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From: Judy Payne (e-mail her)
The Los Angeles Times unwittingly provided an excellent example of how not enforcing immigration laws for years can lead to heartbreaking personal circumstances.
Reporter Alana Semuels concludes her story with these three paragraphs:
"Juan Martinez, 61, knows his prospects are hindered by his limited English skills. Since losing his job four months ago at a senior assistance center, he has begun collecting cardboard boxes to sell to recyclers. But gasoline for his Ford pickup truck is expensive, and he's four months behind on rent.
"Martinez said his wife left him six months ago and that he lost his pay stubs since moving into a rented room, preventing him from applying for unemployment. He said he got a parking ticket last week, which he can't afford, and that his car registration fee is due soon.
"'I need a job. I need to work,' he said in Spanish. 'The only thing I want is to have the opportunity for a job so I can live.'" [California's Unemployment Rate Shrinks—but So Do the numbers of jobs, by Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2009]
Note the photo of Martinez weeping that accompanies Semuels' story.
Assuming reasonable levels of interior immigration enforcement, Martinez likely would have been deported years ago and would be celebrating Christmas in Mexico with his family and loved ones.
Instead, Martinez lives alone in a hovel in a dangerous neighborhood with no money, no car, no job and no prospects of finding employment since he has no skills and cannot speak English.
In what way is Martinez not better off in Mexico?
Payne's previous letters on why we should educate alien children if they end up doing menial jobs Americans and how the economic crisis might produce an amnesty are here and here.
