State House Rep. Romeo Danais (R-Nottingham) tells us he was motivated by compassion for the poor when he compared low-income nutrition assistance to feeding wild animals.
Could this be another example of Danais’ compassion? A reader identifying himself as “Romeo Danais” responded to an opinion piece on immigration reform in The Journal Record with this caustic comment:
The come over here looking for work, crowd themselves into sub-prime apartments and houses, get into fights after barroom brawls, send their cash back to another country to support their family, work for cash, so they don’t contribute to social security nor to state and federal taxation. And, if they can stay here long enough, they get their wives or girlfriends to come to the US and then get pregnant and have a baby here, using all the free services that our tax dollars pay for.
Its about time we recognized just how much of a burden is placed on our country through illegal aliens; welfare, medical/hospital, food stamps, Section 8 housing, legal representation, foreign language translators, incarceration – all a burden on honest, hard working individuals who can hardly afford having to work for illegals’ benefits.
Note: The Journal Record is a daily business and legal newspaper based in Oklahoma City. Danais was the owner of Rivercreek Properties in Moore, Oklahoma when this op-ed was published in 2010.
h/t: Robert Mann
After Latinos overwhelming voted for Pres. Obama, Republicans are bowing to political reality and embracing immigration reform.
Former state Rep. Gregory Sorg (R-Easton) didn’t get the memo. On NHPR’s The Exchange, he told host Brady Carlson that he is skeptical of achieving immigration reform under “a President who has said that the function of government is to make people’s lives better:”
If they come here with the idea in their head that they’re coming here to join a country and to become eventual voters under a system that is premised on the idea that the function of government is to give you stuff, then we’re headed for very bad trouble in this nation.
In an interview with the Union Leader, House Speaker Bill O’Brien pointed to New Hampshire’s 58-mile border with Canada as a reason it “makes sense” for the state to copy Arizona’s strict immigration legislation.
“This [Supreme Court] ruling gives us a road map of where we may legislate in this area,” O’Brien said. “And I think that this certainly is a piece of legislation that makes sense for any state to look at, particularly a border state such as New Hampshire — that we ensure those who are reasonably suspected of committing crimes and are therefore subject to police detainment or police inquiry, that there also be an inquiry if they are here legally, if they have committed a federal crime. [emphasis added]
State Rep. Laurence Rappaport has been named one of the ten worst anti-immigrant local politicians in America by Immigrants’ List, a political action committee dedicated to meaningful immigration reform.
In selecting Rappaport for its second annual Local Hall of Shame, the group said his “political rap sheet reads like a laundry list of conspiracy theories.”
“Rappaport’s fringe views … go against everything this country is about,” said Immigrants’ List Board Member Ted Ruthizer. “He says you shouldn’t be an American citizen if even one of your parents doesn’t have citizenship…. He’s not just wasting New Hampshire’s time and tax dollars, he’s harming the state’s reputation for sensible, moderate leadership.”
The Colebrook Republican made the national news last year, when he joined a complaint filed by Birther Queen Orly Taitz to keep President Obama off the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot.
Rappaport is also a member of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), an organization working to end the 14th Amendment’s promise of birthright citizenship and organizing legislative attacks on immigrants in states around the country.
During the debt ceiling debate, Rep. Frank Guinta took heat from his tea party base for voting to increase the debt limit. It even inspired talk of a primary challenge from tea party leader Mike Malzone. Perhaps that explains Guinta’s vicious pandering to the tea party on the issue of immigration. In his zeal to demonize unauthorized immigrants, Guinta alleged they don’t pay any taxes.
You and I, our families and neighbors, face a common problem. Between seven and 20 million people currently live and work in the United States illegally. They don’t pay local, state or federal taxes, yet they place an additional burden on government services and severely strain limited revenue sources.
It’s a ludicrous charge that even the most cursory fact-checking would indicate can’t possibly be true. In fact, the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010.
Tax Day is an appropriate time to underscore the often-overlooked fact that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes. The unauthorized, like everyone else in the United States, pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes—even if they rent. At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes. Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments.
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants. These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes. That included $1.2 billion in personal income taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes.
Projected Democratic seats: 190
