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WASHINGTON, April 3 — During the heated immigration debate on Capitol Hill, some Republicans have portrayed immigrants as invaders, criminals and burdens to society. But for Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, the image that comes to mind is that of his mother and the day the authorities took her away.
Quote:
Doug Mills/The New York Times
PETE V. DOMENICI of New Mexico says his mother, foreground, was taken away by the authorities in 1943 when they discovered she was an illegal immigrant from Italy.
"You ought to try and give people with five years and more the opportunity for some kind of break."
"America has a way of bringing us in, welcoming us and allowing us to become a part of the whole."
It was 1943, World War II was raging, and federal agents were sweeping through Albuquerque hunting for Italian sympathizers. They found Mr. Domenici's mother, Alda V. Domenici, a curly-haired mother of four and a local PTA president who also happened to be an illegal immigrant from Italy. Mr. Domenici, who said he was 9 or 10 years old then, wept when his mother vanished with the agents in their big black car.
Now 73, Mr. Domenici surprised many of his colleagues when he stood up on the Senate floor last week and shared his story.
What laws have been broken by someone's parents or grandparents don't justify laws being broken.
My grandfather had a terrible speeding problem -- got lots of tickets -- but that doesn't mean I have a right to speed or that anyone else shouldn't have to obey traffic laws.
So -- what if some other senator gets up and describes a relative that embezzled money from a job and got hauled away to jail as a way to justify embezzlement?
Or fraud -- if another's aunt or uncle committed fraud -- how does that change anything?
Someone else might actually have a Nazi ancestor -- but that certainly justifies nothing.
PL, are you aware of the internment camps for Japanese in the United States?
Of course I am. And A lot of anti-illegals say "ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL, WHATS NOT TO UNDERSTAND!!!"
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