Letters to the Editor 2.21.07
Immigration and poverty
Mr. Green,
Former Senator John Edwards does discuss poverty and does bring some good ideas to the table, however he has steadfastly refused to ever mention the impact of illegal immigration on America’s legal resident poor [“Poverty center asserts own role after Edwards’ exit”; Jan. 10, 2007; by Jordan Green]. Any careful examination of this matter will show that the overwhelmingly low-skilled and poorly educated illegal immigrant aliens are driving down wages and using social services (there is not an unlimited amount of taxpayer money) meant for our legal resident poor. Every dollar going to an illegal alien and their dependents is one less dollar for our legal resident poor. In North Carolina the estimate by Families USA is one in three uninsured in North Carolina is an illegal alien or a dependent of one. One can make the case that some are Americans, born in the USA of illegal aliens, but that doesn’t change the fact that this illegality causes the loss of social services to our own poor, and the paltry taxes paid by illegal aliens is nowhere near covering the cost of their services (check out cis.org).
John Edwards’ record on voting for “meaningful” immigration reform is dismal. He consistently fought any efforts to enforce our immigration laws and virtually welcomed the notion of amnesty for illegals. I suppose if one is more interested in getting votes from the poor and pandering to illegal immigrant advocacy groups instead of actually helping our (real) legal resident poor, this is not a surprise.
I am director of NC LISTEN, an immigration reform organization in Cary. Our group was started in 2002 and we support sensible legal immigration that is in our national interest, but we are opposed to illegal immigration.
Regards,
Ron Woodard
Cary
Nice ICE, baby
Good morning, Jordan. This is Randy Jones from the ACSO. I just had the opportunity to see your story on the 287G program [“ICE’d out: The long arm of federal immigration enforcement reaches into North Carolina”; Feb. 7, 1007; by Jordan Green]. I think your article was good and seemed well balanced. Oddly enough as I was reading your story I had the TV 14 news channel on in my office. They ran the story on the ICE graduation, then followed up with the (tragic) story of the pregnant mother being killed in the accident with the DWI driver. He was No. 1, a twice previously deported illegal alien; No. 2, allegedly driving drunk again; No. 3, I understand previously arrested for DWI; No. 4, was found by Channel 14 to have arrests under six different names in Cabarrus County (alone); No. 5, I am personally willing to bet you lunch he had a license in some name this time anyway (remember I told you we have seen illegals with two, three, four, five or more illegally obtained licenses, many times because they have lost one or more for DWI charges). These are the people the program is designed to target. As a story suggestion: since Ms. Jimenez-McGee seems to think the thing to do is to issue illegal aliens drivers licenses (since that will magically end tragic events such as described above) why not ask her to sit down face to face with the victims family and convince them what a good idea that would be. You see, if you give an illegal alien a legitimate drivers license, they will not drive drunk, correct?
Actually please excuse my sarcasm, but I thought how ironic I should read your story and look up to see the (two) news reports. I do seem to hear some of our advocates remarkably silent on the death of this young mother-to-be.
Solely as a personal opinion I think every Sheriff’s Office nationwide should go 287G in the interest of safety and national security. Remember: If you aren’t violating the law you probably will not have contact with the program anyway.
Anyway, I think your story was well written.
Randy Jones
Burlington
Randy Jones is the public affairs officer for the Alamance County Sherrif’s Office.
Transgender support
Hello Jordan Green,
My name is Cristin Kyle, and I happen to go to school with Devon. I am glad that you have published this article [“New life as woman brings discrimination for transgender youth”; Jan. 24, 2007; by Jordan Green] because I believe that people need to become more aware of what transgenders go through, and just what anyone different goes through. I happen to think that Devon is a very nice person, the instances where I have talked to him in the past and whenever I see him and talk to him he is very pleasant and willing to talk to anyone. I love his sarcasm and the way he is able to laugh and enjoy life. I hope that through this article you may be able to bring some more awareness to these facts, but I think a good idea would be to do an article about someone who is not quite average that faces discrimination as well and how he or she copes with it.
Sincerely,
Cristin Kyle
Greensboro
Feedback on Guilford College
Thanks again for strong reporting where other local news outlets go out of their way to make things “fair and balanced,” so to speak [“Guilford students charge administration with cover-up”; Feb. 14, 2007; by Jordan Green]. It seems I’ve gotten the most insightful information on this incident from YES! Weekly and just about any paper/broadcast/blog that originates outside Greensboro city limits.
As a Guilford grad and a former member of the GTCRP’s Local Task Force [“former” because I moved], it has been painful to watch Guilford function as a microcosm of Greensboro’s handling of ’79. However, it’s certainly been a revelation to watch the spin in real time. Here’s more evidence that Greensboro “moderates” (like fellow Guilford alum Mayor Keith Holliday) want to look “progressive” when they’re courting the “creative class” and people with all types of resources, but they’ll never actually endorse, much less induce, progress. I wonder what the mayor learned at Guilford, after all?
Matthew Shelton
New Orleans
