The ICE raids rounding up Latinos for deportation are illegal, immoral, unnecessary, and impractical.

ILLEGAL

Entering a country without official documents by a person who simply wants to find work can not reasonably be classified as anything other than a misdemeanor. It is clear that U. S. Immigration considers that any person who has crossed the border without documents, even years in the past, is guilty of a felony. If that is to be the case, then under the U. S. Constitution, each individual has the right to judicial indictment and trial by jury based on evidence. The accused MUST be provided an attorney for his/her defense if unable to afford one.

If crossing the border illegally is the serious crime that some make it out to be, then Articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution make it perfectly clear that these raids are illegal and violate civil rights. The Constitution states "person," not just U. S. citizen. With respect to punishment, our government has only one of two choices: either a small fine, or indictment with a full trial by jury and assistance of counsel. It cannot legally continue to treat people like cattle.

IMMORAL

Our government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign aid and foreign wars. The amount of dollars squandered in Iraq would provide full time health care for every resident of the United States for the next ten years.

But here is an example of effective foreign aid: Over a hundred million dollars a year is spent on foreign aid at zero expense to the U. S. taxpayers.

How? It comes from the meager salaries of undocumented Latinos supporting family members in Mexico and other countries. Latinos in general have strong feelings of family. The overwhelming majority of these "illegal" aliens are hard working. Contrary to right wing propaganda, they pay taxes like the rest of us. Do the anti immigration zealots really believe that they somehow avoid paying sales tax? Income taxes are withheld by the employer. If the employer fails to do so, it is a felony. Do you really believe that a poor Mexican working as a pickup day laborer could or should file an IRS report when (1) he doesn't earn enough to pay income tax, and (2) can't file because he doesn't have a valid Social Security number?

But our government pretends that they could and should be kicked out of the country. These sporadic raids solve nothing, waste the taxpayer's money, and create and create social and economic problems. Immigration raids put men and women who can't prove legal status in handcuffs, flies them in charted jets at taxpayer expense to Mexico, and dumps them. The result is no workers to pick the fruit and process the food packing.

Those who try to cross the Sonoran desert on foot with two gallons of water are not terrorists. Many die in the attempt. We should be outraged by the number of persons who don't make it. Yet the U. S. press hardly mentions the growing death toll.

The public accepts the daily occurrence of raids that separate husbands and wives after many years of marriage. It accepts the daily occurrence of raids that separate children who are native born U. S. citizens from one or both parents. An early morning knock on the door and a father or mother or both who have never done anybody any harm are hauled away in handcuffs, leaving terrified children crying in the dark. Don't think it doesn't happen, because it does, hundreds of times.

Although the national news fails to report it, immigration raids are constantly arresting legal aliens and even U. S. citizens. This is a clear violation of the Constitution of the United States.

Here is an actual example: A three year old girl entered the U. S. when her father was admitted as a Cuban refugee. As an adult, she assumed that she was a U. S. citizen, registered to vote and was elected to her City Council. Immigration notified she was in the U. S. illegally. She resigned her post. But that wasn't enough for the Immigration zealots. Now she is fighting deportation efforts to send her to Cuba, a land she has never known. Isn't there a better to spend taxpayer dollars? The ONLY practical solution is to immediately declare total amnesty and put in place a processing program for those who would seek permanent residence. This program would, at the same time, identify those with criminal intent.

These are 15 million people, not cattle. They are not going to be pushed around. Better to work to resolve the problem before it is too late and discontent leads to riots. Finally, the U. S. should cooperate with the Mexican government to cope with the poverty that forces Mexican citizens to immigrate to the U. S. Instead of building 12 foot walls that anyone with a 13 foot extension ladder can cross, we need better control to screen out criminals and terrorists. Treating everyone like a terrorist is counter productive.

UNNECESSARY

There are laws in existence to cope with any kind of criminal act, including terrorist plots and narcotics trafficking. It is not necessary and completely wrong to make poor Mexicans the scapegoat for government's failure to deal with the problem. They assist the U. S. economy by doing the essential work that others refuse to do. Examples are farm work and food processing work.

IMPRACTICAL

There are an estimated 15 million undocumented aliens in the United States. Even taking into account the roughshod treatment of persons suspected of entering the country illegally, it is doubtful that processing and deporting these persons could be done for less than $100 each. Deporting all of the undocumented persons would cost the taxpayers 1.5 BILLION dollars. The public is being conned into believing that the ICE raids are somehow helping the economy and fighting drug trafficking. In fact, the reverse is true.