OK Here is where I get into trouble again. Mind you, I have taken out a big chunk of the article for the sake of time and because I wanted to leave in the parts that I have to comment on.
100 Haitians wash ashore in S. Florida
By TRENTON DANIEL and KATHLEEN McGRORY
Miami Herald
HALLANDALE
- More than 100 famished Haitian migrants slogged through waves and staggered ashore Wednesday after their flimsy wooden sailboat ran aground on Hallandale Beach.
One man didn't make it, washing up dead on the sand. A second, naked and shivering in the fetal position as he clung to a shipboard rope, had to be pried loose by paramedics, who carried him to the beach on a stretcher. One 10-year-old boy was aboard.
"You could tell that a lot of them didn't know how to swim. They were terrified. You could see it in their eyes," said Danny Nassi, who lives in a condo on the beach.
The Haitians told authorities they had spent 22 days aboard a 40-foot smuggling vessel. They told one witness that they ran out of food after 10 days - then resorted to eating toothpaste and drinking salt water.
...
That Haitians usually get sent back to Haiti is a constant bone of contention among Haitian leaders. A U.S. policy informally known as "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" allows Cuban migrants to stay if they reach U.S. soil. Haitian migrants are sent back home.
Ok, here we go. I will start off by saying that I am Italian and Irish. My Dad is Italian and my paternal Grandparents were "off the boat". My Mom was Irish and adopted by and Englishman who immigrated to Canada with his parents and then he himself immigrated to the US where he met my grandmother who was born in Mississippi and was raised by (or lived with) a black (African American - insert your personal terminology preference here) family after her parents died when she was still a young girl.
IMHO, and I know of course that I don't know everything about this subject but like I said IMHO - Let's forget whether or not you feel that immigrants should come here in this manner. Let's not even discuss whether you think we should let anyone in at all. Let's focus on it as "Yes they can come" Keep it simple, cause I am about to make it difficult (and since it's my blog I am allowed to do that lol) Why is it that Cubans can stay and Haitians can't? Why do we allow one set of rules for Culture A and another set of rules for Culture B? To me this is the basis for all that is wrong -- seriously - in every aspect of decision making we - as a society - have decided to "bend" the rules, twist them and turn them upside down to accomodate others. Look, I have found lately that so many people out there are seriously lacking reading comprehension or any type of literacy whatsoever. Why? Because we are forever, bending the rules. We play semantics with our children and with our government. During tax season semantics are called "Loop Holes". ANYWAY.... I digress. Here is my suggestion for how
ALL immigrants should be handled.
If you want to keep the "Wet foot, dry Foot" policy then let's go from there. OK fine, you want to become a citizen, (because if you don't want to be an actual citizen - your butt needs to go back...end of story) here are the rules:
1. Get them all "signed up" (for lack of a better term), issue them a temporary social security card, make sure they have all of their immunizations etc.
2. Now that they are here they need to do the following: They MUST be gainfully employed within 6 months (allowing for language barrier, education etc.)
3. They MAY get governement assistance for food, housing etc HOWEVER they MUST pay the money back at the end of 6 months (either through payment plans, their taxes or by volunteering their services to help at these government agencies as a translator, clerk etc.,)
4. They MUST "check in" physically with the government weekly. If they go missing for one week, they go on a list and when found they get deported immediately - no excuses (except if they were in the hospital in a coma or something)
5. Commit a crime - you get deported immediately
6. If you are here, you need to learn OUR language. I wouldn't go to France to live and expect them to speak English.
Of course these are just brief outlines but for Pete's sake, we let people come into this country and let them run amuck. People come here acting as though we OWE them, they make money here and send it to other countries. They use our schools to educate themselves and then go back to their country. I heard a woman once ranting about how "her country" was so much better and Americans are stupid pigs (or something along those lines) I told her to take her loud, fat, lying mouth and go back to her country because obviously she was full of crap since she was here not there. Nowhere is perfect but if you want to come here and you risk your life to do it - where do you get the gall to down us? By the same token, there are people out there who really are in fear for their lives and want better for themselves and their children and families. I think these suggestions would help sift through the real people who want to do better and those who are looking for a free ride. I'm not even going to start on the thousands of dollars we give some of the immigrants who come here so that they can open their own businesses. Point is, treat everyone fairly, keep track of what is going on and make it workable for everyone.
OK done, for now......
