Salvation Army Changes Policy after Protests

According to the Sillicon Valley Mercury News.com, the Salvation Army no longer will be asking for a parent's social security number before giving toys to children. According to the article:

Juan Alanis, a spokesman for the Salvation Army's Houston branch, says the charity changed its policy Wednesday following a protest by Hispanic immigrants in Los Angeles. Alanis says the Christian organization never wanted to give the appearance of discrimination based on legal status and decided to not require a social security number to register for its Angel Tree program.

Thank goodness this policy has changed.

Salvation Army defends practice of asking for SSN

"Our work is not to verify immigration status," Juan Alanis, a spokesman for the Salvation Army in the Houston area, said Tuesday. "That's really not something that we're concerned with." So reports the Houston Chronicle. "It's a way to deter families from going to various Salvation Army centers and registering at each one," Alanis said.

This is a dumb policy because the SSN requirement has a disparate impact on undocumented children. There are other ways to prevent fraud without having to use a SSN. The charity could assign client numbers based upon other forms of identification and avoid this whole political mess.

If you want a good look at the seething level of hatred towards undocumented immigrants that some people have, just review the comments to the last two Houston Chronicle articles on this issue. It's scary stuff.

No Toys for You! Houston charities requiring proof of citizenship.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department, are asking for proof of citizenship before they distribute toys to needy children. You can read the full story here.

Because nothing shows the love of Christ like rigid legalism!

Why do Christians support Sheriff Joe?

Pregnant Latina Says She Was Forced to Give Birth in Shackles After One of Arpaio’s Deputies Racially Profiled Her. The story from the Phoenxi New Times.

For the first time in a while, I am too disgusted to write.

Consumer Alert: Beware "free English lesson" calls

The Texas Attorney General today issued a press release warning that," Spanish-speaking consumers are being targeted on their residential and mobile phones by scam artists offering a “free” English course. According to recent complaints to the Office of the Attorney General, callers are posing as employees of a purported nonprofit agency and claiming that call recipients could qualify for a “free” federal government English course. The scam artists ask unsuspecting customers for their personal information and the personal information of three friends as references." You can read the full press release here.

Deportation before Conviction: A question of priorities or money?

Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA ran it's Deporting Justice story last night. The transcript reads, "Hundreds of accused felons charged with murder, rape, assault and kidnapping have been deported from Dallas County without having to face criminal prosecution. News 8 has found that the practice to allow charged felons to circumvent the justice system occurs not only in Dallas, but in major cities throughout Texas and the nation."

The federal government generally makes it a priority to place illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes in custody and ship them back to their home country. Many times, according to the article, the government does not tell the prosecuting attorneys. Thus, criminal defendants are deported before a case can go to trial.

I have a quibble with the story. It fails to mention a major reason why county jails want the federal government to take their undocumented prisoners- money. It costs money for counties to house prisoners. So there is an incentive for county and city prisons to let their prisoners go into ICE's custody. It also costs money for the federal government to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. Thus, ICE has streamlined the process and tries to deport illegal aliens accused of serious crimes as quickly as possible.

CNBC's Darren Rovell: Don't celebrate NY Marthon Champion because he's not American- ok maybe he is but barely...

On Wednesday, November 4, 2009, CNBC Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell wrote an article that states in part:

It's a stunning headline: American Wins Men's NYC Marathon For First Time Since '82. Meb Keflezighi of the US celebrates his victory in the New York City Marathon November 1, 2009 in New York. Unfortunately, it's not as good as it sounds. Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.

The rest of his article then laments that Keflezighi is not "American born" and that "he's like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league." Thus, Rovell reasons the victory should not be a source of national pride.

A few hours and several angry emails later, Rovell wrote another column. This time he said, "Let me be clear: Meb Keflezighi is an American and any suggestion otherwise is wrong." But Rovell continued and said,"All I was saying was that we should celebrate an American marathon champion who has completely been brought up through the American system." Rovell then apologized that he was wrong about Keflezighi because the runner immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old and not deserving of being called a "ringer."

So I suppose if Mr. Keflezighi became a citizen at age 18, Mr. Rovell would consider him a ringer and not really an American hero?