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Topic: He’s an... Illegal Eh-lien (Read 771 times)
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iamme
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He’s an... Illegal Eh-lien
He’s stealing our jobs and our women. Plus, he talks funny.
http://wweek.com/editorial/3415/10425/
BY BETH SLOVIC BSLOVIC@WWEEK. | 503-243-2122
[February 20th, 2008]
On a construction site in North Portland, an illegal immigrant pounds nails and cuts two-by-fours. With each swift motion, he’s breaking the law.
He could be the poster child for anti-illegal immigrant zealots: He’s nonchalant about his status for the most part, unconcerned about not paying U.S. taxes and indifferent to the fact that he’s “stealing” the job of a U.S. citizen.
But he passes through Portland mostly untouched by the spittle spewing from the seal-our-borders-now camp.
Why? Because he’s not Mexican.
He’s an illegal Canadian. A Canuck. An iceback. A frostback. A canalien.
A hoser, eh?
Morgan (who agreed to let us publish his photograph and his first name, but not his last name) is not the face of undocumented immigrants in this country.
Tall and white with a light-brown fauxhawk, Morgan, 27, looks more like a typical Portlander, someone born and bred in the nation of Bruce Springsteen.
With his piercings and tattoos, he might stick out in The Dalles or on the campus of the University of Portland. But on Northeast Alberta Street, where he sometimes hangs out, Morgan is just one more passing soul, an artist and a painter who skateboards or bikes to work because he can’t afford a car. “I’m just your average Joe,” Morgan says. “A honky and a hoser. Irresponsible. A dreamer.”
Morgan’s been in the United States—undetected and unbothered by federal immigration authorities—since fall 2002.
One could argue that Morgan’s reasons for coming to the United States are less understandable—perhaps even less admirable—than those of the immigrants who come to the United States illegally from south of the border. Morgan’s just a single guy with a GED who’s looking to clock his 40 hours a week, spend time with his friends and pursue his art. He’s not escaping crime-filled cities or harsh economic conditions at home. He’s not “homeless, tempest-tossed” in search of higher wages to feed his family. He’s not yearning for a better education for his future children.
He says he has no aspirations of buying a house in the United States. He doesn’t want a bank account, a credit card or even a movie-rental membership, all of which he currently lacks. Compared with the estimated 6 million undocumented immigrants from Mexico in this country today, his goals are much more modest—perhaps even a tad selfish.
Much of what he needs—including health insurance—he could get in Canada. Instead, he wants a green card. He says he loves America, and Portland specifically, more than some Americans do. “I’m constantly defending this place,” he says.
Yet if his American dream were to end suddenly, he wouldn’t be totally devastated. He could return to his home in British Columbia—just six hours north by car—and resume his life in a similar fashion.
Morgan admits he has much less to lose. “The Mexican immigrant has more right to be here than I do,” he says. “It’s almost more noble. The idea is, he’s trying to find a better life for himself and his family. I don’t have an agenda.”
He’s not exactly remorseful about leaving the North to flout U.S. immigration law. He appears to have company. The Urban Institute, a research group in Washington, D.C., estimates between 65,000 and 75,000 undocumented Canadians currently live in the United States.
“If I wasn’t told I was breaking the law, I wouldn’t know I was breaking the law,” he says. “Am I supposed to apologize for that?”
He then jokes: “For the record, I’m sorry.”
At a time when politicians at all levels of government—from Portland City Hall to the Oregon Legislature to the U.S. Capitol—are grappling with undocumented immigration, Morgan’s story punctures the ideological perspectives of the left and the right.
He is no model immigrant. Nor is he a threat to our national identity, unless the occasional use of the word “eh” and maple syrup one day become as horrifying to the foot soldiers of the Minuteman Project as hola and arroz con pollo.
But whether lawmakers are talking about opposing work sites for Portland day laborers, requiring Social Security cards for Oregon drivers or building fences to curb the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States from Mexico, Morgan’s presence in this country is both a confirmation of the failures of U.S.
current immigration policies and a testament to the absurdity of attempts to change them.
The immigration debate in this country is, in fact, no longer a debate. It’s a three-ring circus with a very crowded clown car.
A half-inch scar runs down a finger on Morgan’s left hand, evidence of one central irony of Morgan’s life in the United States: If he lived in Canada, he would have easy access to one of the world’s premier healthcare systems.
In the United States, he doesn’t even have health insurance.
About two years ago, Morgan cut a tendon in his right hand while demolishing a wall at a construction site. He was alone, and he learned the hard way the degree of risk involved in living in the United States without health coverage.
When he emerged from the house, he was bleeding profusely, but he stopped a passerby on the street from calling an ambulance for him because he knew he couldn’t afford to pay for emergency transportation. The bill for stitching his wound alone was $2,700, which his bosses covered and Morgan repaid several months later.
Now when he cuts himself he sews his own wounds, and the half-inch scar on his left hand is one example of his handiwork.
The accident again happened while he was at work—when a cabinet fell on his hand and an exposed nail pierced his skin.
After work, Morgan went to a Rite Aid pharmacy and bought doctor soap and butterfly bandages. At home he boiled a sewing needle and gathered fishing wire, which he did not think to clean.
The wound was small enough and shallow enough that it required only two or three homemade stitches. Morgan didn’t try to do anything to dull the discomfort. “I just gritted my teeth,” he says.
Morgan would never ask anyone to feel sorry for him. And, besides, he enjoys living off the grid, he says. But his life in the United States does present a number of other challenges that wouldn’t exist if he were permitted to live here legally.
He doesn’t have a Social Security number, so he can work only for employers who will agree to pay him under the table. He earns $10 an hour, a wage that puts his annual salary at $20,000.
Most banks require just two forms of picture identification, which Morgan has. So he could open a checking account here. But Morgan says he doesn’t want to put down too many roots, in case he ever has to leave in a hurry. When he needed a cell phone, he turned to a friend to find him one. Now each month when it comes time to pay his phone bill, he puts cash in a sock and shoves the wad through the mail slot at his friend’s house, he says.
All of Morgan’s financial transactions are cash-based. When he can’t afford to pay for something outright—like his tattoos—he pays for his purchases in installments. He also doesn’t have a credit card. “I’ve always hated plastic,” Morgan says. “Banks and all that.”
Compared with those hurdles, Morgan’s day-to-day life is relatively hassle-free. In fact, it is shockingly easy for him to get by.
His friends and bosses know he’s not supposed to be here. If anyone else asks, he repeats the line he uses at border crossings and airports. “I’m just visiting,” he says.
That he can fly under the radar so comfortably is not lost on Morgan, who grew up middle-class in British Columbia. His mother is a kindergarten teacher at a private Christian school, and his father works on a road-maintenance crew. They live in a Dutch Reformed farming community east of Vancouver.
Morgan moved to Portland from British Columbia after a friend from Canada moved to Oregon to attend Multnomah Bible College.
Six years ago, border agents had no reason to stop him. That first time Morgan crossed the border, on his way to Oregon in his friend’s car, he was automatically granted permission to travel in the United States for six months. Unlike Mexican citizens who enter the United States, Canadians aren’t required to obtain visas. (They have six-month “visa waivers” instead.)
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, nearly half of all undocumented immigrants entered the United States lawfully but have overstayed their business or tourist visas, which calls into question the wisdom of the plan to build a higher and longer wall along this country’s southern border.
Morgan wasn’t just visiting, of course. He moved into an artists’ co-op in Southeast Portland where rent was about $300 a month. To pay for it, he immediately set about trying to find work. That, too, came easily.
Morgan’s first job was through a friend of a friend and was off the books: He sold Oregon Christmas trees out of a parking lot in Sarasota, Fla., for $10 an hour. For four weeks, he lived in a motor home with other vendors who were also recruited by the grower.
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IBMMuseum
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He’s an... Illegal Eh-lien
He’s stealing our jobs and our women. Plus, he talks funny...
This article has also appeared at Brand X (http://tinyurl.com/ytyyat). The "Rule of Law" is out the door, an illegal from one country is not equal to illegals from other countries. No real surprises based on what I have seen in the past, but worth a little comment:
I know someone here who is an iillegal alien from Canada, he is in a legitimate marriage to an American but somebody stole his passport so he has been unable to file. I get asked why I do not turn him in and my response is that the ICE does not bother to pick up general violators who are non criminals. Others ask me if knowing him changes my view that illegal aliens should not be here. My response is that my friend should have obeyed the law and I am not goinng to excuse 20 Million violators because I know some.
Normally Alicrappers don't call 'iillegals' of Hispanic origin "non criminals". They maintain that someone entering without inspection or a visa overstay is "crimalien" from that very moment, usually to a capital level that cannot be redeemed shy of deportation and staying out of the United States ever after. Sometimes the criminal terms are applied proactively, such as talk of bringing corruption with them.
An excuse that the Canadian that Richard knows doesn't have a passport is invalid. Since he probably will have to interview at a U.S. Consulate in Canada when the appointment comes up (and if paperwork is never filed, that day never comes) he will have enough time. Sorry, there isn't a pilot program for I-601 in Canada (long wait, and the hardship waiver has to argue why he has to be in the United States instead of the similiar Canada).
When there are 20-30 million illegal Canadians in the US stealing jobs and bankrupting US Cities then I will worry about Canada.
Right now however, the problem is largely Mexico and I will not justify or excuse 20-30 million of their illegal invaders being here simply because a few Canadians are here illegally.
It's believed the total undocumented numbers are closer to 12 million, with approximately 57% of that true Mexican nationals (and more than a "few" Canadians). This Alicrapper says it's a matter of numbers, not "The Rule of Law" or any similiarities that an undocumented Canadian shares with an undocumented Mexican. By that reasoning, a Mexican family (like mine) legally immigrating are still "Invaders".
This article is a joke, right? I don't buy it, sorry.
Let's compare 1 Canadian illegal vs 20+ million latin american illegals AND their families. No contest. There ARE reasons why mexicans are complained about more.
Is the Canadian breeding anchor babies as fast as he can?
Is the Canadian using hospital ERs and sticking us with the bills?
Did the canadian bring his extended family with him?
Is the Canadian taking social services meant for American citizens?
Is he demanding a license? Demanding "rights" which he is not entitled to?
Are his kids overburdening our schools without paying for them?
If you're going to compare one illegal to another, better use better examples.
All illegals have one thing in common...they do not belong here and need to get out!
Then this illegal Canadian should "get out", right? Also the illegal Canadian Richard knows should get out too. Richard could answer if he has any "Anchor Babies" (remember Dixie's definition, the father is illegal).
For comparing illegal aliens the Alicrappers are coming up a little bit short...
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tony_cheek
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Of course it's about race.
They'll turn purple and scream to the heavens when a brown, black or yellow person is found to be in this country illegally.
White boy however gets a pass.
You'll also notice all the screaming about mexican flying foreign flags on US soil, but not a whimper about the Irish flag that will be flown on St. Paddy's day.
Of course it's about race.
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