The news from an all too happy AP reporter about America’s continuing loss of a common language came today. Georgia’s first bilingual government school - Unidos Dual Language Charter School - is now conducting classes in two languages. One more than the other. Students at Unidos get about 70 percent of their reading, writing, social sciences and math in Spanish, and 30 percent in English, said school founder Dell Perry…”it’s [Spanish] sort of where things are going,” Perry said.

‘Mom, I’m a nino!’: Georgia’s first bilingual public school opens

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO

Associated Press

“… the increasing desire to preserve the immigrants’ heritage and the economic recognition that being bilingual is a plus on a resume is leading to a growing number of dual language schools like Unidos. There are more than 300 such programs in the U.S., the first of which opened in 1962 in Florida, and most teach Spanish and English, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics

“I hope people start looking at a diversity of languages as a must, and stop looking at America as a one-language country,” said Pedro Ruiz, president of the Washington-based National Association for Bilingual Education.

And so it goes.

The AP report closes with this:

Yolanda Hood enrolled her 5-year-old son, Thaddeus, in Unidos with the hope he’s young enough to learn Spanish effortlessly. She said that will help him thrive in a country that’s increasingly diverse.

“We’d be really arrogant to expect everybody to speak English,” she said.

Here in Georgia the news in last week’s DHS report that, as a state we suffer the fastest growing population of illegal aliens in the nation didn’t come as a surprise to most people here.

The fact that we have a rate of growth of illegal immigration - 114% that is more than twice that of the next state, Arizona (45%) turned a few heads, mine included.

Proof that Georgia has become a border state is not hard to find. The flag of Mexico is everywhere here and when I call my bank, the cable TV company, my health care provider, and a list of businesses too long to list, English is an optional language on the telephone.

This information contained in the federal report was a surprise to me however:

Illegal Indians in US growing fast

Indo-Asian News Service

Washington, August 19, 2006

Most illegal immigrants to the United States come from Mexico but the greatest percentage increase in their ranks during 2000-2005 was from India, according to official estimates.

I can’t help but wonder how long it will be before we hear the wails of “discrimination” and arrogant intolerance because American public schools are not teaching in Hindi.

Yet.

An old saying goes something like “some days you are the statue and other days you are the pigeon.”

On Monday, August 14, I enjoyed being one of the pigeons–with the amnesty-again senate bill, S 2611, being the very deserving statue.

The U.S. House has been holding Field Hearings all over the country to get the public’s ( the American public) input on the Senate bill and I was honored to have been invited to be one of the six witnesses at the hearing that was held here in Gainesville, Georgia.

Like my entire state, Gainesville has become an illegal alien Mecca.

Gainesville is home to chicken processing plants that are allowed to hire many of the illegal border crossers that can easily make it past the brave Border Patrol Agents–who are right now risking their lives to protect the borders–the borders of the nation that George W. Bush says we must protect.

(To the inevitable nonsensical question: YES! If it is necessary, I am willing to pay 50 cents more for a chicken when my nation’s borders are secured and American laws are equally enforced.)

As I sat at the witness table facing four U.S. House Representatives, waiting to give them a short outline of my own observations on the Senate bill, the President’s words from November ran through my mind:

I have a solemn duty, and so do the members of the United States Congress, to protect our nation, our Constitution, and our laws. Our border and immigration security officers devote themselves to those same missions every single day.

A large part of my own contempt for the current President of the United States comes from the fact that he shamelessly defies not only his oath of office, the rule of law that the some of rest of us are governed by, but also will piously outline for us - as if we were not already aware of his duty–exactly what it is that he refuses to do.

Who would you sooner buy a used car from…President “family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande” Bush…or a Border Patrol Agent?

Gainesville is not a big city, and the Hearings created a great deal of attention from the people who live there and here in the Atlanta area, about 70 miles to the south. The court room in the old Federal Courthouse (scroll down) in the center of this picturesque southern town was packed to capacity with about 100 people and I understand that more than 50 others were turned away because of a lack of seating.

On a Monday morning.

The House Education and the Workforce Sub- Committee was Chaired by a personal hero, Georgia U.S. Representative Dr. Charlie Norwood, with Georgia Congressmen Nathan Deal, Dr. Tom Price ( my own Congressman and friend) – Republicans all- and a Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota, Betty McCollum, representing the minority.

Let’s just say that Ms. McCollumn would never get elected in Gainesville and leave it at that.

The hearing’s focus was on the effects of illegal immigration and the Senate bill on the American work force.

The level of contempt I hold for Bush is considerably out-weighed by my admiration for the three Georgia Congressmen who should be thanked for their courage in their active pro-American opposition to the senate’s nonsense.

Thank you, Congressmen.

Here is part of Mary Lou Pickel’s report from Tuesday:

House Republicans bring illegals debate to Georgia
Mary Lou Pickel, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 15, 2006

At the federal courthouse here, not far from poultry plants filled with Latino workers, Georgia Republican congressmen on Monday sought evidence on the many ways the nation’s immigration system is broken.

The Republicans came to an area that long has attracted immigrants — illegal and legal — to work in its vast poultry and construction industries. Latinos have been attracted to jobs in Gainesville and Hall County for decades and now represent about a quarter of the county’s population.

Although the 100 or so people in the audience at the U.S. District Courthouse weren’t allowed to address a panel of the House Commerce Committee, they made their feelings clear with warm applause when members of Congress and witnesses expressed frustration at Washington’s inability to close the nation’s borders. The U.S. House and Senate are stalemated over immigration reform.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) received an ovation when he assailed the Senate’s immigration bill — which allows for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship — as the worst he has seen in 12 years of Congress.

“And you can rest assured it will not become law,” said Norwood, of Augusta.

While I sat in front of several TV cameras and uncountable reporters trying – unsuccessfully - to contain my grin, that last quote from Charlie Norwood resulted in wild cheers and applause from the audience behind me before the Chairman gaveled them to order.

Pickel correctly noted that I am less than ambiguous on the issue with this:

D.A. King, a Cobb County activist who lobbied the Georgia Legislature for tougher immigration laws, displayed little ambiguity.

“American taxpayers should not be required to subsidize low-wage labor,” King told the subcommittee.

“Sadly, I am personally acquainted with Americans who have lost their family businesses because they refused to violate immigration and labor laws and could not compete with others in their trade who lacked the integrity to make similar decisions.”

Before taking questions from the Sub-Committee , we six witnesses were allowed about five minutes to give an oral presentation and submitted our written testimony to the sub-Committee - and provided copies of our written testimony to the press, which was everywhere, including many from the local Spanish language newspapers.

Thanks to Atlanta Latino, which did a pretty good job of writing up the event–from an illegal alien point of view–for the photos. (Don’t miss the “photo gallery”–English tab top right) You can see another example of media coverage here.

A list of witnesses can be seen here, from a press release from Congressman Norwood’s office.

Because I applied for a picketing permit and amid cheers, whistles and such shouts of agreement as “keep it up!” and “THANK YOU!” from passers by, we had about 25 Americans outside the courthouse with banners and signs (photos here) promoting the radical and extreme concept of secure borders and no more amnesty, which apparently created some concern from law-enforcement.

It was a busy week.

From here in Marietta, thanks to the local police and the DHS agents who were present to make the day safe for all concerned.

Now, if we can only get your bosses to enforce all of the laws…

Let me say this: Because I could not only participate, but also watch my fellow Georgians make clear the majority of American’s opinion of the Senate bill…the entire day was about as much fun as I have had with my clothes on in a very long time.

The hearings demonstrated what the American public who must live with the results of illegal immigration want. Justice in America.

I am told that there will be a video record (don’t miss a chance to watch Norwood - honest) of the hearing here soon - along with a posting of all of the witnesses written testimony

My written testimony is here. .

As an American who is paying attention and who regards everyday with out another amnesty as a good day, I pray that Congressman Norwood is right.

But… I fully expect another push from Bush/McCain/Kennedy before November.

I don’t think they give a hoot about what the hearings proved.

Update: Here’s the official committee page for August 14, with my testimony.

From the terrific idea for a Website category: Immigrationcounters.Com

I like this Website!

I have no clue who these people are, (although the writing style is familiar) but they have done a great job in providing a one stop source of real-time information to people who do not study illegal immigration and its consequences all day.

On the site, one can see the real time estimates of such bothersome little details as the number of illegals in the U. S (more on that further down), the amount of money wired to Mexico, the cost of social services to illegal “immigrants” ( the proprietors seem a tad timid on using the legal and correct term for an alien who is present in our Republic illegally), illegals enrolled in public schools, illegals incarcerated - along with the cost of that incarceration, and the number of fugitives who have escaped the Bush Administration’s vast dragnet (cough).

Hooray! Kudos to whoever did this!

Pass this around to the “I don’t follow politics” crowd. Amaze your friends and family!

I do have a bone to pick: On the number of illegals in country, not that it matters, but, it has been done before - and I believe more accurately.

Posted on The American Resistance Foundation Website (now in hibernation ) in the fall of 2004, we have our own illegals-present counters with a beginning figure that was about twice as high as was being accepted at the time.

We got a lot of …ummm….resistance.

While we have adjusted the counters to match new information along the way, we stand by the current estimation of nearly 30 million people who are allowed to live in the U.S. illegally.

We are flattered that Immigrationcounters.com is using similar logic that we use and was illustrated on VDARE.com in August of 2004.

They even cite the independent report from Bear Stearns. It should be noted that the Bear Stearns study was done in 2004 and released in 2005, making their estimation of 20 million illegal aliens here two and a half years old.

Illegal border crossings and visa overstays never stop. Right Mr. President?

Feel safer?

The as yet unknown hosts of this site acknowledge as much:

“On the high end of the spectrum are some private groups that randomly select single sources of data, such as an interview with a border patrol agent or with one elected official. Those sources have placed the numbers around 30 million. Until more data is provided, ImmigrationCounters.com does not yet side with the 30 million figure, yet notes that it may indeed be that high”.

Respecfully, I think maybe the writer should re-read our methodology, which my friend Fred Elbel has spent considerable time illustrating, and acknowledge that the “one elected official” that we cite is one of the main backers of amnesty-again…Arizona Senator John McCain.

I enjoy putting his letter on how many people he thinks crossed our borders illegally in 2002 out as much as possible.

The point is that not many who study the crisis really believe the MSM/Senate/White House/illegal alien lobby ( sorry, I repeat myself ) commonly used figure of “11 million”, which is what the present amnesty-again attempt is based upon.

You know all of the information that is out about how bad the effects of the proposed amnesty are for America?

They are based on the 11 million figure.

Use which ever figure you want, 20 million, 30 million, the point is that 11 million is a very dangerous fairy tale and that if amnesty-again goes through, the results will be two or three times a bad as the worst scenarios being hidden by Bush and his accomplices.

Immigrationcounters.com should become a much used resource for anyone who wants to illustrate the un-spoken consequences of the fact that five years after 9/11, we have virtually open borders, are losing the rule of law upon which our nation was founded and that we are paying for the privilege of watching the third world migrate into our children’s nation.

Si?

I wonder how many VDARE readers will send a link to this site to their U.S. Senators?

I am.

Sometimes reader mail can be used to make a point or illustrate a problem.

Today’s mail brings a short letter from David in San Jose, California - U.S.A.

There is nothing I need to add or say here that David hasn’t.

Please don’t give up, David.

D.A.-

I have written enough letters, all to no avail. A couple of months ago, I contacted the local San Jose FBI office to let them know that Social Security cards were being sold openly at a local daily flea market. Most of the visitors to this huge flea market are Hispanic and the booth that sold Social Security cards also sold other forms of ID. They also were openly advertised.

Obviously this is illegal - and a source of documentation for illegal immigrants. I sent the FBI digital photos of the booth with its large signs advertising the illegal IDs.

Nothing has been done even though the FBI has been notified and the grounds are patrolled daily many local San Jose police. This is a travesty. I am fed up with the government’s refusal to protect our borders and enforce our laws. I did not serve in Viet Nam to see my country overrun by this invasion.

David, California.

One step forward, two steps back

While cities and counties, not to mention states around the U.S. are beginning to take advantage of a ten-year old federal law that will train local police to apprehend and detain illegal aliens - and build deportation cases on them, Sheriff John Rutherford in Jacksonville, Florida, has decided that it will be easier if he not just ignores the illegals in his community, but promises them sanctuary.

It seems that the Sheriff in Jacksonville has promised illegal aliens that if they don’t turn to the gangs for “protection”…he will promise that they can safely live and work illegally in his jurisdiction. I won’t ask if you don’t tell?

The Florida Times Union today ran a story describing the local sheriff’s motivation behind creating a new “International Affairs Unit” that apparently has been formed to “quell the fears of illegal immigrants concerned they would be arrested and deported if their status in the United States was discovered.”[ Sheriff assures fearful Hispanics, By Dana Treen, , July 31, 2006 ]

In America, the police are here to protect your rights,” Rutherford said, pausing while his remarks were translated to the mostly Hispanic audience. “They don’t have to turn to MS 13 or some other group to protect them.”

MS 13, a street gang with roots in Los Angeles’ El Salvadoran community, is growing in numbers in the South as Hispanic populations grow, according to the National Alliance of Gang Investigators’ Associations.

Rutherford said police intelligence units learned last year that there was a possibility MS 13 members were being contacted to provide protection after a series of assaults on Hispanics who roomed together in Jacksonville apartments and residences.

That is why this unit had to be started now,” he said.

We wonder from here in Georgia which other crimes Sheriff Rutherford will ignore to make his job easier, and which rights Americans have in his area. Apparently not the right to equal protection under the law.

“In America, the police are here to protect your rights”…indeed.

Note from D.A. King to Sheriff Rutherford: you are a coward and a disgrace to your uniform. My grandfather was a beat cop in Detroit from the late 1920’s until the early 1960’s. He died at age 96 with more integrity in his little finger than you have shown here. I am glad that he did not live to see your shameless actions.

Maybe that “anti-litter” initiative will make the citizens you are sworn to protect forget this ridiculous and shameful act of collusion…eh? Not if I can help it, you are now a pet cause here.

While the rights of Americans are being violated every day in Jacksonville, Florida by the illegal aliens, we now see that a head law enforcement officer has decided that if you are Hispanic and in the U.S. illegally, you have more rights than those pesky Americans who are expected to obey the same set of laws.

Sadly, it will only be a matter of time before we are forced to add another name to the NO MORE DEATHS page here because of Rutherford’s cowardice.

I am livid. We should all be. Welcome to the “New Florida” in the New America of George W. Bush.

Which gangs do Americans turn to to protect themselves?
Contact Sheriff Rutherford here. I will.

Let’s suppose for a minute that the president and the rest of the open borders lobby lost the battle on illegal immigration and secure borders and the U.S. House bill (HR 4437) were passed by the Congress ( come on, try hard, this is my fantasy) - and went to the President’s desk?

Can you imagine the Bush “signing statement” - assuming (don’t) the President didn’t use his second veto… ever?

I can.

I started to write a blog with my observations on this little gem [6 + 4 = 1 Tenuous Existence | An illegal immigrant couple with six children were already living in poverty. Then the quadruplets arrived. They're still in a daze. By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2006 ] in today’s LaTimes, but one gets weary of saying the same things over and over about the consequences of the fact that the President of the United States refuses to secure American borders or enforce American laws.

Except it seems, the ones that benefit illegal aliens and employers.

So…VDARE.com readers being as educated, astute and insightful as they are, I thought we would try something a little different.

I hope that you, the VDARE readers will write your own thoughts on what is contained in the news story from Los Angeles and send them to me…[email me]I am always curious about how others who are paying attention view the dissolution of our Republic.

Maybe we can post some of the letters on this. 200 words max please. (It is good practice for the letters to the editor of your local paper that we hope you are sending!)

I am due for an eye exam, and quite frankly, these old glasses are not doing the best job after uncountable hours in front of this computer screen–so I am asking VDARE readers for some assistance. I am missing something that surely must be right in front of me and I just don’t see it.

I am looking at the official Website of the Governor of California. I see the “issues and policies” tab on the top, but I can’t find “immigration”.

When I click on the tab , I see the link to Budget, Crime Victims’ Rights , Disaster Preparedness , Economy , Education , Energy , Environment , Fire Season 2006 , Health Care , Heat Safety , Levees and Floods, Military, Prison Reform, Strategic Growth plan…and Workman’s Compensation.

In the state that many believe to be all but lost to illegal immigration and the racist radicals who promote that crime, I don’t see an “illegal immigration” category.

Not that most VDARE readers can’t easily connect illegal immigration to the categories listed, but someone, please, send me a note explaining where to look for the illegal immigration category on Arnold’s site.

I know it must be there somewhere. Right?

I do see a reference to it on his re-election site . An editorial supporting amnesty from the San Diego Tribune.

Maybe with new glasses I can find the Español version of the Gov’s official Website. I see it clearly on the re-election site.

Huh. Darn glasses.

Attention illegal aliens!

How to not be apprehended at home and work…if you are an illegal alien in the United States...courtesy of La Raza. [PDF.]

One can only wonder if La Raza is preparing a guide for employers on how not to get apprehended when hiring illegals …as if there were much chance of that happening.

There will be five fewer illegal aliens in American schools next week. Five fewer daily taxpayer- subsidized lunches and five fewer potential sob stories for the proponents of the DREAM ACT.

There will be five fewer reasons to build new schools, and five fewer reasons to hire Spanish speaking teachers. And eight fewer resentful illegal aliens demanding “civil rights” in America and eight fewer faces on camera for the next “March for Dignity and a path to citizenship”.

Because of a dog and the heroic work of our Customs and Border Patrol Agents.

Viva La Migra.

From KGBT -TV , serving the Rio Grande valley in Texas:

Customs and Border Patrol agents found eight people, including five children, hidden in the engine/baggage compartment of two chartered buses.

The buses were stopped at the Sarita checkpoint on Monday morning for an inspection. A canine alerted agents to the engine compartment.

When agents opened the side doors they found the illegal immigrants hidden in the baggage compartment.

Looking at this from the White House, the President might regard this as eight little defeats and eight fewer examples of “family values not stopping at the Rio Grande”.

But, he knows what the eight apprehended illegals know.

They will probably make it through on their next attempt.