Targeting Illegals Spreads In U.S.

First it was the state of Arizona, now it’s a little town in Nebraska, the heartland of America. The message is simple: Illegal immigrants are not welcome in this nation built by generations of legal immigrants.

It’s not about racism or profiling, as some claim. It’s about our proud nation of states, towns and small communities trying to protect our way of life from outsiders who take advantage of our open borders, ignore our rules, and choose to live and work here.

Voters in tiny Fremont, Neb., had the guts to say enough when they recently voted to approve a ban on hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants who, with the help of ethically-challenged employers, seek opportunities to better themselves in the town of 25,000, just 35 miles northwest of Omaha.

Fremont's action comes in the wake of Arizona’s new law requiring police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.

The Fremont measure will require would-be renters to apply for a license from the town, which has seen a surge in immigrants in the past two decades largely because of available jobs at the nearby Fremont Beef and Hormel meatpacking plants, the Associated Press reports.

Fremont officials must refuse to issue a license to applicants found to be in the country illegally. The ordinance also requires businesses to use the federal E-Verify database to ensure employees are allowed to work.

Both the Arizona law and the Fremont measure face court challenges, the latter from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has promised to file a lawsuit to block enforcement of the proposal roughly 57 percent of Fremont voters endorsed.

Hazleton, Pa., passed an ordinance in 2006 to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny permits to businesses hiring them, according to the AP. The Dallas, Texas, suburb of Farmers Branch also has tried for years to enforce a ban on landlords renting to illegal immigrants. Federal judges struck down both ordinances, but both are on appeal.

Supporters of the Fremont measure say it’s needed to make up for what they see as lax federal law enforcement (the Obama administration has been all over the place on the issue). Opponents say it could fuel discrimination, according to the report by AP writer Josh Funk, who interviewed Fremont residents:

Linda Nafziger said she voted for the ordinance because she doesn't think the community should be supporting illegal immigrants. But she acknowledged the measure won't end illegal immigration. "They'll just move somewhere else and be somebody else's problem," she said.

Trevor McClurg said the measure is fair because it's aimed at people who aren't legally in the United States. "I don't think it's right to be able to rent to them or hire them," McClurg said. "They shouldn't be here in the first place."

Nafziger and McClurg are correct, and that’s why this illegal immigrant issue has struck a raw nerve in our country, where jobs for legal citizens are hard to find with millions still unemployed as a result of the Great Recession.

"Not only do local ordinances such as this (in Fremont) violate federal law, they are also completely out of step with American values of fairness and equality," Laurel Marsh, executive director of ACLU Nebraska, told AP’s Funk.

Whose values is Marsh referring to – ours, or those of the illegals who want to continue to live and work here, and compound the situation by having children born in this country?
Maybe Marsh is out of step with many Americans, who are angry and frustrated with a bloated federal government that is ineffective much of the time, especially in such key economic areas as immigration.

Hard-working immigrants built this nation – English, Dutch, German, French, followed by Irish, Italian, Polish and others. The current influx is comprised of those whose native countries speak Spanish. All are welcome here, so long as they do it legally!

Officials in Arizona, a border state with Mexico, have been grappling with illegals and chose to take a stand because the federal government remained on the sidelines in enforcing U.S. immigration laws (except for some border fence construction under the George W. Bush administration).

WMB previously applauded Arizona’s courageous stance because of the resulting firestorm of criticism. It’s easy to follow the crowd or suffer in silence on any controversial issue but far more demanding to make your voice heard, especially when it’s contrary to the bleeding-heart liberals now steering public policy in D.C.

In other places on the planet, illegals are tortured, imprisoned or killed. America does not do that, but our generosity should not be mistaken for stupidity. This country does not suffer fools lightly, though our tolerance seems to suggest otherwise.

As one blogger notes, this nation offers illegals jobs, Social Security cards, welfare, food stamps, driver’s licenses, credit cards, subsidized rent or loans to buy houses, free education, free health care, a lobbyist in Washington, billions of dollars worth of public documents in their language (Spanish?), and the right to carry their native country’s flag while they protest they don’t get enough from America.

We at WMB see this immigration debate growing more divisive by the day. The implications for business, industry and legal American workers are very clear. We don’t need any more lip-service from the dolts in D.C.; what we need is real and consistent action to protect our borders and our way of life.

Bottom line: If our national leaders were doing better jobs in our behalf, then officials in Arizona and Fremont wouldn’t feel compelled to take matters into their own hands. The message is clear if the powers-that-be in D.C. choose to hear it, act on it, and not cave in to illegals and those who blindly support them.

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.