leave

I do not believe that any reasonable person would believe that those illegally in the United States have any rights other than to go back where they came from.

About 400 Latinos concerned about the rights of immigrants who enter the country illegally to work met Saturday in Riverside to fight plans for increased enforcement from Washington and Costa Mesa.

The Mexicano/Latino Leadership Immigration Summit focused mostly on legislation approved in the House of Representatives that would build a fence along parts of the Mexican border.

"We're not terrorists, just hardworking people trying to make a living," said speaker Hector Preciado of the Greenlining Institute, a Northern California public policy and advocacy group.

Participants also mentioned Costa Mesa's decision to allow police to enforce some federal immigration laws and seek deportation of felony suspects. The Orange County Sheriff's Department is working on a similar proposal.

You may be hardworking people, Hector, but you are also lawbreakers. Go back where you came from, and then apply to come here the right way.

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The Right Decision On Freedom Of Association

The Minutemen lost their battle to march in the Laguna Beach PatriotÂ’s Day Parade. It was the right decision by the judge in the case.

A judge ruled Tuesday that organizers of Laguna Beach's annual Patriots' Day Parade have the right to exclude members of the volunteer border patrol group Minuteman Project.

The group's co-founder, illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist, sought to be included in the parade lineup but the parade committee voted to ban the Minuteman Project on political grounds.
Parade organizers "have a right, within certain limits, to put on the parade they want to put on," Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner said.

It was not clear whether Gilchrist would seek an appeal. A message left for his attorney, Richard Ackerman, was not immediately returned.

The Minuteman Project uses volunteer civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants. Two members of the group who live in Laguna Beach, a bohemian town of 24,000 tucked into coastal hills, filled out an application to enter a float in the March 4 parade.

The parade committee turned down the application because it found the group's participation would violate its bylaws, which ban organizations with a religious or political affiliation or message.

The committee also argued it could reject or accept whomever it wants because it is privately funded and receives no taxpayer money.

Duh. This is a simple issue – as a private group, the organizers have the right to include or exclude on whatever basis they choose. This is no different than the Catholic group in New York that refuses to include gay-rights groups because it offends their religious sensibilities – and is even more defensible, on the basis that it excludes ALL political groups. We can debate whether or not such prohibitions are appropriate, but we cannot deny that such exclusions are legitimate, even when that means that groups we support are excluded.

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Bush Budget Short-Changes Border Security

President Bush is so hell-bent on getting his guest-worker program up and running that he is willing to undermine national security to do so. The proposed new budget fails to include full funding for Border Patrol agents.

President Bush's new budget again fails to fund the entire number of Border Patrol agents mandated by Congress but for the first time includes funds for his proposed guest-worker program.

The budget calls for 1,500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents and 6,700 new detention beds for illegal aliens awaiting deportation -- far more than last year's budget, but still short of the 2,000 new agents and 8,000 new beds per year that he and Congress agreed to in the December 2004 intelligence-overhaul bill.

I have to disagree with the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security who was sent out to try to blow smoke up our buts.

"It's a very strong budget, and the request clearly reflects the priority that is placed on securing our borders," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, who said it reflects a comprehensive strategy that includes personnel, beds, technology such as sensors and drone aircraft, and fences like the one being built near San Diego.

The budget includes money for 560 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention officers and agents, and 257 immigration lawyers as part of the administration's effort to return home more non-Mexican illegal aliens. The administration hopes that this will help end the "catch-and-release" policy, under which most non-Mexicans who are caught never are deported.

The 1,500 Border Patrol agents bring the total authorized to 13,819 -- a 42 percent increase since September 11, 2001, but still at least 1,000 short of the number for which the December 2004 bill called.

Short by 1000 agents – that is hardly a strong budget by any reasonable definition. It is a pathetic attempt to get around the clear demands of the American people to take border security seriously.

And rather than stop illegal immigration and get rid of the law-breakers, the budget sets the stage for legalization by fully funding the guest-worker program. HereÂ’s hoping that Congress diverts that $247 million to fully funding the needed personnel and detention beds instead of the PresidentÂ’s scheme to open the borders to temporary workers who will not leave when their time is up.

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