About this GOP move to take citizenship rights away

[oldlady]

from children born here whose parents were not here legally. We had a case here not too long ago where a Tibetan 19 year old was charged with a drug crime and was going to be sent to Tibet, because his parents were not citizens. They were legal aliens, if I remember correctly. It was a pretty minimal drug charge. He had been in the US since he was 2 years old and didn't know a soul in Tibet. What kind of sense does that make?

About half of my neighbors are immigrants. Mostly Hmong, who were recruited from the mountains of Laos during the Vietnam war by JFK to fight for US and faced extermination after we pulled out. They swam the Mekong River and have been in refugee camps in Thailand since that time. These are the immigrants who are losing their rights to food stamps, free school lunch and Medicare benefits after this next congress. Our fault they are here. Our responsibility, I think. Most are not citizens. It takes quite some time for the parents to pass the tests-- especially since they had no written language until the 1960s and most older Hmong are illiterate. Their children are not citizens, even if they were born in this country. Even though our country flew their parents here legally. What group will they fit into under GOP scrutinty?

My grandson's father is illegal, my daughter has claims through my husband's family on DAR membership (should she be silly enough to follow up). How long before the GOP wants to boot out my grandson too? What about his father, who lives with my daughter and grandson and has since before he was born-- why steal my grandson's father? He'd get legal if he could, but the only way to do so is for him to move back to his country and apply-- expected wait, even with proving a child in the US, seven years. That's quite a chunk from a child's life.

I know immigrants with and without paperwork who do NOT report violent crimes against themselves (rapes of both men and women, armed robbery, assaults including stabbings on the street) because they are afraid of drawing attention to themselves. My town would be safer if they could report the crimes and get the offenders off the streets.

I can understand both sides of the arguments about "legal" and "illegal" immigrants. But, we shouldn't forget that there are many shades of gray in there. I think the bullying of the GOP is just targeting the weakest among us. I'm furious that these kids won't even get a school lunch, after being orphaned by the US war in SE Asia.

Isn't this the same GOP that wanted to keep Elian Gonzalez? We are all but pawns and they've come for the immigrants first.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Republican's can't win in the marketplace of ideas.

Their strategy is to limit and throw impediments into the process of voter registration. The more they can keep natural Democratic constituents from voting, the better their chances.