Federal Officials Send 4-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Back To Guatemala

[FrostyBoy]

A 4-year-old girl born in New York was detained by immigration officials and then sent back to Guatemala, separating her from her parents, after she and her grandfather were stopped by customs officials earlier this month.

The girl, Emily Samantha Ruiz, is a U.S. citizen. But she, like many other children of undocumented immigrants, became caught in a web of complications for families with mixed legal statuses. On her way home from a trip to Guatemala with her grandfather on March 11, Emily was detained in Dulles International Airport when authorities stopped her grandfather on an illegal entry charge from more than a decade ago.

Authorities took her grandfather, a non-citizen on a valid work visa that allowed him to travel, into custody. But the young girl was detained in the airport, then sent back to Guatemala with her grandfather, citizenship notwithstanding.

Her family claims they were faced with a near-impossible choice by border officials: either have Emily sent to Guatemala or allow officials to put her in a juvenile facility in the United States, where she could be put in foster care or kept away from her parents.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/federal-officials-4-year-old-us-citizen_n_839700.html

 

[CunningStunts]

Call me a cold hearted bastard, but I think enforcing the laws of the country is ok in every single case. For every "tear jerker" story like this, there were people who knowingly broke the law that caused it to happen. :2 cents:

I noticed no one posted the story of the van full of Mexicans detained yesterday in CA wearing US Marine Corps uniforms and a stolen US government vehicle...

 

[TheOrangeCat]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/federal-officials-4-year-old-us-citizen_n_839700.html

Good to see the system really working, keeping land and borders safe from undocumented 4 year olds .......

 

[CunningStunts]

Good to see the system really working, keeping land and borders safe from undocumented 4 year olds .......

Question: How much money would taxpayers have to spend on this girl to educate her and give her medical care for the next 14 years (minimum)?

 

[FrostyBoy]

Question: How much money would taxpayers have to spend on this girl to educate her and give her medical care for the next 14 years (minimum)?

What part of, "she's an American citizen" are we having a problem with?

 

[Ulysses31]

Makes no sense if her parents are legally in the US and allowed to stay, on top of her already being a US citizen. They need to look at these with discretion, splitting up a family makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[CunningStunts]

What part of, "she's an American citizen" are we having a problem with?

But her parents aren't, right? So we have a couple of options: (1) Let her stay without her parents, (2) Send her back with her parents, or (3) let her and her whole family stay. :dunno:

I don't know... but there's at least 15 million illegals in the US, and we are flat broke. Tough choices must be made.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

Question: How much money would taxpayers have to spend on this girl to educate her and give her medical care for the next 14 years (minimum)?

It's irrelevant: she's a Citizen. And what an education she's already getting - learning the hard way that life is just a long series of dry ass fuckings unimaginatively pounded out by drones of bureaucracy ...

 

[CunningStunts]

It's irrelevant: she's a Citizen. And what an education she's already getting - learning the hard way that life is just a long series of dry ass fuckings unimaginatively pounded out by drones of bureaucracy ...

Maybe we should look seriously at raising the bar for "citizenship." After all, we are the last Western industrialized country left that still uses the archaic "birth rite" citizenship. That's setting the bar high.... lol. Hell, there are a lot of people born here that should have no right to be a "citizen" IMHO. But maybe that's a topic for another thread. :2 cents:

 

[PlumpRump]

...Tough choices must be made.

I'm not so sure its even a "though choice." Birthright citizenship is a joke. Kick these anchor babies back to their own country with the rest of their illegal families.

 

[FrostyBoy]

Maybe we should look seriously at raising the bar for "citizenship." After all, we are the last Western industrialized country left that still uses the archaic "birth rite" citizenship. That's setting the bar high.... lol. Hell, there are a lot of people born here that should have no right to be a "citizen" IMHO. But maybe that's a topic for another thread. :2 cents:

Maybe it is. I'm a bit curious as to these people, born here, that you don't think deserve citizenship.

 

[StanScratch]

Question: How much money would taxpayers have to spend on this girl to educate her and give her medical care for the next 14 years (minimum)?

I saw one estimate that put it at about 7500 per year.
In 2007, we spent roughly 5,000 per person in Iraq. But, hey, that is OK. They have oil. People with oil are much more important than some 4-year-old, right?

 

[Spleen]

Guatemala is a fucking awesome country. I'd rather be there than New York.

 

[PlumpRump]

...And what an education she's already getting...

You mean like learning how to cheat the system as her parents did? Immigrate illegally, have a child, and expect that the child should receive all the benefits of US Citizenship? That's garbage.

She's a "citizen" under false pretenses.

An overcrowded, broke country, that's having enough problems trying to identify and sustain a unique identity shouldn't be expected to shoulder the burden of those trying to catch a free-ride, although it seems that more and more these days we are expected to do so, and derided when we refuse to. Ship her back, with the rest of her family.

 

[PlumpRump]

I saw one estimate that put it at about 7500 per year.
In 2007, we spent roughly 5,000 per person in Iraq. But, hey, that is OK. They have oil. People with oil are much more important than some 4-year-old, right?

Short answer, yes. Like it or not, "people with oil" play a direct role in the sustainability of American life, whereas free-riding anchor babies and the law breaking, federal criminals they call their parents do the exact opposite.

Why is it always "Hands Across America" for these leeching, loophole exploiting criminals?

 

[CunningStunts]

Maybe it is. I'm a bit curious as to these people, born here, that you don't think deserve citizenship.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but the rights of a citizen should be earned, not given to someone who's mother happened to pop them out on US soil. Being a citizen mean you have a say and rights afforded to you by the government; in return, shouldn't there be SOMETHING required of the citizen? Military service, paying taxes, domestic volunteer work, I mean something more than being born??

The 14th Amendment was written at a time that the US was sparsely populated... that no longer applies. The provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the American Constitution that guarantee all children born in the United States automatic citizenship applies not only to children born to parents who are in this country illegally, but also to students, tourists, and others who are in the country on temporary visas (hence the term "anchor babies." Other countries abuse this illogical arrangement by timing visits to the US to coincide with births. Again, the US is the ONLY Western nation (and only industrial country in the world for that matter) to set the bar for citizenship this low... Doesn't this seem odd to any rational person? :dunno:

 

[FrostyBoy]

trying to identify and sustain a Unique identity

I don't want to get tiresome here but, again I'm curious what Unique identity that would be? I mean, I know what I think our Unique identity is, but it seems to be vastly different from what you think it is.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

You mean like learning how to cheat the system as her parents did? Immigrate illegally, have a child, and expect that the child should receive all the benefits of US Citizenship? That's garbage.

She's a "citizen" under false pretenses.

An overcrowded, broke country, that's having enough problems trying to identify and sustain a unique identity shouldn't be expected to shoulder the burden of those trying to catch a free-ride, although it seems that more and more these days we are expected to do so, and derided when we refuse to. Ship her back, with the rest of her family.

Actually she's a citizen according to the laws of the United States. No false pretenses there at all.

No one's saying the system ain't broke, but if you want to fix the system, first you have to fix THE system.

If the law that allows this child to gain legitimate Citizenship is causing problems, then it is the law itself that should be changed. Solves the problem at the root, no running around trying fruitlessly uphold a system that has tied itself in such knots it has no idea what is actually going on in the country that pays billions for them to know exactly that.

 

[FrostyBoy]

Military service, paying taxes, domestic volunteer work, I mean something more than being born??

Military service - because the draft worked out so well in the past.

Paying taxes - who says they don't?

Domestic volunteer service - who says they don't?

Something more than being born - fine, but make that apply to ALL citizens. You, me, the snot nosed teenagers I see on the street, everyone. One question though. What happens when a 10th generation American doesn't fulfill any of YOUR requirements? What then?

Again, the US is the ONLY Western nation (and only industrial country in the world for that matter) to set the bar for citizenship this low... Doesn't this seem odd to any rational person?

Not to me. Fuck the rest of the world. I don't want to be Canada, Britain, Germany or any other country. America is different because we're supposed to be. And what keeps me from being just as unsympathetic to your parents, grandparents or whoever it was that showed up here one day, with all their possessions in a bag? This is what slays me on the immigration issue. As far as I'm concerned, this little girl is every bit the same American that you and I are.

 

[CunningStunts]

Oops, I forgot our Canadian friends may have the same flawed system... can someone confirm?

Look, the idea is that to one should not be BORN a citizen of a state. Citizenship comes with benefits AND responsibilities, and it must be earned, as it is in most industrialized countries. After all, doesn't it make logical sense that in order to participate in government you should have a stake in the country? Should someone who contributes nothing get to vote to take from those who do just because they were fortunate enough to be born on US soil?:dunno:

Our retarded system has sprouted a full fledged industry called "birth tourism." Is that not a sign that something is wrong??