Texas City OKs Anti-Immigration Measures

I believe that the way that was meant is that many Latinos do not want the ordinances and want to hold onto their heritage and still be American citizens and live in Texas. They've been here since before this state existed and they deserve their language.

The border states do not have forever to wait for the rest of the country to take it seriously. We do need a national plan. In fact I think the best plan is 99% open immigration (only criminals can't come). And then of course remove free social services (my favorite plan) or implement a true consumption tax (spread the cost equally to everybody 'legal' or not).

Right now though keeping things like they are the tax base isn't increasing as fast as the cost to provide local and state services is. Eventually that will cause a collapse in our social structures. In the meantime local/state tax rates increase to pay for it, which in turn increases the resentment and desire for laws like this.

I don't know how these Texans are xenophobes. Latinos are not foreign here. I do not agree with the legislation but I live in Texas and I know that something has to happen and happen soon. I think there is something very obvious in this whole thing. The legislation does not name languages that are illegal or anything like that, it just says English is the official language of the city. However, who shows up to protest? Latinos. Why? Because if you have ever been to Farmer's Branch (I live a mile away) then you would see that that is the majority population demographic.

I have no problem with them living there, I have no problem with them living anywhere. However, I think they need to follow the rules to get into this country and if they don't then they need to be sent back (or given the opportunity to do things legally).

My family came over from Germany and Czechoslovakia and moved to Texas. They settled with others that were of similar origin, and though they did not speak any English whatsoever when they came, they learned. They took the time to appreciate the fact that they had been granted passage into this country and learned the native tongue. I grew up learning three languages but you know what was dominate? English. Other countries have official languages, why can't a city?

I do not necessarily agree with interrogating suspects to find out if they are here illegally but I think something needs to happen to stem the tide of violence due to illegal immigration that is occurring in places like Dallas, Houston, and Austin.

It is one thing to live in Texas and disagree with these laws (and some of them I do) but it's another to be an outsider who's maybe visited once or twice and have no understanding of what kind of hit our healthcare, education, and public services are taking.

You use the word "retarded" a lot in your other comments so I am trying to figure out how old you are...

First, where in history does it say anything about the "first" Texans being so eager to be part of Mexico? Stephen F. Austin founded a colony on the Brazos not because it was part of Mexico but because it was a very fertile area. It didn't take long before they were up in arms about their Mexican government. As soon as Santa Anna announced the unified constitution Texas seceded. In fact, Texas really wanted to be annexed by the U.S. but was threatened with war by Mexico. So unless I'm missing something, it doesn't really sound like they wanted to be part of Mexico.

Immigration isn't necessarily the problem? Then what is? I talk to my nurse friends about this and they say the biggest problem they see at the hospitals is the fact that they can't communicate all of the time. You have dying children and adults and you are not able to get the information you need because you don't speak Spanish... A nurse shouldn't need a second degree to treat someone. This trickles down into the insurance as well.

This solution may not be the right solution but sitting around twittling our thumbs waiting for the federal government to figure out what to do next isn't either.

You hint at annexing Mexico and somehow Iraq gets thrown in there. Weird, I had no idea those two were in cahoots. Let's keep the issue at hand clearly in focus. We need a viable solution to the immigration problem here in Texas and around the country. What are the options?

16 and a victim of pop culture. I have to say, the true meaning of retarded does fit in that blank.

We were immigrants into Mexican territory, were we not? That sounds to me like being a part of Mexico - and with cheap fertile land, it sounds like they would want to as well. Texas wasn't necessarily threatened by war with Mexico. Upon annexation, the United States would be in war - they were edgy, not Texas. And Polk threw that aside as well by provoking an attack.

We're becoming supremacists. Suddenly, we have this global American culture, and we feel at the top of the world. Great. Let's start closing our borders because we're so threatened by people trying to find a better life. As far as hospitals go, would having translators be hard at all? Half the people I know can speak fluent Spanish. The PROBLEM is that we're letting our idiotic culture take us over. Texas is Hispanic in heritage. Texas is a border state. This town has no right to declare an official language because of that. That's what I'm angered about.

So building off of kerouac's comment - we are xenophobes in a sense. We always have been. It's not just Texans though. Because they're from another nation, they are foreign to us. And we treat them with that sort of disdain. I don't like it at all.

I'm not here to come up with solutions. If I could do that, I would be elsewhere. A comment is just that...a comment. I never "hinted" at annexing Mexico. It was a joke, pure and simple. Then it wouldn't be illegal immigration, would it? And as for Iraq, I'm highly critical of our work abroad recently. We're trying to turn everyone into a democracy so we'll be a bit easier on our feet, because of course (note the sarcasm) democracy is the only viable system of government. We're after their economy, not necessarily terrorists. And of course, as ANOTHER joke because I like infusing humor into my comments, we have the power to declare Iraq is ours by that point. I'm not advocating any of that - I think it's pretty stupid. But it shells out a laugh every once in a while. Not everything is meant literally.

I'll address the important things in your reply.

About the translators and nurses, can you imagine filling the hospitals with translators so that whenever a nurse went in to ask questions or check on people there was a translator there? That's a logistical nightmare. It doesn't matter how many people you know, it's how many people you know who want to be sitting in a hospital being a translator.

Yes, Texas has Hispanic heritage, but it also gets a lot from the German, Czech, and Polish backgrounds. Just look at town names. You can't narrow it down and say "Texas is Mexico and because of that, everyone should speak Spanish", that's idiotic. The point is, this the United States of America, Texas isn't its own country. We need to keep the borders safe just like any other border state.

Also, this problem does not just live in Texas. Illegal immigration effects every state in the union. For some reason I don't think Ohio has Mexican heritage (there's my humor for the evening).

Yes we need to close the borders (or restrict them). It's not that we're scare of Mexico or Mexicans, it's that our economy and infratstructure (Texas and the U.S.) are slowly falling into disarray because of illegal immigration.

I guess my question is why doesn't this town have a right to declare an official language? I mean, they voted for it. That's democracy at work. Oh, and just so everyone knows, Farmers Branch sits in northwest Dallas, about 10-11 hours from Mexico, it's not like it's Brownsville.

When 37% (probably higher) of your city's population (from the article) speaks one language, and the city issues one other language as its official language...you would feel excluded too. Not to mention Farmer's Branch isn't exactly a huge town. It's like Clear Lake (in Houston) deciding to speak Czech and adopt that as its language when naturally, all of Houston predominantly speaks another language. It's not practical.

I didn't say "Texas is Mexico". I'm saying we were Mexican before we became German, Czech, French, etc. We should at least respect that and not declare an official language.

The word is "affects" - okay, no more spelling Nazi mode for me; Ohio...isn't an object of comparison because Canada isn't in the same economic state that Mexico is in.

Like I said, I'm not here for solutions, just comments so don't attack me on the point of translation. I personally feel it's good to know more than one language fluently simply because communication is just that important to me. Most people won't. There's always been a shortage of nurses - what if Mexican immigrants were trained to be nurses and installed in hospitals in areas with a Hispanic majority? We obviously haven't been filling all the holes ourselves. The only issue then would be the training. As far as the people I know (etc.), that was just an object of comparison (I feel like I'm at a Debate competition on here, wow) - if those people all volunteered their time and efforts, or were hired, it would streamline procedures, if it could work.

For the record, I'm against the act of illegal immigration - I frown on it, but I'm not vehemently against it. These are opportunities we're talking about. We're already restricting borders. If it's not this border, more people will go around to California or Florida or other coastal regions. Desperate people will not give up on opportunities.

We're not afraid of Mexico or the Mexican people; what we're afraid of is our American culture being overrun by other references. The article itself stated that the act of reestablishing supremacy over another group might be capable of "prompting fears [that] they could lead to sanctioned discrimination and racism." Were it a country, I would be all for the official language - THAT makes sense. It is idiotic that a tiny city could put that into print and not even think about it, considering their population.

Our culture? We have no culture... We have a blend of cultures that all come together to make us who we are. Sounds cheesy but it's true.

Are you suggesting that Dallas "predominantly" speaks Spanish? That's way off base. I am originally from Houston so I know the situation down there and something has to happen there.

Sorry for my one misspelling of "affect", it was late and I had been at work all day, my brain was fried.

"Reestablishing supremacy over another group..."? This isn't an issue of supremacy, that's what groups like LULAC want you to think, they want you to think it's racists that are implementing this law. How does making English actually affect the Latinos that live in Farmers Branch? It does not mean you cannot speak Spanish, it simply means that government documents will not be printed iin Spanish and things like that. Again, things that LULAC want to be thought...

Why is Mexico in the state that it is? Corruption at all levels of the government. I know people want out but they can do it legally or not at all.

Installing nurses where there is a Hispanic majority? Like you said, you aren't here for solutions, and that definitely is not one. Again you are focusing on one aspect. Look at this entire situation from a very broad perspective, look at all of the caveats and things that are affected by illegal immigration. I agree that knowing more than one language is a great thing, just look at any other countries, most teach their kids more than one language, usually two or three.

These are people in poverty. What other choices do they have?

I will ignore the urge to really dig deep into that statement.

I'm wondering if you're actually reading my comments or trying to throw them down - never did I say I felt illegal immigration was a good thing, but it still happens because people want to get out of certain situations.

I read your comments and I understand that you disagree with illegal immigration. I mean, I disagree with murder, but sometimes husbands and wives just want out of their "situation" without divorcing.

Last time I checked, I found restaurants serving "American cuisine" in India.

Have you been to India? I have and I would say that their version of "American cuisine" is like our attempt at Chinese food. I am not trying to nitpick, I am just pointing out that you are trying to imply very broad statements to very narrow arguments.

When I lived in Germany I was surrounded by other English speakers and in no way did the German government make my life "easier" by providing forms in English. So you know what I did? I learned better German.

I will say this, the law that Farmers Branch enacted about holding apartments and landlords responsible for renting to illegal aliens is a little much. Actually, it is too much. I feel like it's a slide toward real life "1984".

My father is Hungarian-born. What if he feels more comfortable having documents printed in Hungarian? How about my Polish great-grandfather? Should he have demanded gov't documents be printed in Polish? Why don't we print gov't documents in every language on earth so that all the immigrants can be happy. Why is it only one group gets their way on this? How about chinese people? We should have documents printed in their character language, as well.

and while I'm on the subject, why is it that some people think so lowly of Hispanic people that they think they are too stupid to learn a new language? Hispanics should look around, though. They are some of the only people on earth who do not know at least two languages. Perhaps english would be a good one to start with, if they are going to move to an English speaking country.

Apparently you do not read my comments...

My comparison with Germany is right on the money. I lived right outside of Munich in a predominantly English speaking area. Most of the people were American and British. Actually, Germany has a good number of natural English speakers, in fact, in some areas children are taught German and English at the same time.

Immigrants and tourists to Germany are expected to learn some basic German vocabulary to get by

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself. Come hang out in Farmer's Branch, see how many of these immigrants (some of whom are illegal) speak enough English to "get by". Never mind coming to Farmers Branch, stay in Houston, the scenario is the same. It's not just Farmers Branch making concessions because people don't know the language, it's most of the south and it's costly.

This conversation wasn't over 4 comments ago, it was over with this:

I'm not here to come up with solutions.

That's exactly what we should be doing, coming up with solutions. I am not here trying to win an argument. I am questioning the legitimacy of your "outrage" towards Farmers Branch. They came up with a solution, albeit one that has problems of its own, the Federal Government has given us nothing except the idea that we should build a wall. The article does not really clarify anything, just points out what the city did and who's angry at who.

Here's a hypothetical, if the city that enacted these laws was almost entirely white, would you have a problem with it?

I am not looking to continue to argue, I was just trying to bring up valid points and discuss the matter. That's how things get done, by people discussing things.

I'm sure Germany has a good number of natural English speakers, but that's because English is something of a lingua franca now. It's trendy and necessary to speak English, but what if you've never had a chance to learn? Does it really take that much more effort to allow communications in Spanish as well? They may be a little town, but the Spanish-speaking population is probably a little incensed.

I really don't think this is the way to eliminate illegal immigration. And I'm not the only one against this - the article this story was taken from has a few pictures of citizens protesting. I mean, I don't think Dallas and the surrounding regions have the same problem with immigration that southern towns do. Of course it must seem like an unprovoked and anti-Hispanic sentiment.

Until the President gets out of this idiotic war, there's not going to be much emphasis on border control. So you have to leave it to Rick Perry and other southern governors to try to resolve the issue on their own. And then this happens; on the other article (which is very sparse in comments, because neither of us has visited it yet), yar comments that there's no way to enforce it on the state or city level without the purpose being lost. Farmer's Branch went about this the wrong way. Unless we get America to watch America's border, nothing good can come out of anyone else trying to do it in America's place.

"Does it really take that much more effort to allow communications in Spanish as well" It takes as much effort as it does for someone who decides to move here to learn English. should I move to Columbia and demand that Columbians begin speaking English to make it easier for me? After all, I'd be a minority there.