All About US – Never in America (12th of a series) >From my unpublished book. Rich Martin "The numeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Amendment IX Ratified Dec 15, 1791 PRIVACY
Most persons raised in our era have a clear view of what it means to be an American. For instance, we chuckle to ourselves when we see old films depicting citizens of European and communist countries groping for travel permits and/or working papers to comply with excessive government regulation. These scenes usually conjure up thoughts which make us thankful we Americans are not subject to that type of tyranny. Alas, the U.S. passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which became effective in mid 1987. It was passed, we were told, to stem the flow of illegal aliens into this country seeking our jobs ---a very noble goal in these trying economic times. As it was depicted to us, this new law was going to affect illegal immigrants and their employers who hired them, and had nothing to do with our freedom. Certainly, we never imagined a national edict where we would have to prove our identity and citizenship before being eligible for hire in this country. Technically, of course, we are not required to have government work papers. The new law to help I.N.S., aka, Immigration and Naturalization Service, [since renamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka, ICE] do its job and does not say all citizens must do anything: it requires all U.S. employers to maintain photocopies of certain government documents on file to prove identity and U.S. citizenship of all their employees. A subtle distinction, to be sure, a mere technicality. In their thought process, the govt isn’t forcing us, the govt is forcing employers to force us to ask to provide our right-to-work documents. Therefor, we don’t have work papers in this country. [I thought most employers were citizens too. Silly me.] For a majority of Americans, this new infringement is of little consequence considering the reward, illegal aliens will no longer be able to work in this country. [They said this with straight faces.] We have our drivers license and social security card handy. For some other Americans, however, it will be a hassle. For instance, many unemployed persons are not eligible for Food Stamps unless he/she can provide the above legal documentation required for employment. Others in the job market, (i.e., people who don’t drive or whose last name on the various documents don’t match due to marriage, etc) will have to find other ways to support themselves and their families until they can conform to the requirements of the new law. But I ask again: how many restrictions can be place on our freedom before we can no longer call ourselves Free? Have our rights been disparaged? Does anyone care? REMINDER. Original manuscript is over 20 years-old. Note: since then, these documents have also become required for air travel. All About US is archived at [EMAIL PROTECTED] The only thing worse than Waco is the ongoing cover-up. http://www.documentarywire.com/waco-the-big-lie/ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4298137966377572665 http://www.myspace.com/bdsda http://www.movie-forumz.org/showthread.php?t=35645&highlight=waco
