Can't hold my tongue

Thousand of individuals from foreign countries walk unchallenged across our southern border every day. We don't know who they are, where they come from, or their intentions. It is an invasion by definition.

I am not only a citizen of Arizona but a third generation native of the state.

Standing in line waiting to board our plane from New Orleans, the news on the TV was showing Gov. Brewer signing the new law for Arizona and a young girl standing behind me asked her mother what that meant....the mother quickly replied that it was profiling and that it is a wrong thing to do and not what our country is about, but when I purposefully turned and looked at her she quickly added that people were causing a lot of trouble in Arizona and they were having a hard time.

It ceases to amaze me how people can so quickly come to a conclusion on a matter not even having read the law, or lived in the area affected but then if our Congress can pass bills without reading them I guess it should be of no surprise.

Been to an airport recently? Know how tight the security is? Know how many people are complaining that enough is not being done? Do you support airport security? Why then is it no problem that illegals with backpacks can just walk into our country in droves? Here's a news flash they don't all stay in Arizona.

Well, this is my opinion........We (America) is at fault

Many years ago we stopped adhering to the law and looked the other way. There were perhaps many reasons for this, charity, greed for cheap labor, friendships or whatever but we looked the other way and now, when just one report of illegals apprehended and retained for trial for one day, in one location, Feb. 5, 2009 shows that 325 were charged as border intruders and 8 were charged as drug runners at night, we see we have a problem.

If you are interested go here http://immigrationcounters.com/ to see some statistics.

Many years ago employers and police enforced the law that required people to have proper documentation.....a green card if you will. They are still around but few have them, why you might ask? Well they aren't that easy to get...http://uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis ...they require a sponsor, a fee, and a waiting time so if someone will hire you without one why should you bother? On a side note if you are pregnant and can get into the US and have your baby (free by the way) you have an immediate legal citizen to bind yourself with, these are called Anchor babies.

WAY back in the day when I got my first driver's license I had to bring my birth certificate, today, that is not required, and by the way you don't even have to speak English, you can take the test in Spanish here in Arizona. I guess I have lived in the dark ages because until I recently checked it out, I thought it was still required and that if you had a driver's license that proved you were here with paperwork. I think I am still a little confused on this issue because my Grandson has applied for ID (not a drivers license) and has always had to bring a copy of his birth certificate. That being said I have hired people to clean my yard or my house if they were driving and I want to share this situation with you. My past cleaning lady was a young Christian woman married with three children and has lived here in the US for 12 years or more and came to me under recommendation, one day I simply asked her if she was here legally and to my shock, she said no, that her husband was but she wasn't............These situations are why this is now a heartbreaking problem. I asked her if she was trying to become a citizen and she said "It's just not that easy". I checked it out and you see, once you come here illegally you pretty much have to go back and apply for the green card that allows you to live and work in the US for 10 years. After five years you then can apply for citizenship but not only do you have to be able to read, write and speak English you also have to understand the fundamentals of U.S. history and government and can support the principles of the U.S. Constitution to become a citizen.....Can you imagine that this is our law and yet, when a Govenor of a state tries to pass a law that to get a driver's license you must speak English it all but creates a riot?

Just to set the record straight here is a condensed version of the Arizona law:

The Arizona law requires the police to determine the immigration status of any person who is stopped for any "lawful" reason. Only if that person does not present valid, government-issued identification is there a "reasonable suspicion" that he or she is "unlawfully present in the Untied States," after which the officer must make reasonable attempts to verify the person's immigration status. State authorities are required to report the arrest or conviction of an illegal alien to Federal immigration authorities. The law requires an illegal alien (or a lawful alien who is not carrying his green card) to pay fines and jail costs.
The vast majority of the law is dedicated to imposing stiff sanctions on those who employ or smuggle illegal aliens. This Arizona law is not a new law deciding that being here without paperwork is illegal....... It is an Arizona law that creates a State penalty to mirror what already is a federal crime.
I have shared many of my hubby and I trips to Mexico on this blog and have loved going but we won't be going this year....... It is just too dangerous. In the past when a US citizen was in Mexico it was pretty clear that the government had a tight reign on any violence that would threaten the tourist market but the Mexican drug cartels now dominate and are overpowering the Mexican government. We experienced this first hand if you remember my post On June 10, 2008 on our trip to Puerto Vallarta where they robbed and killed a worker where we were for a zip line ride. Our last trip to Mexico was a Rivera Mexican cruise in 2009, some people that found out we were from Arizona asked us is it was safe to come to Arizona with all the kidnappings, drugs,murders and etc. Are people afraid to come to your state?
I am very fortunate, I live in the suburbs of Phoenix and do not hear the gun shots at night and the sirens 24 hours a day and see the results of the drive by shootings but I tell you what I do see, if I drive in certain parts of this city, I would swear I am in Mexico...the colors, sounds and all the writing on business's are in Spanish and I by the way am an intruder. I can go to my local post office on any given day and see anywhere from 3 to 7 Mexican men waiting for someone to come and offer them a day job...same thing at Home Depot. I watch the news and see a high school go against a group of us citizens wearing our American flag because it may offend those celebrating Cinco de Mayo which has absolutely nothing to do with the United States except for an excuse to party. I see people who are here illegally standing and protesting.....try that in Mexico, you will be shot. Do you know that even being born to Mexican citizens in Mexico does not give you the right to Mexican citizenship? Google "Requirements to become a Mexican Citizen" and get a big shock....You have to live there five years just to apply to become a citizen and you can not own land in your name if you are not a citizen.
I want to tell the illegal young people I see who are standing and protesting, go home and build a country others would want to come to, put your hand to the plow not up in a fist to the government that gave you a free education. I hear people say "this country is built on immigration" they just forget to add legal. Both sides of my family immigrated here from other countries but they were sponsored to come here, documented and became citizens, adhering to our culture, language, customs and contributing in taxes and accepting the reponsibilty of going to war to protect this country. Illegals do none of the above and will protest and threaten when we try to adhere to the law of our land as we are seeing.
There has been a 60 % reduction of illegal immigrants in the area between San Diego, Calif. and Yuma, Az. Why?
this is the area that the proposed wall has been completed. Now people say "you can't build a wall across the whole southern border" I say, if Congress wants to pay for job creation via Public works projects ---there is a fence that needs to be finished and by the way.....what happen to the "Yes, we can, man"? His position, and I quote...."So I want to say it again, just in case anybody is confused. The way to fix our broken immigration system is through common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform. (Applause). "That means responsibility from government to secure our borders, something we have done and will continue to do." I am sorry Mr. President, but I am confused...first you state that our immigration system is broken and then you say that the way to fix it is doing what we have done and will continue to do?
Build a fence, add border patrol, have cameras like in New York City, send in troops like we are doing in Afghanistan to protect their borders, crack down on employers hiring illegals , do whatever it takes, but the most important job of the Federal Government is to keep us safe and secure our borders!