<p>I tend to agree with atlmom, without all the shouting… My eyes are ringing!</p>
<p>Assimilation is happening. Just not fast enough for every situation. The problem is that there are many out there not assimilated yet. More problematic is that we have a hypocritical way of dealing with illegals that we should be correcting so that we are in sync with our laws.</p>
<p>What hypocritical ways should we be correcting? Please provide details.</p>
<p>" SHE STOLE THE IDENTITY OF A DEAD PERSON. SHE STOLE THEIR CITIZENSHIP TO COMMIT A FRAUD ON THE EMPLOYER AND THE UNITED STATES."</p>
<p>We don’t know if she stole anything. Given her age and the fact that she was brought to the US when she was 2, there’s a good chance that her parents stole the SS number, and the woman who was arrested may not have even realized that she herself wasn’t a U.S. citizen.</p>
<p>Another possibility is that she could have learned as an adult that she wasn’t a citizen and lacked a legit SS number. If that’s what happened she would have been between a rock and a hard place – no way to get a legit number or to get citizenship without risking her parents and her imprisonment and deportation – in her case deportation to a country that would have felt just as strange to her as to any American who had been raised in this country.</p>
<p>***** happens. I’ll go back to my analogy about a parent growing pot in the basement and the house getting siezed. The kids still end up homeless after the house gets forfeited to the police. I’m not trying to be heartless about this but I’d be willing to bet more often than not there is some compelling sob story to accompany a lot of crimes that happen.</p>
<p>These topics really bring out the worst - and best - in people. I have enjoyed the discussion among many of the posters - and kudos to Zoosermom and Renee and Epiphany and others who are helping. I am inspired to get more involved than expressing compassion on a message board. My exposure to immigrants - legal and probably illegal - has been limited to getting to know some of the migrant farm workers over the years. I have only found them to incredibly hard workers who are doing back breaking work to support their families. I just can’t get angry about that. But, my heart bleeds about lots of things.</p>