The treatment of illegal Latinos

A new report  about Latinos illegaly living in the USA came out today that says in part:

They are routinely cheated out of their earnings and denied basic health and safety protections. They are regularly subjected to racial profiling and harassment by law enforcement. They are victimized by criminals who know they are reluctant to report attacks. And they are frequently forced to prove themselves innocent of immigration violations, regardless of their legal status.

I can most certainly confirm that report based on some of my experiences living in Birmingham, Alabama. Let me list three of them for you.

1. One time an undocumented worker that I knew called and said that his friend needed some help finding a clinic. When I asked why, he said that his friend had been injured on the job by a flying piece of metal. Sure enough, there was a sliver of metal in the white of the man’s eye. I was told that the employer had sent him home telling him to go to a doctor. I promptly called the employer who tried to come up with an excuse as to why he had sent the worker home without additional examination. The upshot was that he was sent to the clinic that the company used for on-the-job injuries and was treated free of charge.

2. When we lived in Irondale, AL, the police began the practice of having unexpected checkpoints in which every driver was stopped and asked to provide identification and proof of insurance. These were not checkpoints for drinking, which have become more common across the USA, and were not even done during the hours when one would expect drunk drivers. Rather the checkpoints were conveniently on a street used by many Latinos to travel to their trailer parks. This, of course, meant money for the city from fines, impounding cars, etc. The first time I was stopped, the policeman was, uhm, rough, until I spoke to him in USA English. Then he became very friendly, did not need to look at my insurance after all, and waved me on. Curious, eh? I also knew a Puerto Rican veteran, who was studying to be a lawyer, who was somehow regularly stopped by police and asked to prove that he was a citizen, despite the fact that he carried a fully legal driver’s license that could easily be checked by the police. (Shh, that is done with a simple radio call to the police dispatchers, as you can see on any TV show.)

3. I started a Bible Study among some of the undocumented Latinos. I had 30 people attending at an apartment complex. On the fourth week of the Bible Study, armed men broke into one of the apartments, in a home invasion, and killed the Latino husband in front of his wife and child. That husband was one of the members of my Bible Study. Home invasions were common because Latinos kept their money at home rather than in banks.

It is not appropriate that people are here illegaly. But, those who are here illegaly are definitely not living off of the fat of the land. They are not taking advantage of us, rather, many of our worst elements are taking advantage of them. The overwhelming majority pay taxes, regardless of what some commentators would try to tell you. Hint: employers are required to subtract federal and state taxes from every paycheck they issue. As well, they pay sales taxes on every item they buy. For those who are paid on a “cash” economy, that is no different than the well-known cases of many USA citizens who work in construction, or plumbing, or as electricians or receive tips, who receive part of their pay as undocumented cash payments.

There is little doubt that the current system is broken. But, our Congress, both parties, are equally broken on this issue. Both parties are frightened to death of taking this system to an appropriate resolution. Regardless of how this is resolved, there will be a significant number of voters who will promptly vote against any representative who has approved a solution. If the solution is to have some type of amnesty, then there will be angry voters. If there is no amnesty, then there will be angry voters. If there is a worker’s visa program, then there will be angry voters. If there is no worker’s visa program, then there will be angry voters.

So our elected leaders do nothing and avoid this subject like the plague, except during election season. And, as a result, the wolves among us have free rein to carry on their criminal or unethical activities.