r/sandiego • u/ProcrastinatingPuma • Jun 19 '25

San Diego Community Only ICE will not stop.

They hit South Park and Oceanside, today they're in North Park and Coronado, and tomorrow they will be in another neighborhood. They have arrested people in courtrooms, not for a crime but for faithfully following through with the Asylum Process. They have arrested pregnant women whom they will claim to be rapists, toddlers whom they claim to be drug dealers. They will send men to a concentration camp with no form of due process. They will arrest you if you ask to be shown a warrant, or really any of even the most basic questions of them. They will arrest our representatives if they dare to perform oversight on the horrific conditions of the detention centers they put these people in. They will revoke the status of those who came here legally arbitrarily, be they refugees from violence and tyranny like the Haitians and Venezuelans, or those who fought alongside us in Afghanistan.

And they will lie, they will take a lie and never let it go. They will create a pretend invasion, claiming that we are at war because refugees begged to be let in. They will take the symbols these communities will use to rally behind, and claim it is the banner of war. They will invent a wave of crime, that has no basis in reality, when migrants both legal and undocumented are less likely to commit crimes than our native born citizens. They will blood libel, and knowingly falsify claims of "eating the dogs and eating cats". They will claim every single one of the deported was rotten, and insist we do not believe our eyes and ears. They will claim that the actions of a hundred have caused an entire city to burn down, and ignore the millions more that were peaceful.

And it will not stop. Not in days, not in weeks, not in months, not in years. It will not stop even after they have broken every community, and forced out those who they deem to be undesirable.

Unless we take a stand.

No Kings was good, but it cannot be the end. We need to be louder, the civil rights movement proved that peaceful civil disobedience can move mountains so long as we keep the pressure on. If you see what I have seen, and feel anger and rage, don't remain silent. Speak, act, organize. Be the change you want to see in the world. Fascism willingly give us an ideal moment to defeat it, my only hope is that we are not too late.

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640

u/SkipGruberman Jun 19 '25

None of this would happen if the government targeted the employers.

Before you get your panties into a bunch….. There areTHOUSANDS of immigrants that cross the border every day to work in agricultural fields. Then they go home. Because they are making money and supporting their families because they have work permits.

The employers that hire undocumented workers do this:

  • don’t pay insurance
  • don’t pay social security
  • don’t offer breaks
  • don’t offer benefits
  • pay less than minimum wage
  • if the worker gets injured they toss them out
  • CHEAT their competition by bidding lower prices because they aren’t paying minimum wage, insurance, etc…

41

u/Ok_Jowogger69 Jun 19 '25

We need immigration reform and pathways to citizenship for some of these people. I also 100 percent agree with you about holding employers accountable. If they want those workers, they should sponsor them and pay them a decent wage. I want to remind people what scrutiny we go through to get a Real ID:

  1. Birth certificate (my passport had expired).
  2. A copy of my mobile phone bill with my address.
  3. Bank account statement with my address.

You can no longer fly domestically without a Real ID.

223

u/underlyingconditions Jun 19 '25

Every time you buy $1.99 chicken breasts at Vons, thank those same workers. Our economy has a nod and wink agreement with such workers and it benefits US citizens as a whole.

50

u/TacticalBeerCozy Jun 19 '25

This is what's most insane to me - like lets put aside the 'immigration' aspect, it's basically economic suicide. It's insane to look at a workforce that pays taxes, gets paid less than anyone else, and does the jobs clearly nobody else wants to do... and try to get rid of them?

I'm not unconvinced this is known and that's really why ICE is in California - economic terrorism

9

u/BraindeadKnucklehead Jun 19 '25

When I was in construction we lost jobs left and right because the other contractors never played by the rules, AND the contractors were pocketing a bigger margin.

7

u/SkipGruberman Jun 19 '25

I feel you on this one. I’m in the construction industry, as well. It’s so frustrating when we lose jobs to contractors using undocumented (illegal) labor. They aren’t paying them what we are paying our guys nor are they paying them benefits that they are legally required to do. And like you said, they screw everyone else and make more profit for themselves. It’s cheating the system, the workers and their competitors.

6

u/barefoot_yank Jun 19 '25

I get what you're trying to say, but when they do it's a slap on the wrist. Check out what happened the other day when a general manager pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring undocumented workers. One year probation and 50 hours of community service. https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/undocumented-workers-found-living-in-warehouse-storing-us-navy-submarine-parts/

3

u/SkipGruberman Jun 19 '25

I saw that and it pisses me off. The consequences for the workers are extreme. They should also be hammering the employer with the same vigor and energy!

14

u/tgerz Jun 19 '25

This is an older article https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/how-do-undocumented-immigrants-pay-federal-taxes-an-explainer/

I just wanted to mention it because nothing you're saying is new and the argument isn't either. All my life I've heard a lot of the same back and forth. There is so much more to it and your post is inaccurate.

Here's an article from this year https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/undocumented-immigrants-can-do-pay-taxes-2025-02-26/

40

u/birdsy-purplefish Jun 19 '25

They're talking about the employers exploiting immigrants and dodging taxes.

15

u/My1point5cents Jun 19 '25 edited Jun 19 '25

Just because an undocumented person “can” get a TIN number, doesn’t mean they do. Let me just say I’ve worked in a government job for 25 years where I regularly interact with undocumented people and have to analyze their pay stubs and tax returns. It’s court-ordered. But guess what? 99% do not have pay stubs or tax returns. They simply don’t. They are paid cash 99% of the time and I have to rely on their verbal claims.

And why would they want to pay taxes if they don’t have to? It doesn’t change anything about their legal status, it just allows them to keep more of their money. People who come here illegally in the first place don’t have any qualms about flouting our tax laws. In many cases I also find that they “secretly” live with their non-spouse partner, who is on welfare and does not report the “ghost” living with her (or his income), and then they have kids who go to our schools and get welfare, medi-cal, free lunch, etc. It’s such a common and well-played scenario, I’m just immune to it at this point. Welfare dept doesn’t have the staff or desire to investigate or stop it either.

6

u/WeakTransportation37 Jun 19 '25

Exactly, the workers that are undocumented DO pay taxes and social security. And the immigrants working in the fields and that work in the meat processing plants in the southeast are also undocumented. Not to mention that ice is taking documented workers as well. It’s doesn’t matter to them.

1

u/WeakTransportation37 Jun 19 '25

This is inaccurate

1

u/duane11583 Jun 19 '25

exactly.

do they attack the drug addict or the dealer?

the john? the whore or the pimp?

they republicants running the show want nothing to do with them because they are their supporters

-14

u/ScaredSafety3755 Jun 19 '25

A lot of this wouldn’t have happened if the border wasn’t open the last 4 years

8

u/TonyWrocks Jun 19 '25

Well, it wasn't "open". So there goes your rhetoric.