Comments on: The Immigration Problem (or is this about citizenship?) http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2007/11/13/the-immigration-problem-or-is-this-about-citizenship/ Political News, Progressive Commentary, Liberal Opinions and Common Sense Conversation... Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:14:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom Driscoll http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2007/11/13/the-immigration-problem-or-is-this-about-citizenship/comment-page-1/#comment-1113 Tom Driscoll Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:50:28 +0000 http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2007/11/13/the-immigration-problem-or-is-this-about-citizenship/#comment-1113 Hi Darrell I think this policy might make sense as policy. But it might also serve as a distraction in the debate. That might be the debate's fault and not the policy's. But terms like "the American dream of homeownership" give me the willies. I'm going through a foreclosure right now and if I'm lucky I'll find a house to rent or an apartment for me and my family. Am I suddenly less an American? A reduced citizen of some sort? I don't mean to make you feel bad. The housing policy you advocate might be sound. I'm just uncomfortable marrying wealth and citizenship as sides of the same coin. I really do believe that conflation is the biggest stumbling block to progress right now! Hi Darrell
I think this policy might make sense as policy. But it might also serve as a distraction in the debate. That might be the debate’s fault and not the policy’s.
But terms like “the American dream of homeownership” give me the willies. I’m going through a foreclosure right now and if I’m lucky I’ll find a house to rent or an apartment for me and my family. Am I suddenly less an American? A reduced citizen of some sort?
I don’t mean to make you feel bad. The housing policy you advocate might be sound. I’m just uncomfortable marrying wealth and citizenship as sides of the same coin.
I really do believe that conflation is the biggest stumbling block to progress right now!

]]> By: Darrell Prows http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2007/11/13/the-immigration-problem-or-is-this-about-citizenship/comment-page-1/#comment-1001 Darrell Prows Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:13:40 +0000 http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2007/11/13/the-immigration-problem-or-is-this-about-citizenship/#comment-1001 HOUSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS Hey Mr. and Mrs. “What part of illegal don’t you understand”, I know millions of undocumented Hispanics who would love to help bolster the value of your home, and all of the homes in your neighborhood, in your city, in your State, and in the United States. You’ve had your say on the fabricated issue of you having to subsidize them, but let’s hear how you weigh in on a proposal that has them subsidizing you. An additional 190,000 homes went into mortgage default in July, and this wave is forecast to not play itself out for another 12 to 18 months. The mortgage “products” used by something like 40% of recent homebuyers are no longer available at a time when many areas have record inventories of unsold homes, and declining real estate values. A veritable flood of additional foreclosure homes, then, is a crisis that has every informed observer struggling to describe a way out. We could create a program to sell foreclosure homes to undocumented aliens, lend them the money to make the purchase, require them to upgrade the properties to normal standards, and give them a conditional Green card as a reward/carrot. These mortgages, if the borrowers were legally allowed to be in the country, could be made pursuant to standard FHA guidelines regarding credit worthiness, employment/income, assets, and down payment requirements. If people currently living in the shadows of our country could get both legitimacy and participation in the American dream of home ownership, there would be a line outside of every mortgage company in the country the day after such a program was announced. Four previously illegals making ten dollars per hour is the same as one person making $40.00/hr and that is enough money to buy and maintain a house in this country. Plus, getting them into the program would mean that we would know exactly where they are at, so if they ever did stop performing on their part of the bargain, they would be a sitting target for deportation. It isn’t supposed to happen, but thousands of illegals already do own homes here, and their mortgage payment performance is normal. Make the rest legal, give them a chance, and we’ll take a lot of homes off of the market at record speed. HOUSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
Hey Mr. and Mrs. “What part of illegal don’t you understand”, I know millions of undocumented Hispanics who would love to help bolster the value of your home, and all of the homes in your neighborhood, in your city, in your State, and in the United States. You’ve had your say on the fabricated issue of you having to subsidize them, but let’s hear how you weigh in on a proposal that has them subsidizing you.

An additional 190,000 homes went into mortgage default in July, and this wave is forecast to not play itself out for another 12 to 18 months. The mortgage “products” used by something like 40% of recent homebuyers are no longer available at a time when many areas have record inventories of unsold homes, and declining real estate values. A veritable flood of additional foreclosure homes, then, is a crisis that has every informed observer struggling to describe a way out.

We could create a program to sell foreclosure homes to undocumented aliens, lend them the money to make the purchase, require them to upgrade the properties to normal standards, and give them a conditional Green card as a reward/carrot. These mortgages, if the borrowers were legally allowed to be in the country, could be made pursuant to standard FHA guidelines regarding credit worthiness, employment/income, assets, and down payment requirements.

If people currently living in the shadows of our country could get both legitimacy and participation in the American dream of home ownership, there would be a line outside of every mortgage company in the country the day after such a program was announced. Four previously illegals making ten dollars per hour is the same as one person making $40.00/hr and that is enough money to buy and maintain a house in this country. Plus, getting them into the program would mean that we would know exactly where they are at, so if they ever did stop performing on their part of the bargain, they would be a sitting target for deportation.

It isn’t supposed to happen, but thousands of illegals already do own homes here, and their mortgage payment performance is normal. Make the rest legal, give them a chance, and we’ll take a lot of homes off of the market at record speed.

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