Tuesday, April 20, 2004

What's wrong with these pictures?

In Arlington, Virginia - Day-Laborer Site Runs Into Trouble:
County officials say that the taxpayer-funded “pavilion” for day laborers, which opened in Shirlington late last year to complaints that it was an incentive for illegal immigrants to congregate, has already shot past its anticipated budget and is facing problems of unruly behavior at the site.
Lots of angst in the story including the difficulty in hiring county employees to keep order in the joint.
“We don’t have any police powers, and we don’t want any,” Tobar said. “Every morning, we’re dealing with 50 to 80 guys that might not have seen work in weeks or even months – we need more than a bouncer, we need someone to facilitate discussion.”
Not to mention leading the choruses of Kumbaya.

In Searcy, Arkansas - Illegal aliens suspected of fraud go free:
Four illegal aliens suspected of felony crimes walked free from White County Sheriff's offices Wednesday after federal immigration officials explained the U.S. government cannot automatically expel the men just because they are illegal.

The four men, all Mexican nationals, were arrested by Sheriff's detectives Tuesday on misdemeanor offenses and later found to be in possession of suspected fraudulent identification documents.

In addition, following interviews of the subjects, detectives suspect the four men may be involved in an ongoing case of check fraud involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I had to hand this guy his car keys and allow him to walk out the door," Detective Randy Rudisill said. "He is not even supposed to be in this country, and he admitted he was here illegally, but we can't do a thing about it. Our hands are tied."
...
Once it was determined the men were illegal aliens one of the subjects told Rudisil, "You can send me back but it will be only for a visit to my family. I'll be back in two weeks."
And from Houston, Texas there's the latest meme in the fever swamps - Immigrants' voting rights becoming a major issue
"It's always interesting. The genesis of these proposals seems to be there are people on the city council who see a lot of people in their communities who would probably vote for them but aren't citizens," Stein said. "That's a heck of a reason to dilute the concept of citizenship."
It's a "major issue" among the lowest form of politician.