Red Clay Citizen

Obama Weakening 287g Program?

Well, it has been seven months since the inauguration of BHO and he has finally gotten around to gutting the 287g program.  As used by seven North Carolina counties (Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Gaston, Henderson, Mecklenburg and Wake) the program authorizes sheriff's staff to interview any person booked into their jails to determine if they are lawfully present.

If they are found to be illegal aliens, they serve their local time and are them turned over to the feds for deportation.

The Obama administration has rewritten the agreements with the counties and now turns more illegals loose back into North Carolina.  The Charlotte Observer ran the story but left out some of the more damning details (naturally).  But not to worry. Representative Sue Myrick's Chief of Staff, Hal Weatherman calls the unObserver on the carpet at his blog.

Here's the quick and dirty:

"This past week, the Mecklenburg 287g program and all other similar programs nationwide were presented with a revised Memorandum of Agreement by the Obama Administration.

The MOA says that local 287g programs like Mecklenburg and Gaston are no longer to turn over to ICE "minor offenders" who happen to be illegal. Specifically, the MOA says that no illegal alien without a prior criminal conviction will be deported. The key words here are "prior criminal conviction."

Why would BHO turn illegals loose?  Maybe he needs more of them here so they can be counted in the "uninsured" catagory.  Good catch Hal.  I'm glad somebody is watching.

Civics Lesson Needed for College Board

I hardly know where to begin with this.  Last Friday's Charlotte/Raleigh News & Observer/Observer ran a very predictable story on the illegal-aliens-in-community-colleges-saga.    The shocker here is some of the comments from members of the NC Board of Community Colleges.

Dr. Stuart Fountain, a retired Asheboro dentist who heads the board's policy committee, said the colleges should not stand in the way of any person who wants an education. "Without this option, we are creating a second-class citizenry," Fountain said, "a group of people who have no option but to go ahead and join a gang."

So, here in an interview with a reporter of the state's largest two newspapers, a man that has been appointed to help govern the Community College System of North Carolina by the Governor (Easley, BTW) has decided to jump past the amnesty discussion all together and go ahead and make the leap to citizenship.

Dr. Fountain needs a good lesson in the basics of American citizenship. 

Illegal aliens have broken the law to come here in the first place.  Some have even compounded this by dragging their children here too.

Fountain is also wrong on the second portion of his statement.  There is another choice, go back to the country of your birth where you are a citizen and seek your fortune there.

The other head scratching comment came from Jimmie Ford (another Easley appointee), a board member from Goldsboro:

"I just pray that they can afford to pay [out-of-state tuition]."

How about praying that there will be enough seats available at your college for all of the lawfully present North Carolinians that would like to attend community college before the board gives them away to illegals?

Another Cost of IllegaI Immigration Discussed

While open border advocates continue to push blanket amnesty for illegals aliens in hopes that these newly minted citizens will impact the electorate, more talk is zeroing in on an effect of our unenforced border laws:  the impact on blue collar employment.

Blogger Clayton Cramer really gets at the heart of the native worker issue with this article. 

"However, unskilled illegal immigrants who have flooded across our Southern border the last few years aren’t driving down the wages of well-paid professionals. They are lowering the wages for unskilled U.S. citizens and legal residents. It might not be much, but even a dollar per hour matters for people who earn hardly above minimum wage. For some, it’s the difference between self-sufficiency and needing government assistance."

Rather than taking the jobs that Americans don't want, turning a blind eye to illegal immigration for the sake of good business has resulted in giving illegals jobs that Americans won't want to do for the low pay given to their competitors from south of the border.

This grand coalition that the liberals hope to put together by giving citizenship (and the resulting voting rights that come with citizenship) is really an attempt to force two groups together that have competing economic issues. Low skilled, blue collar workers already have a tough enough time competing for the dwindling good paying manufacturing jobs that their parents and grandparents raised their families on. 

And if you are a felon looking to get hired by a company? Forget about it.  Why hire someone with a criminal record when you can hire an illegal for less pay despite the fact that they have an undeterminable criminal background as well as a questionable identity.  That's right employers, don't ask the questions that you don't want the answers to.

Thank goodness our education establishment has tried to shoehorn every kid in high school into college and an unreasonable career path.  That policy seems to have dovetailed nicely with the arrival of masses of unskilled workers that don't complain much.  American exceptionalism and our sovereignty are at risk, but don't let it get in the way of making a buck.

What is the life of a child worth?

How much value can you assign to the life of a child.  If you happen to be a 7 year old little boy playing in your grandmother's yard when a drunk illegal alien speeds through your neighborhood, runs over you, flees the scene and then gives several different names to law enforcement, your life may be worth 16 years in prison.  That's how much time a jury sentenced Hipolito Hernandez to yesterday for the murder of 7 year old Marcus Lassiter. The Raleigh News & Observer has a heart wrentching story about the case.

Hernandez was charged over a year ago with murder, felony hit-and-run, felony assault, driving while intoxicated, possession of a stolen vehicle, driving without a license, speeding and reckless driving in the death of the child.

Here's the punchline:

Hernandez  had been charged with drunk driving four previous times. Two of the charges were dismissed, one was reduced, and the fourth was pending.  The two dismissals were due to the failure of law enforcement to show up in court.

The system failed Marcus Lassiter.  The courts and law enforcement failed to take Hernandez off of the roads at least 3 times.  The Federal government failed to enforce our immigration laws that would have kept Hernandez out of the US.

I'm sure the Lassiter family is glad to have Hernandez behind bars.  But I'll bet they would rather have their little boy, instead.  This country cannot continue to ignore the law.  If we do, more families will know the grief felt by the Lassiters.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have written about the death of a child at the hands of an illegal alien and it won't be the last. 

UNC Crackdown To Come?

Funny thing happened on campus. 

1. Conservative students invite a conservative speaker to address the topic of illegal immigration. 
2. Protesters attempt to suppress free speech by disrupting speech.
3. Protesters that disrupted speech are arrested by campus police.
4. University launches long term investigation of campus conservatives and their faculty advisors since some liberal students "feel" victimized becuase someone said something they don't agree with.
5. Conservative faculty and staff organize a group to promote the ideals of the Declaration of Independence on campus.

Chapel Hill in 2009?  No, East Lansing in 2007.  North Carolina's favorite conservative college professor, Mike Adams tells the whole story here.

(Do you ever notice that no one on the Left has any original ideas anymore?  They just copy it down from a web site or hear about it at a conference and voila! Insta-protest!)

While we have had step #1 ,#2 & #3, UNC has yet to target the conservatives on campus.  They may have a hard time finding the hand full of conservative faculty.  If they did, I wonder if conservative professors would take a stand like their collegues at Michigan State.

Free Speech and an Exotic Dancer at UNC

The second round of the suppression of free speech at UNC-CH happened last night, April 22nd.  You may recall that, last week saw secure borders advocate, former Congressman, Tom Tancredo yelled down by liberal thugs in Chapel Hill while attempting to express his free speech rights before a conservative student group opposed to illegal immigration.  Since they couldn't get their way inside of the lecture hall, these stalinist bullies smashed a window and the UNC Police canceled the rest of the event.  Civitas' own Bob Luebke wrote about it here and here.

Another former Congressman with strong opinions on illegal immigration came to UNC in the wake of the Tancredo incident and the university administration was quick to point out that there would be no trouble this time from the lunatic left.  Well, guess what happened?  When former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode began to speak, the looney leftists played a verbal game of wacka-mole.  One would shout out an incoherent screed long enough to be warned by police only to sit down and be replaced by another mouthy Bolshevik.  These so called students of higher education also thought it would be cute to bring a noise makers to the event but to no avail.

Final Score:  UNC Police 6 arrests, Lefties 0, College Windows broken 0, Free Speech immeasurable.

While the university administration has claimed victory by actually having a conservative speaker complete a speech on campus, questions remain about the administration's handling of the first incident.  (Rumor has it that there are now 4 honor code violation investigations underway.)

Incidentally, another controversial speaker at UNC didn't run into protests or disruptions last night.  Crystal Gayle Mangum, of Duke Lacrosse Witch hunt fame came to gripe about how poorly she was treated in the media.    Fortunately, there were no reports of lacrosse players smashing windows during the event.  I guess her speech was just a little more free than Virgil Goode's.

The Cost of Illegal Immigration?

While not actually discussing the "cost" of illegal immigration, Civitas Senior Fellow Jameson Taylor penned a great piece on "How Much Is The Rule Of Law Worth?" It is a discussion of the "costs" of admitting illegal aliens into the North Carolina Community College system. The costs are more than the dollars and cents that would be paid by taxpayers or students. Read the article and find out.

UNC & Immigration: Part III

Once the smoke cleared and the investigation began into last week’s campus disruption of Tom Tancredo talk on illegal immigration, one left-leaning campus organization whose fingerprints seem to  be all over the incident was Students for A Democratic Society (SDS).

If you don’t know what SDS stands for, you should. Don’t let the name fool you. SDS is a radical campus group, first begun in the 1960s and reborn in 2006. The following paragraph, lifted from the UNC-Chapel SDS web site, explains what SDS is all about: 

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is a national organization which seeks to unite youth and students fighting for social, economic and political justice. Our chapter at UNC-Chapel Hill serves to educate students and to support progressive movements and campaigns including but not limited to, the Iraq War, immigrant's rights, and labor solidarity.

If you can stomach the blather, you may be interested to know:

UNC-Chapel Hill SDS recognizes the connection of all struggles for social, environmental, and economic justice and liberation.

We commit to fight all forms of oppression, recognizing the leadership of the oppressed, and the right of all peoples to self-determination.

We demand an end to U.S. wars of aggression, neo-colonial occupations perpetrated or funded by the U.S., and the social and economic structures that support and profit from them.

We demand an end to U.S. military, political, cultural, and economic imperialism.

We demand a society rooted in social and economic justice, where all people have a right to housing, education, jobs, and healthcare, regardless of race, gender, nationality, class, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation. Such a society must place human need over corporate profit and interests.

We are committed to combating systemic oppressions in society, ourselves, and in our organization through our campaigns, leadership, tactics, and decision-making processes.

We are committed to collective action through principled unity with others, working against oppression with the ultimate goal of justice and liberation for all people

Uplifting prose for the oppressed workers of the world. Makes you want to run out, pick up that hammer and sickle and rail  against Amerika. Only problem, SDS conveniently turns a blind eye to the millions slaughtered by Stalin and Mao Tse Tung in their quest to develop a “worker paradise.”

Anyone who is familiar with SDS knows the name Students for A Democratic Society is a misnomer. SDS has no concern whatsoever for democratic principles nor any respect for the constitutionally protected right of free speech.

An open letter submitted by the SDS-Chapel Hill chapter, dated April 16th and addressed to UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp is instructive of the SDS's views on free speeech and what SDS believes happened at the Tancredo talk on immigration. Curiously, after SDS disrupted Congressman Tancredo’s talk on immigration, SDS is asking the chancellor and the university community “in the interests of free speech” to hear their side of the story, a side that in their view, has been missing from press and police accounts.

What does SDS mean by free speech? The SDS letter articulates a ton of qualifiers. It reads: 

It has been argued in the past couple of days that supporters of free speech should be tolerant of all speech. While I am of the view that as a democratic society we must be tolerant of dissenting views, in no way does this mean that all speech promotes democratic ends or should be tolerated. Put simply, some stories are better than others. The litmus test for these “better stories” include those that promote tolerance, acceptance, social justice, equality, and yes, free speech. The rhetoric espoused by YWC (Youth for Western Civilization, addition mine)  and Mr.Tancredo does not promote tolerance of difference and silences those who are “different.” Why then should we be tolerant of a  rhetoric that in no way promotes the goals of a democracy and that creates a culture of fear and hate? Hate speech silences free speech.

These ideas are wholly antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.  SDS only favors speech if it promotes tolerance, acceptance, social justice and equality – the supposed goals of the left. Curiously, if “speech” must be consistent with a prescribed set of values and prescriptions, one wonders how in any way the speech can be called "free"?

The very name Students for A Democratic Society belies the organization’s true purpose. Orwell deployed the perversion of language employed in propaganda. Can there be a better example than SDS?    

UNC Immigration Debate: Part II

The Raleigh News & Observer reports the UNC Chapter of Youth for Western Civilization is sponsoring a talk by Virgil Goode, former U.S. representative from Virginia. The talk titled “Hate Speech, Free Speech and Multiculturalism will be held next Wednesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. in Gardner Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.

Goode’s invitation comes one week after demonstrators from left wing campus groups shut down a talk by former Colorado Republican Congressman, Tom Tancredo. Tancredo had been invited by Youth for Western Civilization to give a talk on illegal immigration.

Let’s hope the talk is well attended so there won’t be an encore performance by radical campus groups who believe a person’s right to free speech is guaranteed only after one passes the left's litmus test.   

Narco Gangs in North Carolina

In an effort to remain objective and considerate of the plight of poor illegal aliens that just want to come here for a better life and who tremble at the sight of a sheriff's deputy in their rearview mirror, I present the following: A recent report from the National Drug Intelligence Center, an agency under the U.S. Justice Department outlines how foreign gangs are targeting North Carolina.
(Map of NC cities reporting the presence of Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations, Jan. 1, 2006- April 8, 2008)

The report says:

"Mexican criminal groups are expanding Mexican heroin distribution in eastern states, where previously only South American heroin had been available. Mexican heroin distribution groups are distributing the drug in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. For example, in February 2008 DEA announced the sentencing of a Mexican national convicted of leading a black tar heroin distribution group in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Members of the Charlotte criminal group had worked with other Mexican nationals in Arizona, California, Indiana, and Ohio to smuggle 10 to 15 kilograms of black tar heroin each month from Nayarit, Mexico, for distribution throughout the United States. The Charlotte organization had also established distribution cells throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee."

  Clearly the lack of border protection is not just about making sure there are enough workers here.  And don't think for a minute that this is merely a question of a threat from south of the border (and, no, I don't mean South Carolina).  Read on:

"Furthermore, law enforcement reporting indicates that Nigerian drug traffickers are expanding their distribution of heroin (most likely Southwest Asian heroin, although the origin has not been confirmed by signature testing) in the Southeast Region. For example, in June 2008 a Nigerian national smuggling heroin on a commercial flight departed from Nigeria, arrived in New York City, and proceeded to North Carolina. Upon arrival in there, the smuggler was hospitalized, and doctors removed  approximately 600 grams of heroin (42 balloons) from his body. The smuggler lived in North Carolina, and the heroin was most likely intended for local distribution."

Apparently, North Carolina has some wolves among the sheep.  Maybe one of these foreign drug dealers will get stopped in Alamance County for a "routine" traffic offense and get removed from our streets.  We can no longer allow criminal organizations to ply their trade in our state without fear of being caught.  Illegal border crossing is only a misdemeanor under US law but it opens the door wide to countless felonies that ruin our communities.  While the ACLU is trying to harass our Sheriffs that have taken a stand for the rule of law, what has the ACLU done to keep heroin out of your neighborhood?