The Washington State version of the DREAM Act passed by a large margin in the state House on Wednesday.
The House approved the so-called “Washington Dream Act” on a bipartisan 77-20 vote. They amended the bill on the floor to open college aid to all young illegal immigrants.
The bill’s previous version made only young immigrants who had qualified for the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program eligible for the State Needs Grant. That federal program provides young immigrants who arrived in the United States as children a legal way to live in the country on renewable two-year stays, if they meet certain age and non-criminal history criteria.
I’m not happy with the phrase “illegal immigrants” especially for young people. But I’m glad that this has passed with bipartisan support. Hopefully the lopsided nature of the vote and the number of Republicans supporting it means that it has a shot in the Senate.
The term “Illegal Immigrants” is pejorative, and quite frankly racist.
But, BRAVO for the WA state House!
The future of our communities, our state and our nation is not dependent upon immigration status, but enabling all who intend to improve our society by improving themselves.
The cost of being uneducated far exceeds the cost of educating …. don’t you agree trolls?
:-D
You should actually use the term “troller” instead of “troll.” Roger Rabbit says opponents of the major political thought on this blog come over to “troll” for comments. Trolling is a form of fishing, and one who engages in ths activity is a “troller,” not a troll. A”troll” is actually a mythical beast from Scandinavian lore.
Where have you been since blogs started getting more traction pre-9/11? Since Usenet or Compuserve or AOL or any other sort of on-line forum for that matter??
Trolling perhaps?
No, I’ not much of a fisherman, and I’m not a Scandinavian creature of lore.
4 – Yeah right.. Anything you say.
I’d end by calling you a troll but that’d only be feeding you.
@1 please stop using the term racist when none exists. Illegal alien can refer to any race. A Canadian who overstays his or her visa is an Illegal Alien and I would use that term to describe such an example. An Asian who should not be here is an Illegal Alien, so is a African or a Hispanic. The only race it can’t refer to is Native Americans. All other races, including Whites it can refer to. Where is the racism? Racism is becoming the boy who cried wolf. So overused it is ignored so people don’t pay attention anymore. Let me guess, though, “boy who cried wolf” is a racist term now since “boy” was a Jim Crow era term to refer to African Americans.
Further, we should not reward people who broke the rules. Open borders can allow anyone or anything (infectious diseases, weapons, meth, etc) into this country. This kind of law DOES reward people who broke the rules because people often do things for their children. I understand the tough position the kids are in but they should have some intermediate status like they never face deportation for life, but are never eligible for citizenship either.
From 5,
You are a troller. Or, if you prefer, you’re a troll, even though that’s not the correct usage of the word “troll.”
Heh.. Note to myself: see what I get for feeding the troll @ 7?
6 – Sorry.. “Illegals” are used by many on the right as a pejorative because they can’t easily get away with “wetbacks” any more. See angry people who used to nod at Tom Tancredo speeches and to this day consider the 11 million plus undocumented immigrants here as an “invasion”.
See this clown.. “Illegals bused in by the thousands” anyone?
Even those of us who should know better have used it. Myself included. It’s wrong. “Undocumented Immigrants” is much more appropriate. Someone who overstay their Visa? I don’t know. How about, “foreign nationals in violation of their visa restrictions”.
What about a First Nations person from Canada who overstays their Visa???
Yes, you get to be identified, in your own words, as “ttroll.”
I know the local tribes prefer to be called ” Native American,” but there are no humans that are native to America. In fact, the only place where humans are native is Africa.
That’s a new one on me..
Yes, but it fits. Embrace your trollness, YLB. Live it – it is your destiny.
@8 what is your proof that the right uses the term illegals because they want to call them wetbacks? Did you read their minds or did you pull this idea out of your (or a horse’s considering the website) ass? Did they break the law by coming here? yes. If you break the law does that mean you are doing something illegal? yes. Where is the controversy here?!?!?
It is an invasion according to dictionary.com
3.
entrance as if to take possession or overrun: the annual invasion of the resort by tourists.
Look, me and other conservatives would be fine with even MORE people coming here, AS LONG AS IT WAS DONE LEGALLY. Why is that so hard for the left to understand we that way. Why do you say NO and pretend to read our minds. You are not us, you cant read our minds. Stop acting like a know it all. Im sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fucking sick of the god damn fucking racist card being shoved into every fucking debate! Its all that I hear EVERYWHERE!!! Its the left that brings race into every debate, not the right.
I apologize for going overboard there but Im just so sick of the race card. The sad thing is, using race everywhere dilutes all calls of racism including ones that actually exist. Like yes, marijuana was made illegal for racist reasons, but saying that gets no traction because people just say, oh there is the race card again and the claim is dismissed. But if race was not used all the time, people would actually consider the possibility of the laws being made for racist reasons.
I showed you an example of a right wing jackass using “illegals”.. IN A RACIST BAITING WAY.. It’s USED to DENIGRATE people.. It’s USED to LOOK DOWN at people. If that isn’t RACISM what is? These are people who are DESPERATE for a better life and they risk a lot to come here..
And YOU BENEFIT from their cheap labor in a lot of ways which gets down to the CRUX of EXACTLY HOW they are ENABLED to stay here. The OVERWHELMING ADDICTION of employers in this country to CHEAP LABOR.. Fast food, meat packing, construction, agriculture, menial services like janitorial, you name it… The dirtiest most hazardous jobs for SHIT PAY are GLADLY handed out to desperate undocumented workers.
That’s so laughable because you steadfastly REFUSE to face reality.. There’s 11 MILLION PLUS PEOPLE already here. What’s your solution?? I hope its not rounding them up and shipping them south in cattle cars.. I’ve seen right wing jackasses recommend EXACTLY THAT!
I hope it’s not razor wire and a mine field at the southern border.. Gee how does that make us any better than the Iron Curtain communists?
It’s got to be something a bit more sophisticated than IT”S ILLEGAL..
Every fence, new deployment of troops at the southern border, etc ultimately fails… Heh this “fence” cost a BILLION dollars and it failed..
If you don’t like them being here, you DON”T CARE about the benefits of their cheap labor, how about let’s try NOT HIRING THEM IN FIRST PLACE????
Employer sanctions is the only thing that makes any sense to me. If they can’t get a job they won’t stay here too long.
And if you’re SO SICK of racism being called out.. Well take a pill or something.. There’s NO WAY anyone sane should stay silent about bigotry. Silence only enables more bigotry.
I don’t take orders from trolls..
OH MY GAWD… Tell that to the next grower you see about the crew working his apple orchard…
What a freaking waste..
I noticed you glossed over the fact that I said I would be fine with Immigrants coming here as much if not more than they are now if it was all legal by talking about box cars. If I was racist, why would I be ok with MORE if it was legal? The video was nothing more than him just saying there are lots of illegals here. Once again, THEY BROKE THE LAW BY COMING HERE, therefore THEY ARE ILLEGAL. Maybe we should change the term for doing something against the law from illegal to “puppies and sunshine” so we could call them “puppies and sunshine immigrants,” would that make you feel better?
Also, yes, employers should absolutely be fined for hiring illegal workers. Very big, fines.
I’m all for people having better lives. All or our ancestors came here for that very reason. Who are we to deny others what our ancestors came here for and we still benefit from today? JUST GET IN LINE. That is ALL the right is asking for. THATS IT! It’s that simple-get in line. But just saying oh you broke the law, oh well, your on par with everyone else is absolute BS. If we do that, what the hell is law even there for? The only reason Im opposed to illegal immigration is that they did not clear customs so there is no way to know if they have an infectious disease that is almost non-existant here or if they are one of the 0.01% of people who cross the border to do America harm (terrorists weapons drugs, just adding another street criminal, etc). Other than that, come all day long legally!
Does the stuff in the parenthesis not worry you? Yes, its a very very small percentage, but its insulting the efforts of people who did it right when they came here, and since we have to look for members of that 0.01% there is less time for border agents to secure the border at its location. Why reward people for wasting our time?
Also, maybe your the racist. Illegal does not have a race. When I hear the term illegal immigrant I (and most conservatives) don’t think about race we just think about someone who came here without permission, yet the first thing (apparently) that you think about IS race. What does that say about your racial stereotypes? I thought liberals were the racially colorblind.
I know why you used racism though, its the typical liberal tactic to shut down debate when defending an indefensible position-in this case for the “rights” of people to come here illegally. All we want is legal immigration, but that is ALWAYS ignored, instead the left pretends we want NO immigration so we can be called racists and they can secure the votes of uniformed voters of all races and immigrant voters who think the R’s never wanted them here.
By the way YLB Im having a HUGE st. pattys day party at your place tomorrow. I never asked your permission but seeing how your cool with trespassing I knew you wouldn’t mind. Also seeing how you love giving trespassers everything they demand, I want the heat set to 73 degrees, 7 pizzas and 4 cases of beer for me and my friends. And try not to snore real loud and stay in your room during the party. Thanks.
Chris,
Are you an “illegal” driver? Ever broken the law by exceeding the speed limit and not self reported?
Are you an “illegal” walker? Ever crossed the street as a jaywalker?
I could go on, but I hope you see that we don’t use the term “illegal” to identify but one type of “illegal” person.
You claim it has nothing to do with race. Maybe, just maybe, with you it does not. But all of your buddies screaming “illegal!” and wanting to build the fence are not (and never have) talking about building a fence to keep Caucasian Canadians out, are they?
Chris,
Let me tell you about the first improperly documented immigrant I ever knew, Mr. “Al”, my high school American History teacher.
Mr. “Al” came to the US by crossing the Mexican border in Texas with his family in 1930. He spent his youth traveling in the back of a truck with his family sleeping on the barren ground to earn 50 cents a day picking cotton.
In 1942 a man came into the fields looking for young men to join the Army. As Mr. “Al” told it the Army recruiters made birth certificates for him and the other “volunteers”.
As a GI he was shipped to Italy. While fighting in Italy under the flag of the US in a US Army uniform he was wounded taking shrapnel in his right arm. Thus Mr. “Al” earned his Purple Heart.
After recuperating he was shipped France. During a prolonged engagement with an enemy German unit Mr. “Al”‘s unit’s radioman was killed and the radio heavily damaged. The unit was pinned down and was facing slaughter. Mr. “Al” fixed the radio and using his broken English called in effective devastating artillery fire. For his actions Mr. “Al” was awarded the Silver Star.
Upon his discharge Mr. “Al” used his improperly documented citizenship to participate in the GI Bill and attend the University of Pittsburgh, where despite never having attended grade school or high school he graduated with honors.
Mr. “Al” went on to a distinguished 35 year career in public education. In addition to his job as a teacher, Mr “Al” wrote histories of Latino migrants and worked tirelessly in the Pittsburgh tri-state area teaching Latino migrant children English and tutoring their studies.
At his death in the 90-s 4,000 university graduates, whose proper documentation never meant a damn thing to Mr. “Al” as he taught them English and demanded they educate themselves to make it in their new country, commemorated Mr. Al’s extraordinary life.
Mr. “Al” was frequently publicly insulted with racial epithets and allusions to being “illegal” based upon the color of his skin and his accented language. It never bothered him. He just kept on achieving.
It bothers me. Mr. Al was my American History teacher and an improperly documented migrant who did more for this country than most.
I won’t stand for it. Not now. Not ever.
If someone serves their country in the military I see that as something worthy of offering a path to citizenship. But I don’t see attending college as worthy of that (the dream act does see that worthy of a path to citizenship). Look, I’m not one to say the law is the law and must be followed for that reason (I even smoked marijuana hundreds of times before I-502 passed). But when I did, I never pretended I was not committing a crime despite how stupid the law was. I absolutely consider myself an illegal drug user despite the fact I never used anything worse than alcohol. Look, the heroes (and they certainly are heroes) who helped escaped slaves or hid Anne Frank in their house during WWII were committing crimes too, despite how evil those laws were. No matter the reason for the law, even if its the most evil law in the history of the universe,if you are breaking it, you are doing something illegal. I just don’t see illegal as a disparaging term I just see it as an adjective on par with other adjectives like big, small, good, bad, smelly, pleasant, or colors like blue, orange or red (when used as adjectives). The fact that matters is that someone who came here illegally has not been subjected to proper checks and treating them the same as everyone else takes away incentive from LEGAL immigrants who did the right thing. Some laws matter and some don’t. Jaywalking does not matter, murder does. Smoking weed before I-502 passed in the privacy of your own home doesn’t matter, robbing someone does. Immigration law matters because we don’t know who or what is here without people passing through the proper checks. With more agents standing at the border rather than chasing after illegal immigrants we could divert our resources to the border. How would you feel if you were in a years long wait in a line and you waited properly and some were saying oh let those people cut, let them stay and deny the truth by referring to their cutting in line with a euphemism.
Chris,
This is an old thread that I abandoned when I saw you were repeating the Tancredo-like bullshit line of “invasion”. But what the heck..
When you were here during the Gregoire back and forth you were as hopeless a right wing dumbass as any we’ve seen here..
So now that it’s apparent that you’ve done a bit more reading, attended a few right wing bullshit seminars, etc.. Well guess what.. You’re still as pitiful a right wing fool as ever..
With that hopeful introduction let’s begin.
1. Racism. Sorry Chris.. Racist is as racist does.. If a right wing jackass with ambitions of public office uses “busing in illegals” among the right wing base as a club to beat his opponents with, he or she is ginning up votes with an appeal to racism.. It didn’t fucking pass muster even in Alabama. There’s no sugar coating it Chris. When you sugar coat it as you did you are excusing the inexcusable. Racism exists and more than a little of the right wing hissy fit over undocumented immigrants is racist in motivation.
2. Nowhere did I challenge an undocumented person’s “illegal” status.. It’s clear to anyone with a brain that undocumented immigrants didn’t ask for any official permission to come here. You and I only differ in what to do about it. “Self deportation” to “get in line” is now the improvement over cattle cars these days. I have no idea what that means. But it’s clear it puts the onus on the desperate immigrant as the right wing as always done and NEVER on the self-serving employers who enable undocumented immigrants to stay here.
3. You say I “gloss” over your “support” for legal immigration.. You and every right winger equally “gloss” on the role employers in this country play in enabling undocumented immigrants to stay in this country.
4. NEVER did I and anyone else say that undocumented immigrants have a “right” to come here.. That’s a fucking lie on your part and exposes you as a disingenuous asshole. Then you throw in fear-based bullshit about “meth” and “weapons”.. Classic extremist right wing behavior.
5. You deny reality at every turn.. You mention “disease” and “proper checks”.. This is a smoke screen and something of a dead giveaway.. Get it through your thick skull that over 11 million people are HERE ALREADY. Where’s the epidemic of “disease” in your strange imagination? Where’s the fear of “disease” among cheap labor employers? So there goes that childish bullshit. What do you want to do about this problem? “Self deportation”?? Legislation like the Dream Act which only applies to the children of undocumented immigrants who had no say in their undocumented status is clearly out for you. The only option for them, according to you, is to be cannon fodder in a right wing war or go back to their country of origin (where often they’d be a fish out of water) to “get in line”.. Pathetic.
Chris, read a bit more beyond the right wing bullshit websites.. Upgrade.. Somehow..