How many DU'ers know any illegal immigrants?

[IkeWarnedUs]

I'm not sure what is causing the rash of threads about illegal immigrants. I may have missed a news story or maybe it is just a fad. But it got me wondering.

How many of the people posting know someone who is here illegally?

Of those who do, how do you know them?

Would you say the person (or people) here illegally were your friends? Co-workers? Neighbors?

Were they here alone or with family and/or friends?

Were they from Mexico? Central or South America? Europe? Asia? Africa? Somewhere else?

Did you feel compelled to turn them in? Did you turn them in?

Do you feel they contributed to our society or were a liability?

[salinen]

1. When I was 6 months old

a 17 year old girl came to work for us. 47 years later, she is taking care of my Mother who has Alzeimers. She is family, only she isn't legal

[Astarho]

2. Possibly

I see a group of them hanging around the Circle K every morning as I go to work. I never actually asked them if they're legal or not. Some probably aren't, some may be citizens and some may be Indians.

I also see them out digging ditches and various other landscaping working out in the summer heat, so I think they've contributed.

[mitchtv]

3. At the present time I am not sure

But I took an Argentine lover into the US illegally(don't worry, the statute of limitations has passed on that one) It was fun in the bad old days.When my present partnerand I had our vinyard in Sonoma, we always used border brothers. Mostly mex(sonoma is little Michoacan), but some Guatemalans. We paid them well, and fed them,and provide lunch. Americans did not want this work. It was only P/T work and little of it,since we did most of it ourselvs.
did consider turning the Argentine in,when we were breaking up, but I didn/t.
The mexican guys were much better about plants and machinery than the Guatemalans

[Leilani]

4. Yes, I have known some...

Met them through work that needed to be done on my house...the pipes in my house burst, & I had to almost have the house rebuilt.

I had many people come to the house to look at the job, give me estimates on work, etc.

No, I would not turn them in. Although I had a few bad experiences, I would not turn someone in, because nobody got hurt.

If I saw a crime being committed, I would report it.

[Rowdyboy]

5. Certainly....poultry processing plants are big business around here

The job is nasty, smelly, cold, and pays minimum wage with pitiful benefits. Every year or so the local sheriff raids and arrests/deports a couple of hundred people. A few weeks later, they've been replaced and things go back to normal.

It's despicable, close to indentured servitude.

Also, our local Mexican restaurant has a number of workers who are likely undocumented. They bust ass, provide cheap, quality food, treat customers like guests, and appreciate decent treatment. My partner and I generally tip them 25% which makes us VERY popular. These people live in abject poverty and work their asses off and I respect them more than I can say.

Also, we had a deck built by a young man who spoke very little English. He was from Mexico City, his wife from Kenner, Louisiana, and we became pretty close friends before they returned to Mexico for the birth of their first child.

[HEyHEY]

6. Oddly yes - and He's AMERICAN

Delivering Pizzas in Canada illegally

[IkeWarnedUs]

7. Reminds me of someone I knew

A few years ago I met a guy online from Canada who wanted to come here for a visit but didn't have much money. I told him I could get him a job delivering pizza while he was here. We joked around that if the INS came and rounded up the illegals at the restaurant he would end up with an extended vacation because he would probably have been sent south with everyone else.

[janx]

10. HAHAHAHAHA!

Perfect.

[Syncronaut Seven]

14. Speaking of Pizza, Yes. we lost a couple today.

Our two best dough rollers. I-9's came back with bad numbers. I fucking hate it when that happens, they were helpng me with my spanish. Great guys, worked 3 times harder than the anglos on staff.

A few years ago I worked in the nursery industry. The boss would put off little details like correct documentation untill the work was done then: "Oh... SO SORRY!!! Bye.

[unslinkychild1]

19. same here

only in the nursery I worked at, they were a little quicker. Hell, we were told that even if their papers were OBVIOUS fakes, we couldn't NOT hire them. We had to run them through the system. Usually took about a week. We had folks BEGGING for work out there, same ppl would come in, over and over, with "new" identities.

And when we couldn't find enough workers for whatever reason, we'd hire a fucking SUBCONTRACTOR who was picking up workers off the street and shipping them to us. We only checked the subcontractor's papers. Every worker that ever tried to work for us full time after their temp stint had fake papers, but you'd see 'em over and over when the subcontractor was needed.

[unslinkychild1]

8. illegals

How many of the people posting know someone who is here illegally?
Of those who do, how do you know them?

Shitloads of Mexicans (one of whom I happened to marry), my stepmother (an evil, ugly cow if ever there WAS one) and all her family (ditto), a lady who became homeless and lived with us for awhile (I know why she became homeless now :)), let's see, some of my ex-in-laws (about 10 of the rotten bastards), bunches who worked at a tree farm/nursery--probably about 75 percent of the workers---roughly 100 people, where I worked as the office slave, most of whom were damned fine people.

2 Brits, one of whom was a real piece of work! Embezzled his company and came here with his ill-gotten gains. Met through a chatroom. Same with the other Brit, but he didn't steal anything and is a fine human bean. They both left everything they had, including family, to come here.

VERY TEMPTED to turn in ex-husband, but didn't, ultimately, because it's a rotten thing to do, and he was legal by then :). I've thought about getting Homeland Security after him by saying he's a terrorist (which he is NOT), but that's just my rich fantasy life. Didn't have to with the Brit asshole 'cuz Interpol nailed his butt. THREATENED to call Immigration on the bitch that stole my phonecard and racked up a THOUSAND DOLLARS on it, but since she very promptly paid me her portion of the bill, I didn't. Never turned ANYONE in.

All of these guys worked, with two exceptions--one Brit on a pension and my ex-brother-in-law, your frienly local COKE DEALER who sold it from MY house. The other brit bought a fake green card from the Mexican town down the road (you shoulda seen the LOOKS he got!), and promptly got a job, which he held for roughly 2 months until Interpol hauled him away.

I think all of 'em "contributed" to society, if by that you mean, worked, paid taxes, etc. Most of the ones I got really acquainted with, just contaminate the air I breathe by sharing it by being ANYWHERE on this planet. The good people at the tree farm were kind, gentle, helpful folks that would go out of their way to help you, and would give you the shirts off their backs if they felt you had the greater need.

One thing I certainly have never known to have occurred is ANY of these illegals getting welfare of any sort. They cannot get foodstamps, welfare, social security, energy assistance, NOTHING. They might clog up the emergency rooms, but that's 'cuz they're POOR, not because they're illegals. Most of have shit jobs, no bennies, and a lousy pay rate.

Anyway, just my experience.

[DoNotRefill]

9. How would I know?

What, you think I ask my immigrant friends for their papers when I meet them????

Silly question....

[IkeWarnedUs]

13. I don't think it is a silly question

Of course, I may be biased . . .

I wouldn't expect you (or anyone else) to ask for papers when you meet someone. I bet everyone on this board knows someone who is here illegally, whether they know it or not. Many, many, many years ago I thought I only knew 2 people who were gay. Now I know (and have known for many years) that I probably knew many gay people at that time, I just didn't know I did.

That was actually the thought behind my thread. So many people have strong opinions about illegal immigrants - pro and con. I was curious as to how many DU'ers were aware of knowing any and if so, what their experience(s) was.

I have come to believe that it is only when you get to know people as individuals and not as a nameless, faceless group that you really understand who and what they are all about.

It is easy to hold an opinion on (illegal immigrants, gays, blacks, muslims, lawyers, used car salesmen - pick one) if you* don't know them as people. It is when you get to know them and like them or hate them as individuals that you go from having an opinion (everybody has one) to develop a point of reference.

* By "you" I mean the universal you, not you in particular.

[unslinkychild1]

20. OR....

It could be that by knowing some real "stellar" folks from any group, you end up absolutely hating their whole race. I absolutely HATED any and all people and things Mexican after my divorce. Eventually, I came around and realized I was just being an ass, but I still catch myself cringeing sometimes when I am around Mexicans. Sooooo, a few bad experiences can completely kill someone's objectivity about race/immigrants, etc. I do know that the problem is MY problem and not the whole race's fault, so I try to curb my xenophobic response as soon as it rears its snide little head in my brain. I dunno, is that reasonable? It's hard to deal with being extremely liberal yet know I'm not perfect while I have this ugly republican irrational hatred rear up from time to time. How does one deal with something like this?

[Sugarbleus]

11. My grandson's father is an illegal from Mexico.

His whole family were. He stayed here (Calif) for some years, worked a bit, went to jail for a time, then went back to Mexico. I have no idea where he's at now. Many of those folks "come and go".

My daughter knew many illegal Mexican immigrants/transients. Some worked the fields or did day labor, others ran drugs. Again, many come and go across the border.

Those that work hard and live within the laws of the land are an asset; those that run drugs and scams on the government are a liability, no matter the country of origin.

My shithead nephew owns a drywall business. He goes round and picks up day laborers (Mexican/hispanic)to do his grunt work..then he pays them peanuts and sends them packing afterwards and laughs about it. I think that stinks!! On the other hand, we have had illegals working for the landscaping company here where I rent and they ripped off one too many things...that's a pisser.

I have no special love for the police; I wouldn't call them to arrest an illegal immigrant. This is something for the politicians and voters to work out.

That's my take and experience.

[DrWeird]

12. Well, if they're mexican, and they don't speak English very well...

then they must, logically, be illegal immigrants.

At least according to some of those people in those other threads.

That said, anybody who turns in an illegal immigrant is a dirty rat and should be deported themselves.

[Kire]

15. I know a number of them personally

through family connections

[Il_Coniglietto]

16. I have family who used to be

They managed to become legal residents by marrying Americans.

[YoQuieroLiberty]

17. I Know a Few

They stand a few hundred yards from my house, waiting for work. They ride bikes and take buses down from poorer areas of town. All they want is to work. I've hired them from time to time to do things around my house, and their wives often come to clean the house. Our kids play together.

I pay them with food and cash, and they humbly ask for more work.

Can you imagine 30-40 out of work Americans standing on a corner, waiting for a truck to come pick them for a day's labor? Neither can I.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi YoQuieroLiberty!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[buycitgo]

18. here's a thought: ask ANY native american what HE/SHE thinks

about who's a legal/illegal "alien"

course, one could go back to the land bridge, I guess...........

[allalone]

21. most people do know some

they just don't know they do. What do you think? We ask for papers when we meet people?

[Commendatori]

23. I turned one in

He lived in the apartment below mine when I lived in Maryland, and he used to beat the shit out of his girlfriend (I'm talking serious beatings here). I couldn't talk her into pressing charges, so I turned him in myself.

Predictably, he got let go, but he never came back to her.

[theboss]

24. I dated one briefly

She dumped me for a married man.

[FlaGranny]

25. I don't know if I know any.

But I probably do.

[The Flaming Red Head]

26. Are we rounding up illegals on DU, now?

Gawd this is sneaky.