Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Criminal

ICE actually did its job yesterday in Laurel, Mississippi, arresting 595 suspected illegal immigrants. More amazing then that though, is this quote from the AP article:

"We have kids without dads and pregnant mothers who got their husbands taken away," said Velez's son, Robert, youth pastor at the church. "It was like a horror story. They got handled like they were criminals."


Let's connect the dots here.

From Merriam-Webster:


Main Entry: criminal
Function: noun
Date: circa 1626

1 : one who has committed a crime
2 : a person who has been convicted of a crime


From there, let's go to the USCIS, where the Immigration and Nationality Act states:

Sec. 275. [8 U.S.C. 1325]

(a) Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.


and for good measure, from the same document:

The term "alien" means any person not a citizen or national of the United States.


Hence, any alien that falls into that section above is committing a crime, which makes them criminals.
How sad is it that this has to be posted?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

High School Diplomacy?

Russia has reportedly cut ties with NATO today - a day after NATO cut ties with them:

Norway's Defense Ministry...says the country's embassy received a telephone call from Russia's Defense Ministry on Wednesday, saying Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries."

NATO foreign ministers Tuesday suspended formal contacts with Russia as punishment for sending troops into Georgia.


This is the Diplomatic equivalent of "Well, you tell Jane that I'm not talking to her EITHER!" Much like in that case, all of Janes' friends are rolling their eyes on the other side of that phone.