But, the protests here in Dallas at least were undertaken almost exclusively by legal residents and citizens. Are people not tired of such protests in Dallas? If every protestor held up their birth certificate or green card while protesting, would people not be bothered by the protest and not want to abridge the First Amendment Guaranteed free speech of every single person, citizen or no? I mean, I read the quotes from people in regard to this story. It doesn't say anything like "I'd be fine with the protests if someone could guarantee those were all citizens or legal residents." At least not that I've seen. It seems silly to just be bothered only by the fact that it might be illegals protesting, even when it probably wasn't (Maybe it's just me, but if I was an illegal, I wouldn't want to draw attention to myself by standing in front of city hall yelling about supporting immigration.)
If someone doesn't have the right to be here, how is it they have the right to do anything while here? As far as I'm aware, the only rights they have are rights pertaining to law enforcement, miranda rights, etc. I don't break into your house, start giving a speech on whatever and get to stay because I have 1st amendments rights. Just a few weeks ago a police officer was murdered by an illegal alien so I would say yes, the existence of 12 million undocumented illegals affects people negatively.
The legislation we're talking about in this thread affects everyone's right to free speech/protest, it is not targeted specifically at illegals.
So, the plan to get rid of them is to infringe on my Constitutional right to free speech? I don't really understand the logic.
I already said the law is obviously stupid. I'm not sure what you don't understand. I feel there's a clear distinction between legal citizens exercising their Constitutional rights to protest and undocumented illegals trying to influence American policy by marching on American streets while they're here illegally.
But you don't know that any of the people protesting were illegals. Like I said, the people who didn't just look at a bunch of Mexicans and say "Must be illegals" but who actually went and talked and counted and tried to sign up people to vote and so forth have said that the vast majority of the marchers here were CITIZENS or legal residents. So, you understand the sentiment of people who push to abridge the Constitutional rights of every American because they're tired of seeing American citizens protest for something they don't agree with. Well personally, I'm tired of people seeing any group of Hispanics and saying to themselves "Look at those illegals. There ought to be a law."
No. The comment you were responding to was: The denying people rights was denying everyone the right to free speech by banning foreign flags because people are tired to seeing other people protest. If I misunderstood Major's post, I apologize, but that was my impression, as an English-speaker, of what he was referring to.
If you read carefully, the guy I responded to was responding to something about illegals, so You are wrong This was the original comment
I don't know that any of the several hundred thousand people protesting all over the country were illegals? Oh my... goodnight.
You guys will have to keep arguing this without me, as I'm going to bed. And if the thread gets too much longer in my absence, it's a good bet I'll be too lazyo to go back and read anymore of it. That said, I respect the idea that we need to "do something" in the face of illegal immigration. I just disagree on the "what" and am concerned to see so many people (nobody in this thread or even on this board) whose real beef is simply not wanting Hispanics of any immigration status living near them or publically expressing an opinion that conflicts with their own. I admit that this willingness on the part of some people to sell our own Constitutionally protected rights down the river in an attempt to "do something" about illegal immigration scares me. It can be a slippery slope and once we willingly start giving away our rights, we stand to lose a great deal. I love this country, and I love this state. And I would hope everyone living here would feel the same and work toward what's best for all of us. It's just agreeing on what's best that's causing the problems.
But that was in response to the law that restricts all of our rights. We'll have to agree to disagree because I still read it different(ly) than you do. And that, I really am done.
Of course people only care about this as it pertains to Mexicans. I've never heard anybody complain if a Sushi joint only has Japanese flags in it. Nobody minds if an Irish pub only flies Irish flags. I don't think I saw an American flag at Rudi Lechner's, does that mean I can't get my Wiener Schnitzel on there anymore? What's funny is that people at those protests did have American flags as well, but the media thought the flag thing would make a good topic of argument, so some talking heads complain about it and now people think that only mexican flags were carried at these things. The right pictures could make a St. Patrick's Day parade seem anti-american. Fortunately, the Irish aren't still considered as less than equal.
I'd like to see us seal the border first. What we do with the people that are already here is a lot more complicated issue. I don't see breaking up families and just kicking people out who've made a home here most of their lives as much of a plan.
Isn't Pahrump where the Moonlight Bunny Ranch is? So, while flying a foreign flag will no longer be legal, prostitution remains just fine. These are my type of xenophobes.
