Un-American Dream
Allow me to begin with a direct quote of a piece from the Sunday Chicago Tribune, written by Kate Brumback an Associated Press writer:
“ROSWELL, Ga. (AP) _ Like all illegal immigrants, Lorenzo Jimenez knew the knock on the door from immigration agents could come at any time.Still, he had enough faith in the American dream to buy a house in this Atlanta suburb, even though signing the papers meant raising the risk: He put his 2-year-old, American-born daughter’s name and Social Security number on the title.”
As this story is written by an A.P. writer (her title is writer not reporter) I assume it was picked up by other newspapers around the country as well. The story goes on to explain that Mr. Jimenez later tried to sell this house to a neighbor. When the deal fell through the neighbor made it known to the world at large that Mr. J was living here illegally and now it appears he could be deported. Just another story of a poor illegal alien suffering at the hands of nasty, intolerant American citizens and an unfair immigration system. Blah, blah, blah, blah.
My feelings about Mr. Jimenez aside along with my feelings about this constant hammering in the press about the human tragedy of deportation, this brought up an interesting question. What exactly do people think is the American dream?
Am I to believe from Ms. Brumback, who wrote the story, the Associated Press who approved the story and Chicago Tribune, who printed the story, that the American dream involves breaking the law by entering and working in this country illegally, fraudulently filling out title papers and almost assuredly the mortgage papers as well? Are they telling me that lying and deception to get what you want at any cost is the American dream? Is that what is passing as the American dream nowadays?
Reading further in the story one finds that the neighbor, Ms. Nicole Griffin was, to say the least, a woman scorned. She did everything possible to make Mr. Jimenez life miserable. This included going directly to the restaurant where he worked and informing his boss of his immigration status, costing him his job, contacting the FBI and local police, notifying her congressman and putting signs in the yard of his house announcing that Mr. Jimenez was an illegal alien. I would say that her actions were admirable if they had been done as a concerned citizen, but the fact was she was losing a court battle to Mr. Jimenez and her actions were 100% vengeance driven. Ms. Griffin was recently quoted as saying “I don’t feel bad for anything that happens to the Jimenez family at this point, because no one feels bad that all I tried to do was buy a house, and I ended up living back with my mother.” No Ms. Griffin, I’m guessing your mother feels pretty bad.
First let me say that I have sympathy for Mr. Jimenez having messed with the wrong 28 year old, low income, single mother of two. But it seems to me that Mr. Jimenez was a fairly bright guy. At least he was bright enough to successfully commit bank fraud. I believe he was also bright enough to know when he snuck into this country that he was going to have to remain covert for as long as he lived here. He has been living here, working, having children and buying real estate for ten years all as a fugitive from the law. Some will say that Mr. Jimenez is an example of why the immigration laws need to be relaxed. I say that Mr. Jimenez is the perfect example of why they do not.
According to the story Mr. Jimenez worked at an “upscale Atlanta restaurant as a cook”. This doesn’t sound to me like one of those low skill menial jobs that no Americans will take. In fact is sounds like a fairly decent paying job seeing as Mr. J was able to buy a house and then four years later is looking to buy a bigger one. The story also mentions that he put the title of the house in the name of his “2 year old American born daughter”. What it doesn’t mention is how many other children Mr. J has had nor, and more importantly, who paid the medical costs involved in having a baby.
It is possible that the upscale Atlanta restaurant where Mr. Jimenez works offers medical insurance, not likely but possible. My guess is seeing as Mr. Jimenez didn’t have a legal social security number to be working here in the first place he probably would not have risked discovery by applying for the insurance. This would mean that once again the taxpayers would get stuck paying for another illegal alien anchor baby. All this while Mr. Jimenez went about his life, working and buying houses. I also find it strange that there is no mention of the mother of this 2 year old daughter, if she and Mr. J are married and what her residency status is.
I am certain that Ms. Brumback was looking to tug at the heartstrings by including the phrase American dream. Mr. Jimenez had a dream alright, but it was not the American dream. It was a personal dream of scamming the system and taking from America not giving to her. It’s a dream he was able to fulfill thanks to some greedy real estate brokers who counseled him on how to fill out the paperwork, short sighted lending institutions that had to know something was fishy and an upscale Atlanta restaurant that I wish had been mentioned by name and hope gets regular visits from the local I.N.S. enforcement agents.
Ms. Brumback, I know the American dream. The American dream is a friend of mine. This, madam, was no American dream. I grew up with my immigrant grandparents and became beneficiary of two people who dedicated their lives to the American dream for themselves and their family. If you want to witness the American dream in action all you have to do is go to a swearing in ceremony to watch immigrants that worked within the system to come here legally from all over the world get sworn in as citizens. Not a courtroom where someone who came here for his own dream of scheming and scamming, got caught and is now trying to save his ass from getting sent back to Mexico.
They say a cat has nine lives, Ms. Brumback. If you want to know how many lives the American dream has just go to an I.N.S. office and look at the lists with tens of thousands of names of people waiting for visas to enter this country legally. Some of them from areas of the world that would make Mexico look like the Garden of Eden.
Yes, I know the American dream, but I have a personal dream as well. My personal dream is to never, under any circumstances, piss off Ms. Griffin.
