Morning Read 2: Does the North Country need a new immigrant wave?
The New York Times has a fascinating story up this morning about withering Great Plains towns which, after years of population loss and decline, are seeing a resurgence thanks to Hispanic immigration.
For generations, the story of the small rural town of the Great Plains, including the dusty tabletop landscape of western Kansas, has been one of exodus — of businesses closing, classrooms shrinking and, year after year, communities withering as fewer people arrive than leave and as fewer are born than are buried. That flight continues, but another demographic trend has breathed new life into the region.
Hispanics are arriving in numbers large enough to offset or even exceed the decline in the white population in many places. In the process, these new residents are reopening shuttered storefronts with Mexican groceries, filling the schools with children whose first language is Spanish and, for now at least, extending the lives of communities that seemed to be staggering toward the grave.
Is this what we need here in the North Country? We have plenty of towns that are aging, dwindling, looking for fresh blood.
Maybe we should be encouraging our migrant workforce — on dairy farms, apple orchards, the tourism industry, etc. — to begin putting down roots here? As always, your comments welcome.
Tags: economy, immigration
Hi folks – Just a reminder to use the comment section as a place to discuss the topics, not to advertise or promote unrelated projects.
–Brian, NCPR
18-34’s leave everywhere for: Hollywood to act, Memphis for country music, DC for politics, Houston for oil, and Silicon Valley for tech. Soon, they’ll be coming to the Adirondacks for the water for craft brewing/distillation.
‘Brewed in the Adirondacks’ will have the same cache as ‘Made in Vermont’.
Na zdravi!
Whatever works works. And you know what? Visually speaking, they don’t look much different than born and raised Texans, New Mexicans, Arizonians and Californians.
Amid the nearly $15 Trillion dollar U.S. treasury deficit, the 12 special politicians are scrambling to cut back on uncontrollable spending, why we not saving some of this money by stopping welfare benefits to illegal aliens? We can accomplish some instant cutbacks, by removing the encouragement, that criminal business have brought upon the average American worker, by displacing them with foreigners from other countries. It’s not like we don’t have our own share of poverty, but when the government-sponsored invasion has allowed this continuing for decades. Most every law to discourage illegal immigration has been tabled in Congress, or it has never collected enough sponsors to reach the floor. When I read a very thorough analysis by the Conservative think tank ‘The Heritage Foundation’ that illegal aliens were being subsidized to the unheard amount of $113 Billion tax dollars annually, then I knew that the Liberal progressives, Democrats and political class Republicans were behind this disgusting behavior. NO wonder the political perpetrators had never enacted illegal entry as a FELONY; instead it is even less than a misdemeanor?
We have become a dumping ground for incompetent governments for their 20 million unauthorized aliens. Incidentally, President Obama in his wisdom, with I’m sure from inside and outside influence to introduce some policy that illegal aliens were now classed as–undocumented immigrants. Well I will not oblige him in my commentary, even if the Liberal press writes in their columns, that all illegal aliens are now just immigrants? Guess this is the lefts push for strengthening their ‘Political Correctness’ agenda, which has been forced on every America? Except that the TEA PARTY knows better and that foreign aliens will be even more alienated after more authentic TEA PARTY Representatives, slide into Senate and Congressional seats by the time of the Presidential race in 2012. It’s almost laughable that the rabble ‘Occupy’ in city centers have been identified with the TEA PARTY–of course by our countries subversives and Liberal extremists. We are nothing like these people and shouldn’t be associated with any of this mob rule. The TEA PARTY doesn’t build tent cities, leave mounds of garbage, rape, kill or cause mayhem on the streets.
THE TEA PARTY NEEDS CHANGE FOR EVERY AMERICAN.
It’s time to look at this bipartisan spending spree and that includes illegal immigration. THE ISSUE OF ILLEGAL include the immigrants that have proved by their highly skilled experience should be no admitted to settle, work. This country will always need people with substantial credentials in Science, math and engineering. Not the uneducated that are still streaming across our undermanned border. We can certainly stop the grim rising statistics of drunken driving, drug cartel criminals spilling over the border region and the endless tracks of impoverished people contributing to our own people’s poverty. Whether it’s by international jet or across the Southern border, 300 thousand pregnant women are arriving and cannot be detected. These females know the loopholes and become mostly permanent squatters in America, a foothold child with instant citizenship. The schools, education, healthcare are all forced federal mandates, left for this nations taxpayer to support. The Tea Party doesn’t support Sanctuary Cities or States, the Dream Acts or any Amnesty or Immigration Reform policies.
ENFORCEMENT CHAMPION RUSSELL PEARCE’S DEFEAT, HAS LITTLE MEANING FOR OTHER STATES
The open-borders bloggers and pro-illegal alien organizations are suggesting that the recall of Arizona state senator Russell Pearce means the beginning of the end for state efforts across the country to stop illegal aliens from taking jobs and taxpayer-provided benefits. And some of our allies in other state legislatures are even asking if they should feel vulnerable IMMIGRATION HAS BECOME EQUALLY PREDOMINANT AS OUR LIFELESS ECONOMY, THAT IT IS A COST WE DON”T NEED AND CANNOT AFFORD. A TEA PARTY CONGRESS SHOULD START WITH A THOROUGH RE-DESIGN OF THE BORDER BARRIER, WHICH IS A DOUBLE LAYER FENCE, AND A RIGOROUS NATIONWIDE SWEEP OF BUSINESSES WHO ARE VIOLATING HIRING LAWS. This doesn’t
Pearce was beaten by Jerry Lewis, another Republican, who won with about 53% of the vote. If the challenge to Pearce had happened during a regular election year, it is doubtful that nearly as much open-borders money and energy could have been funneled solely to this recall effort. That alone might easily have made the difference in election results. All of this is to say that it took some very special circumstances to engineer Pearce’s defeat. Roy Beck of the pro-sovereignty NumbersUSA stated “I see nothing in the highly individualized circumstances of Pearce’s unfortunate election loss last week that should cause other elected leaders to pull back from their duty to protect the American workers and taxpayers in their jurisdictions from reckless lawlessness by the federal officials who refuse to fully enforce our immigration rules.”
E-VERIFY–Lamar Smith’s Legal Workforce Act (H.R.2885) would require 100% of companies—large and small– to use E-Verify for all new hires within 2 years. This bill would also require all federal, state, and local agencies as well as federal and state contractors/ sub-contractors and critical infrastructure sites to use E-Verify within 6 months; eliminating the majority of illegal alien workers from the 8.5 jobs they are holding in this country. Increase employer penalties and fines for knowingly hiring illegal alien workers. Require the Social Security Administration to send no-match letters to employers if existing employee’s name and social security number don’t match in their system. Require the Social Security Administration to notify owners of a Social Security number if their number is used multiple times.
Phone the Washington switchboard at 202-224-3121 and they can direct you to all House Representatives responsible for moving Chairman Lamar Smith’s ‘Legal Workforce Act’ (bill H.R.2885) to the House floor. Make a judgment for yourself and study more about the illegal alien occupation, which has caused major financial disruption issues in every nook throughout America. By going to NumbersUSA web site the truth is available instead of reading the devious repressed information from the two party system.
Perhaps your attention should also be drawn to H.R. 1148? My assumption is, nobody has heard of it before? It’s being kept awfully quiet in a bipartisan manner. Its legal title is the ‘Stop trading on the Congressional Knowledge Act’. This silent unethical award has manifested itself in the halls of power, as ‘Insider Trading’ by the both parties, having in advance financial intelligence of stocks and shares. Regular Americans on Wall Street would be prosecuted for inside trading and using it for their own greed, or communicating it to friends and relatives, so why are policy makers immune? Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs, having a way in to information directly linking to the Wall Street businesses implicated. Republicans such as House Speaker John Boehner, who has also profited from transactions. These handsome rewards—are not available to members of the public.
A non-political equitable committee should be formed into delve into the rot of unfettered corruption, which resides in Washington. Learn more about corruption at Judicial Watch.
Please remember that ACORN is still out there under a different assumed name, but will be canvassing for Borack Obama for a second term, and will do anything necessary to keep him as President; even to allowing illegal aliens voting in any state or election leading up to 2012. Many states intentionally have flexible laws that leave a wide gap for non-citizens to vote, as California, Nevada and other partial Sanctuary states and cities.
Lastly President Obama has been hesitating on a oil pipeline from Canada, and now they are talking about handing it over to Asia. We could be well on our way to becoming self-sufficient in energy instead of being beholden to foreign countries, who mostly would kill us—if they had the chance. The administration’s decision to delay the Pipeline, which would have brought Canadian oil to US refineries in Texas, is now at a stalemate. THE UNITED STATES THAN ANY OTHER LOCATION IN THE WORLD HAS MASSIVE RESERVES OF OIL, WHICH WE COULD BE SELLING TO OTHER COUNTRIES, AS WELL AS CAPITALIZING ON IT FOR THE AMERICAN CONSUMER.
We first need to create a front door for the immigrants to come through.
Why do politicians run away from this opportunity?
Not very many years ago it was remarkable to see someone in the grocery store who wasn’t fishbelly, northern NY white. It is a welcome change to see people who are obviously new immigrants, whether Hispanic or African or Asian. Also refreshing to see an occasional Sikh, Hasid, Mennonite, or Muslim. I love hearing languages other than English spoken right here in my very own county.
Isn’t it great!
Yes we do, it is healthy for young families with children, to want to come and settle in a community, it is a GOOD thing, it is a good sign.
In the last year I have spent some time in South Texas. The fact is immigration from Latin America, Mexico in particular is nothing to fear, by 2020, Texas is predicted to be around 60% Hispanic, it is 40% Hispanic now. San Antonio the 6th largest city in the US is 67% Hispanic, many of those Hispanics are not immigrants however, but many are. (My Mexican friends reminded me that San Antonio was a part of Mexico a LOT longer than it has been a part of Texas and then the US).
Language is always thrown up as this BIG issue, but the fact is the new immigrants I met ALL wanted to speak and learn English and were working hard to do so with pretty good success. Most people of Mexican descent in Texas are fully bi-lingual. Once again a good thing.
So yes I think it is a good thing.
Mervel, not only was Texas part of Mexico but the gringos who eventually rebelled against Mexico were invited there to settle the territory and become Mexican nationals. The catch was that Mexico declared Texas to be a non-slave state Immigrants were allowed to bring in slaves but the slaves were to be freed on the owners’ death and the slaves children would be free people. Apparently for Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie, et al, that was just too much and they became traitors to Mexico after having left the US.
I think a warning sign is when people no longer want to come to your country not when they do want to come.
I mean I feel sorry for Mexico but the US is also now getting the benefit of a brain drain as the educated and wealthier classes from Mexico are now spending a good portion of the year in the US to avoid the crime and insanity that is infecting their country.
I have not met any people from Mexico living in Texas who wish Texas was part of Mexico today.
Wow, the bleeding heart liberals from the North are something else. You people really don’t know what you’re asking for. I’m a Texan, born and raise, and I tell ya, having an invasion of illegal aliens is not some happy-go-merry, peace-pipe kumbaya community.
I live in Houston, home to 1.6 million illegal aliens and its not funny at all! You have no idea how this massive influx of poor, 3rd world indigent can just turn your entire city upside down; beyond recognition and I’m speaking the truth! Crimes, welfare, diseases, over-crowding, flooding out every hospitals, schools, stores, pack-jammed highways, freeways, scarce space all these things you take for grant, suddenly becomes valuable and appreciative.
Crimes by illegals are worst than blacks. And I am not lying! The news constantly runs stories of Mexican men sexual assault young girls, rape young and older women. Even Mexican male nurses, raping senior citizens. The drug cartels step up shop in your community and run their drug business, right under our nose. Innocent-looking Mexican neighbors are more likely involved with the cartels.
On top of that, the Spanish language starts to frustrates us and Texans starts to long to just have our country back, the way it was. Jobs? You better be bilingual or get passed over. Being a English-speaking U.S. citizen is a disadvantage. And the illegal alien chicks, they pop out babies seemilngly every hour. If not that, they’re pregnant with already 4 or 5 kids. The little kids just run around wild, looking at every American citizen as if we’re in their country.
It’s crazy and Texans are real Fed up. You’d get to the point where you feel their welcome is completely worn out. They won’t assimilate, ever. They fly Mexican flags at their car dealership, even some Mexican flags higher than the American flag. They open up business on their side of town and hire no one but their own. And take, take, take. They drain, drain, drain. They demand, demand, demand. It’s a mess. I seriously missed the way my city used to be. I miss the malls where I see my own fellow Americans. They have taken over everything….in an unAmerican way and have this solidarity against us.
So, be careful what you wish for. It isn’t what you think it is. Not even close!