The City of Oakland is facing a $100,000,000 deficit because City leaders have repeatedly wasted the tax payer’s money on needless programs. While most cities throughout the Bay Area look to cut back spending and take a more conservative approach to local governance, the Oakland City Council decided it ought to continue business as usual. So now they are passing another costly proposal approving ID cards for illegal immigrants during a deepening budget crisis.
Oakland Tribune Article: Oakland council approves municipal ID program
It’s disturbing to see that Oakland City leaders have failed to recognize that granting ID cards for illegal immigrants is a bad choice for the cash-strapped City of Oakland. Some expect the program to cost millions of dollars based on what they’ve witnessed in nearby San Francisco, which in the first year has spent $828,000 according to San Francisco County Clerk Karen Hong.
The citizens that reside in Oakland deserve better than what they are getting from their elected leadership on the council. Don’t believe me? Attend an Oakland City Council meeting and you’ll see for yourself.
The time has come to check and reverse the growth of government and do away with out of control spending which has become the norm in not only the City of Oakland, but also in the State of California and with the Federal government, as well. If regular, everyday American citizens managed their personal finances like our local, state and Federal governments run theirs… We’d all be out on the street, with no stimulus funds to bail us out of our sorry situations, and rightfully so! Many of the ‘tax-and-spend-even-more’ Members of the Oakland City Council have their constituents thinking, ’This can’t be the Change that we believed in?’
At the Oakland City Council meeting on Tuesday, many residents that were supportive of the proposal said they wanted the City ID card because they, “wanted to be recognized in the community.” However, I believe that approving City ID cards for law-breakers is a form of recognition, that also rewards the illegal behavior itself. I would have thought that allowing someone to express themselves during a public forum, while being heard by community leaders, and having what they say taken into consideration when decisions are made that impact the entire community would be recognition enough for those who have came here to exploit our Country. Especially since a portion of the people who have immigrated into this Country don’t enjoy that same freedom of speech back home where they originally came from.
If we ever expect to solve the illegal immigration problem in America, we must remove the incentive that drives people to come here illegally. Incentives such as, college tuition grants, drivers’ licenses, illegal employment, amnesty, health care, and welfare for illegals all encourage people to come here and exploit what our Country has to offer and allows for the abuse of the American tax-payer.
We shouldn’t be surprised that people want to come to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave to get a free hand-out, when our elected representatives have continuously rewarded this type of behavior from the past to the present. After all this is still the best Country on Earth! The sad thing is, Oakland City Council Members are hurting our chances of keeping it that way! When will we begin to realize that we can’t make a better world for others by taking steps backward ourselves.
~ DON’T TREAD ON ME ~
Special Note: During the Oakland City Council meeting it was noted by a supporter of the proposal that numerous cities in surrounding counties such as Contra Costa County and Marin County are also considering the same proposal. Along with other cities in Alameda County including Berkeley and Hayward. If you don’t want to see this type of proposal in your city, you might want to start organizing against it now!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Deport them all – including the Oakland city council! NO Amnesty for Illegal Aliens, and NO respect for the members of the Oakland city council. American citizens should be the #1 priority. What the hell is going on? Wake up!
Gary, I’d say that our Republican Governor did suggest that illegals were not a burden on California.
In response to dozens of questions from readers who say the state ought to wipe out the deficit by eliminating services for illegal immigrants, the governor said it is a “myth” that those immigrants are to blame.
Schwarzenegger also highlighted the economic contributions of illegal immigrants and disputed claims that illegal immigrants caused California’s $24.3 billion deficit, while he praised their economic contributions and said he is “happy” they have access to services.
He said the cost of services to illegal immigrants, which has been estimated at $4 billion to $5 billion annually, is a “small percentage” of the deficit California faces.
*If the Governor really was a conservative he would work to cut an estimated $5 billion (which is hardly a small percentage of the deficit) in costs for services to illegals. If we cut those services right now, in five years, we would have saved $25 billion in tax payer money.
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1923957.html
Starchild is wrong about the authority granted by the Constitution to control the border. Article I, Section clearly enumerates the power of Congress “to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”
The authority clearly is there however the enforcement apparatus rightly belongs with the Militia and not unconstitutional bureaucracies such as ICE or DHS.
Restore the Republic! Revitalize the constitutional militias of the several states!
This is in response to the comment by the editor (above) entitled “Editor Asks,” where it was stated “Didn’t the Governor just pronounce that illegals were not a burden on California? There goes that GOP reality distortion field again.”
As published in the San Jose Mercury, 10 June, page 11A, Schwarzenegger “challenged head-on the assumption that it was illegal immigrants who pushed the state into an ocean of red ink, point out that the cost to provide services to that population – estimate at abut $5 billion per year – was a ’small percentage” of the spending. This was something that needed to be addressed, but it wasn’t entirely responsible for state’s financial woes.”
I don’t see how one can draw the conclusion that the Governor pronounced “illegals were not a burden on California” from the comments cited above. Of course, the State really doesn’t know the true cost because everyone avoids keeping records or even inquiring about immigration status. And don’t forget the burden on the counties (LA county estimates $1B is spent yearly on services to illegal aliens).
Great article Walter. Your points are refreshing and reasonable regarding this hot-button subject. There is no need for discrimanatory ICE raids, or costly barriers on the border. We only need to remove what encourages people to come here illegally. If there are no rewards waiting for them here, they simply will not come anymore. How’s that for comprehensive immigration reform?
The Oakland city council never ceases to amaze me. Perfect timing liberals!
I’ve heard that Oakland would like to conect the id card with bank accounts. Where can I get signed up for a biometric government id card that has my bank account information connected to it? Sounds like this bright idea is open for abuse. I bet the Department of Homeland Security would love the idea. Who needs the Patriot Act or REAL ID when you have third-world minions that can’t wait to get an id card with every little bit of info listed on it. Here’s a revolutionary idea – Go back home and demand id cards, and social services from your own damn country!
~ EDITOR ASKS — Didn’t the Governor just pronounce that illegals were not a burden on California? There goes that GOP reality distortion field again.
Today, I heard a breaking news update that the City of Oakland is considering filing for bankruptcy. Imagine that! I guess none of the City Council Members got the memo before they decided to approve ID cards for illegal immigrants on June 2nd. But, what’s another million, when you’re a hundred million in the hole? After all, who’s counting? Definitely NOT the Oakland City Council!
~ EDITOR UPDATES — Here’s a URL from the Chron news on this. Looks like AB 155 has created some urgency as Oakland and others want to file for bankruptcy protection before AB 155 passes in Senate.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/09/BARI183DJB.DTL
Social services are the curse, for both illegals and low or non skilled Americans. It is so destructive to give money away; thinking we are “helping” we instead burden both ourselves and the person receiving it. Nothing motivates like the thought of going hungry or sleeping on the streets.
Social services are the invention of the guilt ridden rich. Like FDR – a wealthy man who had no experience being “poor.” These “liberals” do not want to take care of the problems that poverty brings, they want others to do it for them. If I were to bring one idea forward from the past it would be Noblesse Oblige (the nobility is obliged to care for the poor.) The best way to care for the poor is to teach them to fish, not give them the fish.
When are you going to stop pandering to these ILLEGAL ALIENS?
I can’t say the ILLEGAL ALIENS are completely to blame for the shape of our economy, but they are a BIG part of the problem. The ILLEGAL ALIENS send BILLIONS upon BILLIONS out of this Country every year, money we will NEVER see again. Does this help our economy?
How about the BILLIONS the American taxpayers fork out for the ILLEGAL ALIEN BABIES, the schooling of them, the medical care and the list goes on, and on, and on.
How about the MILLIONS upon MILLIONS paid to jail ILLEGAL ALIENS for the crimes, then the cost to deport them. Does this help our economy?
Then you have these activist groups, the Catholic Church and the ACLU that want AMNESTY for these ILLEGAL ALIENS. It would be absolute suicide for this Country if AMNESTY were granted to the 20 million or so ILLEGAL ALIENS. We have more and more people out of work everyday and they want to add another 20 million to this Country? I say, “NO”!
If AMNESTY were ever granted to these 20 million ILLEGAL ALIENS, you can bet big money that 3 years from now, there would be ANOTHER 3-5 million ILLEGAL ALIENS demonstrating on our soil for AMNESTY.
An end MUST come to this illegal immigration. The perfect tool we have so far is E-Verify. It MUST be used by ALL businesses and Government Social Services. EVERY employee must be checked! If they are illegal, they are to be dismissed!
I believe it is time for all 50 States to pass a State law, like Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and a few others. It is time for these ILLEGAL ALIENS to go back to their home Country and get out of this Country. The problems they are causing will not go away until the ILLEGAL ALIENS are out of this Country.
NO ILLEGAL ALIEN HAS A RIGHT TO BE IN THIS COUNTRY FOR ANY REASON!
The “illegal behavior” here is the criminalization of people who cross national borders peacefully. The U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to regulate immigration (who can enter the country), only naturalization (who can become a U.S. citizen). There used to be no such things as passports, and people came and went freely across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Using personal pronouns like “we,” “us,” and “our” to describe the U.S. government and its actions is nationalist and collectivist. Such language prompts people to identify with government, rather than perceiving it as the threat to liberty that it is.
However, I agree that undocumented people should not be given government ID, licenses, registration, etc. Neither should anyone else. These things are a threat to all of our civil liberties, as they make it easier for government to monitor and control us and destroy our privacy. Similarly, we would all do well to remember that walls, fences, etc., can be used not only to keep people OUT, but to keep them IN as well.
If the United States continues heading down the road toward a police state, you may some day want the ability for yourself or your family or friends to leave, preferably without having all your property seized on the way out. Think “it can’t happen here?” Read more history — lots of people have thought that in various times and places, and been tragically, sometimes fatally, wrong.
There would be no problem with immigration, legal or illegal, if not for the social services our governments hand out to them. Free citizenship to their children, free healthcare, free welfare, etc. Immigration is not a problem, government is the problem.
The current immigration laws are a byzantine mess. We need to streamline the visa system to make it equitable, and bring back a temporary guest worker program.