Would You Turn in an Illegal Immigrant?

[ducklite]

If you knew that someone in your neighborhood, church, kids school, or workplace was here illegally, would you call INS and turn them in?

 

[summerrluvv]

INS doesn't do anything about it. I can't tell you how many people have called INS about the illegals in our area. There are thousands of them. The Police actually patrol the corners they hang out at so the officials know they are here, they just don't want to do anything about it.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I have met many illegal immigrants in my work, and I would never turn them in. The ones I've met are very poor people trying to make better lives for themselves and their families.

OTOH, I would definitely turn in an employer who was paying exploitative wages to illegal immigrants.

I think the problem of illegal immigrants needs to be addressed politically. I think illegal immigration is tacitly permitted so that large corporations (for instance, the farming industry in Florida) can have cheap labor.

 

[CarolA]

If you knew that someone in your neighborhood, church, kids school, or workplace was here illegally, would you call INS and turn them in?

How would I know? Am I suppose to check thier green cards? (Do you really think they are going to tell you or do you just "assume" they are illegal and turn them in. Which based on some posts I have read lately at least SOME people are certainly capable of)

 

[Meezers]

Since local law enforcement (at this time...new law to be passed in Georgia) cannot do anything to enforce federal law...what is supposed to be done.

I know my small department arrests many illegal immigrents for driving without a license. The only reason they are arrested is so they can be fingerprinted at the jail and placed "in the system". The jail pretty much has a revolving door because of the large illegal immigrant population.

This is a problem that is not going to be solved by a couple of calls to INS. They don't have the manpower or transportation equipment to deal with 10's of thousands of people at one time!

I don't have the answer to this problem....well maybe I do...but it wouldn't be PC to mention it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you knew that someone in your neighborhood, church, kids school, or workplace was here illegally, would you call INS and turn them in?

OK...wait...

Since moving to Texas, illegals are all over & working in plain view. Never have I heard of anyone, checking anything. What would be the point of calling?
I think it only happens in the movies & TV to be honest.

 

[ducklite]

How would I know? Am I suppose to check thier green cards? (Do you really think they are going to tell you or do you just "assume" they are illegal and turn them in. Which based on some posts I have read lately at least SOME people are certainly capable of)

Actually often people know. My hairdresser was working with a girl who was illegal. INS came to the salon (in a large nationally represented department store) and took her away. She didn't hide that she was illegal from more than one of her coworkers, and obviously someone turned her in.

Anne

 

[pixiemomma]

I would not.

 

[AllyandJack]

You bet. When I found out an illegal immigrant was working under my SS#, I spent about 4 months trying to find this woman because I wanted her prosecuted. They never found her. But, if they ever do, I will press charges and hope she either gets deported or gets sent to jail.

 

[Evil Queen]

I do know OF a few, but here in Florida, that's not uncommon. There are probably more and I don't realize it.

It would depend on the situation, if I would turn them in, but I highly doubt it.

What kills me are the ones who are basically thrown into modern day slavery working the fields here. Their "bosses" use this to their advantage of pay and assuring they continue to have workers. It's really sad.

 

[dmslush]

We see MANY illegal domestic violence victims. We actually refer them to the immigration legal clinic for help with their immigration issues. I would never turn one of these victims in to the authorities. I couldn't live with myself after they had come to me for help, for me to then put them in a potentially dangerous situation.

However, if the batterer is illegal, I don't bat an eye about turning him in.

 

[LindaR]

Absolutely NOT! I live very close to the border and my neighbors and their family members would be touched by this. I look at it like this...there were no "green cards" issued over 200 years ago when my ancestors arrived here. They came here to make a better life for their families. That's exactly what "illegals" are doing now. We brought slaves to this country to do our "work" for us long ago...and we still have fine people who will do the hard work that most of us think we are too good to do. This will be a struggle and I hope that we don't have to have the violence that has been associated with civil rights in the past.

 

[AllyandJack]

Absolutely NOT! I live very close to the border and my neighbors and their family members would be touched by this. I look at it like this...there were no "green cards" issued over 200 years ago when my ancestors arrived here. They came here to make a better life for their families. That's exactly what "illegals" are doing now. We brought slaves to this country to do our "work" for us long ago...and we still have fine people who will do the hard work that most of us think we are too good to do. This will be a struggle and I hope that we don't have to have the violence that has been associated with civil rights in the past.

I'd like to make a better life for my family, too. So, I'm not going to obey a few laws. I'll start with property taxes. That money is better used for my family. Then, I'll stop obeying the speed limit because the faster I get home, the better for me and my family. Oh, and paying that money for health insurance, that has to stop, too, so I'm not going to pay any medical bills because it's better for my family that we have that money. Tell me, which other laws are OK to break in the name of a better life for your family? I'd like to know so I can enjoy that liberty.

 

[snowwite]

If I had proof that someone was here illegally I would absolutely turn them in.They are a criminal. There are ways to immigrate legally and become a citizen.Anyone who comes illegally should be shipped back where they came from. I dont understand why anyone would want to potentially endander thier own family helping a criminal.

 

[Stacerita]

In the area that I live and work, the number of illegals is huge. There is no way they can all be taken into custody. There just aren't enough resources to do so. And if ICE really wanted to, they would. They know where the illegals are for the most part.

I have a huge issue with the illegal immigrant problem. It impacts my life, and my family's lives on a daily basis. As far as turning someone in myself, that I just dont know I could do that. I know people who's parents came here illegally to give their kids a better life. And they have a sad story of hardship, but have done well and made things better. But does that make it right, no. Could I turn them in? Hard to say.

And as uncaring as it would seem, I dont think anchor babies should be a reason to let someone continue to break the law. It was their choice to do it that way, and they should live with the consequences. I know a lady who came across the boarder 7 times...each time she was ready to deliver. She knew what she was doing and made no effort to hide that she did so to make it easier for her kids since they would be citizens.

Personally....I would like to see more enforement with employers who hire illegals. If employers stop employing them, and the illegals have no jobs to come to. They wouldn't have reason to be here. The majoirty of supporters of illegal immigrants say they are here to work. Well, if there were no jobs for them to do, they would not come. Not all of them, the majority. Some would still come no matter what. But it would not be the number that if flooding my area now.

 

[Free4Life11]

No I would not and I think people who do should mind their own business. Also kind of a pet peeve, but the INS no longer exists.

 

[LukenDC]

I would not. There are so many illegal aliens here that the only practical thing is to let them stay. The government let us down in not securing our borders and our free market economy has adapted to the market and labor forces that illegal immigrants create. Deporting the illegal immigrants would create huge inflation in this country. Think of the dramatic increase of food products alone on top of the current gas prices and you will have an idea of the impact mass deportation would have on the American pocketbook.

In addition to finding a way to legalize the illegal immigrants, I hope that the government starts to take border security seriously and punishes those countries (Mexico, are you listening??) that encourage illiegal immigration.

 

[summerrluvv]

No I would not and I think people who do should mind their own business. Also kind of a pet peeve, but the INS no longer exists.

It's hard to mind your own business when people are here illegally and are not contributing to the tax system and living 20 in a home crowding neighborhoods.

 

[Amy]

My grandma came to the US from Czechoslovakia in 1922, when she was 21 years old. She was not allowed off Ellis Island until the INS was certain that there was a US citizen who was willing to be responsible for her. If there was no sponsor, people were shipped back to where they came from.

The key word is "illegal" immigrants. There are laws in place for people to come to this country legally. Apply for a visa and all that stuff.

The only reason there are so many illegal immigrants is because there are employers giving them jobs. The INS (or whatever the govt. agency is called now) has to start cracking down on the companies that employ the illegal immigrants. And that's only going to happen once a lot of the welfare laws get changed. I'm sure there are plenty of US citizens who won't mind working in the fields or cleaning hotel rooms. But they don't apply because the jobs don't pay enough to make a decent living. Or maybe the jobs DO pay enough that they won't qualify for welfare any longer, but once they become tax-paying, health-insurance paying citizens again, they can't afford it. Who knows?

 

[AllyandJack]

No I would not and I think people who do should mind their own business. Also kind of a pet peeve, but the INS no longer exists.

It is my business. This country is our home and these people are coming here illegally. If someone entered your home illegally, wouldn't you think it was your business to report them to the police? Everything that happens here is our business. If we just let random people break random laws, we're headed down the wrong path. Would you turn in someone you know was getting credit cards under someone else's name? If your friend came to you and said lunch was on him because he got a credit card using someone else's name, would you report that or just eat the lunch?