🚀 go-pugleaf

<tedorn44@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:1159980970.115654.59580@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>
> Dawn wrote:
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061003/ts_csm/aghosttown
>>
>> Crackdown on immigrants empties a town and hardens views
>> By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Tue Oct 
>> 3,
>> 5:00 AM ET
>>
>> STILLMORE, GA. - As Department of Homeland Security agents in black SUVs
>> tooled up and down the dirt avenues of Stillmore, Ga., hundreds of
>> undocumented people scattered into the woods like "flushed quail," one
>> witness said.
>>
>>
>> Many of those who weren't arrested fled, some to Kentucky. One family hid
>> for two nights in a tree. As night sets now, a sprinkling of solitary 
>> lights
>> glow from once-crowded trailer parks. Since the Labor Day raid, 
>> Stillmore,
>> where the wishful sign at the city limit reads "A town that is still
>> growing," has shrunk by at least a third after more than 120 people were
>> arrested and perhaps as many as 300 others disappeared.
>>
>> "It's a ghost town," says resident Bennett Byrd.
>>
>> As federal, state, and local officials crack down on illegal immigrants
>> across the country, attitudes continue to harden among those who want 
>> them
>> to stay and those who want them to go. In places like Stillmore, Ga.,
>> Arkadelphia, Ark., and Charlotte, N.C., raids and crackdowns have 
>> uncorked a
>> phenomenon for those left behind: a sense of moral confusion about mass
>> roundups and midnight raids.
>>
>> "There's a tension between working alongside these people, understanding
>> their impact on the economy, and then some of the issues of a community
>> being able or not able to sustain this kind of immigration," says Allan
>> Burns, an anthropologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
>> "People are divided."
>>
>> In Stillmore, the Crider plant does everything from poultry processing to
>> packing M&Ms for the military to grilling the ribs for restaurant
>> franchises, employees say. In a town of about 1,000 people, more than 
>> half
>> of them were working there. The plant's success was driven by a 
>> hardworking
>> labor supply that began arriving about four years ago.
>>
>> Workers had "very good" fake documentation that fooled managers, a Crider
>> plant spokesperson says.
>>
>> In the town, few complained about the immigration status of the workers 
>> as
>> Stillmore, once a thriving train depot, again became a destination. 
>> "People
>> got along. The town was growing," says Don Hadden, a local carpenter.
>>
>> Then, earlier this year, an investigation began by Immigration and 
>> Customs
>> Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 
>> ICE
>> agents arrested a Stillmore man in the spring, accusing him of supplying
>> counterfeit documents to workers. The man's records were then used to
>> identify other workers. For 10 weeks, ICE trained company managers to 
>> spot
>> forgeries and check
>>
>> Social Security numbers. About 30 people who had not been weeded out by 
>> the
>> company were arrested at the plant in an orderly fashion over Labor Day
>> weekend, according to a plant spokesperson.
>>
>> ICE agents also raided several homes in town. Witnesses say agents popped 
>> up
>> through floor boards and broke windows.
>>
>> "Everything we did [in this investigation] was in accordance with the
>> immigration laws of this country," says Marc Raimondi, DHS spokesman.
>>
>> But some, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, have voiced concerns
>> about the searches.
>>
>> "Hispanics came to Stillmore and opened up stores that had been closed 
>> for
>> years, and now there's a sadness in how they were treated," says Father 
>> Vic
>> Subb, who worked for a Catholic ministry in town for six years.
>>
>> Proponents of immigration law enforcement say the government has a right 
>> to
>> get tough on illegal immigrants and those who employ them. Led by Gov. 
>> Sonny
>> Perdue, Georgia lawmakers say they will go after people who have broken
>> immigration laws. Georgia has the fastest growing population of illegal
>> immigrants, estimated at 470,000.
>>
>> "I firmly believe that we [as a nation] are taking in more immigrants 
>> than
>> we have the capacity to feed, educate or employ," says D.A. King, 
>> president
>> of Dustin Inman Society in Marietta, Ga., which opposes illegal migration 
>> of
>> workers across the border.
>>
>> This year, ICE has rounded up 2,100 people in workplace raids nationwide
>> compared with 1,145 in 2005.
>>
>> Meanwhile, more communities are signing agreements to work with ICE to
>> undertake deportation proceedings for scofflaws and prisoners. In 
>> Charlotte,
>> more than 600 people have been deported through hearings initiated by 
>> local
>> officials.
>>
>> It's a debate that's galvanized Congress. Sen. Mark Pryor (news, bio, 
>> voting
>> record) (D) of Arkansas said immigration reform should consider the
>> community impact of enforcement, noting a 2005 raid in Arkadelphia that
>> detained 119 people and left 30 children behind. But last week, Rep. 
>> Russell
>> Pearce (R) of Arizona argued for reviving Operation Wetback, the
>> controversial 1950s-era deportation program. To deal with illegal
>> immigration, Congress has so far approved a border fence project.
>>
>> The law-and-order tack is heightening tensions, experts say.
>>
>> "Because of [stepped-up raids], you're going to see more pro-immigrant
>> activity, and anti-immigrant folks are going to want even more 
>> enforcement,"
>> says Bill Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of
>> California, Davis.
>>
>> In Stillmore, the raids forced Americans to confront their own beliefs.
>> Residents such as Larry Hadden saw friendly and "clean" people 
>> invigorating
>> the town's economy. To see them chased "like rabbits" through the 
>> underbrush
>> troubled him, as did watching as women and children were left behind 
>> without
>> resources.
>>
>> Others, including resident Carolyn Byrd, see the ICE roundup as 
>> justified.
>> Her son, Bennett, was a manager of the Crider plant for years. He said 
>> that
>> Hispanics worked harder than anyone else. But they also took jobs, 
>> including
>> his.
>>
>> Now the plant is paying a dollar more an hour than before the raid, to 
>> draw
>> new workers from neighboring counties. "With the illegals gone, Americans
>> have a chance to make more money," says Mr. Byrd.
>>
>> Still, there's a feeling among some that, as the undocumented go, so does
>> the town of Stillmore. "It was very good here, but now I am too sad I 
>> can't
>> find a good job," says Samuel Villalobos, an undocumented worker who hid 
>> out
>> with his family in his trailer during the raid. "The trailer parks are
>> empty, people leave very, very worried, no income, no money. It's too 
>> hard
>> over here. Stillmore is too quiet."
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061003/ts_csm/aghosttown
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/immigration
>>
>>
>> begin 666 
>> b?P=h4mBlUSOwhWwMOpsRAqHUgG1RGMTe0UjqNoADQG1&T=1brivd9kn%2fX%3d1159964890%2fE%3d96828302%2fR%3dnews%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3d8%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d67282072%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJJdDtGbG9yaWRhO21pbGl0YXJ5O1NlY3VyaXR5O21hbjtQb3ZlcnR5O2dvdmVybm1lbnQ7ZGViYXRlO2NoaWxkcmVuO2RvbGxhcjttb25leTtyZWZ1cmxfd3d3X3lhaG9vX2NvbSIgcmVmdXJsPSJyZWZ1cmxfd3d3X3lhaG9vX2NvbSIgdG9waWNzPSJyZWZ1cmxfd3d3X3lhaG9vX2NvbSI-%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d58C28E44&U=13a0bs98d%2fN%3dBK8jCdG_RvM-%2fC%3d384892.9178609.10046790.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d3892108
>> K1TE&.#EA`0`!`( ``/___P```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P``
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>> end
>
> Round up and deport all illegal aliens including asians, Irish, etc.
> Demand harsh punishments for those
> who harbor, employ, or furnish dwellings to illegals.

The Corporate Branch of the US government favors the illegal importation of 
low paid workers and the non-enforcement of existing statutes to address 
immigation. This is essentially a treasonous act which significantly affects 
the living standards of  large numbers of US citizens, supposedly protected 
by the US Constitution, who become jobless, work at unreasonable 3rd world 
wage criteria and as a double slap, must fund the illegal immigrants' 
emergency room visits, tuition bills and even an increased financial burden 
on law enforcement. Of course, the "Corps" get off scott free wrt all of 
these costs. Complicit legislators and other leaders will hopefully be 
prosecuted in years to come  after it becomes clear what damage has been 
done. Not all members of the Republican party blindly advocate the agenda of 
the Corporate Branch but they are many and voters should carefully examine 
the immigration records and positions of all republican nominees during this 
election. It is not difficult to discern if they favor the will of the 
people or the will of their Corp contributors. Bush, a "republican", is 
commiting treason by not doing all in his power to defend the Nation's 
borders against illegal immigration.