Congressman Jared Huffman and the word soup of illegal immigration
Someone sent us a link to a story in San Rafael, California about Hugo Mejia, an illegal immigrant who was picked up by Travis Air Force Base security personnel when he showed up for some drywall work there. He showed those people the driver license that California issues to illegal immigrants and security ran his social security number through their system and discovered that he was an illegal alien, ,so they snagged him and handed him over to Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Now their local Congressman, Jared Huffman, is coming down on the side of politics instead of the law;
According to Congressman Jared Huffman, Mejia’s only offense is showing up to work.
[…]
“Mr. Mejia is being detained in prison conditions with violent criminals. He is a law abiding, upstanding member of this community,” Huffman said.
In 2001, Mejia was caught trying to illegally cross the U.S. Mexico border and as a result has been placed in expedited deportation proceedings.
Congressman Huffman says they are appealing to ice to try and give Mr. Mejia an opportunity for due process before he’s sent even farther away from his family.
His only offense is showing up for work…well except for the offense of crossing the border between our countries without the proper permissions, which, by the way, is a crime.
In order to maintain security on our military bases, security personnel need to know who is coming on those bases – when someone of doubtful reputation enters through those gates, it is incumbent on those security personnel to detain them and turn them over to law enforcement. If Senor Mejia was indeed “a law abiding, upstanding member of this community”, he would have no problem getting through those gates. But he’s a criminal.
Category: Illegal Immigrants
Try being in Mexico illegally and moseying down to the nearest Mexican military base (which are protected by mega sand bagged firing positions).
👍👍👍
On the other hand, their military is a little more jumpy because of the Narcos.
their military is a little more jumpy because they are Narcos.
There…FIFY
IIRC correctly a few years back when they were trying to pin a huge percentage of the Cartel’s guns being from the US the biggest supplier was actually the Mexican Military and Law Enforcement.
Correctamundo, as many of the weapons captured from the Narcos are full auto, military issue, which you do not buy from some gun store in the U.S. and smuggle across the border into Mexico. The Lying MSM conveniently never reports that fact, which would have undermined the real purpose behind Operation Fast and Furious.
Huffman is a pathetic piece of cockroach SHYT! “his only crime was showing up for work”? You lying ass ignorant piece of shyt! what the hell do you call illegal ? Why is this sorry ass bastard a congressman?
He did break the law to get into the US. He is illegal.
On the other hand, unless he has a record of which I am not aware, he appears to be one of those illegals who come here to support their families in the hell-holes that are the Central American countries. Trying to get here legally is frequently hampered by the local bureaucrats who want a little “grease” to help them do their job, or just enjoy their little power to step on other people. (Speaking from a one-time experience trying to just get a visitors visa through the Mexican process 50 years ago. YMMV)
I have worked with such men and found them decent and generally honorable men, put in a difficult position by the corruption of their home countries and the needs of their families. Notwithstanding that there are many who are not, and that these are the ones we hear about most, I do feel sympathy for such men and women. In a perfect world there would be a method for helping them, but in a perfect world they would not be in that position.
Not to say that he should be exempt from the law, but pointing out that the law is not perfect, unless the man has other crimes on the book he may be guilty of nothing more than trying to feed his family.
Years ago, politicians weren’t involved in the immigration issue. The status quo was people coming from South of the border to work agriculture, manual labor, etc., for under the table wages. Businesses made profit because of it and people got better money than they’d get at home to work. Then, politicians got involved and made immigration a “campaign talking point” and it got blown up to what it is now.
The problem is, those same politicians are working hard to be more protective of other people’s “rights” to be here than of their own constituents because that’s how they get elected. (Emotional voting)
We’re at a point that we can’t keep on “helping” everyone else in the world, as bad as their lives might be. It sucks, but there are billions who live worse than poor people do here in the US. I’ve seen it, I’ve researched it, I know it. Life really does suck in so many countries around the world.
I think EVERYONE would be just fine with politicians going back to doing their jobs and just letting that old status quo come back. But, politicians be politiking so that won’t likely happen.
The problem has become that one party has grown weary of trying to persuade people to vote for it, so they are now importing what they hope is a new cohort of permanent voters for their side.
First, they have to rescue them from everybody, otherwise they might ungratefully think they should think for themselves. But they must never be encouraged to assimilate, or they might get the idea that they no onger need rescuing, thus no longer be beholden to their “patrons”.
Yes, that is what I am worried about …… What happens later.
Well said Graybeard. I frequently RV all over Mexico and have seen what you describe. I’m also very familiar with Mexico’s immigration laws. Things like you have to prove constant income; you can’t participate in politics of any kind; no working…etc. If the US were to adopt them, Libs would squeal.
Many moons ago me and mi esposa seriously considered retiring in Chihuahua ( the state where she’s from).
We were going to build a hacienda, hire an older couple to help us work it and adopt about 10 ninos.
Health reasons now put that out of the question, but even without that the past decade or so Mexico has gotten too bad.
The only way gringos are safe there is if they stay within their own little security zones.
The only other way is to appear so poor they don’t bother with. you.
We have a friend who is a pastor in Monterrey. Having gone to Mexico before to help local churches there, I was interested in doing so with his church.
He urged us not to come, because of the narcos. It is way to dangerous for un Rico to go help like we used to.
Sorry, but trying to support a family is not good enough. There are quite a few Americans trying to support a family doing the same work. They, too, are decent and honorable men (and women) who deserve a chance to feed their families in their own country.
The “bracero” program which ran during the forties and fifties worked. Mexican laborers entered here legally for a specified amount of time to work, then returned home.
I would say that as a Congressman he should understand what “Illegal” means, but well, he is a Congressman so I really can’t.
Hey, dumbass? The Military doesn’t work for California. So, yeah, going to a federal installation is probably going to get you pinched and California can’t do anything about it.
When I went to get a California ID card there, I had to show other forms of identification and even utility bills with my address on them so I could get a state ID. But someone can be here ILLEGALLY and get a driver’s license, for illegals.
I’m going to stab my Branch Manager in the knee if he even suggests sending me back to California every again.
Illegals aren’t quite a slave population, but they’re close enough that that those supporting them really shouldn’t be able to claim the moral high ground as they do. They give California an undeserved advantage in certain industries, which is great for them, but it makes life that much harder elsewhere.
Interesting spin.
Those defending illegal immigrants wish for them to have the same rights and protections as other workers. Which is the OPPOSITE of perpetuating a slave population.
It is their illegal status that makes them vulnerable to labor exploitation because they do not have access to the court systems or worker protection services because using them risks exposure and deportation.
And because of this vulnerability they are often forced to accept lower wages or poorer working conditions or less compensation and benefits than US workers.
So it is those that want to KEEP illegal immigrants out of the job market that set the conditions for immigrant worker labor exploitation and lower wages.
In fact it is those trying to keep them out of the market that gives them a competitive advantage in the market as low skilled labor.
If they had all the rights and protections as US workers and access to the same expectation of wages, compensation, sick days, health insurance, etc; then they would have to compete with US workers equally.
And if the illegal immigrant has to be paid the same wages, compensation, and work under the same conditions as a US worker and the US worker still loses his job to the immigrant it is because the US worker is simply less productive or competent in their job.
Seriously, if you are a low skilled worker in the US and you can’t compete with immigrants that have less literacy and fluency than you for the same wages, then perhaps the problem is you, not them.
So, you don’t see it as a problem that Mejia, an illegal alien, was trying to enter a military installation? Was the SSN number he was using illegally obtained? I’m guessing that it was and that’s how he got caught.
Doesn’t the US have a right to secure its borders? Other countries (Mexico) have border controls that allow for the automatic deportation if illegal aliens to their home county, no questions asked.
Sorry, Lars… if the citizens of this country want tougher immigration laws, existing laws enforced and the right to return illegal aliens back to their home county, then so be it.
They will make them “equal” the same way they did for blacks, segregation and welfare, permanent non-assimilation, permanent “help” because they can never quite make it on their own, the destruction of their families, and permanent dependence on patrons in the party.
If a foreign power did this to US citizens, we would launch nukes in response.
Even if you legalize all the illegals the increased competition will still force wages down.
About 10 years ago there was a newspaper article about hispanic day laborers in Arlington Va. The going rate was $14/hr. Not bad for unskilled labor.
One thing we do not need is more unskilled labor. We have enough, we do not need to import more.
Then there are the sociological, cultural, and political effects.
“…….by the way, is a crime.”
This is a case where the word “crime” means getting down into the weeds and I think it is important to know what is being talked about.
To most people, “crime” is an act contrary to the law.
However, in the law, a “crime” is an act in which there are criminal penalties such as incarceration, a fine in lieu of incarceration, etc.
For a person who is in the country illegally, they aren’t incarcerated (after a trial) but instead face a civil penalty which is being forced or told to do something. (In immigration law, that forced action is “get out.’)
The reason – and the only reason I bring this up – is so the next time some pro-immigration person says “being in the country is not a crime,” technically they are correct. But the fact is that being in the country illegally is against the law.
It really is a case of the plain and common meaning of the word “crime” vs the technical meaning of the word.
In short, know the difference and use it.
Guess I am old-fashioned: if there is an act proscribed by law, which has some sort of penalty whether it be jail time, fine, deportation, whatever – that fits the definition of a crime. Saying that it isn’t technically a crime because it technically has a non-jail penalty makes it no less a crime in my books. They are breaking the law, regardless of how high their motivations (and believe me, I sympathize with their situations) but breaking the law makes them criminals. I know what the meaning of “is” is.
Good thing for us, “most” of us here aren’t lawyers. We don’t need to worry about the semantics of crime vs breaking the law being used correctly in court.
There are so many words in American English that have changed from the original / legal definition of what they mean, we get news stories about comments taken out of context, politicians speaking in a lawyerly fashion to tell the truth while not telling it, etc. etc.
I don’t like getting wrapped around the axle in semantics because that’s a common deflect and redirect tactic of politicians, wayyyyy too often. Especially when they have a law degree.
Are employers still subject to fines and sanctions for hiring illegal aliens? I know they used to be…
I believe it depends upon the state. In Texas – yes. If caught.
You might want to look at the text of 8 USC 1325(a), gitarcarver. If you do, you may be surprised.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325
My understanding is that many – if not the vast majority – of those in this country illegally entered the US via sneaking across the US border with Mexico. 8 USC 1325(a) flatly declares that unlawful, and also imposes fines and/or incarceration as a penalty.
8 USC 1325(a) specifically refers to those financial penalties as “fines” – NOT “civil penalties”. Fines and incarceration are in general criminal penalties. (The next section – 8 USC 1325(b) – indeed refers to “civil penalties”, but in the context of entirely different conduct.)
Since 8 USC 1325(a) prescribes either fines or incarceration (or both), successful surreptitious entry into the US (or evading US border control authorities) does indeed appear to qualify as a criminal offiense – or a “crime” under the technical legal definition of the word. Thus it appears that many if not most illegal immigrants did indeed commit a Federal crime in the process of getting to this country.
The civil penalties referred to in 8 USC 1325(b) are imposed on those who are apprehended while attempting to enter the US unlawfully. In contrast, 8 USC 1325(a) imposes criminal penalties on those who successfully enter the US unlawfully.
FWIW: I have no idea if persons in the US on a visa have a periodic “check-in” requirement. However, if they do then overstaying a visa (and, presumably, failing to report for a mandatory check-in after the visa expires), then they too would be in violation of 8 USC 1325(a) – and also have violated Federal criminal law.
Sorry, but the section of the code which you are looking at only deals with the attempt to enter the country, not being in the country illegally.
There is a difference.
Entering the country illegally may be a crime (criminal penalties.) Being in the country illegally is a civil matter.
This article explains:
http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2014/07/is-illegal-immigration-a-crime-improper-entry-v-unlawful-presence.html
Actually, it refers to both attempts and successful unauthorized entry. To quote 8 USC 1325(a) in its entirety, with emphasis added:
Bottom line: successfully (1) making a surreptitious entry to the US, (2) evading capture during unauthorized entry to the US, or (3) gaining entry to the US via misrepresentation or concealment of material fact are all Federal criminal offenses. They may well be difficult to prosecute, but they are indeed defined criminal offenses.
If someone entered the US in such a manner, they are a criminal. Period. Even if proving it in court is not feasible.
Once again, entry (crossing the border) and being in the country (residence) are considered two different things under the code.
Democraps gonna Democrap.
Illegals gonna Illegal.
A match made in heaven.
We already have MANY unemployed American Citizens AND since entering the United States illegally is already a crime… IMHO Congressman Jared Huffman and every one of his ilk is completely deserving of The Wall Of Insults®™ X100 at the very least.
I kind of disagree. Yes he deserves it x 1,000 BUT he’s already identified himself and a giant dorkway dumbass by representing the “Bay Area” of Kalifornia and also being a Doofusocrat.
DAMMIT! I need to do a little more research before I run my mouth, don’t I? I didn’t bother to look-see just what District the snot-headed sellout of a Sparkle Pony toad booger represents before I spouted off.
I’ve made that mistake more than once here. Welcome to the club!
It’s Marin County.
Jared Huffman took over the seat vacated by Lynn Woolsey when she retired. Woolsey spent 20 years in Congress being pretty much a sock puppet for Nancy Pelosi, and Huffman is likely to continue the line.
The thing to understand is that if ICE was to do a serious sweep, it would cause an epic crisis in towns like Sausalito and Tiburon. The people who live there don’t actually give a rusty rat about immigrants; they’re too busy soaking in a hot tub, sipping a perky chardonnay, and earnestly discussing global warning. If either the housekeeper or au pair gets her ass sent back to Jalisco, it matters only to the extent there might be nobody around to fetch another varietal from the wine cellar.
If this guy thought he was going to get onto a military base without having his ID checked, he’s an idiot. You don’t need to be an expert to figure that out. I’d say this is a “soft” example of natural selection.
Huffman is only sticking his oar into this because he smells votes.
In other countries, you get sent packing if you’re there illegally. When the bleeding heart crap stops, somebody let me know.
People bitching about illegal immigrant workers are so full of shit. It is the fact that labor can’t cross borders that makes the huge wage disparities that lead to labor arbitrage. Hurting the income of workers on BOTH sides of the border. When goods and capital can move freely across border but workers can’t it creates a massive power disparity in the marketplace that completely destroys the negotiating power of workers while significantly increasing the negotiating leverage of corporations and investors. One side is paid less because they are trapped in a labor marker that is vulnerable to exploitation. Either because of poor conditions, poor worker protections, poor worker safety standards, inadequate pension or benefits etc. The other side of the border has less negotiating power in the marketplace because employers can threaten to move production across the border to the less expensive labor market. If workers are free to move, the wages, protection, and compensation disparities even out. If the US passes a labor protection act increasing safety or improving working conditions the foreign labor market workers can demand a similar increase in their market or threaten to leave. So allowing labor migration results in LESS need for laborers to migrate. The difference in wages and benefits will still exist because the cost of relocating and the language and cultural barriers remain prohibitive, but rather that foreign workers making a tiny fraction of US wages and compensation which makes them attractive labor markets and it more likely US companies will export their jobs overseas they workers will receive a compensation package high enough that it is not worth it for them to try to come to the US and this increased wage expectation will make foreign markets FAR less attractive for US companies to export their jobs to. But by perpetuating these border controls you create the very problems you bitch about with respect to foreign workers taking US jobs at home and abroad. Make all the arguments about border controls you like with respect to domestic security. But if you are making arguments about border protection to keep… Read more »
So to achieve synthesis between the two opposing viewpoints: you advocate giving illegal workers full protection and wages under the law, with full criminal penalties including immediate deportation if they are identified as illegal.
The illegal status is how workers become vulnerable to exploitation because they cannot demand the same wages as US workers.
So I think we do need to find a way to essentially force them to compete equally with US workers.
One way is a whistleblower system that allows workers to report exploitive labor practices without risk of deportation.
Another is to focus on investigating and charging employers that hire illegal immigrants so they can pay less compensation than they would US workers.
However, ultimately we need to find a way to allow workers to have EASIER access to the US labor markets which would increase their negotiating power in their domestic market. Forcing foreign based companies and US companies arbitraging foreign labor markets to increase their wages.
We also need to include worker rights and protections in our trade deals so that we do not simply open the door for the international exchange of goods and capital while allowing massive disparities in labor market wages and protections.
Causing foreign labor markets to more attractive for US producers to move their production and causing foreign goods to be so much less expensive than US goods that US producers have a hard time competing UNLESS they move their production overseas.
The alternative is to completely strip all US worker healthy, safety, protection, compensation, and wage laws. Forcing US workers to compete in the international labor market for the same wages as the average worker adjusted for shipping costs for the products of their labor to the intended market.
For a low skilled US worker that would mean they would have to accept wages more hours and less wages amount to a total annual compensation of around $8000-$12000 per year and generally less healthy and safe working conditions.
Otherwise all we are doing is creating compensation disparities that make exploitable foreign labor markets much more attractive to producers and by trapping the workers in those markets through stiff border controls we completely strip the workers of any negotiating leverage they might have for higher wages.
Correction on this paragraph because it came out incoherent…
*For a low skilled US worker that would mean they would have to accept more annual hours and less total annual compensation. An annual compensation of around $8000-$12000 per year and generally less healthy and safe working conditions.
Ignoring your first line (it’s just too easy) – I’m all over penalizing the companies which hire and exploit illegals. But you can’t have it both ways – if the worker is illegal he is breaking the law. If the company is acting illegally nail them to the wall: but giving the worker a free pass just because they are illegal is how we got into this mess. All you do then is enable the folks who exploit them, and enable their lawbreaking.
David, totally agree!
Babbles McButthead, YOU ARE FULL of 24K Weapons Grade IDIOCY.
Two problems with your longish rant, Berkeley-boi.
First: it’s well-known that those who have committed a crime are often vulnerable to exploitation – from blackmail to coercion to any number of other forms of pressure. Your trite observation here thus falls squarely in the “true but irrelevant” category.
(Sidebar: the problem doesn’t concern nationality, either. A non-citizen who is here legally with the proper visa has no such issues.)
Second: you’re in essence advocating rewarding people for breaking Federal law. Sorry, but that’s simply asinine.
Once again YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT, Babbles McButthead!! There are still far too many American Citizens that are unemployed or underemployed and a glut of illegal aliens willing to work for less heavily stagnates wages.
You are not worth my time. You are perhaps the least educated, informed, and intelligent person on this board.
Babbles McButthead, I can see from your attitude and juvenile hissyfits that you must have been a very substandard Officer to the point that your peers made every effort to see that YOU were the first among them to see that YOU would be first in line for a RIF. You are just as harebrained and in sell-your-soul lockstep with the liberal agenda much like loyal Nazis in pre-WWII days as Congressman Jared Huffman.
You’re a national treasure. Never stop.
😂
A Elvis woulda said, “Thankyaverymuch”.
No, sonny. You are the one full of more crap than a Christmas turkey.
But hey, feel free to keep spouting more drivel. It’s what your kind does.
Lars, how much time have you spent on or near the border? How much illegal immigration–and its consequences–have you seen firsthand, up close? Just curious as to what exactly is holding up your soapbox.
I was a deputy sheriff on the Mexico/US border. So I dealt with illegal immigrants fairly often. I also coordinated with border patrol in apprehending them at times. Though, I typically would only detain an immigrant on suspicion of being illegal (and contact border patrol to come to my location) if I had reasonable suspicion to believe they were involved with trafficking drugs or people or had committed some crime to which I was responding. I also grew up in Southern California in a town that was majority hispanic/latino (more than 63%) and a high school that was also majority hispanic/latino. This does not give me much first hand experience but I definitely grew up knowing and being friends with several children and classmate who were undocumented or their parents were. Additionally, I was a runaway and worked under 18 without a work permit. Because I was not eligible for legal employment I worked for a year as an “illegal” employee. Essentially treated like and recieved the same wages as other illegal workers at the restaurant I worked. All of us were dishwashers, cooks, and other custodial jobs and at the time minimum wage was $3.35 an hour we were all getting between $2 and $2.50 an hour. Both of our bosses were ex-cons. And the owners were some mob connected family. Our employer was also taking out taxes from our wages but when I asked for a W-2 at the end of year I ended up having one of the most memorable conversation of my life… It was a mob connected Italian restaurant and my boss was some mobster’s cousin. They used the three restaurant chain to launder money and stolen alcohol. So you will have to fill in a thick Italian accent and he looked exactly like what you imagine a overweight small time mob connected restaurant manager would look. Me: “Can I have a W-2 so I can file my taxes?” My Boss: What the fuck are you talking about, you can’t file taxes you don’t legally work here” Me: “But you took out taxes all year.… Read more »
Where on the border? What CBP station did you “coordinate” with? Facts, Commissar. Give me facts. Not your usual vowel movement.
Hidalgo county, NM.
Lorsdburg BP station.
Sorry, got side tracked….
The reason I brought up the restaurant work is because I have some first hand understanding of what it is like to be an illegal employee and how vulnerable you are to poor wages, shitty working conditions or labor practices, and just the overall bullshit employers think they can get away with when they think you have no worker rights and they know you have a hard time finding work because of your lack of legal employment status.
“you are completely full of shit.”
Not completely. Neither are you, though your economic analysis is a bit superficial and simplistic.
“If workers are free to move, the wages, protection, and compensation disparities even out.”
Does the phrase “Race to the bottom” mean anything to you?
Yes, it does. But right now we have had widespread deregulation and removing of the barrier with respect to the movement of goods and capital while still maintaining (and in some places and cases INCREASING) restrictions on the movement of labor (with the notable exception of the EU schengen agreement).
The disparity is what I take issue with.
If we are going to limit the ability for workers to pursue their wage interests and thus undermine their negotiating power in the marketplace then we need to provide other regulatory protections to protect our domestic labor market.
Essentially, if we are going to increase the capacity and flexibility of producers and investors to respond to the global market and move their production or capital to any place in the world that best serves their interests then we need to allow that same market flexibility to workers.
Otherwise we need to roll back the globalization of liberal economic policies to protect our workers. Which will lead to many of the same market inefficiencies the liberalization of trade was intended to solve.
Right now, from the perspective of workers; we have the worst of both worlds.
Fuck Senor Mejia.
The only thing the industry’s who hire illegals care about is profit. They don’t give two shits on how much it costs the taxpayer or communities they squat in. If they want them here so badly, let them pay all costs associated with them – housing, med care, food, education, etc. Why the fuck should I have to support these so called “hard working” illegals via my taxes? The law is the law. You come here illegally, whether your a “hard worker” or criminal, you get the boot. Oh, by the way, does this “hard working, honest illegal” use a SSN? If so, where did he get it? Last I heard, you can’t get a SSN LEGALLY if you jumped the border. So,”hard working, honest illegal” has committed a FELONY by using a stolen SSN. Fuck him and the dumbass congressman.
I wonder if there is a way to check and see if he is registered to vote?
I think voting registration lists are public information. That’s how political parties, etc., compile their lists.
Interesting comments but:
1) he was in this country illegaly
2) he was trying to gain entry to a military base
3) he had a SSN card which would have been forged since he was here illegaly.
Apparently, none of that constitutes a “crime”.
Looks like Mejia and his buddy are looking at a one-way trip out… without a hearing because they have been deported before.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/05/15/exclusive-undocumented-worker-didnt-know-he-was-going-to-work-at-air-force-base/
Just to be clear; though I am an advocate for broader reform that give people more freedom of movement, more choice in where they wish to live, and more rights as workers looking for work in an increasingly globalized economy that seems to put the market power of investors and producers over workers….
I am not defending this congressman.
I find it annoying our partisan and political congresspersons seem to be on issues of advocating for immigrant issues.
When I was trying to help a soldier of mine bring his foreign national wife to the US prior to his deployment so she could be with his family and be better connected to the unit family support group and military dependent support systems I could not find a single congressperson that gave a shit enough to assist in facilitating her immigration process.
Turns out; soldiers are not a very big voter demographic in the vast majority of congressional districts and states.
So besides saying pro-military service member and veteran platitudes while standing in front of a flag during their campaigns, most politicians from both parties could give a flying fuck about service members, veterans, or their families.
I applaud every politician that tries to do what they think is right. And that may very well be the congressman’s motive. However, most of the time doing what is right only happens when it is a happy coincidence to doing what is politically advantageous. It I am sure it is just a happy coincidence that 30% of the congressman’s district are hispanic/latino.
*I find it annoying *how* partisan and political congresspersons seem to be on issues of advocating for immigrant issues.
Yep, your right in everything you just said
Since we’re talking about the law here, any word on the court proceedings of one never has been, never will be a CPO from yesterday ???