The City of Baltimore, Maryland has been dealing with their fair share of budget problems lately, the same as many other municipalities. In their recently completed 2018 budget negotiations, they wound up having to make cuts so deep they eliminated funding for things like new street lights and trash cans. And all of that was happening at the same time as they struggled to fund law enforcement efforts aimed at tamping down their historic murder rate.
But somehow, in a bit of financial legerdemain, they came up with $100K to pay for attorneys for illegal aliens fighting deportation orders. There’s a lesson here about priorities somewhere, but I get the feeling that the City Council wouldn’t listen even if someone stopped by to brief them on it. (Baltimore Sun)
Baltimore’s spending panel is expected to approve $200,000 on Wednesday to pay for lawyers who will represent immigrants who are facing deportation.
The head of the mayor Catherine Pugh’s immigrant affairs office said the approval would allow the first lawyers to get work within weeks.
The money is scheduled to go before a vote of the Board of Estimates. Half of it is in the form of a grant from the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York nonprofit, and the other half is from the city’s coffers.
Citizens charged with crimes are entitled to a lawyer. Many legal services are available to legal immigrants who are here on visas or have green cards. But illegal aliens facing deportation don’t qualify for such advantages because they don’t pay into the system which supports those costs. Also, unless they’re accused of other crimes (in which case, they’ll still get an attorney) they’re not generally facing jail time. They’re being put out of the country because they don’t belong here and are supposed to be removed. They either have a legal right to be here (which can be quickly proven with the applicable documents) or they don’t. We really don’t need to call in Hercule Poirot on this mystery.
With all the problems Baltimore is trying to wrestle to the ground (and actually making some progress on lately, much to their credit), is this really where you want to be expending your energy and resources? Too many illegal aliens wind up involved in gang violence and Charm City already has more than enough of that. They also tax the city’s resources in a place where the safety net is already strained to the point of rupture.
They’ve got money laying around to send more kiddies to Washington to march for the same gun control brilliance that has made Baltimore the epitome of community safety. 60 bus loads. Ah, but it’s only money. Other people’s money.
I wasn’t aware every taxpayer in Baltimore wanted a gun ban.
Typical liberal run city they cant afford to hire more cops but they can afford to pay for lawyers to deffend illegal aliens
the city is now the “murder capital of America” the idiot mayor appears as if she has an IQ of 4-6. lived and worked in Baltimore and always carried.
As of 2010, 3.4 million undocumented workers were paying Social Security taxes. It was estimated that they also paid $13 billion in federal taxes.
The reason they don’t qualify for court-appointed lawyers is that deportation is a civil matter, not a criminal court matter. You only have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to a legal representation if you’re before the court on criminal charges.
@Greg: Explain something to me. How does someone that does not have a Social Security number pay Social Security taxes? Unless they have a STOLEN number (which raises a whole different series of issues), that is not possible.
While some illegal immigrants pay taxes, many more file and get REFUNDS to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet another bad issue to base your defense of illegal immigrants on.
They don’t qualify because the DON’T BELONG HERE. They AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. Illegal immigrants are a net drain on society. Yes, they do some jobs and perform some tasks, but their main purpose and benefit is to be a voting bloc for the Democrat party and you liberals will sacrifice all else towards that end. Ten thousand Kate Steinle’s can be murdered and the left won’t blink an eye because ignorant, illiterate, dependent illegal immigrants constitute the last hope for liberals gaining political power again.
@Greg: As of 2010, 3.4 million undocumented workers were paying Social Security taxes. It was estimated that they also paid $13 billion in federal taxes.
Those 3.4 million illegals are committing a wide variety of criminal acts. Knw what you are saying before you shoot off your mouth or hit send!
@Bill… Deplorable Me, #5:
Prior to April 15, 1974, it wasn’t necessary to provide proof of citizenship or documented alien residence to obtain a valid SSN. It’s entirely possible for an older undocumented alien to have worked and paid Social Security taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes for over 40 years. The undocumented father of a former coworker of mine did exactly that. He retired a few years ago, having worked for over 40 years in U.S. Steel’s Gary Works. His wife and children are all U.S. citizens.
Younger undocumented workers can pay their taxes without having an SSN. This can be easily done by obtaining an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which has been the case since 1996—for nearly 22 years. Around 1/2 of all undocumented workers pay federal taxes. A lot of them likely pay more taxes than many U.S. citizens.
@Randy, #6:
Actually, no. From Immigration Myths – Crime and the Number of Illegal Immigrants, dated March 20, 2017:
The percentage of the total citizen population incarcerated for criminal acts is significantly greater than the percentages of both the documented and undocumented alien populations. In other words, citizens are statistically more likely to be criminals than either alien group.
@Greg: Just because they have not been caught does not mean they are not committing crimes. Bill is right. Being in the country illegally is a civil offence, but when they pay SS or taxes, they are committing criminal offences by filing false documents. They drive without licenses. They commit criminal offences daily when they collect government support because they lie on official documents. You defend the indefensible.
@Greg:
Ohhh… it’s possible. So, it’s possible that 3.4 million illegal immigrants that have been here longer than 42 years (who also never bothered to try to get any legal status, by the way) to have SS cards. Yeah, that is really solid.
In 1974, it is estimated there were 1.16 million illegal immigrants in the country. You should probably try again.
They can pay income tax (yeah… right) but not SS taxes. You need a NUMBER so the SS money has someplace to go. It is an INDIVIDUAL fund.
You DO know what that means, don’t you? It means that stolen SS numbers are adding documented income to someone else’s (the true owner of the SS number… a CITIZEN taxpayer) and, at some point, they are going to get hit with a tax bill BECAUSE, the taxes paid on the smaller amount (by the illegal that stole someone’s identity) is much less than the taxes required on that income added to the legitimate income. So, as in so many other cases, good old just trying to get by illegal immigrant is ruining someone else’s life.
Illegal immigration is a net drain on the economy.
Some who are not peddling the fallacy that illegal immigration is a wonderful deal disagree.
https://www.nationalreview.com/blog/corner/illegal-immigrant-crime-rates/
https://cis.org/Camarota/NonCitizens-Committed-Disproportionate-Share-Federal-Crimes-201116
@Randy, #9:
That would be equally true of the citizen and non-citizen population, so it doesn’t really count for much when making a comparison. If anything, the police are more likely to notice minority suspects. They’re more likely to be profiled, noticed, questioned, and arrested.
@Bill… Deplorable Me, #10:
It’s not merely possible. It’s precisely what an entire earlier generation of undocumented immigrant workers have done. They needed to get a Social Security card and number to get a job, so they immediately went in and got one. It couldn’t have been easier. Back in those days, an entirely legitimate, preprinted Social Security card was ready and waiting to be put in your hand the moment you finished filling out the application for it. Why bother to use a phony or stolen number when absolutely nothing kept you from getting a real one?
More recent undocumented workers who pay taxes can easily do so using a legitimate Taxpayer Identification Number rather than an SSN. Paying income taxes is required by law. Doing so establishes both your compliance with that law and your presence in the United States—both of which could be very important if you hope to establish legal residency.
The sources you’ve linked are peddling deceptive arguments. One thing they routinely tend to do is count individual arrests rather than individuals. Subsequent arrests of previous offenders—which especially in the case of young minority offenders are likely to involve a series of brief incarcerations even for minor offences—greatly inflate the numbers, producing a highly misleading result.
The CATO Institute’s analysis eliminates such bias, which results in a far more accurate picture of how individuals are likely to behave. That picture, as noted in #8, can be summarized as follows:
@Greg:
No. No, it isn’t. Your entire premise is based on guesses and estimates of something no one has any documentation on. Remember the term “undocumented”? That’s key. You DON’T KNOW. You GUESS and you inflate your guesses to bolster your argument. Illegal immigrants aren’t here to pay taxes; if they were, they would apply for legal residency.
NOTHING says that. NOTHING.
Well, legally entering the country is the law, too. So, that pretty much is THAT, isn’t it?
No, they aren’t. Besides, EVERY serious crime committed by illegal immigrants is a serious crime that would not have occurred had the person not illegally entered the country. Protecting illegal immigrants is a crime. Protecting CRIMINAL illegal immigrants is a travesty and crime against humanity.
@Bill… Deplorable Me, #13:
My only assumption is that people almost always select the easiest solution to a problem, particularly when they’ve been told precisely what it is. When they applied for jobs, they were told they needed a Social Security card:
“OK. How do I get one?”
“You go to the closest post office, fill out an application, and they’ll give you one on the spot.”
“OK! ¡Muchas gracias! I’ll be right back.”
And—up until to April 15, 1974—they were. No proof of citizenship or of date and place of birth were required. You filled out the application, and you got a valid Social Security card on the spot. U.S. post offices received regular supplies of applications and blocks of pre-printed, numerically sequenced Social Security cards to distribute.
No guesses there. Only common sense. Why go out looking for a phony card and number when getting the real item was so ridiculously easy?
Not at all. Undocumented immigrants came here to work. They also hoped to remain here, looking for better lives for themselves and their families. Eventually attaining legal status was the one thing that could assure that. To do so, they would have to avoid criminal records and demonstrate prolonged presence—both of which were strong incentives to comply with our tax laws. For later undocumented arrivals, obtaining a Taxpayer Identification Number was their means of doing that.
@Greg:
And that would be to come here illegally, live under the radar, use taxpayer funded entitlements to subsidize their residency and keep every penny they make. An illegal immigrant is not going to be deported for tax evasion; they are going to be deported for being in the country illegally. That’s not your assumption; it is merely a weak argument.
Oh, I don’t know… because they are in the country illegally and don’t seek out a means to be tracked down? Your assumption is that people disregard all rules and laws covering immigration, then decide to follow all the OTHER rules. No, it’s like a lie; tell one and it takes numerous subsequent lies to cover that first one. Signing up for this or that only risks exposure.
Trying to sugar coat illegal immigration won’t work. But, the term “undocumented” is what assures that all your flim-flam about coming forth to pay income taxes or Social Security is a load of crap; they are undocumented and remaining so is their best chance or staying… on the taxpayer nickel.
They are expecting amnesty. They aren’t seeking to make the effort towards “legal status”. They came here on the liberal promise of amnesty. It’s why we see so many of the obnoxious jerks marching and DEMANDING their “rights”.
The goal is to END illegal immigration, not accommodate it. But, only someone that understands the rule of law would get that.