A STORY THAT MUST BE TOLD
May 11, 2008
BY Advocate editorial board
You might disagree with our decision to re-explore the tragedy of May 14, 2003.
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SURFACE OF IMMIGRATION TRAGEDY ONLY SCRATCHED THUS FAR
June 29, 2008
BY Advocate editorial board
Many public servants quietly do their job well.
Victoria Fire Department Capt. Donna Odem-Dollins is just one example. Her touching story is featured in today’s Advocate.
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A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRATION
June 30, 2008
BY VIC PADELFORD - GUEST COLUMNIST
This article began as a recent request to put the tragic deaths of the “Victoria 19” in some kind of larger historical framework. After a lot of thought, my conclusions can be summarized in three basic points.
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LEADERS, WRITERS ENCOURAGE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
June 30, 2008
BY HAL VON LUEBBART - GUEST COLUMNIST
Free speech can be a societally destructive thing when it is ungoverned by rules. When speech does not tend toward a constructive solution of issues, it is invariably destructive. Free speech demands responsibility, responsibility to consider — to know — what would be the consequence of what is being argued for should the argument succeed. Free speech without rules and, therefore, without responsibility leads to what we have today, a nation fragmented into scores, even hundreds, of factions screaming their credo gritos at one another and the nation as a whole.
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PREVENTING FUTURE VICTORIA 19S
July 27, 2008
BY RICK NORIEGA - GUEST COLUMNIST
Rick Noriega is from Houston and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Coupled with enhanced border security, our immigration policy needs to target both the supply and the demand sides of the immigration equation. In 2007 and 2008, 98% of all worksite immigration arrests were of undocumented workers, despite the fact that many employers and supervisors are knowingly employing illegal aliens. Employers and those who profit on the backs of the illegal alien population in our country need to be as much of the focus of immigration enforcement as the illegal workers themselves. Focusing on only one side of the equation ensures that our approach will remain both lopsided and ineffective.
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PUTTING THE BRAKES ON HUMAN SMUGGLING
July 27, 2008
BY JOHN CORNYN - GUEST COLUMNIST
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn represents Texas in Congress.
More than five years ago, our nation witnessed the deadliest human smuggling attempt in U.S. history. A man with no regard for human life attempted to smuggle 74 men, women, and children across the Mexican border and into Texas. The driver, Tyrone Williams, refused to turn the refrigeration unit on during the trip, despite the pleas of passengers. Authorities later testified the temperature rose to 173 degrees in the trailer, and the interior walls were marred with bloody hand prints and dents where passengers attempted to kick holes to allow for ventilation. In Victoria, about 100 miles short of his destination, the driver abandoned the truck and the immigrants. In all, 19 men, including a 5-year-old boy, died of dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
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PRO & CON
July 27, 2008
BY Advocate editorial board
PRO - Julio Lopez
Most immigrants come illegally to the United States for the same reasons you would, and it’s time more Americans empathize.
“Try to put yourself in our position. I’m trying to make something for my family,” said Julio Lopez, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant living in Houston.
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CON - William Yates
Illegal immigration is a federal crime that needs to be stopped, and unwanted visitors must be severely punished.
“It is time the people of the United States wake up and smell the roses because the roses stink,” said William Yates, a 49-year-old Beeville man.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Images were disturbing and unnecessary
July 8, 2008
It is very understandable that we would like to embrace and remember the tragic loses of the 19 lives perished. If in fact that is true, than let it be just that. At some point, it seems as if we as a society are starved for just another great story.
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