The Houston Chronicle laments the high poverty statistics in parts of Texas -- but I believe they ignore something.

The U.S. Census Bureau released new poverty estimates on Wednesday. The outlook for Texas is troubling indeed, and should prompt self-examination from state leaders and voters both.

According to the new data, one in six Texans lived in poverty last year. And Texas was home to three of the nation's 10 poorest counties, including the top two — Cameron County, with 42 percent below the poverty level, and Hidalgo County, with 41 percent. With 29 percent of its population poor, El Paso County was listed as the country's fourth least-prosperous.

A full quarter of all Texas children are poor, the Bureau's American Community Survey found. Almost 20 percent of Texans are economically deprived, which the government defined for a family of four as earning $19,971 or less. Only 13 percent of Americans overall were found to be poor.

The news was no more heartening in Houston. A full 29 percent of black families here were impoverished, a jump from 25 percent in 2000. Among Hispanics, the number living in poverty climbed to 30 percent from 26 percent. Fewer white Houstonians, 9 percent, were found to be poor.

Look at those Hispanic statistics -- what percentage of them are among the "undocumented" community. I recognized very quickly that the counties mentioned are among the most Hispanic -- and most illegal -- in the state.

And the statistics on African Americans? Do these numbers include the Katrina evacuees who we have welcomed into our midst -- many of whom are stuck in a cycle of chronic, generational dependence on public aid rather than work? We have witnessed this crew demanding ever more cash from the public teat so that they might avoid seeking and finding employment until they can return to their homes in the welfare state of Louisiana. Does this skew the numbers?

We don't get that sort of analysis -- because if such analysis was given, we might have obvious policy solutions for both that fly in the face of liberal dogman.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Time for this country to quit being the patsy on illegal immigration -- and allowing the border-jumping invaders to become so comfortable that they think they have anything approaching the rights of a US citizen.

More cases like this one would be a good start.

The deportation Friday of a well-educated Venezuelan couple who admitted lying about their citizenship when they registered to vote in Boone County has struck a chord among those who are in the United States illegally, their lawyer said.

Abraham E. Gomez, 46, and his wife, Mayen C. Gomez, 41, entered the United States legally on a visa, but became illegal when they overstayed, said attorney John Arnett.

Still, the couple, both of whom have college degrees, settled in Union, obtained jobs, and sent their two children to school.

Over the past six years, along with dozens, if not hundreds of illegal immigrants in Boone County, they have become part of the community, Arnett said, their status almost forgotten.

It may have been their downfall, he said.

"After being here for a while, they got lulled into a false sense of security," he said.

"They don't think that way now, that's for sure."

Their arrest - along with the arrests of dozens of illegal immigrants in connection with an investigation into the Northern Kentucky home-building industry - has not gone unnoticed among those in the United States illegally.

Arnett said he knows several such people who have returned home for fear of being caught.

In 2004, the Gomezes went to get their driving licenses. While at the courthouse, they registered to vote, falsely checking the box that said they were United States citizens.

"They knew they were not citizens of this country when they checked the form, but they had no criminal intent," Arnett said. "In their country, they are required to vote."

They were arrested earlier this year after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement received an anonymous tip. In a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, they pleaded guilty to falsely claiming they were U.S. citizens in exchange for a recommended sentence of probation and deportation.

That sentenced was imposed Friday.

The conviction also means the couple is prohibited from ever entering the United States again, even as visitors, Arnett said.

And don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out.

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Under no circumstances should any alien not yet legally admitted to the United States be held to have any rights beyond the right to continue breathing.

The case of a Juárez woman who said she was physically abused in 2001 by an immigration officer at the Paso del Norte Bridge prompted a decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this month that non-U.S. citizens have constitutional rights at ports of entry.

"It doesn't matter whether you are a U.S. citizen or not, you have rights. It may seem obvious but nobody had said it before," said El Paso lawyer Lynn Coyle, who represents the woman, Maria Antonieta Martinez-Aguero.

The decision sets a precedent and could lead to more lawsuits on the border, legal experts said.

The decision came in response to a preliminary motion by the immigration officer seeking to dismiss the case on grounds that his alleged victim did not have constitutional rights to be free from false imprisonment and the excessive use of force by law enforcement officers because she had not made official entry into the United States, among other reasons.

The officer, Humberto Gonzalez, now a Border Patrol agent, denies the abuse.

"By no means did he do the things she said he did," said his lawyer, Jeanne "Cezy" Collins.

What this decision means, in effect, is that the US Constitution applies to foreigners before they are even in the United States as defined by the laws of the United States and relevant court precedents dating back decades. Stupid decision -- even more stupid than holding that illegal aliens have rights under the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Posted by: Greg at 02:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Imagine that -- a cop who catches lawbreakers acting to see that the law is enforced. Who could oppose that? Besides the ACLU and groups that support border-jumping immigration criminals, of course.

The Rhode Island State Police will review a trooper's actions during a July 11 traffic stop on Route 95 in Richmond, when he detained 14 people who he suspected were in the country illegally, a state police spokesman said.

The internal investigation stems from a complaint the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union filed this week, on behalf of 11 of the 14 people involved, said Maj. Steven O'Donnell.

The ACLU took the case after the driver and several passengers alleged during a Providence news conference last month that Trooper Thomas Chabot overstepped his authority by taking immigration enforcement into his own hands.

They also alleged that Chabot threatened to shoot anyone who tried to escape the van that morning as it was escorted to the Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office in Providence.

The traffic stop occurred at 6:30 a.m. near Exit 4 south, where Chabot was posted at a speed checkpoint. Chabot's report states that he pulled the van's driver over for failing to signal a lane change.

After the driver provided a license and ID, Chabot asked the passengers for identification, his report states. When only a few could do so, he then "asked if any of them had immigration credentials proving their U.S. citizenship."

None did. Chabot contacted ICE authorities, and he and another trooper escorted the van to the ICE office on Dyer Avenue in Providence. The 14 were found to be in the country illegally, and they now face deportation.

Who came up with the goofy idea that illegal aliens have any rights beyond breathing?

Round 'em up! Ship 'em back! Rawhide!

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Because a group of politicians intervened in the case.

And also so that the deportation order will be mooted if Congress passes amnesty.

Eleven illegal immigrants from the Chicago area, arrested in a high-profile nationwide sweep, received an unexpected reprieve Monday after elected officials and the public weighed in on their behalf.

An immigration judge in Chicago granted the former employees of IFCO Systems a one-year stay of deportation. In return, the immigrants pledged not to appeal the deportation orders.

The delay gives the immigrants a chance to stay in the country if Congress approves a bill granting legal status to many of the nation's 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants. That measure has stalled, for now, but many analysts think the prospects will improve after the November elections.

DHS officials are weighing the option of appealing this decision.

Marc Raimondi, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said the department was still evaluating the judge's decision but would likely appeal a one-year extension.

"In order for the immigration system to have any integrity, the laws have to be enforceable," Raimondi said. "We aren't going to be influenced by public sentiment. We are going to be influenced by enforcing the immigration laws."

That doesn't sit well with one politician.

[Congressman Luis] Gutierrez will ask the Department of Homeland Security to suspend all deportations to give Congress time to pass a legalization bill, the congressman's spokesman Scott Frotman said. Frotman said it does not make sense to deport illegal immigrants "because these are people who would ultimately be affected by the law."

And I'm asking DHS to expedite every single deportation case -- and I'm asking the people of Gutierrez's district to vote him out and replace him with a congressman who believes in enforcing American law.

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