Latino-owned business along Cherokee Street in south St. Louis are closed today in recognition of the national “Day Without Immigrants” protest.
“We are tired of being treated like second-class citizens,” said Carlos A. Dominguez, the owner of Latino Americana, a convenience store at the corner of California and Cherokee.
Several other shop owners have joined Dominguez by closing their doors today to draw attention to the economic impact of America’s immigrants. Large demonstrations are expected across the country in cities like Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, and New York.
May 1st, 2006 at 12:48 pm
F*CK ‘EM!!!
May 1st, 2006 at 1:12 pm
In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that…
1. Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
2. Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
3. Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
4. Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
5. Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
6. Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
7. Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
8. Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.
If this is the standard by which Mexico treats non-citizens,
WHY IS VINCENTE FOX PRESSING FOR “HUMANE” TREATMENT OF ILLEGAL
IMMIGRANTS TO THE U.S.?
May 1st, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Dear Anonymous #2:
Isn’t that exactly why they’d rather be here? Isn’t that the beacon of liberty that is supposed to emanate so brightly from our shores?
Or perhaps we should loan them our Constitution since we’re not using it anyway.
May 1st, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Hate Hate Hate… Hate on haters. I definatly support the day without immmagrents. Maybe some of thease Haters will understand what all this Imagrent haten gets them… Nothin!
May 1st, 2006 at 3:23 pm
Our country was founded on immigrants and reports show cities do better when immigration is not limited. We need more population in our city, I say open the gates and let them in.
May 1st, 2006 at 7:49 pm
If illegals want rights, then perhaps they should not protest with foreign flags.
May 1st, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I think that we are all missing the point. They are ILLEGAL.
If illegal immigrants want to live the American dream I suggest that they get their citizenship LEGALLY and that they begin to speak english. The chosen language of the United States of America. Then they need to prescribe to the laws of this land.
If you don’t like how the United States is run then they need to go back to where they are from. If they are running to get a better life for them and their families then their sacrifice is to get their citizenship and speak english and live by our laws.
May 1st, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I don’t know that it’s that clear cut, Anonymous #5.
As an immigrant who went through the naturalization process, I certainly appreciate and respect the process. However, I don’t think it’s always accessible to everyone.
Sure, if you’re a foreign engineering grad student you probably won’t have a problem finding a big tech firm that will get their lawyers to do the papework for a visa, and then a green card, and eventually citizenship.
To some other people, just the processing fee may be a show stopper. And when people are desperate and they want to be safe and they want to have a job, they’ll go wherever it takes. I did.
I’ll comment on the English-speaking requirement next time. For now, I hope you find my spelling satisfactory.
May 1st, 2006 at 10:42 pm
“They are ILLEGAL.”
What the F*ck does that mean?
Some one that walks drives or rides a boat across some imaginary line is illeagal?
I bet it is ILLEGAL in anon #7’s world to get a job that pays better.
This silly immagration quota system makes no sense and people have shown it true with their feet. Anno#7 would enjoy the reality of the world instead of Hate’n it so much!
May 2nd, 2006 at 9:50 am
As to the illegal question, sure, people who entered the country illegally broke the law. But how many people reading this post have driven faster than the speed limit? How many people have walked across the street at some other point than a crosswalk? Both of those acts constitute breaking the law, and there’s any number of laws that are either selectively enforced or completely unenforced that many of us break often.
If breaking the law means you are illegal, I’d wager that most people in the US are illegal. So defining a person as illegal is pretty silly. The question is, what do we do with someone who has broken the law? Do we take away a driver’s license for speeding, or do we give him/her a fine? I think it’s fair to demand some sort of penalty from those who entered the country illegally, but it’s definitely unfair to uproot them and ship them back if that’s all they’ve done.
-Clark
May 2nd, 2006 at 10:33 am
We are all immigrants of one sort or another.
May 2nd, 2006 at 1:58 pm
As a 12th generation European immigrant (two roots of our tree came over in 1605 and 1615) with roots of a family tree that includes natives of this soil for thousands of years (ie: the folks that were here before the white people), I say, bring ‘em on! with sane, smart policies that allow people to work. We need to be cautious about creating an immigrant population of the unemployed (see France for reference) but a lack of work is not our problem is it?
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:27 am
I find it especially hypocritical that many white conservatives are anti-immigration. Ironically, white folks have more immigrant blood in their veins than black folks. That’s because very few whites have a heritage completely descendent from the colonial era, with much mid- to late-20th century inter-marriage among 19th century and early 20th century immigrants, or whites directly descendent from these larger European ethnic groups.
OTHO, black folks have blood lines that go back to pre-Revolution times, since primarily descendent from slaves. Even those black folks of mixed race heritage are descendent from pre-Revolutionary whites, unlike white folks who have more Industrial Age immigrant blood in them.
So then, while obviously only full-blood Native Americans aren’t descendent from immigrants, whites have more muddled bloodlines than African-Americans, due to their mixed European ethnic heritage that make the majority descendent from post-Revolution immigrants.