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Walsh vows to protect immigrants; move could cost city $250 million
By adamg on Wed, 11/16/2016 - 9:41am
In an essay this week, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh vowed to continue protecting the city's immigrant residents:
We will defend our friends, neighbors, and family members from any and all efforts to exclude them, harm them, or strip them of their rights. Boston is a city of inclusion, a city of compassion, a welcoming, diverse, global city. We’ll stay that way.
The road ahead may seem uncertain. But our values are unwavering, and our work is before us.
Although Boston is not formally a "sanctuary" city, Walsh and the City Council have directed BPD not to question or detain people based solely on their immigration status.
WBUR reports that if Donald Trump goes through with his threat to withhold federal funds from cities that don't roll over for ICE, Boston could ultimately lose $250 million.
Walsh says he's not yet thinking about where the city might be able to make up for lost federal funding, but instead said he will wait to see how things unfold after Trump takes office.
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Comments
Who's picking up the tab?
Who's picking up the tab? While saying we're a city that welcomes everyone is a noble idea, who is going to pay for this enormous drop in funds? My real estate taxes are already high enough. Do I now have to foot the bill for someone who is here illegally?
I guess we all would
But don't worry: Your taxes won't go up, because of Prop. 2 1/2. Instead, your services, if it comes to that, would go down.
And that's when we decide what sort of city and people we really are.
What services?
You mean we'll have to share the world class Fort Point Heliport?
Ick!
They will pay for it. With
They will pay for it. With the income taxes that come out of their check they never see back ( they can't file). In clothing, meal, sales taxes they pay while they are guests in the state.
Exactly.
Exactly.
White Americans
What? Nothin' better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out
You're an immigrant too.
Who's using who?
What should we do?
Well you can't be a pimp
And a prostitute too.
"Well, this man doesn't crawl
"Well, this man doesn't crawl, he stands tall!. That rhymes, Marge, and you know it rhymes, admit it!"
The city already gives away
The city already gives away more than $250 million worth of land for free for people to use to store their private property. Just start charging market rate for those parking spots.
I'm so tired of this argument
If we didn't park cars on the street, literally nothing else would go there.
I get taxed enough. $250 million withheld? From my state that's already a net payee to the U.S. Treasury? (Expletive) off.
Wrong
People would go there. That spend money.
Interesting video on the topic of taking back city streets from cars and the benefits to people that actually live and work there. It's apparently an economic boon for neighborhoods.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2016/8/4/12342806/barcelona-superblocks
Completely different
Completely different locations, parking situations, and everything else. Just offering a example that clearly has one perspective doesn't mean it's what should happen other places.
I don't think anyone is
I don't think anyone is thinking of relocating the cars, so the cars will still be there. I think in this scenario, the owners will just be paying more to have them there.
Willie, Willie, Willie...
You have to be employed to pay taxes & and living in your parents basement is not the same as owning property so you'll be okay on the property tax thing. Relax.
Employment
I'm working on it, (expletive). And I don't live at home.
So what is your complaint?
Is it about taxes or just giving yourself a little tingle up your leg by bashing a group you perceive as inferior?
I doubt there is a thing in life you have been deprived of due to the existence of undocumented workers. Your rant is just that - a rant. The wealthy love it when they are able to get the middle class to bash the unfortunate who have nothing - a time tested strategy
.
Which spots?
Are you referring to all cars parked on residential streets?
Huh?? I thought this thread
Huh?? I thought this thread was about immigrants... thanks for hijacking! We are talking about actual human lives here and you are so entitled that you would try to shift this topic to residents of who Boston who park their cars on city streets?? Talk about myopic, spoiled and petty first world problems! People, immigrants which you clearly have no knowledge of nor any empathy for, are dealing with potentially life and death issues: how to feed their families, will they be separated from their children, whether or not they will be sent back to war-torn countries and ALL YOU can think about is that working class folks are parking on city streets that they pay taxes for and that working citizens' cars are inconveniencing your leisure bike ride?? Your arrogance is off the charts. The world isn't bike and white.... holy crap you are narrow minded. We are talking about HUMANS here NOT BIKES.
Thank you, thank you, thank you
As someone whose beloved legal immigrant relative spent the night in the ER because the stress got to him/her, thank you, thank you, thank you. The President Evil is having real immediate effects on people, people I love. Anything any one of us can do to reject hate is an act of love with real consequences too. Thank you.
If your relative is a legal immigrant
What was he stressed about?
....
or can you tell the difference in documented and undocumented just by looking?
most racists don't bother and the general climate of hate affects everyone.
You are a fool
If you don't know.
Just grow up and admit that you have absolutely zero empathy, and either work on it or don't complain when it lands you in jail.
What to worry about - HAHAHAHAHAH you are stupid.
Maybe
They could be on an H1-B?
Increased racial profiling and suspicion
How do you find out if someone is here legally unless you're checking their citizenship status? Either we all start having to carry our proof of citizenship with us at all times in case we get pulled over for a broken taillight, or cops start picking and choosing people to check, which means lots more racial profiling etc for people who are here legally but don't look white enough.
hmm
ask for a drivers license?
Ok, driving maybe not the best example
but what if I run a red on my bicycle, or break some other law walking down the street, on the T, riding in a car with someone who does have a license, etc? How does anyone know if I'm undocumented or not?
Well obviously
The answer is a national identity card issues by the feds that would connect with state identity records, Dept of Justice records, local law enforcement records, Homeland Security travel records, EZ pass transponder history, medical records, biometrics, your DNA sequence, private corporate records, including banking, credit card purchases, social media posts, on-line images, membership program purchase records (CVS, Shaw's etc), utility bills, .... I don't see what the problem is.
Or....
We could just contract with Facebook and Google to provide that info. They know way more about us than the government.
This is about harboring
This is about harboring illegal immigrants. People who entered this country illegally. Liberals like to talk about justice and fairness, well how is it fair to the roughly 4 million folks waiting to enter this country legally through the expensive and arduous process? How is it hateful to ask people to want to reside in the US to do so legally?
If you have to ask
You're a racist. Probably a misogynist too. Maybe even a homophobe.
If it quacks like a duck
and looks like a duck and walks like a duck, then maybe we can infer something.
Also, no one is proposing carte blanche amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Walsh is saying that if ICE wants to conduct raids based solely on immigration status, they're going to have to do it without the help of the Boston police. But don't let the details get in the way of the hate-on y'all have got going on in here. Burn that strawman! Maybe if they got rid of everybody less white than you, your lives would somehow become less miserable.
On a second reading,
you seem like you're actually arguing in good faith, so disregard the snark aimed at bosguy. Serious answer: I think we have similar goals. Saner immigration policy. Enforcement of existing laws. Fairness. Problem is, immigration policy hasn't been substantively changed in fifty years, and it sure isn't going to get cleaned up in the Trump administration. Which means that those 4 million folks waiting to get in are going to keep waiting, by and large. Meanwhile, we have lots of people who are already here, living and working. Is it fair that they jumped the queue? No. Will the situation be made better, on net, by rounding them up and deporting them? No, unless you enjoy watching families ripped apart, want to crater social security, and want to start paying six bucks for a head of lettuce. So we need to find some kind of middle ground. It's harms-reduction, much like needle exchanges and decriminalizing marijuana and prostitution. If you're arrested for something, your immigration status is (and will be, even if Walsh goes through with this) fair game for starting deportation proceedings. If you keep your nose clean, work, and pay taxes, he's not going to devote the city's resources to Trump's insane dragnets.
There's always going to be
There's always going to be people waiting, that doesn't mean anything, or that everyone who wants to can.
If your legal immigrant
If your legal immigrant relative is so stressed out listening to the news, then turn off the news.
There's a big difference
There's a big difference between legal and illegal immigrants. Please stop conflating the two.
It's Arbitrary
The immigration act of 1965 encompasses it, and its arbitrary, unfair, and actually economically hurtful to the realities of the 21st century.
And it'll never be fixed, because it's a political crudgle for one party to whip up fear, hate, and scapegoating.
My great grandparents were first generation Irish. They worked hard, paid their fair share and no one gave a damn. My grandparents, citizens, fought in WWII and lived long successful lives. My father, and his brothers were tradesmen, and all the grandchildren, a first, have gone to college.
Work. Pay taxes. Dont break any criminal laws. Get citizenships. It should be that easy, as it was historically.
Exactly. Most people in this
Exactly. Most people in this country are completely okay with immigration, the legal kind. Process the paperwork, pay the fess, get in line and get legally approved to be a citizen of this country,
Dont break any criminal laws
Was that carefully worded to not include 'civil law' like permanently settling down on a tourist visa?
According to the law
If you accrue unlawful presence of more than one year total (in the aggregate, not necessarily continuous), or are ordered removed (deported) from the U.S., and subsequently attempt to enter without inspection (for example, attempt to sneak across the border), then you will be permanently barred from the U.S., with no waiver available except to VAWA self-petitioners. (After ten years, however, you can request special permission to apply for a U.S. visa or green card.)
Um, illegal immigrants do indeed pay taxes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/06/how-much-tax-do-ame...
Which means they do work.
(Oh, BTW, it costs almost $700 in fees to apply for citizenship. The cost, of which, might be prohibitive to many without some assistance.)
I cannot open your link but
I cannot open your link but have a question; how do illegal immigrants pay taxes without social security numbers?
Fake social security cards
They pay taxes by buying a fake social security card. They can also file using an Individual Tax Identification Number. They also pay all the same sales tax as anyone else.
Sales taxes, for one.
Sales taxes, for one. Property taxes, indirectly, through rent. Gas tax. A lot of them use fake/stolen SSNs to work, and then never file using those, so the money is given free to the IRS.
The free for filing I-485 to
The free for filing I-485 to get a green card is about $1000, but it's easily to file a I-912 to get a fee waiver.
The biggest cost is if you decide to hire a lawyer. They charge thousands of dollars to fill out a few forms which you can do yourself.
But if they get a green card
But if they get a green card they are not considered "illegal immigrants", correct?
Trying to understand.
"legal" status
There are many immigrants who currently have a "documented" status but are still at risk for deportation. All those who have been recognized by the Govt thorugh the DACA program or through Temporary Protected Status (TPS) could have all that rescinded by Presidential order and then be on the deport list (regardless of how long they've been in the country and whether they have US-born children or not). And even with a greencard, you can easily run afoul of the powers-that-be and fairly lame reasons could be used to put you on the deport list (i.e., you don't have to go "shoot someone in the middle of the street" to find yourself on a plane home).
So there are different levels of documentation or recognition by the USG for immigrants. And those different levels of recognition carry different degrees of risk for deportation. As human beings none of them are "illegal."
Not arbitrary
The act you are talking about dramatically increase the number from before that date, and it's not arbitrary.
We already let in a higher number than anyone else.
The numbers now are much higher than they were historically.
The city will benefit more.
I lived in Arizona back in the mid oughts. One day there was an immigrant raid. Shut about 5 restaurants for the week. I used to cook, I paid income tax and got it all back April ( you make like 37grand ). Illegals who I knew out in L.A. Would tell me that they would get a check just like me under a fake social security number and never see that money back that was taken out. Usually, they were working 2 jobs and weren't so spry to rape and pillage. Illegals also buy stuff and pay taxes. Let them stay. Let them all stay. I've worked with Salvadorians, Mexicans, Irish and what may have someone from Xenu. Let them stay.
The entire American food
The entire American food industry, from the farms to the slaughterhouses to the restaurants, would collapse without immigrants(illegal or otherwise). They are the ones who do all the real work.
Yup
But it's more fun to blame all of America's problems on some imaginary enemy. Everyone would be rich and crime would be limited to Jaywalking if it wasn't these dirty foreigners stealing our jobs.
You don't need to dig far to find that the people most vocally opposed to "illegals" have no problem hiring them to keep their expenses low. Big corporations and their executives are the ones who benefit most from undocumented workers.
Around 1.3 million are in the
hospitality/tourism industry alone. Trump's creepy kids might be changing towels in the executive suite if their Daddy follows through with his immigrants out policy.
Plenty of people did those jobs before
Only a tiny fraction of the cost of produce is the labor.
Less than ten percent of the people you describe work in agriculture. Many of them are doing jobs that people here will happily do and already do for more reasonable wages.
I always love
How those with a lot always get those with a little to hate those with nothing.
Nicely stated
Nicely stated
Time to call in favors
From all those buissinesses with sweet tax deals.
It be a shame if they were to go away.
$250m over what period of time?
It would be disastrous if it was yearly. If it was over 10 years, that might actually be manageable.
On the positive side - it could cut a lot of federal red tape. :)
Good question
'BUR didn't really get into that level of detail, but Walsh said that even in the worst case, he didn't think it would happen all at once. But that might be too rational a thought process.
I think it's annual
'BUR links the city budget in the article, though it's not an especially easy one to read. My initial takeaway is that the $250 million number might indeed be annual, but a lot of that money is tied up in things that the executive has no authority to withhold, like Title 1 and school lunches and IDEA funding. I mean, Trump is the kind of petty, vengeful madman who might very well try to pull special education funding to punish a city for thumbing its nose at him, but it would spawn a lawsuit that would last longer than his term of office.
New York is a sanctuary city
New York is a sanctuary city I believe. Can you imagine Trump screwing over his hometown like that? The guy is a total piece of garbage but he still plans to live there, so I doubt he would try such a thing. And if he is going to do this, he'd have to do it to all the cities.
Yeah right
Trump doesn't love the poor people of the Bronx or Queens or wherever. He loves the NYC which is one of the capitals of the world full of globally important people and institutions because it makes him more important a player to be a 'someone' there. If Manhattan remains a home to the 1%, which it would, then he doesn't care about the rest of the city.
Yes, I can see it
At this point Trump and his cronies are set for life so his concern is zilch.
Most policies will be set by Ryan and Pence. They have no connection or concern about cities. If anything else, anything they can do to lower voter turn out and punish Democratic strongholds is fair game in their book.
Trump's BFF Chris Christie saw nothing wrong with screwing over his own NJ constituents in an effort to "punish" a mayor who didn't play by his rules. This is the sort of attitude we're going to see a lot of in the next four years.
By his cronies
You mean every Republican and Democrat in the Federal Government right?
vengeance
On PBS’s Frontline back in September(?), Omarosa, who was director of African-American outreach for Trump’s campaign, stated one of the reasons (chief among them) for his decision to run, resentments. There are clips of her segment on youtube. Her statements, and how she delivers them, is a bit chilling.
“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she says. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, whoever disagreed, whoever challenged him — it is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”
Omarosa went on to say that he keeps a vendetta *list* of ego-transgressors.
So pretty much, blue states are screwed & it's highly-likely funding will be stripped anyway whichever way you slice it.. So the question is, are we going to cower?
Your headline is misleading
"Walsh vows to protect immigrants"
Immigrants have nothing to worry about.
Illegal Immigrants with criminal backgrounds do
BPD vs. ICE?
President-elect Trump has stated the deportations will start with those who have committed crimes in addition to cutting the line to get here. Seems more than reasonable. Given law enforcement's overwhelming support for Trump and his immigration stance, does Walsh intend to send the Boston Police to interfere with ICE or will he keep the criminal illegals in his office like Assange in the embassy? Good luck!
"Deportations will start"
"Start" is a deeply troubling word.
Go walk across the border
Go walk across the border into Mexico and see what happens.
Not troubling - inaccurate
People who are here illegally and commit crimes are already subject to deportation - and the rate that this happens has been going up under Obama's two terms in office. In fact, it's quite a bit higher than the rate under his predessesor.
So there is no 'start' here. People who think that Trump will be doing something new here are just blinkered - either from bigotry or ideology.
That is false. ICE is simply
That is false. ICE is simply letting people through and giving them a date to show up for court. Well guess what happens when they don't show up?
How about the numerous people that actually do get deported and somehow make their way back into the country to then commit additional crimes? That needs to stop.
Bingo
It's not an immigration problem, it's an emigration problem.
citation? It looks like you're just making this up.
"Just letting people through"? As I stated above - blinkered by either bigotry or ideology.
Sanctuary Cities
Correct. And, the Sanctuary City thing is really an annoying term as it has no real definition. Legally there are many things that can be done to protect undocumented immigrants from unjust deportation and different cities will enact different measures. There is no "Certified Sanctuary City" sticker to put on your municipality's "welcome to..." signs like being a "Tree City, USA" member. This leaves the whole thing open to vaguely worded platitudes that pols cherish so dearly. It also leaves wiggle room for the orange, poo-flinging screech monkey President-elect to act tough but then not really follow through (and live with the consequences of pissing off businessmen who need cities to receive that money to function a certain way for them).
The question will be whether the OPFSM goes ham with very public, headline grabbing workplace raids à la Bianco factory in New Bedford or will it be less visible home raids. Will he follow Obama's lead and just be targeting people off a list (like all those who had enrolled in DACA) or is this just a big net and tough shit for all the by-catch?
And as far as the one note arguments about "If you're a LEGAL immigrant I don't see what the problem is" and discussions about "line-cutting," I'd tell those ethically challenged Inspector Javert's to GFY. Talking to you is like talking to a fucking wall.
"Interfere with ICE"
I snorted there, since ICE doesn't have the man power or funds to do their job as it is.
That's actually been a major part of sanctuary cities doing what they're doing; because ICE was trying to force state and city governments to do the feds job for them, without any funds to pay for large amounts of work required when you pull beat LEOs off town duties to become immigration enforcement.
I don't see that changing, because immigration is a harmless boogieman that serves a purpose. Further, congressional Republicans won't be funding ICE like needed for this type of enforcement, just as they won't be funding a wall.
Trumps about drown in the swamp.
He might want to speak with Obama first...
Obama deported around 2.4 million. Not sure how many are left.
Federal Funding for Boston
Federal Funding for Boston lol , Boston will not receive any federal funding for the next 8 years, say good bye to new city vehicles, say goodbye to the plowing program the city uses to hire private owners to plow streets, say goodbye to other wasted services the city has. I see Cutbacks in the future and layoffs!!
How about federal funds for
How about federal funds for the GLX?
That's fine dear
We should start withholding every dollar in taxes that our state never gets back from the Red State Pork Trough and money spent to take care of people thrown under the bus by "minimal government" morons like BrownuptheBack.
Chinese investors are picking
Chinese investors are picking up the tab. They own Boston.
How do you tell a legal immigrant apart from an illegal one?
I'm the person who commented about loving a legal immigrant. That relative has been in the country - legally - longer than I've been alive.
A question for those of you who think it's only "illegal immigrants" who need to be afraid: how do you think we tell the legal & illegal immigrants apart?
If you think it's as easy as asking for documents like driver's licenses: do you think all citizens should regularly be stopped and asked for their proof of citizenship? How else are you planning on policing this?
It's very hard to not just assume, from my point of view, that you haven't really thought through what you're advocating. You seem to be assuming that it's easy to tell people apart and that seems racist to me. Prove me otherwise.