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Aquatus1

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Do you have an answer?


aquatus1

1,067 views

  Some of you know that I volunteer for a sort of advocacy group, mostly focusing on lower income and illegal workers, both legal and illegal.  For over a year now, it has mostly been about prostitution, homelessness, unemployment, the usual thing one thinks about when one thinks about these things.

  But things have changed.  And the change is scary.  I am scared.  I am seeing it happen, right in front of me, real-time.

  Two weeks ago, I received a call that a woman I know who has been working as a housemaid in the U.S. for 14 years had been arrested by ICE and was going to be deported.  I had to go pick up her children at her home, because the children had been taught not to open the door for strangers, and that the people outside were police officers did absolutely nothing to reassure them.  The only reason they came out for me was because they knew me personally, and because I convinced the Child Welfare lady to send the cops away.

  Here's the thing:  The Child Welfare lady let me take the children.  She let me take them to someone else I knew who was an acquaintance of the arrested lady.  I'm not sure how many of you have ever worked with Child Welfare, but they don't do that sort of thing without knowing every little detail about it.  Most of them truly do care about the welfare of the children.  And, I suspect that is why the lady let me take care of them.  Because wherever she was meant to take them, she decided that the kids would be in a better place where I took them.

  What about their mother?  She was arrested at the police station.  She was there because she was filling out a witness report to a crime she saw happening to someone else.  I'm still working with the legal rep.  They want to deport her to Mexico.  She's from Venezuela.  She's currently in a cell with a woman who shot another woman over a boyfriend.  At least that woman has a different bar regarding what should be considered illegal behavior.

  Some people here like to argue politics as a hobby.  They like to think of these things theoretically.  They don't think they do, heck, they have even sometimes convinced themselves they really sincerely care about the topic, and that they are personally affected by it.  But here's the thing:  How are you being affected?  What have you seen?  What has affected you personally?

  Last week, I was talking to the pastor at a little church.  He needed advice on the tunnels he was digging out of his church to a nearby building.  He wanted to make sure his safe room was safe and hidden.  Why?  Because sometimes, homeless immigrants came into the church seeking shelter, or simply because they needed spiritual support, and since they did, ICE decided to wait by the watering hole, to catch and question them on the way out.

  Do you understand what is happening in this country, right now?  Churches are building escape tunnels.

  What for?  Is it just so they can avoid the front door and then carry on happily in that neighborhood?  No.  Once you are targeted, you need to get out of the country.  Not the neighborhood, not state, the country.  Because ICE doesn't give a damn about you or your family.  They will separate you and send you to Mexico, and if that rips you away from your kids, oh well, you will catch them later probably, or not.

  Canada is receiving refugees from America.  Refugees from America.  Let that sink in.  People are so scared of their families being torn apart by American law enforcement, that they are hiding in tunnels and traveling across the entire freaking country to escape to Canada.  They are literally crossing deserts and snow fields, at night, to escape.

  That is what America has become.  A country of hidden rooms and tunnels to protect refugees.  Of Child Welfare agents willing to look the other way, so that families have a chance of staying together.  Last week, American citizens were required to show their citizenship papers to get off a plane that had neither departed nor landed from a foreign country.  Muhammad Ali Jr, and his Grandmother were approached by LEO and questioned about their religion.  Do you think that having legal papers will save you?  The president signed an EO that detained legal visa and green card holders.  This is not about having the legal papers.  That's just the excuse.

  What is it going to take?  What is your cut-off?

  If the private prison corporations start building temporary camps for illegal immigrants, is that going to be okay?  Beats putting them in actual jails, right?  We don't want to be uncivilized about this.

  How about we use those camps for marijuana users as well?  Sure, the government is talking about going after marijuana users as well, but they aren't criminals, right?  They would be safer in camps, rather than prisons, right?

  Where is your line, people?  Where?

  Are you willing to carry and show your papers on demand, like the people on that plane did?  That happened.  It isn't theoretical.  It happened.

 Are you willing to be questioned about your religion?  It is happening.  Right now, as we speak, there are police officers questioning people on the suspicion of being Muslim.  Where is your line?

  There are secret safe houses for good people who are trying to keep their families together.  There are secret escape tunnels to keep those people away from law enforcement trying to send them away to a country they may or may not be a citizen of.  That's happening.

  It may not happen to you.  If you are white, it won't happen.  But maybe it'll happen to a friend of yours.  Maybe you don't even remember that they aren't white, just because you've know them for so long, and their race just isn't an issue with you.  How involved are you?  How much in danger are you?  Is it just politics, or is it actually a part of your life?

  When I went to talk to the housekeeper, ICE demanded to see proof of my citizenship.  I was born in California.  I have an Associates, a Bachelors, and a Masters degree.  I served as both enlisted, and as an officer, in the U.S. Navy.  I have fought in two wars for this country.  None of that mattered.  The only reason I was approached and questioned was because my skin is brown.  The only reason I was not detained was because my day job is with a federal analyst group, my boss outranks the ICE captain.

This isn't politics for me.  This is my daily life.  I get stopped.  I get questioned.  I get detained.  People I know are having their families torn apart.  People I know are trying to escape the country.  And people, like the pastor at the church, and the lady from Child Welfare, they also know things are happening, and they are doing what they can to help.  They knew where the line was, and when that line was crossed, they took action.

What's your line?  Have you even thought about it?

13 Comments


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NightScreams

Posted

illegal is still breaking the law. Perhaps illegals should have thought about their children...etc before they committed the crime of illegally immigrating. It's a choice made, the responsibility lies upon the person making those decisions. Everyone has a sob story, but let's not make it an excuse for a bad decision too. We can't just go around making laws and disregarding those with a heat tug story.

The point of the line is that with laws, you have to draw it somewhere in order to maintain a society. Life will never be the garden of eden for all because there's always someone who will ruin anything for everyone else.

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11 hours ago, NightScreams said:

illegal is still breaking the law. Perhaps illegals should have thought about their children...etc before they committed the crime of illegally immigrating. It's a choice made, the responsibility lies upon the person making those decisions. Everyone has a sob story, but let's not make it an excuse for a bad decision too. We can't just go around making laws and disregarding those with a heat tug story.

The point of the line is that with laws, you have to draw it somewhere in order to maintain a society. Life will never be the garden of eden for all because there's always someone who will ruin anything for everyone else.

The ones you claim never thought about their children were thinking only of their families when they decided to risk everything they had in the hopes of getting anything more.  The society you are maintaining is one that requires people to show their papers, and people to hide in basements and escape through tunnels.  The people you are calling criminals are housemaids who were reporting thieves, and you call that a sob story. 

You think the people who work 16 hours a day in a field for you are demanding a garden of Eden, unlike those failures of Americans who are willing to whine about not having jobs, but simply don't "do" manual labor?  You are right, there is always someone who will ruin it for them, and you should think about who that is next time you bite into a piece of fruit.

You have no line, other than your personal comfort.  You have no problem with people suffering, you even blame them entirely, until such time as you don't get your fruit.  Shame on you.

  • Like 6
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Paranormal Gal

Posted

Ok listen this is a touchy subject for people. But in the end they are ILLEGALS they broke the law. Everyone has a story about why they broke the law. How can i feel sorry for ANYONE who here illegally and while doing it STEALS someone identity???? I hear these people are so GOD fearing but the LORD said OBEY THE LAW OF THE LAND.

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9 hours ago, 32yrsofperanormal said:

Ok listen this is a touchy subject for people. But in the end they are ILLEGALS they broke the law. Everyone has a story about why they broke the law. How can i feel sorry for ANYONE who here illegally and while doing it STEALS someone identity???? I hear these people are so GOD fearing but the LORD said OBEY THE LAW OF THE LAND.

What is your line?

No one asked you what your soapbox was about.  No one asked you what you wanted to happen.  The question is:

What is your line?

Do you have one?

Or are you just along for the ride, confident that, when you start to feel icky, or threatened, you can just tell them to stop, and they will?

What is your line?

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Paranormal Gal

Posted

My line is and story is this i don't care who is here but come legally don't commit crimes live on welfare. Show everyone your not like the rest. But when you hear another illegal committing crimes it gets you mad. Bad enough legal americans are doing it. You need a passport to go to any other country but America. It is bull.

Thanks for letting me explain.

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aquatus1

Posted (edited)

3 minutes ago, 32yrsofperanormal said:

My line is and story is this i don't care who is here but come legally don't commit crimes live on welfare. Show everyone your not like the rest. But when you hear another illegal committing crimes it gets you mad. Bad enough legal americans are doing it. You need a passport to go to any other country but America. It is bull.

Thanks for letting me explain.

Again, you avoid the question.  No one is asking you about what you feel others should be targeted for.  The question is what your line is for government intervention.  At what point are you willing to state that the government has gone too far.

It's easy to throw other people under the bus.  The question here isn't about that.  The question is: what will it take for you, personally, to feel threatened enough by the government to take action?

Edited by aquatus1
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Paranormal Gal

Posted

Ok this is a touchy subject we will agree to disagree. I myself have never trusted the government look how they treat there own people look at the Vets how they are treated. My thoughts are there are better ways to come into America. I have known legal people and illegal people. The Government has always for very long time on both parties to do things that make them look good. I myself i would set up a program to help people who are not criminals get legal status who has PROVEN they want to be American. I think criminals need to go back. And when they have proven they want to work pay taxes and not work under the table be a positive member then they will become legal Americans. I am not here to upset or anger anyone. If i have sorry not what i set out to do. But the government people have always played cat and mouse games at the expense if the people.

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aquatus1

Posted (edited)

You are still avoiding the question.  Again, no one is asking you what you think about illegals.  No one is asking you how you would do things.  No one is asking you how you think foreigners should be treated.

The question is: What is the line that you will not allow the country, the federal government, to cross?

I'm willing to bet that you have spent hours justifying why you believe you are right.  I am equally willing to bet you haven't spent a single minute thinking about what would be too wrong to tolerate.

At what point are you, personally, willing to declare that the government has gone too far and needs to be stopped?  That is the only question this blog post is asking you to answer.

Edited by aquatus1
  • Like 2
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Kismit

Posted (edited)

I have to say my line is pretty far over the left side when it comes to families. Children having to watch their Mother or Father treated like criminals. Families separated because someone was born in the wrong country. For the only reason ..That's wrong. And what's worse is the people making the policies are not the doing the dirty work or watching the heartbreak. They are the ones sitting on their cosy little offices staring at the next bit of inpersonal paper.

And I know the Nazi parralels are wrong but the Jews had to carry their papers too, at first.

Edited by Kismit
  • Like 3
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Paranormal Gal

Posted

Ok the line is this. When any. Government in any country tries to bully people by taken away anything that anyone who has the right to do it is wrong.Any one no matter who they are criminals have no rights. The president now is not the only one who has crossed that line. When and if that line is crossed yes something should be done. But again this president is not the only one who has crossed the line. When the line is crossed to protect people in america then something needs to be done. But in the mean time all presidents are guilty of crossing a line or 2. Again this is a touchy subject. There will never be a right answer because everyone has a different answer.

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