Comments on: Transcript: “Amnesty” for “Illegals”

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:10:05 +0000

Claudia Garcia Spencer is a vice chair for an organization called You Don’t Speak for Me, which purports to speak for the “silent majority” of American Hispanics who oppose illegal immigration. This organization is now running half-page ads in the North County Times (San Diego County), featuring a photo of Ms. Garcia Spencer along with copy that reads “… 85% of Hispanics are against increased immigration of ANY kind [my caps], and 57% want immigration reduced.”

According to the ad, the source of these statistics is a poll sponsored by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an organization that distinguishes between native-born Americans and immigrants, often without regard for immigrants’ legal status. For example, a report on the CIS website states that immigration—all immigration–adversely affects job prospects for native-born Americans.

The poll cited in the You Don’t Speak for Me ad is available on the CIS website, and the allegedly neutral questions are fully loaded. One question reads: “There are currently 37 million legal and illegal immigrants living in the United States and 1.5 million new legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year, not including those allowed in on a long term temporary basis. Putting aside the legal status for a moment, do you think the number of immigrants entering is: (a) too high, (b) too low, or (c) about right?”

The current You Don’t Speak for Me ads were paid for by the You Don’t Speak for Me Coalition and by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization with ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens, a documented white supremacist group.

But the plot further thickens. Ms. Garcia Spencer entered the US legally as a mail order bride. (She advertised for American husband in a magazine.) The man she chose, Mike Spencer, founded the Vista Citizens’ Brigade, a group that works alongside the San Diego Minutemen (SDMM), and SDMM’s “antics” are well documented on a website called “Minutemen Unvarnished” (www.minutemenunvarnished.com). If the pro-immigrant activists don’t speak for her, is it possibly because her husband does?

By: Kip

Kip — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 06:57:09 +0000

well I respect all and every opinion, but this world was made
for all of us and not just for the USA this country is powerful
cause of the hard working people that came here before us
This nation in other words is made out of pure immigrants and
why are we judging those that only come to work, and nothing
else. We should look at the real criminals and leave this people
alone. Look in other words put all these people together those
that cant have a voice and work and leave all that money behind why doesnt the gov say anything about that. thanks
kip floyd

By: Judith Chambers

Judith Chambers — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:52:56 +0000

Once again stepalanko you show how bright and well read you are. Doloritas, for your information I am filthy rich and well educated. I worked the fields and I own homes one, the one I live in, It’s worth 2 million dollars. I hadn’t answer bacause I was busy doing working. How did i achieve all this? By being fair, and working really hard. I always treat people with respect regardless of their legal status. People have stories that nobody, nobody has a right to criticize. I have found people like you that with their narrow views only stop the growth of this country and create hatred and animosity. I agree with stepalanko that people like you create a McCarthy like atmosphere. People coming to this country are coming here to work, to better their lives, and they should be given an opportunnity. Now, please tell me what have you done with the gift of being in this country. Are you rich? Do you help other people with tha? I know the answer. I do. I help and I want people to at least be given an opportunity .

By: stepalenko

stepalenko — Fri, 26 May 2006 16:57:28 +0000

Doloritas, now that you make us realize that all we write is garbage, and even that garbage doesn’t come out of our heads but is rather being fed to us (and with “us” I’m referring to the bunch of people in this blog who have dared to disagree with your anti-immigrant positions)I must grab the opportunity to tell you that the other day
(May 23)you’ve made my day.
Why? Because you really unmasked yourself, and Judith Chambers’ assertion that you must belong to the KKK, which I initially judged as being too severe, turns out to be just to the point. I say this after reading following statement you made, apparently with the greatest naïveté:

“Lastly, God help Mexico and America if Lopez Obrador becomes Mexico’s president. He sounds Communist and I for one do not favor a communist thinking individual and I’m sure many Mexicans do not.”

So, we seem to be back to the good ole’ Joe McCarthy days. It’s not even that the man i s a communist, which of course, per se, should be anybody’s free choice, but it turns out that he “sounds Communist”, and that, of course cannot be tolerated. It is sure that many Mexicans would not favour this, but then there are surely many others who do.
But all of this is finally just rhetoric for one simple reason: who ever put into your head that López Obrador is, or even sounds communist? It must be the same bright people who’ve filled your head with your prejudiced ideas about immigrants.

I challenge you, here and now, to let us know about one, just one, act, declaration or statement made by López Obrador during his campaign, during his Mayor of Mexico City term, or at any other time, which could fairly be classified as “communist”.
I’ll be waiting to read you….

By: dolores

dolores — Fri, 26 May 2006 05:34:28 +0000

I venture to guess who is feeding you all the garbage you write. Do you really believe what you write, or is it fed to you through the propaganda your being given? By the way, Judith, my name is not Doloritas,it is Dolores. I feel sorry for you because you must live in an awful place to make you feel this way and so you try to verbally attack or insult. Calling me a member of the KKK is absolutely expected and when you have nothing more to add, you resort to insults. It seems you all evaluate people by their color of their skin since you bring up the scenarious. Who are the racists? Frankly, when I go to restaurants I never think of the person who is serving my table as to whether they are Mexicans or not, or legal or illegal. When I go to a Chinese restaurant, it is common to see a Chinese person serving, but sometimes, I see Mexicans. When I go to an Italian restaurant, gees, I don’t know, are they Mexican, Spaniards, or Dominicanos? Don’t know. However, good or bad service, I always leave a 20% tip because it’s a tough job to do. But, white, black, yellow, or “brown”, that’s not even a thought, obviously you do think about it and it wonder. I suggest you examine your own thoughts, people, because you are the ones with the chip on your shoulders. How sad that you all live in such a state of mind and use the type of rhetoric to try to make your point. Your paranoia is taking the best of you. I don’t know about you but I have better things to do than to go back and forth with your types. Good greetings and I hope you study the issue better as it really is burning inside you. Chill.

By: Judith Chambers

Judith Chambers — Thu, 25 May 2006 04:49:38 +0000

Ana DeAnda. Well said Ana, well said. I am sorry, but Dolores will label you USA hater now.

By: Ana DeAnda

Ana DeAnda — Thu, 25 May 2006 02:12:15 +0000

Putting aside what Ms.Chambers and Stepalenko wrote that I fully support. Since there are lots and lots of undocumented people… I’m just curious to know how exactly Dolores would spot in a public place an “illegal” immigrant and what could be her reaction toward them??? I don’t think she would act nicely to somebody who looks “illegal”, Am I Wrong? Along the way could be a lot of mistakes, lots of people could look “illegal” but they are fully legal citizens(and viceversa). And as Dolores wrote “America welcomes LEGAL IMMIGRATION by the millions” My question is how you kind of “minuteman people” can exactly spot and make the right pick between “illegal” and “Not illegal” people.

And I’m not talking about asking them a SSN on a grocery store or any other public place in order to know if they are entitled to have courtesy and respect from people like you.
If you go to a Mexican restaurant, have you ever wonder if the Mexican waiter is an “illegal” immigrant in order for you to be nice….forget about this point…you probably don’t go to Mexican restaurants because those may be full of people that you don’t like (“illegal immigrants”.

Empathy is a great value that some people like you lack of it. What would you do if you were poor and living in Mexico?? You may say that fortunately is not your case either your problem… Put yourself(just once)on their shoes for a moment and think like them…May be too much to ask…too much to ask to a selfish person.

By: Judith Chambers

Judith Chambers — Wed, 24 May 2006 05:19:50 +0000

Yeah Dolores, Iam sure that you are part of the minuteman aka KKK. wether you came here voluntarily or against your will you still deserve the right to be treated like human beings. I can see that you still need to do a lot of reading about our country. Ulike you I love this country, but I am not blind, if you haven’t realized this Doloritas the fact that you were allowed in this country does not mean that you have to accept all its policies. Can you think for yourself or are you afraid of not being white enough? It’s ok to love this country and disagree with some of its policies. This is civil rights. You can disguise it or deny it in your brain to justify your lack of caring for your compatriots, but it’s still civil rights.By the way I donot want to benefit from “the stoppage of illegal entrants” whatever that means, you are starting to sound like Claudia Spencer. I bet you she will be proud of you.

By: Dolores Aguirre

Dolores Aguirre — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:42:01 +0000

Well, we agree on one thing, Vicente Fox has been a disgrace for Mexico. Never once did I mention Terrorism or the security of America for my support of America exercising its right to remain a sovereign nation. Judith and Stepalenko, you choose to go off on tangents. Reality at this time is that illegal entrants are in America and that America wants to secure its borders, which has the right to do so–and I support it and dismiss your weak arguments for giving amnesty to those who are here illegally, when America welcomes LEGAL IMMIGRATION by the millions.

There are many American states that have a deficit in their health care because of illegal entrants–look to California and Arizona– (this discussion for another blog). Your (Judith and Stepalenko) distorted ideas of what America should do are biased and muddied. It’s interesting to note, Stepalenko writes …” But that doen’t(sic) mean one must just stand and look on quietly at all the stupid , arrogant and barbaric actions of its successive governments, particularly the current one….”, when this administration (government, of the same political party as the one who provided amnesty to the many illegals that were here in 1986) is the one who is pushing for amnesty. My guess is that you are from the opposite political party and you don’t like this administration, so you lash at it. Do you really know what you think, or do you just write what you are being given as propaganda? Those militants who would like to see their power base grow through the ignorance of the people they are pretending to help are scaring you. Yes, Judith, I will think about you, but not for the reasons you state (racial profiling), but because I would want you to consider the other side of this issue, since a whole lot of Mexicans in America will be the ones to benefit from the stoppage of illegal entrants. As to the Civil Rights issue, don’t compare the African American plight with this issue. As one African American said, they were brought here against their will to serve as slaves, the ones we are talking about now, they came of their own free will. Also, listen to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, of California of the 35th District–she also doesn’t agree with your premise that this illegal entrant issue is comparable to the African American Civil Rights march. Perhaps you wish it were, but it is not.

Lastly, God help Mexico and America if Lopez Obrador becomes Mexico’s president. He sounds Communist and I for one do not favor a communist thinking individual and I’m sure many Mexicans do not. I like my Bill of Rights and Mexico should have them too. I would think that you two would also like it by your comments.

By: stepalenko

stepalenko — Mon, 22 May 2006 08:05:37 +0000

Hello Judith, I’ve ben a bit busy so haven’t had time to continue with these picturesque polemics. But I fully agree with you: Dolores just doesn’t get the point. How about accusing me -us- of being full of hatred and contempt for America (meaning the U.S., because in fact “America” is the whole continent, from Greenland down to Patagonia, including, oh sorrow!, little Cuba, which is also America, whether we like it or not)
Anyway: no, Dolores, I don’t hate the U.S., which is a great country, and so are many of its people. But that doen’t mean one must just stand and look on quietly at all the stupid , arrogant and barbaric actions of its successive governments, particularly the current one….
All your angry tirade about how corrupt, racist and repressive the government and part -just part, mind you- of the society are in Mexico (and/or the rest of Latin America) was completely gratuitous. Anybody even superficially well-informed knows this, and I never pretended that Mexico was a paradise in contrast to the U.S. My least intention would be to defend or present as an example such a despicable character as President Fox (who fortunately has his days counted, but if he succeeds with his fiendish machinations, poor Mexico will be even worse off with its next government; let’s hope reason prevails and Lopez Obrador wins the election next July)
But then, again: is corruption and misgovernment in Mexico and the other Latin countries a reason to mistreat the immigrants and deny them the legalization of their status, as was done for 200 years with the successive immigrant waves from other countries? Is a full-blooded American like Herr Schwarzenegger -with that slight Nazi patina- the right person to deny citizenship and even residence to the descendants of the people who originally inhabited these lands? And if he is the right person, is it correct that Dolores Aguirre, ni más ni menos, follows suite,and also demands that the 11 million “illegal” Mexicans are thrown out, and treated like criminals? Only because unlike Dolores Aguirre they were not born on the right side of the border?
Finally, I would like to state that arguing all these anti-immigrant policies are necessary for the safekeeping of “America”’s security against terrorism, etc. is, if you’ll pardon my French, a lot of bullshit.