This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Illegal Immigrants

  • Hispanic activists urge Congress to turn a blind eye

    I guess the immigration issue has reached the point of absurdity. According to  Washington Examiner’s Dan Genz;

    Several Hispanic immigrant organizations called on Congress Wednesday to pass a moratorium on the enforcement of key immigration laws, saying the system is broken and families are being ripped apart by deportations. Latino Families United and other groups, speaking at a news conference on Capitol Hill, called for a ban on raids, deportations and no-match letters until new immigration reforms are approved. They asserted that the country’s many legal immigrants would make immigration reform a top priority when choosing who to support in 2008 elections.

    “The anxiety that children and families go through when they are raided and split is one of the many reasons why this is going to be a new dimension of the immigration movement,” said Pedro Aviles, director of the National Capital Immigration Coalition.

    Well, then why not pass a moratorium on the arrest of all parents since we don’t want to cause anyone’s children any anxiety? I feel sorry for those toddlers whose parents get caught selling drugs, driving recklessly or being generally foolish on those “Cops” programs. Why don’t we cut all criminals’ children a break? For pete’s sake.

    But illegal immigration critic Greg Letiecq of the Help Save Manassas group called such a proposal “laughable.”

    “To say it would be a better place if we just didn’t enforce our laws is so far beyond ludicrous, I couldn’t imagine anyone taking this tripe seriously,” Letiecq said. “It is not the character of Americans to just give up on something that is important.”

    If people are allowed to pick and choose which of our laws they want to obey, and which they can be held accountable for violating, why have laws at all?

    But Hispanic activists aren’t the only people demanding that the laws not be enforced. The unions are taking up the fight, too;

    Alleging that federal agents violated workers’ rights during raids in December, the workers’ union filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop immigration officials from conducting what the union says are illegal workplace raids.

    The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, says agents unlawfully detained workers and violated their constitutional rights during raids at six JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants. The lawsuit also demands that the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pay damages to the workers.

    ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested 1,297 workers at the plants, but union officials have said more than 12,000 workers were detained against their will during the operation.

    But there is good news for those of us who think that laws are written to be enforced, from the Herndon, VA police;

    The Herndon Police Department said it has netted more than a dozen suspected illegal aliens in the first two months since it began participating in a federal immigration enforcement program.

    Town police have received Immigration and Customs Enforcement training through the 287(g) program, authorizing selected officers to enforce immigration laws.
     
    According to Herndon Police Chief Toussaint Summers, for the months of June and July – reportedly the first full months of 287(g) participation – 13 out of 19 contacts made in accordance with the program resulted in detained individuals being turned over to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Those suspected illegal aliens will eventually be processed through the federal court system for possible deportation.

    Imagine that – police who are trained and allowed to do so, can actually catch illegal immigrants. Who’d have ever thought that?

  • VA town shuts “day labor” center and KKK leaflets muddy debate

    The controversial “Day Labor” Center in Herndon, Virginia will be closed by the Town Council finally, according to the Washington Post’s Bill Turque;

    The Town of Herndon announced yesterday that it would close its 21-month-old day-laborer center next week instead of complying with a judge’s ruling that the site must be open to all residents, including those who might be illegal immigrants.

    The decision to close the site, which became a flash point in the national debate over immigration, was reached late Tuesday by Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis and the six-member Town Council after a 2 1/2 -hour closed-door session. It brings the western Fairfax community virtually full circle in its attempts to regulate — critics say drive out — its large population of Latino day laborers. The center was established in late 2005 as an alternative to the streets for laborers and prospective employers to come to terms.

    Judges are idiots. Period. This country was a much better place before judges started making idiot decisions based on emotion instead of law;

    At issue was an ordinance the council approved in 2005 as a legal companion to the day-laborer center, barring workers and motorists from striking deals for employment on the streets. The courts have generally required that communities barring public solicitation for work — a form of speech — must provide an alternative venue for that speech, such as a hiring site.

    As the town enforced the anti-solicitation ordinance, many residents grew resentful of the center. Reston Interfaith, a group of religious institutions operating under a grant from Fairfax County, did not require workers to document their immigration status. Opponents of the center said the town was essentially abetting illegal immigration.

    Of course, no rational discussion of immigration can’t exclude the completely irrational KKK;

    Dozens of Ku Klux Klan leaflets calling for a ban on “all non-white immigration” were distributed last weekend in Manassas, where a dispute over illegal immigration has raised tensions in recent weeks.

    The leaflets, dropped at night into mailboxes and on driveways along one street, urged “white Christian America” to stand up for its rights. Smatterings of racist literature are distributed in communities throughout the region every few weeks, but this incident struck a raw nerve in Manassas.
     
    Klan officials, who are based in Arkansas, said yesterday that Virginia residents had asked them for Klan literature to deliver in Manassas.

    It sounds like a set-up actually. I’m pretty sure that the pro-illegal-immigration-at-any-cost crowd planted these leaflets in oder to make the debate about racism than about rule of law. I’m fairly sure that no half-way rational person who truly wants to end illegal immigration into Northern Virginia would think that KKK literature would strengthen support there. If I had to pick out the organization most likely to use racist literature, I’d pick an organization with a racist name – like “Mexicans Without Borders” or “La Raza”. In fact it didn’t take long for them to start marginalizing the opposition;

    “Any time lawmakers pass initiatives that . . . single out a segment of the population and try to drive them out of the community, they are laying the foundation for increased bigotry and hatred,” Mexicans Without Borders said in a statement issued yesterday in response to the reports of Klan leafleting. They said a recent wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric had “opened the door to racist organizations.”

    The only racism here from the groups who support lawbreakers merely because they happen to have a certain skin color  – against people who want the law enforced who happen to have lower levels of melanin pigment.

  • Economic boycott in Prince William County

    This debate over immigration has become so diluted with inuendos and lies, it’s hard to tell who is who anymore. But, here, I’ll try to explain it in terms anyone can understand.

    Residents of Prince William County, Virginia, a fairly upscale area in Northern Virginia, has decided that their county government went too far when they built, with tax payer dollars, a “day labor” center in Lorton so they forced the county to begin checking each “day worker” for their immigration status. It only makes sense – why should tax payers fund a gathering point that encourages law breakers to break the laws that protect taxpayers?

    Well, the supposedly “legal” Latin population of PWC are staging an economic boycott this week to demonstrate their economic power. Funny, but the Washington Post can only find legal residents to quote;

    Rivera, the hotel worker who attended the demonstration at Potomac Mills, said she was also a legal resident but was angry at the proposals aimed at driving out illegal immigrants. She said she decided to participate after hearing about the boycott through her church.

    “They don’t want our children in the schools. They don’t want people renting to immigrants. They want to ask for families’ ID cards in parks. This is wrong, and we do not accept it,” she said.

    If you’re a legal resident, chica, why are you worried? I have to show my passport and immigration papers when I travel in Central America – so does the rest of the world. I get stopped in malls, parks, the liquor stores and asked for my ID all of the time. If I threw a hissy everytime I was “profiled” (being a pale white guy with a noticable American accent in my Spanish) I’d probably get tossed in some dank cell on an island prison somewhere.

    Last month I wrote the same thing in reference to the Pollo Rico bust – legal residents were busted for laudering cash ($7 million, in fact), and the government found illegal immigrants working in the restuarants – so the “legal” Latins were worried they’d get scooped up in some huge raid and get mistakenly shipped back to their jungle villages. The big raid never happened – in fact the Montgomery County police chief came on television and promised he wouldn’t enforce the law. But I didn’t have to wait in line for a haircut that weekend.

    Well, of course, since many of the illegal immigrants (re: lawbreakers) are of Central American heritage, suddenly it’s a race issue and not a rule of law issue. The Washington Post writes:

    “They used us Hispanics to build this county, and now they are trying to kick us out. It’s not fair,” fumed Padilla, 28, a legal immigrant from El Salvador. On the window of his restaurant, La Laguna, was a large green poster that read, “We Are A Pro-Immigrant Business. Rescind the Prince William County Anti-Immigrant Resolution.”

    Who is “they”, chica?

    I’m gonna tell you the truth; up until recently, I was one of the Americans willing to look the other way on immigration. It really didn’t affect me or my family directly, so I actually didn’t have a firm opinion on the subject – other than the Border Patrol needed to enforce the laws on the border and stem the tide as best they could.

    But that all changed last year when I watched thousands of Latin immigrants marching through the streets of our cities, here in this country with their bellies full and designer clothes on their backs with Mexican flags and upside down American flags. Of course the next times they came out for their rallies, the Mexican flags had disappeared and the American flags were right-side up – but too late. The first action someone takes, right or wrong, is the action that person truly feels strongest about. So even though they love the American dollar, the American lifestyle and the American opportunity, they’d prefer that this country was different – to suit them. OK, fine, be like that. That’s how you converted me into an anti-illegal immigration blogger.

    Even the Anglos aren’t getting it, according to the Washington Examiner;

    At a pair of family-owned Laundromats in Woodbridge and Dumfries, owner Ginger Trest is touting support for the boycott to show solidarity with the immigrant customers who make up about 50 percent of her clientele.

    “We do not agree with the resolution,” Grest said. “We feel it is discrimination directed toward one segment of the population.”

    One segment of the population whose very presence here represents a violation of Federal law. How hard is that to understand? I guess it makes Ms. Grest feel “enlightened” to embrace criminals. I guess it eases some of her liberal guilt.

    More “legal residents” speak to the Post;

    In interviews in Manassas and Woodbridge, several dozen Latinos said they supported the boycott, and some were indignant about the way they feel immigrants have been treated in the county. Only two or three said they did not know about the boycott.

    “I am only buying in Hispanic stores this week. I am a resident now, but I am still an immigrant, and it is not good what they are trying to do,” said Abel Santiago, 28, a Mexican restaurant worker who complained that he had been stopped and asked for identification recently. “We feel so much hate and resentment now. But we should have our rights, too.”

    Compa, I feel resentment towards you because you’re lying. No one is targeting you because you’re Latin, just like the troops in Iraq aren’t targeting terrorists because they’re Arabs. It just seems that there are alot of Latins who immigrate here illegally – the key word being “illegally”, f’Pete’s sake. Get over it and figure out why you’re here and not back in your own country. Because back home sucks and here it sucks a lot less.

    These “Mexicans Without Borders” pinheads have muddied the debate so badly with their charges of racism that I’m not surprised law enforcement is confused. So these racist dorks want us to change the laws in this country to accomodate them – then this country isn’t the same country they wanted to make their lives in, it won’t offer the same opportunities, the same quality of life. And by coming here, they’ve deprived their own country of a pair of working hands, working minds and conditions there get worse – and it becomes even worse, forcing more people to come here.

    It makes more sense that latins use their inherent ingenuity and work ethic to make lives for themselves in their own countries and make the lives of their families and neighbors better with their sweat and brains – and end this country’s decline into the third world. That’s why the President has been trying to get these trade deals with Latin countries through a resistant Congress and passed the corrupt trade unions and Big Sugar – to make lives for latins better in their own countries so we aren’t torn apart by small-minded racists in those oddly named “Mexicans Without Borders” and “La Raza”.

    Don’t expect a lot of help from wishy-washy Democrat governor Tom Kaine solving the illegal immigrant issue in Virginia. Washington Times’ Natasha Altamirano writes today;

    “The governor does not object to localities choosing to enter into localized agreements with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” said Kevin Hall, Mr. Kaine’s spokesman. “He has concerns, however, about asking state troopers to assume primary enforcement of federal immigration responsibilities.”

    So he’s found a way to have his cake and eat it, too. He doesn’t have to enforce the laws, but he has no problem with underfunded localities enforcing the laws. Pure politics. How helpful is that to the discussion, Virginia?

  • So, who’s the Census Bureau work for?

    According to this bit of performance art from the Associated Press (by way of Fox News), the Census Bureau is worried that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau might actually enforce the law;

    The Census Bureau wants immigration agents to suspend enforcement raids during the 2010 census so the government can better count illegal immigrants.

    Raids during the population count would make an already distrustful group even less likely to cooperate with government workers who are supposed to include them, the Census Bureau’s second-ranking official said in an Associated Press interview.

    Deputy Director Preston Jay Waite said immigration enforcement officials did not conduct raids for several months before and after the 2000 census. But today’s political climate is even more volatile on the issue of illegal immigration.

    Enforcement agents “have a job to do,” Waite said. “They may not be able to give us as much of a break” in 2010.

    So? The more illegal aliens they catch, the fewer you have to count, goofball. And maybe the illegal immigrants are mistrustful of the government because they’re in violation of our laws.

    I might remind you that there was a criminal in the White House in 2000 – someone who didn’t give much thought to enforcing the law as much as he thought about writing new laws he wouldn’t enforce. The only illegal aliens he was worried about were 7 year-old Cuban boys.

    Every ten years I get a threatening letter from the Census Bureau that they can prosecute me for not filling out their form (which is a lie by the way) yet they want other agencies to suspend law enforcement activities for them? Dumbasses.

    In related news, Herndon, Virginia voted to keep their Day Labor center open and to fire the previous operators who don’t understand that they work for their employers and should do what their employers tell them to do;

    The vote ended the uncertainty over whether Project Hope and Harmony, the faith-based nonprofit that runs the site, will be allowed to continue in that role permanently.

    “It will be a big disappointment for us and the workers” when Hope and Harmony leaves, said Bill Threlkeld, director of the group, which is affiliated with Reston Interfaith. The group will consider remaining until a new manager is found but will continue its practice of not checking immigration status.

    Council member William B. Tirrell Sr. said “the rule of law” took priority over workers’ needs. “The law is the law is the law,” he said. “We can’t decide by whimsy what laws you’re going to enforce.”

    How hard is it to check whether someone should be allowed to work in the US before helping them locate work? Jeez.

    And of course the “immigration advocates” are convoluted when discussing their position;

    Immigration advocates said immigrants who are legally able to work in the U.S. are only a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants in the country.

    “I think the Town Council has basically positioned themselves with some options still open,” day-labor center operator Bill Threlkeld said. “We’re not particularly happy with some of the conditions that we were fighting to have in place.”

    Um, Bill you’re not an “immigration advocate”, you’re an accessory to a felony. And, ya know the “big duh” here is that only a small fraction of illegal immigrants have permission to work – that’s kinda the point of the whole thing.

    The city of Herndon voted Wednesday night to keep the day-labor center in the city open but made it a rule to check workers’ identification before allowing them to work.

    Workers won’t necessarily need a driver’s license, but they will have to be able to prove they can legally work in the U.S.

    Immigration advocates said that defeats the purpose of a day-labor center.

    Again, kinda the whole point. Facilitating a criminal act is a criminal act. Working without permission to work is not legal. Do I need to get my crayons out to explain it to ya? From the Examiner;

    The new council has been trying all year to secure a new operator for the site who would check the immigration status of the workers there, a move that would dramatically alter the nature of the center and likely thrust many of the workers back out into the community.

    Or, they could thrust themselves back home and focus on making their hometowns prosperous and stop the brain drain from Latin America.

  • DEA report: Arabs immitating Mexicans

    According to Sara Carter of the Washington Times (upon whom I’m developing a crush, though we’ve never met, based purely on her journalistic production in the national security area in recent weeks), the DEA has released a report that Mexican drug smugglers are assisting Arabs to infiltrate the US;

    Islamic extremists embedded in the United States — posing as Hispanic nationals — are partnering with violent Mexican drug gangs to finance terror networks in the Middle East, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report.

    “Since drug traffickers and terrorists operate in a clandestine environment, both groups utilize similar methodologies to function … all lend themselves to facilitation and are among the essential elements that may contribute to the successful conclusion of a catastrophic event by terrorists,” said the confidential report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

    But the main reason that the Homeland Security Department was formed is still an ongoing problem;

    Lack of information sharing between U.S. intelligence agencies is creating a blind spot in the war on terror and has left the U.S. vulnerable to another attack, the report states.

    So what, exactly, is Homeland Security doing? This is discouraging, to say the least.

    According to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report obtained by The Times, nearly every part of the Border Patrol’s national strategy is failing.

    “Al Qaeda has been trying to smuggle terrorists and terrorist weapons illegally into the United States,” the 2006 document states. “This organization has also tried to enter the U.S. by taking advantage of its most vulnerable border areas. The seek to smuggle OTMs [other than Mexicans] from Middle Eastern countries into the U.S.”

    So where’s our wall?

  • Latin immigrants to boycott illegal activity

    The “immigrants” in Prince William County, VA, in probably one of the strangest boycotts in history, are planning on ceasing illegal activity there for a week to teach the legal residents of the county a lesson, according to the Washington Examiner’s Dan Gentz;

    The Hispanic immigrant population in Prince William County is considering a major business boycott to protest a new county resolution aimed at making it easier to deport illegal immigrants and banning them from receiving some government services.

    The four-week boycott on purchases from nonimmigrant merchants would be the centerpiece of a broader, coordinated response to the resolution that may also include a one-day work stoppage.

    Details still have to be worked out and will be announced Tuesday, said Ricardo Juarez, a coordinator with Mexicanos Sin Fronteras. The boycott may be set for Aug. 27 through Sept. 23.

    Um, how does one become “Mexicans Without Borders” without a border? Mexico is a country that has borders, dumbass. So a Mexican would have to come from that political entity called Mexico that is clearly delineated with borders. Mexico is not a race.

    Reminds me of a line from a really bad movie I saw once “Yeah, I’ve been to Brazil, Honduras, Argentina – all of those Mexican countries”.

    But, to the boycott; I don’t understand that either. Ya gotta eat, so all of the boycotters will stock up the week before the boycott, and then restock after the boycott – so what’s the point? Or is there a point?

    Pamela Constable of the Washington Post reports on the disorganized organization attempts to organize;

    Latinos in Prince William County, angered and panicked by a county resolution to crack down on illegal immigrants, are swiftly banding together against what they see as an assault on their community. They vowed this week to block the resolution through a boycott, a petition drive and possibly a labor strike or lawsuit.

    At packed public meetings in three towns this week, organizers signed up volunteers, circulated petitions, set up a hotline for reports of discrimination and announced a campaign of phone calls and e-mails to county officials. They also said they would organize caravans to visit Loudoun County and other communities where Latinos feel targeted.

    So let me get this straight; these lawbreakers are going to teach the residents of Loudon and Prince William County a lesson by ceasing their illegal activity for a week? Of course, we need the debate about illegal aliens muddied by confusing legal aliens with those here illegally;

    Jose Orellana, a 24-year-old El Salvadoran who moved to Manassas Park four years ago with a permit to work, said he turned out Thursday night because of concerns about the county’s resolution.

    “It doesn’t make sense. Everybody came into this country to work and everybody pays taxes,” Orellana said.

    Um, Jose, you have a work permit – you’re here legally. You don’t have a dog in this fight. You’re defending people who didn’t bother to get the right paperwork – people we can’t keep track of. How are they paying taxes, Jose? Sales tax? Possibly. Income tax? Not likely.

    But many legal Latino residents at the three meetings said they feared the resolution would also make them targets of police harassment and official hostility. They said they believed its true aim is to make life difficult for Latinos.

    “We are all worried about these new laws,” said Marta Manzanares, 25, a legal resident from El Salvador who attended the Woodbridge meeting with her husband, a construction worker; their two small sons; and about 500 other Latinos. “Maybe our children will have to leave school and become illiterate. . . . We came out here to buy a house and have a quiet life. Maybe now we can lose that, too.”

    Come on, Marta. When has anything like that happened to legal and law abiding residents in this country? That’s just hyperbole and you know it. In fact, both the Post and Examiner stories just call the group “latins”. Loudon and Prince William County are trying to stop crime – if you’re a legal resident you have nothing to fear. When I travel in Latin America, I always carry my passport and visas and travel papers – what’s the big deal about you carrying yours?

    My wife always has her Resident Alien card in her purse and she certainly doesn’t fear being deported. Nor my step-daughter, nor her daughter. This is all bluster to confuse the discussion as a race issue when it’s a legal issue. We deport all kinds of people we catch here illegally. And Hillary Clinton panders to them, too.

    From the Post story;

    “We are like a sleeping elephant,” said Elmer Arias, president of the D.C.-based Salvadoran American Chamber of Commerce. “We who are citizens have good jobs and become comfortable. We forget that we have benefited from the community and that we have the obligation to help our people.”

    Elmer, you also have an obligation to contribute to the security of the nation that has created the environment in which you can prosper and be comfortable. I’ll have pity for you when you put the national security of the United States before petty things like language and race.

  • Mas Pollo Rico: AP deliberately lies to create fear

    I’m sure most of you read the post I wrote on Saturday about the El Pollo Rico owners who were arrested for money laudering over $7 million. Well, check out this story from the Associated Press;

    July 15, 2007 – 6:39am

    WHEATON, Md. (AP) – Things are quieter around the El Pollo Rico restaurant.Immigrant employees and patrons of local shops are shying away from the area after an immigration raid on the Peruvian restaurant Thursday morning. Nine employees were seized and four members of the family that owns the restaurant were arrested.  

    Most lunchtimes, a line of customers would wind outside the door onto the sidewalk for El Pollo Rico’s spicy roasted chicken.

    Now, immigrant workers and customers are staying away from the shopping center for fear that the scene will repeat itself.

    One man who said he entered the country legally says he quit his job at a nearby business because he feared immigration officials.

    But members of groups opposed to illegal immigration say they welcomed the bust of the illegal immigrants, adding that they feel the effort should even be stepped up.

    Others in the community worry that the bust makes the whole Hispanic community look bad.

    —

    (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

    That’s it, in it’s entirety. The business wasn’t raided for immigration violations, it was raided because of large money transactions that had been tracked for more than year. No mention that the owners were US citizens who were involved in human trafficking and money laundering schemes – just that the poor LEGAL immigrants were afraid to come to work because the jackbooted thugs of the ICE would scoop up everyone and send them to prison.

    I guess the LEGAL immigrants in Wheaton have seen Cheech Marin’s “Born in East LA” too many times.

  • El Pollo Rico esta cerrado; Illegal Immigrants deported

    I saw this story initially on Telemundo’s local news last night and to hear it told on the Spanish language channel, you’d have thought that Federal agents were persecuting hispanic-Americans. I didn’t hear anything about the money laundering until I searched the web. This from the Washington Post;

    Four members of a family that owns popular chicken restaurants in the Washington area were arrested by federal agents yesterday for knowingly employing illegal immigrants and laundering the money earned from that business, according to immigration officials.

    Francisco Carlos Solano, 55, and his his wife, Inos Solano, 59, of Germantown; Consuelo Solano, 69, of Arlington County; and Juan Faustino Solano, 57, of Kensington were charged with employing and harboring illegal immigrants, money laundering and structuring deposits to avoid financial reporting requirements, according to a criminal complaint unsealed yesterday. Nine employees of their El Pollo Rico restaurant in Wheaton were taken into custody and will be placed in deportation proceedings, authorities said.

    The Solanos were all legal immigrants from Peru and Columbia – but they were dealing with illegal immigrants. Now, to hear Telemundo’s news readers tell it, Federal agents were harrassing Hispanic businesses, but as it turns out, Federal agents were arresting criminals. Even if you disregard the fact that they were harboring illegals, there was still over $7 million dollars being laundered – and that could’ve been used in the drug trade or terrorist activities – or human trafficking. From the Post again;

    Federal agents say the Solanos deposited more than $6.6 million into a business account between June 2002 and September 2006 in increments of $7,000 to $9,000, which authorities say was done to avoid filing currency transaction reports that must be submitted with deposits that exceed $10,000.

    Now that’s supicious. From the local NBC4 news;

    On Friday, agents said they seized more than $3 million in cash and jewelry from residences of the defendants, and several vehicles.

    Investigators said the money was hidden but could easily be accessed at the residences in Germantown and Wheaton.

    “In one residence we found over $2 million concealed in various places, including kitchen cabinets. In the other residence we found about $1.5 million in various safes,” said James Dinkins, of Immigration Customs and Enforcement.

    Officials said their investigation began about a year ago because of suspicious banking activity such as a quick succession of high-volume deposits and withdrawals. Officials said the underlying immigration violations were revealed over the course of the investigation.

    Nine immigrant workers, employees of El Pollo Rico and residents of Guatemala, were arrested and charged with immigration violations in connection to the case. Officials said they face possible deportation.

    I’ll tell you why this story interests me; it’s about a quarter-mile from my home (I prefer to live among Latins and Asians than among the goofy yuppies and hippies in Chevy Chase and Bethesda). The smoke from the roasting chicken filled the air of the hill on which Wheaton sits and is a beacon to the passing hungry people. Apparently, I’ve been complicit since I’ve been a frequent customer of El Pollo Rico – y es la verdad que el pollo esta bien sabroso y rico. Pero…I mean…but that’s definitely criminal behavior.

    This morning I went to my local barbershop, where the haircutters are Latin and Chinese immigrants (legal, I’m sure) was empty. Usually the whole neighborhood is bustling with Latin customers, but not today. The Washington Post noticed, too;

    “There’s much hubbub right now because of what happened,” Juan Lopez, 27, of Wheaton said in Spanish. “There are many people who don’t want to return to work, because they think immigration will come back.”

    Lopez, who said he entered the country legally, said he quit his job at a nearby business because he feared immigration officers.

    Seems to me that a legal immigrant would have nothing to fear. And I wonder if Juan Lopez was his real name.

    What really pissed me off about the whole thing (besides the fact that I’ve been duped by El Pollo Rico into funding whatever illegal activity they’ve been involved in) is the Montogomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger on Telemundo last night explaining that Montgomery County cops were not involved in the raid and that the Hispanic community has nothing to fear from the Mont. Co. Police because they have no intention of enforcing the law in Montgomery County. There’s nothing on the Mont. Co. Police website of the television conference. I guess the statement was in reaction to things like this quoted from the Post story;

    [Luis] Lora also worried that the arrest would negatively impact the image of the Hispanic community. “They make the community look bad,” Lora said. “If he’s a minority, people will say every minority does the same thing.”

    And the arrests and the ensuing rumors caused a near riot at the small strip mall;

    Shortly after the raid, rumors of immigration arrests spread throughout the community, which is heavily populated by Latinos, causing several witnesses to become angry, News4’s Jackie Bensen said.

    According to Bensen, that anger appeared to boil over when a crowd in the shopping center where Pollo Rico is located witnessed a tow truck towing an SUV that belonged to a restaurant employee.

    The tow truck was taking the vehicle away because it violated the parking time limit, Bensen said. The move caused an angry exchange between witnesses and the tow truck driver.

    Friends of the SUV owner teamed up to pull the vehicle off of the tow truck, Bensen said. The owner then left the scene in the vehicle.

    That’s stupid. If the Latin community quit facilitating illegal immigration by equating it with legal immigration, and calling 4th and 5th generation Americans illegal immigrants, maybe they’d be taken a little more seriously. Legal immigrants helping illegal immigrants enter this country and setting up shop doesn’t help, either.

    I’ve always admitted that I admire the work ethic many Latin immigrants bring to this country – and in Metro DC, the truth is that illegals do the jobs that the lazy-ass Americans who populate this welfare kingdom won’t do for any price. That may sound cliche` to many of you, but you have to live here to see it for yourself.

    However, I support the federal government enforcing the law and shipping every illegal they catch back to their own countries – I also hope that those who are deported and who want to come here and work hard come back legally.