Note to self.

[salinn]

I haven't really picked sides, but my drive to our Monday morning breakfast meeting and then to work goes through a big hispanic community.

Traffic was so much better than it's ever been. Thanks for staying home, immigrants. Maybe you could have these protests more often?

Comments

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

Wow. Hispanic neighborhood = immigrants? I didn't realize people still *thought* that way.

[salinn.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, let me restate that. You're right, I shouldn't lump them all together. There are a lot of hispanic communities around here, but this one in particular is full of people who come right from Mexico, who are living in small apartments with sometimes 10+ people living in a 2-bedroom. I only know this because I have a friend who does apartment managing, and she had been working in that area for her employer on a temporary basis. She had horrible problems with people who were forging SSN's on applications and already had family members living in those apartments, having more people living in them than they were approved for, people who would ask her for work and payment under the table for a lot of things because they were ineligible to work legally. I guess the managers they had hired previously were sympathetic to their issues and were overlooking the problems that too many people were living there, and illegal application processes, and my friend had a heck of a time getting things straightened out and separating the people who were supposed to be there from the people who weren't. She knew some Spanish but she still had troubles understanding them a lot of the time.
Again, it hasn't really affected me and I haven't really taken sides, it was just amazing, the lack of traffic this morning to and from work. No idea if it's really to do with the "Day without Immigrants," but it's the only difference I noticed today. I just thought maybe it had to do with those people. I admittedly don't know enough about the immigration system or the issues going on to take a side, I was just commenting on the situation. I apologize! Please tell me whatever you know about it, if you have a comment to make, I'd love to hear more from someone who knows more than I do!

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

People from a country without social security coming here to abuse a system they know nothing about in the hopes of getting something, anything... what does that say about OUR system? It attracts and provides opportunity for misuse and abuse.

As a Republican, who has bee none her whole life, our system lures the weak and those in need with promises, and then racially misreats them, denies them humanity, and then pats itself on the back. People will stop coming here to committ illegal acts when their existence and struggle is valued.

People live 10 to a house all over. It's common with black people here. Perhaps we sould do something to limit the freedoms and success of those black folk?

[salinn.livejournal.com]

Thanks for responding so quickly. :)

I guess my comment was coming from my friend complaining because her company has limitations on how many people can legally live in a small apartment, and also the disclosure for telling the apartment manager how many people are living there and how many are temporary guests. I remember when I lived in my apartment anyone who wasn't on the lease that was staying for over 5 days we were required to report it to management and they may deny you your guest. I guess the reason she was there is because they fired the other managers because they were overlooking those things and she had to fix them.

I think if you own your own house, maybe there aren't any limitations on who can live with you? I have no idea. I agree that our system is in some serious need of reform and I'm glad that people are finally doing something to point that out. I also agree with your point about how it lures in people from other countries with this "land of opportunity" stuff and then don't treat them well.

Although I don't consider myself an immigrant now, my great-grandparents on both sides were immigrants, and I don't know how our system for processing immigrants has changed since then (or if it even has).

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

I don't want you to think I'm attacking you or your beliefs. I'm not. I really am not. Today was just rough... it always scares me when people who teach children (even "those Mexican" kids) harbor such hate for them.

Maybe it's because of my connections with people who are struggling to make their lives something, here. I just don't see it as any worse for an illegal person who try and make it then a legal person. People are people, and no one is an illegal human.

I feel like when we can draw lines about who is deserving of certain rights and who isn't, it scares me. There's millions of people who draw that line of me and my live, my fiancee, my job. And I'm "legal."