Arizona doing the right thing

What a kerfuffle over Arizona’s decision to document immigrant workers. A citizen of this country is documented from birth.

One can’t cross legally any of our borders, enter school or apply for a job without documentation. Becoming a legal immigrant isn’t easy and I (born and bred in the United States) should know.

My husband was a legal immigrant and now he is a U.S. citizen.

We had lived and worked outside this country. When it was decided we might come here, we applied at the local American embassy to have him legally be able to reside and work in this country.

That was not an easy or a cheap process.

You pay an application fee; you need to provide financial account statements. You’re checked out by the FBI, Interpol, etc. You are both interviewed and questioned.

You need to be healthy and able to pay for a thorough medical exam. You must have monies deposited in a U.S. bank, separate from any joint or spousal monies.

An educated professional from an economically depressed country will not be able to meet the requirements.

Military personnel married to foreigners face a burdensome task in bringing spouses and families here.

The law under discussion gets a 71 percent majority in the polls there. I do not walk in the people of Arizona’s shoes.

Life isn’t always fair, but if you are an immigrant and play by the rules, you aren’t allowed to be a burden. What don’t people understand about the word “illegal”?

Linda Boardman

Cape Porpoise

 

There is a lot being said about Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signing a law (that pretty much mirrors our federal law) regarding illegal immigrants.

I applaud her and her constituents for taking this matter into their own hands. After all, the federal government hasn’t.

I haven’t read the law, but have heard folks from both sides describe it. I believe the actual law enforcement officer’s explanation of Arizona’s new law on illegal immigrants.

They say they cannot profile anyone — that to ask someone to show their legal status to be in the United States, that person asked has to have been in the process of doing something quite questionable in the eyes of the police, like driving beyond the speed limit, or not stopping for a red light, etc.

Does anyone else remember when a person driving an automobile was stopped for a traffic violation and was not wearing a seat belt, that person could then, and only then, be cited for not wearing the seat belt? In other words, policemen could not be looking just for non-wearers of seat belts.

That’s the same type of law that will be in place in Arizona come July.

Barbara Britten

Shapleigh

 

When I hear U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder criticizing an Arizona law without reading it;

When I hear President Obama telling us the health care reform bill will save us money — then after passage we find out all our government agencies are stating the health care law will cost much more than our present system;

When I observe our representatives voting for more and more spending and telling us it’s for our own good;

When I see our Congress giving over $50 billion to bail out Greece — yes, Greece;

When I see a congressman actually admit voting for the health care bill without reading it;

When I call the offices of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and ask the question, “What is your plan to pay back all this money you are voting to spend?” and never get any answer

Then it is clear to me that our representatives are not operating in our best interests.

Politicians working in our best interests would talk, explain and operate in an open and aboveboard manner, they would not be sending our money to bail out Greece, they would not be lying about the actual costs of bills they vote into law, and they would uphold the Constitution as they took an oath to do.

I was taught to judge a person by his actions, not his talk, because talk is cheap. Snowe, Collins, Pingree, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and President Obama are the Washington elite doing things to us and not representing our best interests.

We all need to go to the polls and vote these politicians out of office. Because of their actions, we cannot trust them to represent our best interests.

James C. Waterhouse

Saco

 

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona showed more backbone than all the politicians in Washington by signing into law a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The president, senators and Congress are all trying to get the minority votes and had no intention of ever helping the border states.

All the do-gooders who demonstrate against Arizona, I wonder if they have ever been to Phoenix.

Well, I have, and I will tell you it is a powder keg. Illegals cross the border all hours of the day and night and roam through people’s property, stealing them blind of anything that they can get their hands on.

The crime rate is 100 percent more than we have here in Maine.

The legal immigrants who live in Phoenix live in fear of the drug smugglers who cross the border and flood the United States. The legal residents have to have their windows and outside doors barred, and some are armed.

At nighttime we were going to go for a walk to the mall, and there wasn’t a soul on the street.

No one walks alone but with a group, as we found out. We were stopped by the police and escorted to the mall.

When we got to the mall we found that there were very few shoppers, so we decided to return to our hotel. The police were waiting for us and said they knew we wouldn’t be long, and they escorted us back to the hotel with our thanks.

Most of all, there is the cost to the state for all the freebies that the illegals run up while they are there.

Their children are born in the United States and that makes them legal citizens, so they get food stamps and free medical and other benefits from our government while you and I are the suckers paying for them.

If do-gooders are so concerned, why don’t they sponsor them, pay for their rent and help them to live here?

Richard C. Campbell

South Portland