I typically am not a horribly vocal person when it comes to politics and current affairs – heck, I don’t even watch much TV. I get my news online or on the radio when driving to and from work. However, something happened yesterday that has prompted me to sound off on the problem of illegal immigration in our country.
Yesterday my brother and his family were driving home from picking up some groceries and were involved in a car accident. They were traveling at 55 mph (the speed limit) down a road near their home and as they approached an intersection with a smaller road another car pulled out directly in front of them. My brother did all he could to avoid the car and stop his own, but the impact was completely unavoidable, and it appears that both cars will be declared a total loss.
My brother was driving a full size van, the other car was a small 4 door sedan.
Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured in the accident.
The other driver was completely at fault, as he had stopped for the 2 way stop sign on his road, and simply started going again without checking for cross traffic.
Now, what does all this have to do with illegal immigration?
The driver of the other car had no drivers license, no insurance, and no ability to speak english at all. He produced a Mexican identification card as his only documentation when questioned by the police. Since I live more than 1000 miles from the US/Mexico border, the majority of our law enforcement officers are not bilingual, so it was impossible to determine where this man came from, where he was going, whose car he was driving, etc. All they could determine was that he was in the U.S. illegally and driving illegally.
So, he was cuffed and taken to jail, where he now sits until his trial. It is not yet clear to us what charges he faces, but most likely it will be that he was driving without a license. The police officers on the scene indicated that this happened frequently, and there is nothing much they can do about it.
I am flabbergasted by this whole incident. This man was an illegal immigrant – not an "Undocument Worker" or some nonsense. I don’t care if he has a job here in the US or not – he broke the law when he came into the US, and that makes him illegal. Period.
The part that really chaps my hide is that he won’t be deported. Of course, even if he was deported, he would just come back across the border and be back up here in Idaho driving again in a matter of weeks.
Now, I know that most immigrants to the US are here to work hard and make a better life for themselves; indeed, that is all any of us are trying to do. However, this man was not paying taxes to provide the road he drove on. Had he not been here, this entire accident never would have happened. He does not speak a word of english. He had not followed any of the legal paths to be entitled to enjoy the benefits of living in the US, and he is not likely to have long lasting negative consequences for his illegal actions. And now all legal residents of Idaho have to foot the bill for his jail stay, trial, and defense.
This makes me sick.
In November of next year, I’m voting for whoever promises to build a huge fence with barbed wire, guards, guns, and cameras along the entire US / Mexico border.
Pfffft…. Like that will ever happen.
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