Dumb and Dumber: The Immigrant Country that Loves Deportation

            

The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.

~Bryant H. McGill

I am going to be right up front about this, which usually doesn’t come natural for a lawyer. I hate Justin Bieber. Maybe hate is too strong a word, let me try and be more diplomatic. I recognize that he has musical talent of some form, but I do not like the way he looks, sings, acts, dances, talks, performs or any of his songs at all.

 To me, he is everything that is wrong about music. A pre-packaged tough boy Canadian “urbanized” look and sound that appeals to suburban teenage girls. Five years from now, if he falls in line with the usual path of those of his type,  he will be a has been appearing on Dancing with the Stars or some other pathetic reality show about the often told story of going from rags to riches, and back to rags.  

His mean boy stares and saggy thousand dollar pants basically make me want to puke. And, if one of the paparazzi, who he despises, even though being a musical superstar naturally depends on your fans seeing constant images of you everywhere, were to give him a nice ass whipping which he is long overdue for, I would welcome the sight of it. What a great laugh that would be. He has a huge ego and unrealistic sense of his “tough” self in a 115 pound body surrounded by 315 pound bodyguards and vampire groupies and “friends” who hang out probably to get free drugs and a chance to party with a celebrity. It is sad in a way that none of his “friends” has the guts or concern to give him any advice or ever tell him that he is acting stupid.

I just can’t stand these whiny stars who have everything at their disposal and could feed hundreds of families for generations bitch and moan how hard their life is and how they can’t get any privacy. Hello? If you want privacy go be a file clerk or be a janitor on the midnight shift. Nobody will be “harassing” you then and trying to take your photograph if you are camera shy and just want people to leave you alone.

         That being said, I thought I would be candid and honest about how my personal opinions definitely impact my thought process up front in writing this article. In his defense, albeit I make this concession with a reluctant since of fairness, he is a very young kid (and I don’t sense the sharpest pencil in the box) who has been thrust into a world of money, fame, and adoration that would, to be perfectly honest, probably have a negative affect on just about anybody who comes from a rags to riches sort of background like him. He did not grow up in a family whose background and life experience prepared him in any way for the surreal life he now finds himself in.

            In short, I do not necessarily want him to go away mad, I just want him to go away. 

Why is a 46 year old expressing opinions about a teenage pop star you ask? There is more to this than just being a music and character critic.  I am not “a hater” for the sake of it because Bieber is rich and famous as the more urban, hip, youth will most likely accuse me of. I have some valid reasons and others appear to think the same way I do.  Read on and let’s meet these people.

            Turns out, Bieber is simply a “menace to society” (Ironic, because that is actually a good movie, with good actors and music.) He has gained a tremendous amount of media attention recently with all of his legal scandals, including his arrest for an alleged DUI in Miami, the accusation that he assaulted a limo driver, his alleged involvement in an egging incident near his Los Angeles home, his reported stay in a brothel while in Brazil, and his bodyguards theft charge for allegedly stealing a paparrazzo’s camera.

            After Bieber’s bodyguard was arrested for the alleged theft of photographer Joseph Binion’s camera in June of last year, Binion sued Bieber in Miami’s civil court claiming that Bieber ordered his bodyguard to steal the camera. 

            Although Bieber’s dream team of lawyers fought to prevent him from being deposed, they lost this battle and Bieber was forced to attend a deposition regarding the matter, where he was questioned for hours until becoming extremely upset at the nerve anyone would dare to question him.  During his deposition, which is an internet must see, he objects to questions asked by opposing counsel (instead of his lawyer), winks and fixes his techno colored shirt for the camera, and gallantly states “Don’t ask me about her again,” repeatedly, while shaking his finger when questioned regarding his ex-girlfriend (a real winner picker) Selena Gomez. 

            When asked by opposing counsel if Usher was instrumental to Bieber’s career, he responds saying, “I was found on YouTube, I think that I was detrimental to my own career.”   See reference to sharpest pencil above.

            Apparently, Bieber’s Los Angeles neighbors were not too happy after his alleged egging of a neighbor’s house. Perhaps understanding that his welcome has worn out, he has recently sold his home to Khloe Kardashian according to Zillow.  According to nydailynews.com, neighbors are extremely pleased that they will have a Kardashian (i.e. family known for porn videos, prostituting themselves out to sell anything, failed marriages and relationships, and the bizarre transformation of Bruce Jenner into someone who looks like an old transvestite with bad plastic surgery) as a neighbor instead of the Bieb (one of Justin’s many cool urban nicknames).  Imagine that, the Kardashian’s are more respectful and desired neighbors than Bieber? On the least desired scale, that puts him slightly below a toenail fungus (like, the Bieb, it just won’t go away).

            The public has been so outraged that over 270,000 so called “non-Beliebers” (referring to those who don’t “beliebe” in Justin) signed a petition to have Bieber deported back to Canada.  Although the government is not forced to reply directly to the matter at hand, once a petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it is the government’s responsibility to articulate some form of response.  This petition was submitted to the White House, who initially declined to comment, but then went on to comment anyway. 

            In a rambling statement, The White House commented on immigration in general stating “we need a smart effective immigration system…”  They also reference Bieber’s earnings from concerts and albums in their explanation of how much immigration reform will grow our economy and reduce our deficit.  What a solid, well thought out, direct answer. As my text savvy friends often communicate to me, WTF?

            While it looks like Bieber won’t be leaving the United States anytime soon due to a green card revocation, deportation rates have significantly increased in the time that Barack Obama has been President.  Although many immigrants were especially hopeful for less deportations once Obama was re-elected (due to his promises to give certain youth a temporary solution to gain legal status), there have been more deportations under Obama’s reign than any other U.S. President.  Does this surprise you; it certainly caught me off guard?  I, like a whole bunch of other people, thought we were moving toward a more logical and humanistic approach to immigration in this country.  Well, as a great band once said, “don’t believe the hype.”

            So far, Obama has deported roughly 2 Million people, which is more than any other U.S. President thus far according to an article by www.thenation.com. 

       CNN states that a whopping 71% of Hispanics voted for Barak Obama in 2012 (remember the frenzied “Si Se Puede” chants at the political rallies all across the United States, and especially in those states with high Hispanic populations, used to win the support of Hispanics for Democratic elections).  44% of Latinos voted Republican in 2004 for George W. Bush and 31% voted for Mitt Romney in 2008. 

            Sadly, but not surpisingly,  as things have turned out, Obama gained many votes with his promises to improve immigration proceedings within the first year of being elected, something that was never done.  According to The Huffington Post, Obama has not presented a single immigration bill to Congress since being re-elected.  Apparently “Si se puede” should be changed to “No puedo por que no me conviene en este momento.”

            Many immigrants come to the United States in search of equal opportunities and a better life, but the sad part is that a staggering number, who attempt to arrive, never make it.  According to an article written by Jacob Silverman titled How Stuff Works, around 12 million people die annually pursuing their hopes of the American Dream.

            Other factors have been researched to determine if there is anything else that could be causing the escalation of deportations, including possibilities of increased amounts of undocumented immigrants, and it seems that there are no definitive explanations, according to www.polifact.com. 

          Undocumented parents are often deported, leaving children and other family members stranded and left behind.  According to a story written by Cindy Y. Rodriguez and Adriana Hauser for CNN, the Soza families’ life has been changed forever.  Marisela and Ronald were immigrants from Nicaragua and had two children who were living here in the United States. 

The childrens’ mother Marisela was deported back to Nicaragua and the father was allowed to stay to watch over the kids, but only to be deported as well five years later leaving the children parentless, homeless, and completely at the mercy of those who stepped up to care for them. The children are legal US residents. Situations such as these show the unjust, arbitrary and nonsensical system we have when it comes to immigration and deportation. Does it really make sense to kick someone out of this country who has been here for years, sometimes even decades, leaving children behind who now are left to fend for themselves? Is there any quantifiable and statistical correlation that these types of deportations, such as with Marisela and Ronald, lead to economic or social betterment of a country whose very foundation was the genesis of persons looking for a better life someplace else? I have yet to see any proof in terms of numbers and studies, other than the same old unsubstantiated arguments that immigrants take jobs and cost money. Didn’t Hitler rely on this same exact argument at one point to blame the economic problems of Germany on those who were powerless to defend themselves?  In fact, if one reads some history, almost every time economic times are difficult, the first people to get blamed are the poor and immigrants who make easy targets to spew hatred and racism upon.

            Many claim that those deported are violent offenders convicted of horrendous crimes. Again, there is no proof of this.  Families are broken apart due to deportations and it is reported that in 2012, according to an article written by wwww.thenation.com, less than one percent of those deported are done so for crimes such as murder.  So much for the theory that we are ridding our country of undesirables based on criminal statistics.

             Although many individuals feel outraged and upset claiming that immigrants take jobs away, this is simply untrue.  Many immigrants are forced to work picking strawberries, oranges, or doing grueling and tiring construction jobs below minimum wage and without any insurance if they get hurt doing these often dangerous, and body withering manual labor jobs---things that the average “American” would never do. How many times have you see Waspy-looking  people picking strawberries, oranges, or cotton? 

 It is a not so well hidden and dirty secret that many large companies rely on the cheap labor of immigrants to run smoothly. Do you think these businesses want to bow down to unions and get stuck “complying” with federal labor and wage laws when they have a ready, willing, and able labor pool that is literally dying to try and work in the U.S. ? Do you think these companies really care about Americans and their jobs, as they hire more and more workers from the Philippines and India and other places to outsource for cheap labor?  It has been said that if one were to do a psychological profile of a company, what they would find is the values and lack of any empathy, or care for the pain of others---makes them very similar in personality to sociopaths (whose single focus is the seeking of immediate self-gratification and reward, and in the company’s case, profits above any sense of morality, i.e. Wall Street Crash, Widespread Mortgage Fraud by Banks, etc.). 

Even though they may not pay income taxes when working their low paying and often dangerous jobs (which their employers particularly enjoy because they pay no employment taxes or insurance), they do pay sales tax, something that they will likely see little to no benefit from due to their undocumented status.  It is interesting that one hardly ever sees these numbers quantified or statistics about all of the sales taxes an immigrant pays versus how much they will never see in their lifetime when they are deported. Nor does anyone talk much about how sales tax is a regressive tax, meaning that if an immigrant pays 7 or 8 percent in sales tax for the essentials such as food, clothing and shelter; this is a much higher portion of their income than another person who earns ten times what they do---thus, actually contributing much less of an average per purchase for items that are necessary simply to live.

            What does all of the above basically amount to? Well, one, I still would love to see Justin Bieber deported and/or punched by a paparazzo. Second, if we can’t deport him, why are we so hell bent on kicking out people who have been here for years, have children who are born here, and otherwise contribute to society in a positive way by trying to make a better life for their family? Third, I think that people should not blindly follow one political party or the other based on the same rhetoric we hear every time there is an election. Bottom line, politicians will do and say anything to get elected.  They raise taxes when they say they aren’t, they continue to fight unwinnable wars when they say they aren’t, and they do whatever is going to get them elected----regardless of any “promises” they ever made in the past.

In a sense, by the very nature of being politicians, they have to be liars because in order to have a job they have to trick as many people as possible into voting for them so that they can continue to have a career. There is a similar organism that depends on and uses others, and causes harm, to survive and grow, it is called a virus. 

~Leonardo G. Renaud