The Washington Post featured an article today regarding a raid that took place in a Massachussets' garment factory. The article reports that at least 360 illegal immigrants were taken into custody there March 6 after a raid by federal agents on the Michael Bianco Inc. factory -- a military contractor 60 miles south of Boston. Many of them, including Escoto, a 38 year old mother of two young children, were women whose detention separated them from their children, some of whom were stranded at day-care centers, schools, or friends' or relatives' homes.
Robin Shulman, the author of the article, who is obviously sympathetic to the illegal immigrants' plights, wrote that Immigration officials said they made provisions for the children so none would be left alone. But in the days right after the raid -- as a 7-year-old called a hotline and asked for her mother, and a breastfeeding baby refused a bottle and was hospitalized for dehydration -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) began to categorize the raid's aftermath as a "humanitarian crisis."
Shulman also reports that Escoto, like most of those detained, was flown to a holding center in Texas as deportation proceedings began. A single mother, she was separated from her two young children, who were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens. Daniel, 2, asked for her constantly, while relatives worried about the care of frail 4-year-old Jessie -- who cannot walk and suffers from an illness that prevents her from absorbing enough nutrition.
My question is whose fault is all of this and who should be held accountable? While I realize that the thought of mothers being torn away from their children is a horrible one, it happens everyday in our country.
When people come into this country illegally, they must consider that events such as raids may happen and if the government is doing its job, they should happen. If you are here illegally, and mind you, illegally is the optimum term here, you are a fugitive. The gender of the person should be of no significance. The government is not to blame if the illegal immigrant has put his/her family at risk. That was a decision made by the illegal immigrant. If a U.S. citizen, who happens to be female is convicted of a crime, she is incarcerated, and her children are left out there. If she is fortunate, she will have family members to care for them, but often times, they are put in foster care. That is the price that is paid for making poor decisions. Why should an illegal immigrant expect anything different? Oh, because you are an illegal immigrant, and you have children, we should just let you break the law and get away with it? The illegal immigrant and her children should be deported.
Our country is clearly being abused. Many illegal immigrants have used having babies in the U.S. as a way to anchor themselves into this country. An illegal alien can cross the border, have a baby five minutes later, and that baby is automatically declared a citizen of the U.S.A. Automatically! They are, in fact, rewarded for disobeying U.S. law by having their children granted automatic citizenship. In addition, the family is entitled to welfare benefits. Illegal alien parents who have children born in the U.S. are seldom deported . That's why their children are called "anchor babies" - they anchor their families securely in the U.S.A. This law should be repealed.
Until the Federal Government gets off of it's behind, and does something about this growing immigration crisis in our country, perhaps these raids, and the possibility of being separated from their children, will act as a deterrent to people coming into our country illegally.
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