State police cracking down on illegal aliens on highways

[Freddie Stubbs]

Associated Press


PITTSBURGH - State police are rounding up illegal aliens on interstates in western Pennsylvania as part of homeland security efforts, but a professor said most of those being targeted are simply migrant workers, not terrorists.

During the last six months, troopers from the Mercer barracks have stopped almost 300 illegal aliens along interstates 80 and 79 as part of Stop Terrorism On Patrol. The program was created by the state Department of Homeland Security.

The illegal aliens are usually stopped for traffic violations, according to Sgt. Randy Anderson.

If they can't verify they're in the country legally, state police take them back to the barracks to have their immigration status and criminal history checked.

more: http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/9766824.htm

[Massacure]

1. illegal aliens usually dont have driver's licenses do they?

[dumpster_baby]

2. all designed to get the white male vote in PA

The cheap labor conservatives actually encouraged and aided the flood of illegal immigrants, but now when they need the white male vote, they crack down.

If Kerry gets in and gets control of the House and Senate and SCOTUS, he could liberalize citizenship or voting rules for latino immigrants and thereby consolidate an electoral majority.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Do you think that this will help Kerry/Edwards?

:shrug:

[dumpster_baby]

19. no, it helps Bush by telling the white males that things are going right

I was outlining a plan for the Dems consolidate an electoral majority.

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. Then why would PA's Democratic Governor do this?

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

3. I know I am risking attack but...............

here goes. I do not support the entry of anyone into this country illegally, for any reason whatsoever. I don't care if they need a job and that's why they do it. I want the benefits of citizenship and residency to go to those who are either legal citizens, or who patiently waited their turn in line to enter legally. Furthermore, I would like to see a law passed whereby any corporation that repeatedly hires/employs illegals loses its assets to forfeiture. In other words, if Wal-Mart hires illegals repeatedly, all Wal-mart's assets are forfeited and sold at auction. I think the problem would fix itself PDQ. I want all workers in the US to be treated fairly. Illegal workers are almost universally subject to financial abuses. Stop luring them here so you can take advantage of them, you greedy multinational corporations!

[DBoon]

4. So maybe the people hiring illegal immigrants should be arrested?

Putting away a few high profile employers will do a lot more to stem the flow of illegal immigrants than pulling over a few of the immigrants

[DoNotRefill]

5. and what would the result of that be?

more screening of job applicants, with more intrusion into the lives and papers of the potential employees.

I remember when you could get a job in this country without being asked for "your papers, please."

[DBoon]

8. If we are going to control inmmigration

in the face of almost irresistable economic pressures, I'd rather see the head of the large agribusiness who profits from slave labor put behind bars than a bunch of displaced Mexican peasants.

I think most arguments about arresting illegal immigrants come more from a desire to see these folks made even more powerless than from an actual desire to control immigration.

The more you marginalize illegal immigrants, the more desirable these immigrants become as semi-slave labor.

[TX-RAT]

21. To have someone prove they are a US citizen, is intrusion?

[DoNotRefill]

28. Well...

I was born here. I'm a citizen. And I'd have trouble proving it to the Government's satisfaction if it ever came up.

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. It probably depends

Did the employer make a good faith effort to verify that the worker was legal? If forged documents were used, and employer did not know, they should probably not be held liable. But if they do not have any documents, then they should definitely be penalized.

[demoman123]

11. Good post.

Every other advanced industrialized country in the world has strict controls on immigration. A nation that can't or won't secure its borders ceases to be a nation. Not only does it lose its territorial integrity, but it breaks the social contract with its own working class.

[sandnsea]

12. You're exactly right

Put the blame where it lies, on the greedy business owners who lure them in. I am so sick of workers attacking workers, it's self-defeating and short-sighted. Business wants illegals here to drive down wages. It's an attack against US workers as well as exploitation of foreign workers. A business knows when they're hiring an illegal. Someone who speaks poor English and is willing to work for a third of the going wage, an illegal. It's simple. Start shutting down their businesses and watch how fast illegal immigration stops.

[MeinaShaw]

14. No Attack but slightly disagree

I am not sure I am with you on all of this except I definately agree everyone that comes into the country should do it legally. It is ok to let as many in as we have but it needs to be done legally. Just letting thousands cross the border illegally every month is creating a big mess. It is not fair to the people coming in to have them here on illegal status.

About companies being penalized, you should see how real the citizenship documents look. In fact, some are real documents that have made their way out of the government offices somehow. The employer only finds out about it when they get a notice that two people, for example, are using the same social security number and that one of them is working for the employer.

Try working in an HR department and see how hard it is to detect this. Now for companies that knowingly hire illegals, I agree with you.

[amazona]

18. it takes minutes to tell if 2 people are using the same SSN

How do I know this? Because I used to play blackjack and if they really wanted to, they could run your SSN in minutes and come back and stop you from playing if the names didn't match. They have to have the capacity to do this to comply with money-laundering regulations. If a business big enough to have a HR department can't find out in a short time if a number is being used by more than one name/person, it is because they have a policy of not wanting to know.

Now, the casinos comply on the gaming floor because there has been actual enforcement of the money-laundering laws. But the feds are less interested in busting them for hiring maids. So the same casino that will act within minutes to keep from being fined for filing an incorrect CTR on a card player will have illegal housekeepers on their staff. It's crazy but it is a choice they make based on the actions that law enforcement does or does not make.

[Freddie Stubbs]

23. But many illegals work for small businesses

and these small businesses may not have the technology to instantly check SSNs. Is it expensive?

[MeinaShaw]

25. Minutes for a big company? What about small company?

You wrote: If a business big enough to have a HR department can't find out in a short time if a number is being used by more than one name/person, it is because they have a policy of not wanting to know."

Big or small, any business that has employees has to have an HR department or at least perform its functions. You can not ignore the HR regulations just because you are a small business.

What is involved in checking the ss number? Can you tell us so we have a better understanding of this.

I would think a bigger company and a casino will have the resources and dedicated personnel to do it quickly. But small businesses, are they going to have the resources to match a ss number quickly?

Remember, most people in this country are employed by small business so this problem really rests there. Big business hires a small percentage of the total work force.

[TX-RAT]

20. I agree

My wifes mother came here legally from Mexico. so did my mother.
No short cuts.

[coalition_unwilling]

27. If you banned out-of-status workers from California

the whole state would have to shut down, as Mexican migrant labor makes possible the creature comforts the middle-class, upper middle-class and upper-class have come to expect, like lawn care, child care and domestic help, and hotel\hospitality workers.

On a satiric note, perhaps it's only fitting that the middle-class should have to wash its own dishes and cook its own meals.

[Zorra]

6. This is terrible, because the police everywhere will be targeting

and randomly stopping, for no legitimate reason, anyone that is not a white man or woman, or even white men or women that do not drive nice new cars and look like good republicans.

The police never stop the white folks that look like good republicans in their shiny new cars unless they actually do something wrong.

For the rest of us, the police think we are fair game to be harassed at any time for any reason, even if we do absolutely nothing wrong.

If you allow the police to break the law, they will. The police can basically say they are stopping you for anything. Police need to be controlled or they will abuse their power and trample our rights. Not all of them, but a lot of them.

The police have stopped me and said that the reason they stopped me was because I crossed the center line on a two lane highway, which I did not. I was in a different state than my residence at the time. They didn't do anything but check my license and run my name through the NCIC, but still, it really pissed me off.

I do not need to be watched and checked up on by the police. I do not want to be watched and checked on by the police. I want to be free and to live in a free America without fear constant fear of harassment by the police.

Now, it is the new Soviet Union.

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. There was no mention in the article

of people being pulled over for being a suspected illegal alien. They are pulling them over for traffic violations.

[amazona]

17. true but this is not the case in checks I've been in

The folks in Penn. may be truly only stopping cars that are committing traffic violations...however...some of us are not commenting based just on this article. I've been through these checks in other states (see my previous post) and in some road blocks ALL cars are slowed or stopped while they check to see if you are driving while Hispanic. Again, don't want to pile on Pennsylvania if they are playing fair, but I know from personal experience that Texas and Arizona for two are not just stopping cars with the classic broken tail-light...they actually have roadblocks where all are stopped.

[TX-RAT]

22. Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California

All set up check stations, looking for illegals.These stations are operated by the US Border Patrol, not local, county or state agencies.

[havocmom]

7. If law enforcement means to stop illegal immigration, they will go after

the enterprises which hire them. Any other form of 'round up' is just for show and should be exposed as such.

If you mean to stop the trade in illegals, you hit the people who entice/profit from/abuse them. They are not 'just taking jobs Americans don't want' as many businesses will plead. They are taking what American businesses offer so those businesses can increase profits. To stop the flow of illegals, you toss some CEOs in the slammer and hit corporations with huge fines.

Rounding up unfortunates on the roads is just hateful brown shirt pandering to the masses.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. It isn't the big corporations that are employing most of them

They mostly work for smaller businesses. Here in PA, it isn't that uncommon for illegals to work in the kitchens of diners and restaurants.

[nosmokes]

10. and let's not forget they're dying in the freakin' desert just

for the privelege of picking your dinner for a wage that you wouldn't cross the street for unless you were half starved.

yet another reason to be buying organic. it's not a guarantee, but far, far fewer organic growers pay the truly substandard wages and force the workers to live in the really shitty conditions that the corporate farms do.

[amazona]

16. been through such checks in Arizona and Texas

I don't want to impugn the state of PA without knowing exactly what they are doing but I've driven through similar checks in the southwest and it's a bit creepy. Armed men in hat and sunglasses like something out of the movies -- at least once with German shepherds -- stopping your car and then, in my case, waving me through without question because I'm a blonde. Not that I don't want to be waved through without hassle, of course I do, but it's pretty obvious that they're judging you on your looks, and I feel uneasy about it.