by Rachel Barcelona

Created on: May 24, 2007

Hang on, I'm climbing onto my soap box. Okay, now that I'm safely settled, I have to vent!

Yes, American is the land of the free, home of the brave, the land of opportunity, yada yada yada...well, that is rapidly changing BECAUSE there are so many people in American who have arrived here via ILLEGAL lines. These illegals are changing the face and status of America, and not in a positive way.

Through the years, millions, no billions, of people have arrived in America through legal channels. Rich, poor, and in between have followed immigration law and years later, found themselves to be citizens of these United States. Likewise, billions have arrived illegally in America and our unemployment rates, taxes, crime rates have all sky-rocketed. I'm not saying that illegal immigrants are the PRIMARY reason for these increases, but they, in general, have a lot to do with it. Employers, in spite of strict laws against it, have rediscovered the money-savings available when you hire illegal immigrants. This causes those of us who are LEGAL to have more difficulty in finding honest work. Why, after all, pay an American $8 an hour, when you can pay an illegal alien $3 and still get good work?

Not just work, but I have personally been affected by this new and pathetic American trend...recently, my family lost two complete incomes when I was medically retired from the military and my husband changed jobs to move us closer to family because of my disability. Having done so, there was a huge lapse in the amount of income our family receives. So, I thought, "we're hurting now. I should go apply for food stamps until we get back on our feet." I was not happy about it. It's embarassing to be this far behind, but we have to feed the kids. So I go to the office and I sit there and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, my name is called and I, with head held low, walk into my interview only to discover we are not eligible for Food Stamps because the laws governing their issuance has changed since so many illegal aliens are now entitled to these benefits. By $15.00, yes $15.00, our family is not eligible. So what do we do? We cancelled our telephone service, turned off the central air (reminder, it's like 85 degrees in the day time where we live) to keep our electric bill lower, and reevaluated our situation. Already we cancelled our television service. Now, we sit all day and all night in a darkened home so I can afford to buy food. The interviewer even told me we would have qualified six months ago but because illegals are allowed to apply for benefits, they had to change the household income limits. Great...just great. I have worked hard serving this country and can't feed my children healthy food because we don't qualify because we are LEGALLY ENTITLED to be here!

I don't even need to talk about healthcare...What is America coming to? Land of opportunity seems to apply now to those who steal the benefits, not those who strive for them legally.

GET A GRIP BUSH...

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