Illegal aliens get protection
We don’t have to look any further than our public schools to realize the immigration problem we have in our county, and in our country.
As I went to pick up my son this week, who is a proud first-grader I may add, I noticed the signs at his school are posted in both English and Spanish. This is in a public school in Warren County where the official language is still English.
My how times have changed. Growing up, I couldn’t imagine having signs in two languages at my school.
But it’s a perfect illustration of how the United States immigration problem is barreling out of control. And apparently the laws are favoring the people who are in this country illegally.
It’s with that in mind I bring you a story coming out of Louisville, Tenn., a small town in East Tennessee located near Maryville. It’s a story I both love and hate.
An apartment complex manager there has sent a letter to his residents telling them if they are in the country illegally they must leave Lakeview Apartments by the end of the month or be arrested and deported.
A portion of the letter sent by the apartment manager to residents says, ‘This management company and the building owner will not accept or allow any illegal aliens to live in the apartments.’
That’s the part of the story I love because it’s a sensible request. If I owned an apartment complex, and didn’t want to rent to people who are in this country illegally, it seems like it should be my right to deny them a place to live.
I could go so far as to argue that it’s an accessory to a crime to knowingly rent to someone you know is here illegally. Wouldn’t that be similar to harboring a fugitive? Shouldn’t this apartment manager be applauded for trying to clean up crime since people who are here illegally are breaking the law?
Not so. And this is the part of the story I hate.
It didn’t take long for an organization called Hispanic Legal Aid of East Tennessee to get wind of this eviction notice. One of the people with that organization, Mercedes Strollo, says she is encouraging residents to sue the apartment owners if the eviction order is in fact pursued.
How can someone who is here illegally sue someone with a legal apartment complex? But that’s another question.
To make matters worse, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition was contacted. On Wednesday, a community organizer for that coalition met with a group of nearly 20 illegal immigrant residents of Lakeview Apartments. Addressing the group in Spanish, she gave them a list of attorneys they could contact in case of eviction.
This is maddening.
This country is talking out of both sides of its mouth. We say we want to crack down on illegal immigrants, then we provide all this protection when an apartment manager tries to do the right thing and get rid of people who are breaking the law.
If there were legal citizens in one of those apartments who were illegally selling drugs, you can bet it wouldn’t take long to snatch them up and haul them to jail. Yet there are all these layers of protection for illegal immigrants, who are breaking the law just by being here.
I welcome anyone in this country who goes through the proper channels to get here legally. But we all know those people are not the problem.
The problem is the millions of people who have snuck across the border and have no right to be in America. And how do we treat these law-breakers? We provide organizations to protect them. No wonder we have a problem.
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.