MYTHS AND HALF-TRUTHS ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

VCT Web Posted 1/17/2000

MYTH: America has lots of room to double the population (The U.S. Census Bureau says that the U.S. population will double this century).

TRUTH: The open spaces one sees from an airplane are not where the 260 million new immigrants and their families will settle. They will settle in the already overcrowded urban areas of the country just like they always have. Much of America's open spaces are occupied by food production for our own people and to sustain tens of millions of people in other countries. Open spaces are also part of our national heritage of parks and wilderness. A U.S. Census spokesman recently said we shouldn't be very crowded even at twice the population because we still will have only about a fourth the density of England. This irresponsible "trick" statement averages our open spaces, much of which is farmland, parks, and otherwise uninhabitable land, into the equation. In the sections of the country where most Americans live, we are already very much as crowded as are Europeans. And do we want to live like Europeans who centuries ago destroyed most of their wild areas.



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MYTH: Americans won't do the work that illegals do.

TRUTH: Prior to 1965 when the disastrous Immigration Bill was passed, there was very little immigration. In fact, between 1925 and 1965, there was even a period of net emigration out of the United States. During this time, our grass was getting cut, our meat was being packed, our children were being watched and our houses were being cleaned. The idea that somehow we suddenly can't run a country without an unlimited supply of foreigners is absurd.

Those in favor of foreign labor are corporations who are addicted to cheap labor. They are the ones who are benefiting. But their benefit comes at the American tax payer's expense when you consider that the American tax payer is virtually subsidizing the labor costs of the greedy corporations by supplying the illegal foreign workers and their families with welfare, free education, free medical, WICs, housing assistance, etc. -- something the corporations won't do.

Americans won't allow themselves to be exploited like illegals do, but they WILL do the work that illegals do for fair compensation and benefits. If Americans did the work that illegals do at higher pay, would that benefit the consumer? You bet it would in the long run. But many Americans who do not care about America's future are consumers who favor the idea of exploiting illegal workers because it keeps commodity and service prices down in the short term.



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HALF TRUTH: illegals eventually become assimilated Americans.

TRUTH: Many do. But Most third world illegals come to the U.S. for personal economic reasons. Most do not come to cherish our democratic system. Many so called "immigration rights" groups "fan the fire" with their rhetoric which encourages immigrants to preserve their culture and language at tax payers expense. Among some of these groups, the word "assimilation" is considered xenophobic. When ultimately illegal immigrants and/or their children do become voting citizens, many vote in blocks (Mexican-American, El Salvadoran-American, Guatemalan-American, etc.), not for the good of America, but for personal economic gain usually at the expense of another group.



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HALF TRUTH: Illegal aliens are better off in the U.S. doing lousy menial jobs than they are in their own country.

TRUTH: That may be true for the Illegal aliens in the short run (and businesses that hire them), but for many "undocumented immigrants" (Mexicans make up the majority), the "American legacy of exploitation of immigrants" remains in the minds of their children for many generations to come creating resentment of America and hinders assimilation of even their American born offspring. Resentment of America has created anti-American organizations such as MECHA whose nationwide college and high school members must pledge their support to forcefully take back what they call "Aztlan," the U.S. Southwest ceded in 1846 to the U.S. in the Mexican War.



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HALF TRUTH: Illegal aliens pay taxes that benefit the economy.

TRUTH: Most illegal aliens do not receive a typical paycheck with tax deductions -- they are paid in cash and do not pay taxes. Even when they do pay taxes (only possible if they use fraudulent social security numbers or government assigned ID tax numbers), their meager income is not enough to pay for medical expenses and all the expenses for all the children they give birth to. You don't have to look at statistics -- just visit the maternal ward at the L.A. county hospital. There, illegal immigrant women are having thousands of children per year free of charge and can't afford them once they give birth, and that doesn't stop them from having even more children -- most learn how to work the system so that they receive cash assistance and food stamps.

A basic principle in economics is this: The more people that assimilate into the system the better -- if it creates a larger tax base. But here in California it hasn't. For example, the feds had to bail out the L.A. County hospital system several years ago and the county hospitals are now again headed for another crisis. The evidence shows that the net results are that illegal immigrants cost the taxpayer significantly more than they pay in taxes.



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HALF TRUTH: Illegal aliens have a good work ethics.

TRUTH: It depends on what one means by "work ethic." If it means that illegals will allow themselves to be exploited, then they have a good work ethic. If it means that a group of day laborers would be consciences in the assembly of precision built automobiles, it might get an argument. But it is irrelevant if an illegal alien has a good work ethic -- they are working illegally!



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MYTH: Illegal aliens don't affect politics because they can't vote.

TRUTH: Just by being counted in the census, illegals give political power to special groups. Many illegals fraudulently vote anyway and there is strong evidence that some key elections have been upset by illegal voters. Politicians represent the "people" even if those people are illegal aliens. Since the number of representatives in congress is fixed, any increase in population in California, for example, due to illegal immigration will require more representation for that group while taking away representation from people in other states. Most politicians that represent areas of large illegal population, vote in the interest of illegal aliens since they are the ones they represent. On the state level, it is clear that politicians like Governor Davis, California Speaker of the House Antonio Villaraigosa, California Senator Hilda Solis, California Assemblyman Gilbert A. Cedillo, etc., all want laws changed in the interest of illegal aliens.



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MYTH: illegals go to illegal unlicensed medical clinics run by unlicensed quacks because they have no other alternative and because they are afraid of being deported.

TRUTH: Illegals know that they won't be deported simply for seeking medical help -- thousands go for free medical help every day. Obviously, the thousands of illegals who give birth in our county hospitals do not seem to be worried about deportation after their free delivery. The real reason many unsophisticated Hispanic illegals don't go to "free" medical facilities is because they actually trust "curanderos" ( type of witch doctors popular in Mexico) over licensed medical doctors.



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HALF TRUTH: Illegals come to the U.S. for jobs to support their families, and wives and kids in there homeland.

TRUTH: Many do. But record numbers of those wives and kids are sneaking over the border to join their breadwinner in the U.S. But most alarming, is the record numbers of dead-beat dads that find an easy escape from their responsibilities in their homeland and in fact abandon their families. There is also strong empirical evidence that even illegal aliens who had good jobs in their homeland still want to be in the U.S. -- most of the world's people want to come to the U.S. because it is a very good place to be for many more reasons than just for a job.



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MYTH: Pete Wilson's attitude towards illegal aliens stifled trade with Mexico. Governor Davis will change that.

TRUTH: Trade from California to Mexico increased 84.5 percent between 1992 and 1997 and did more trading with Mexico than any other state including Texas - all during the central years of the Wilson administration.



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MYTH: Proposition 187 is unconstitutional because governor Davis says so.

TRUTH: Maybe 187 is unconstitutional. But it is not for the governor of California to decide that. That decision must come from the U.S. supreme court. Davis has preempted the supreme court and snubbed his nose at the voters of California by deciding on his own that 187 is unconstitutional -- contradicting a statement he made to the voters "I'm a governor, not a judge."



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MYTH: The cost of not educating undocumented children is higher than the cost of educating them.

TRUTH: This kind of statement is absurd. It assumes that disallowing illegal alien children into our schools and/or deporting them is not an option. The idea that undocumented children are being punished for the bad deeds of their parents is ludicrous. Undocumented children already have citizenship in another country that is responsible for their education. California schools have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding who gets to go to school. This policy is a powerful magnet that attracts illegals to California. The costs are enormous. Undocumented children are being rewarded, not punished.

Few disagrees that if the current rate of illegal immigration continues, a school a day will have to be built to accommodate the undocumented children and citizen children of undocumented parents.



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MYTH: Record public school enrollment on a national level of 17.5 percent from 1983 to 1997, is a result of Baby Boomers.

TRUTH: Current Population Surveys (such as reported in the January 1999 Backgrounder) shows that 15.9 percent of the school-age population growth in 1997 had immigrant mothers. In California, officials say a new school each day -- or a new classroom an hour -- is needed to keep up with the growth (Since immigrants are just as likely (even more likely) than natives to go to public school, it's clear that nearly all the increase in public school enrollment over the past 15 years is due to federal immigration policy, not the Baby Boom generation.



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MYTH: Issuing California driver's licenses to illegal aliens will make our roads safer because they would be trained to drive safely and would have insurance.

TRUTH: Giving illegal aliens driver's licenses will only make enforcement of our immigrant laws more difficult -- it would make it harder to detect them. It also "throws in the towel" and sends the wrong message to illegal aliens that they can change the law by breaking the law. Society must assume that anyone who would break the law and drive without a license, would continue to break driving and other laws even if they were licensed and most would not be any safer drivers. Moreover, it is laughable to think that these illegal aliens are going to run out and buy car insurance (one of more profitable documents now being sold to illegals, are fraudulent "proof of insurance" documents).



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MYTH: Lack of academic achievement and high school dropout rates are caused by the poor economic conditions of immigrants.

TRUTH: This belief is another one of those "just accept this as truth" cliches." Poverty in itself does not cause school dropouts. This was proven in a report in Scientific American magazine (Indochinese Refugee Families and Academic Achievement, February, 1992). The article showed that many refugees from Southeast Asia with large families arrived in the U.S. with little more than the clothes on their backs and with no exposure to Western culture or knowledge of the English language. Yet their children display stunning scholastic achievement in American schools. In the U.S., the effect of poverty on education has been focused mainly on two ethnic groups, Black and Hispanics. Ironically, these groups have the most representation by their "leaders" who's livings depend on bringing high visibility to the children's penurious conditions -- instead of emphasis on the hard work it takes to succeed in academics.

But for the sake of argument, if poverty of immigrants is the cause of their lack of academic acheivement, why would the U.S. want to import poverty.



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MYTH: Since illegal alien farm workers come to the U.S. for "jobs Americans won't take," they would not present a problem if they were given temporary visas to allow them to work the fields and then return to Mexico (or other country).

TRUTH: Millions of illegal alien workers who could be doing all the farm work that "Americans won't do" are already in the U.S. Almost all illegals who come to work the fields do not make a career of low paying, hard working farm jobs. The belief that only pitiful third world laborers can be content in doing menial farm work is obviated when it is seen that almost all of these workers sooner or later "head for the city" for the better jobs.



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HALF TRUTH: Illegals are enjoying the fruit of the recent great American robust economy.

TRUTH: While many Americans are benefiting from a robust economy, government data shows that record numbers of Americans are falling into poverty in spite of overall good economic conditions -- and in spite of 35 years of record government spending on social programs. This down slide can be directly linked to illegals flooding the low scale job market -- virtually importing poverty faster than it can be irradiated. Had there not been any massive illegal immigration in the past 20 years, poverty in much of America may well have been reduced significantly.



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MYTH: Employers are solely responsible for illegal immigration because they attract illegals by providing low paying jobs.

TRUTH: Illegals are directly responsible for their illegal presence. Blaming the entire problem on employers for illegal immigration is like blaming a women for her own rape because she dressed to **** and the rapist couldn't resist her.



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HALF TRUTH: Hispanic immigrants are family oriented and very religious catholics.

TRUTH: The vast majority of illegal entries from across our southern border are unsophisticated, poor, and uneducated, who do not necessarily hold to strong family values or the Catholic faith. This is evident by U.S. statistics showing that while unwed teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is decreasing as a whole, Latina unwed teenage pregnancy is on the rise. The illegal immigrants of today are not all the honest, hard working, American dream seekers. This is evident by record numbers of dead-beat dads who walk away from their responsibilities to their children by leaving their homeland and simply crossing the border.



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MYTH: If the U.S. pumps money into Mexico and other third world countries for the purpose of improving their economies, it will create jobs thus eliminating the need to illegally immigrate to the U.S.

TRUTH: The only way that the improvement of other countries' economies would appreciably stop illegal immigration to the U.S., is if those countries' economies were to become as strong as that of the U.S. Thousands of visa over stayers from non-third world countries like Canada, France, Israel, are also part of the illegal immigration problem and those countries have good economies. The U.S. is not the only country to which illegal immigrants seek to immigrate. Countries all over the world are experiencing illegal immigration driven by "wanting a better life." As soon as Third World countries become even only a little bit more prosperous than their neighbors, they rush to keep strangers out. Mexico, for example, does not tolerate its border violations by Guatemalans. Malaysia recently announced that in the case of repeat offenders, it will flog illegal aliens, their employers, and anyone who smuggles them into the country. In early January, 2000, over 35,000 illegal Zimbabwean workers were tossed out Of South Africa. So forget it! The U.S. should be concerned with improving its own economy and strictly enforcing its immigration laws.



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HALF TRUTH: Immigrants make good entrepreneurs.

TRUTH: The common belief that immigrants are natural entrepreneurs may have its roots in the observation of the thousands of illegal alien third world style illegal street venders now found in most large U.S. cities. This belief has been obviated by a wall street article in which recent data shows that native born Americans are more likely to be successful entrepreneurs. (Immigrant Entrepreneurs Slide From Their Top Spot, The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 1999).

If it's nesessary , it may well have to be.

The only question is how to make it aesthetically more appealing.

I don't understand what the placard says, but it somehow reminds me of this:



FYI - I genuinely don't like Picasso.

U.S. BORDER FENCE PROTRUDES INTO MEXICO ACCIDENTAL PLACEMENT COULD COST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT $3 MILLION TO FIX

This part of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is OK, but a 1.5-mile stretch of the barrier was mistakenly built in Mexican territory.
Guillermo Arias / AP file

The Associated Press
June 29, 2007

COLUMBUS, N.M. - A 1.5-mile barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border was designed to keep cars from illegally crossing into the United States. There's just one problem: It was accidentally built on Mexican soil. Now embarrassed border officials say the mistake could cost the federal government more than $3 million to fix.

The barrier was part of more than 15 miles of border fence built in 2000, stretching from the town of Columbus to an onion farm and cattle ranch.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said the vertical metal tubes were sunk into the ground and filled with cement along what officials firmly believed was the border. But a routine aerial survey in March revealed that the barrier protrudes into Mexico by 1 to 6 feet.

James Johnson, whose onion farm is in the disputed area, said he thinks his forefathers may have started the confusion in the 19th century by placing a barbed-wire fence south of the border. No one discovered their error, and crews erecting the barrier may have used that fence as a guideline.

"It was a mistake made in the 1800s," Johnson said. "It is very difficult to make a straight line between two points in rugged and mountainous areas that are about two miles apart."

The Mexican government was notified and did what any landowner would do: They sent a note politely insisting that Mexico get its land back.

"Our country will continue insisting for the removal (of the fence) to be done as quickly as possible," the Foreign Relations Department said in a diplomatic missive to Washington.

'At the time'
When the barrier was built in 2000, the project was believed to cost about $500,000 a mile. Estimates to uproot and replace it range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Michael Friel, the spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said the barrier was "built on what was known to be the international boundary at the time." He acknowledged the method used was "less precise than it is today."

The International Boundary and Water Commission, a joint Mexican-American group that administers the 2,000-mile border, said the border has never changed and is marked every few miles by tall concrete or metal markers.

Sally Spener, a commission spokeswoman in El Paso, said the agency is generally consulted for construction projects to ensure that treaties are followed. The commission is working with the Department of Homeland Security "to develop a standardized protocol" for building fences and barriers.

"We just want to make sure those things are clear now," Spener said.

'The fence is crooked'
New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman asked Customs and Border Protection officials to build a new fence on U.S. soil before the old one is torn down.

Bingaman said he was concerned about security issues in Las Chepas, the small Mexican village where most area residents live. New Mexico once sought permission to raze the community because it was known as a popular staging area for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

Back at his farm, Johnson said he doesn't understand why the placement of the barriers has become an issue now since his family's fence went unquestioned for more than a century.

"The markers are in the right place, and the fence is crooked," Johnson said. "But for 120-plus years it was agreed upon that that fence was the border."

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

quote:

Originally posted by RationalE:
I don't understand what the placard says, but it somehow reminds me of this:



FYI - I genuinely don't like Picasso.

I think the sign in English means 'Destroy the Fence'.

The fence would dissolve naturally, under the following conditions:

1) Significant (to pre-1965 levels) decrease in migrant flow and

2) Just as significant rise in need of migrants (this could still happen twenty years down the road, as Alan Greenspan predicted)

and/or

3) Unprecedented economic/social growth in Mexico and other third-world countries from where most of the migrants arrive (not going to happen in foreseeable future)

or

4) Other (Unkown)


Then you would just as naturally have distinctly different signs on the border

Texas border fence 'on track' for fall
Chertoff says communities will be consulted, but won't get a veto

By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
July 19, 2007

FUNDING INCREASE

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially announced Wednesday that the Houston area will receive $25 million in anti-terrorism funding this year, a 50 percent increase over 2006.

The money can be spent to train, equip and better protect police, fire and emergency personnel.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Houston's port and large petrochemical industry could make the city a potential target to terrorists.

Chertoff, on Wednesday, said it wasn't a leap to recognize that a "U.S.S. Cole-type attack" on the Ship Channel could close the busy port.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that could have a huge impact," he said.

Officials also said on Wednesday that the city of Houston will receive $14.5 million in federal funding for improving communications equipment used by first responders. The money is designed to help agencies and entities to effectively communicate with each other in emergency situations.

Construction of a polarizing fence along the Texas-Mexico border is expected to begin by this fall, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff confirmed Wednesday, adding that border communities will be consulted "in terms of style" so the government doesn't "create any eyesores."

"I expect we'll be doing some construction in Texas this fiscal year," Chertoff said, referring to the government's fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

The construction timeline appears to be the first acknowledgment by Homeland Security of a start time for the fence's construction in Texas. Federal officials, however, have still not disclosed the fence's location.

In an interview Wednesday with the Chronicle to discuss Homeland Security grants, Chertoff also provided new details for the fence, saying it would not be a solid wall, or a double layer of fencing on either side of a border road as has been installed in San Diego. He said gates would be erected to allow municipal officials access to key infrastructure such as water pumps.

Chertoff said he had seen some fencing "that was quite attractive" during his visits along the South Texas border.

"I think I was in Brownsville ... and I saw some very nice fence that was ornamental but it did the trick," he said.

Border leaders have been fighting the project saying community concerns are being ignored and that the barrier is unnecessary, will harm flood-control systems and wildlife habitats and hurt relations with Mexico. They have also been upset by what they perceive as Homeland Security's efforts to work behind the scenes to finish fence construction plans despite promises to consult with local authorities first.

Chertoff, however, pledged Wednesday to consult with border leaders on the fence design, but said "we can't give border communities a veto."

Laredo Mayor Raul G. Salinas said he has still not been told where the fence is planned in his town.

"There are some areas I'm certain may require fencing, but I don't think that's the case in Laredo, especially where it's going to be an eyesore," Salinas said.

"I understand we don't have veto power, but I hope the citizens of Laredo, the business community, the ranchers and farmers, will have an opportunity to speak about this issue," he added. "If you're going to construct something in your neighborhood, aren't you going to tell them?"

Congress allocated $1.2 billion for 370 miles of fencing along the Mexico border, with about 153 miles of it in Texas, by the end of 2008.

The homeland chief on Wednesday said he "can't rule out" that the government would use eminent domain to seize private property to make way for the fence. Governments use eminent domain to take private property for public use.

In a state rich in property rights history, that acknowledgement will likely earn a fiery reception along the border.

The secretary's comments were disappointing to border residents, who have long feared a federal land grab of their riverfront property.


'There's nothing we can do'
"I'm not going to help them in any way," said landowner Noel Benavides of Roma. "But if they go in, I can't stop them and nobody can."

"But it hurts me to see that area on the border destroyed, but there's nothing we can do about it."

Chertoff rebutted arguments by border officials that the Rio Grande is an effective security barrier, noting that during seasonal dry spells the river narrows enough to allow easy crossing.

A fence, Chertoff said, would be better for the border environment than to allow the widespread crossing of immigrants who "trample" the riverside, leaving human and toxic waste.

"In areas where there is significant amount of migrant crossings, there is unbelievable environmental degradation," Chertoff said.

National conservation groups have joined trade groups in protesting the border fence, arguing it could wreak havoc on decades of wildlife habit restoration.

Chertoff left no doubt a fence will be erected in heavy crossing areas that are designated by the U.S. Border Patrol. Communities will be consulted on the type of fencing to be installed, and if alternative methods are "operationally compatible" to security needs, they will be implemented, he said.

But he stressed security considerations will govern the fence type and location. "Because the fence is not only to protect the border communites, it's to protect the country," he said.

He said controlling the border has become a national issue, which can't be "driven by local preference."

"I can't, in fairness, say to the rest of the country, 'Well, jeez, I'd like to help you but out but there's a particular landowner who doesn't want to be disturbed, so we're out of luck,' " he said.

McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez, a longtime opponent of the fence, said few residents believe the fence will be effective.

"We want to do the right thing, but the cities and counties, we think a proper debate hasn't taken place," Cortez said.

Chertoff said most of the fence's construction so far has taken place in Arizona.

"It's being built as we speak," he said. "We are on track."

james.pinkerton@chron.com

That's a good sign.

You may see it as paradox, but it's not only the Country or Locals who will in the long run benefit from it, but it's also migrants themselves.
Once border is properly secured, the issue of illegal immigration will be so much easier to solve and, if there is need for workers to come in future, those will be able to come through legal means only, without risking their lives while crossing the border (and living as undocumented immigrants, if succeeded to come).

Bush-Power Opens Borders For Big Business Cronies

Updated: 2007-07-18 15:12:57-05
by William Gheen,
ALIPAC director

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is calling for a formal congressional investigation into the non-enforcement and under enforcement of America's popularly supported and existing immigration laws.

We need Congress and the press to do their jobs, by launching investigations to find out why our existing laws are not being enforced. Presidents do not get to decide which laws they will or will not enforce on behalf of their big business friends. That's what kings do, not Presidents. If our existing laws go un-enforced, then we no longer live in a functioning Republic for which our flag stands.

All fines against employers for hiring illegal aliens had ceased by 2004 under directives from the Bush administration. Recent high profile raids have excluded charges against employers. Border Patrol agents are operating under instructions to only Catch and Release and do not pursue. Agents that do their jobs could face dismissal or prosecution like Ramos and Compean.

Under these directives, it would not matter if we had half a million US Border Patrol agents deployed. Bush has opened our borders through regulatory means. The Border Patrol has their hands tied and are not really stopping anyone from crossing illegally into the US.

The Bush administration is not adequately enforcing American immigration laws at the border, against employers, or against businesses that intentionally aid and abet illegals. Banks are being allowed to offer credit cards and home loans that are targeted specifically at illegal aliens, which is in violation of existing federal laws.

Congress demanded that 700 new miles of fencing be added to the Border. The Bush administration stripped the funding from the plan and built only a few miles of fencing!

Under these conditions, the deliberations of Congress, the votes of Congress, the elections, and the votes of all Americans have been nullified by executive orders. These actions by the White House, combined with recent revelations about the SPP and North American Community are alarming. Until Congress can restore the Republic and assure that laws that are passed will be enforced, there is no need for future legislation.

ALIPAC believes that enforcement of our existing laws would eventually and significantly reduce the number of illegal aliens residing in America. The current illegal immigration crisis in America is being created by the non-enforcement of existing laws. Correcting that situation would begin to reverse the flow of illegal aliens with more leaving than entering.
---
Editor's note: ¿Qué república?

Whitewater Factory Struggles To Stay Open After Worker Raid

The Capital Times
Pat Schneider
07/18/2007

WHITEWATER -- Star Packaging is all but silent a year after a raid by federal immigration agents.

A lone machine clacked on a recent afternoon, a single worker sealing plastic bags around bundles of screws. Beyond him, a flank of packaging assembly lines stood motionless. Empty pallets were stacked to the ceiling, and the reaches of the 58,000-square-foot warehouse, once filled with goods received and ready to deliver, yawned wide.

The Whitewater plant that once employed 100 workers now has fewer than 10. Its founder, scheduled to go to trial Monday, faces some 30 years in prison if convicted, and Hispanic and Anglo neighbors are still trying to rebuild trust.

Crystal Petrie, the 26-year-old daughter of Star owner Allen Petrie, struggled to bite back anger and grief while talking about the fate of the business her father started.

"He's very hurt by what happened," she said. She said her father cooperated with police, providing information on any worker about whom they raised questions.

About a quarter of Star workers were taken into custody after the raid on Aug. 8, 2006, but that was just the start for the plant workers and owners.

"We lost accounts because of the negative publicity," Crystal Petrie said while walking through the empty plant on July 12.

As business dropped off, layoffs followed. Now it's a question how long the business can stay open.

"It won't be much longer if we can't recover business," said Petrie, who worked at the plant since age 18, skipping college to bet her future on the family business her father founded in the early 1980s.

She opened the doors of the family factory to a tour organized by Voces de la Frontera, an advocacy group for immigrant and low-wage workers.

At a forum at city hall that day, immigrants seized in the raid told of their experiences.

Luz Huitron, a 55-year-old grandmother, said through an interpreter that she was taken to the Dodge County Jail and did not understand what was happening. A diabetic, she was crying and vomiting, but was given no medical treatment, she said. With the assistance of the Mexican consulate, Huitron was released in nine days. Now under an order of deportation, she and a handful of others seized in the raid are trying to win the right to stay in the United States.

"Each and every one of us works to survive and support a family. People judge us but supporting a family is not a crime," she said, crying. "I cannot remain silent about this," she said.

Bianca Cruz, age 8, asked at the forum: "Why does the government say it takes care of us, then take my mother away?"

The girl's mother, Mora Cruz, 28, said later with her daughter's help, "She was really sad. She didn't know where I was."

Bianca and her younger brother were cared for by an aunt for the nine days Mora Cruz was in custody.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of Voces de la Frontera, based in Milwaukee, said that, as in the past, immigration foes have pitted working people against each other. But the two groups' interests are closely aligned, she said. "If a country supports the quality of life of its immigrant workers, it will uphold the quality of life of its citizens."

"We need to change the laws so they fit reality and fit our values," she said. "We need a simple, affordable process to citizenship. Congress can do it, but the political will probably is not there."

'They broke the law': Those speaking at the forum in Whitewater were sympathetic to immigrant workers, but other sessions have drawn proponents of stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws and deportation of undocumented workers, Neumann-Ortiz said, most notably members of the Washington D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the federation, said in an interview that the federal government should make more workplace raids and arrest more employers.

"If they get serious and go after the executive who knowingly hire illegals, it will send out the message that you can't do it and get away with it," Mehlman said.

Computer systems to quickly and efficiently verify the Social Security numbers presented by workers could easily be developed and would be if not for bureaucratic inertia and the influence of business interests that want cheap labor, he said.

Departing undocumented workers may hurt the businesses where they worked, but their presence depresses local and national economies, Mehlman argued. "We should not have an economic system that allows illegals to dictate wages -- it'll destroy the middle class."

Mehlman is unmoved by the plight of parents separated from their children, or business owners who find their life's work threatened when authorities take workers. "Whose fault is that?" he asked. "They broke the law, and there's a consequence to that."

Civic fallout: City Manager Kevin Brunner estimates that up to 10 percent of his town's 14,000 residents are Hispanic, a group whose population in the area has been growing rapidly in the last decade. Hispanics are employed in all kinds of occupations at all levels and have begun to open their own businesses, he said.

Brunner said long-time residents and new ones mostly lived well together with a few incidents: the occasional piece of racist graffiti, the nasty letter to the local paper prompted by news of his initiative to have city staff learn Spanish.

After the raid on Star Packaging, though, the community was polarized. "There were those that felt it was justified and those who said it wasn't," he said.

He characterized Star as a medium-sized, low-wage employer, and said the loss of its jobs, and possibly the company, was "significant."

Marilyn Kienbaum runs the city food pantry, which saw a flurry of activity as workers lost their jobs at Star. "I think it could have been handled differently," she said. The Hispanics in Whitewater, she said, "are scared to death. I feel bad for them."

Tales of their treatment in local jails shocked her, Kienbaum said. "For heaven's sake, this is Wisconsin."

Police Chief James Coan said attention to the case has focused too much on the immigration issues, and not the identify theft aspects -- the basis of the charges against Petrie.

Coan said he could not elaborate of details, but alleged that some undocumented Star employees were using the Social Security numbers of legal immigrants. "Many Hispanic people themselves were victimized," he said.

Petrie's attorney, Stephen Glynn of Milwaukee, did not respond to messages seeking comment for this article. In published articles, however, Glynn has said that Petrie did not intend to violate the law.

The raid has led to some changes designed to make Hispanics feel more comfortable in Whitewater. Following meetings after the raid with members of the Hispanic community, the city changed its practice of having police officers ask drivers in traffic stops for their Social Security numbers, Coan said. "Our purpose was very benign," he said, merely a way to help collect any unpaid tickets.

"We asked everyone for it for several years, but we got a strong sense that people in the Hispanic community thought we were trying to capture information we could use for deportation. That was obviously not the case," he said.

Despite the changed policy, the damage is done, Jorge Islas, founder of Sigma America, an organization dedicated to building community, said in an interview.

"Whitewater used to be a peaceful town -- everybody working, everybody trusting the police, everybody living together. The raid created fear," he said.

The publicity after the raid sealed the popular image of undocumented immigrant workers as "criminals" for those inclined to think of them that way, he said.

At a silent protest outside city hall after the raid, "a lot of Anglos came and said they were sorry this happened, other people said, you're illegal -- go back to your country.'"

Islas said he worked for Allen Petrie at Star shortly after he came to Whitewater 19 years ago and he had no problems. Hispanics who have worked there recently also said it was a decent place to work, Islas said.

Since the raid, some Hispanics left the area. Others are out of work and having trouble paying the bills. "The immigration law is broken," Islas said.

The fissures keep moving through a community long after the raids are over and the headlines forgotten, Crystal Petrie said.

"People think life goes on -- it doesn't," she said.

5 Accused Of Selling IDs To Illegal Immigrants

POSTED: 7:41 pm CDT July 17, 2007
UPDATED: 7:48 pm CDT July 17, 2007

JACKSON, Miss. -- Five people, including an employee of Mississippi's driver's license division, are accused of taking part in a scheme to sell licenses to illegal immigrants.

The licenses allegedly were sold for about $2,000.

Those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents included two Mexican nationals and an Uzbek national.

The five had Mississippi or Alabama addresses.

Authorities said the group recruited illegal immigrants to purchase the Mississippi licenses.

Melissa Green, of Tupelo, Miss., a driver license examiner for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, is suspected of being part of the alleged conspiracy.

According to court documents, Green's role in the s