Brown illegals look like Ahnold

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In our earlier discussion about immigration reform, many readers asked “What does this have to do with us?” and “Why should legal South Asian-Americans care about illegal immigrants?” The short answer is an apparent non-sequitur: Ahnold Schwarzenegger.

Once an illegal, now a governor, someday a President?

Ahnold’s immigration history is similar to that of many illegal desis. Like them, he didn’t wade across the Rio Grande. Instead he entered the country legally and then violated the terms of his visa.

Ahnold first came to the US in 1968 on a B-1 Visa with the following rules:

“a non-immigrant in B-1 status may not receive a salary from a U.S. source for services rendered in connection with his or her activities in the United States” [Link]

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However, in his own autobiography, Schwarzenegger said that bodybuilding supremo Joe Weider gave him an apartment, a car, and a salary of $200/week during this period.

A year later, Weider was able to sponsor Schwarzenegger for a H-2 visa, which allowed Schwarzenegger to work, but only in the area related to his visa. However,

…he violated the terms of his H-2 work visa by launching this bricklaying business in 1971… immigration attorneys across the country said Schwarzenegger would have been barred by visa restrictions from starting his own business… “That would be considered a violation of your status, and he would have been subject to deportation.” [Link]

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p>None of this caught up with him though. We all know the Schwarzenegger Cinderella story – he made it big in bodybuilding, endorsements, real estate, and movies. He was never deported, and instead became a US citizen in 1983 (he still retains Austrian citizenship on the side). He married a Kennedy, hobnobbed with Reagan and Bush, was elected Republican governor of California, and is now angling to become the President of the United States. All of this was possible precisely because his previous immigration irregularities were overlooked. However, if the Sensenbrenner bill (1, 2) becomes law, others will be denied this chance and become felons.

Honestly, I have less sympathy for people who (like Ahnold) sneak in as tourists and overstay. They make it very hard for people to legitimately obtain a tourist visa; it took my uncle years to be able to visit us in the USA because the INS thought that he would leave his wife, children, house and business in Delhi all for the opportunity to live in Amreeka.

My concern is with the student who takes an off campus job for a bit of extra money, or who fails to take enough classes and whose status slips. I wonder about the tech worker in Silicon Valley who takes a bit too long to switch between jobs, and whose status lapses. I worry about legal and employed people who fail to inform the INS of their new address within 10 days of a move, and who fall out of status [Link]. All these people would become felons under the Sensenbrenner bill, and if any of them are your roommates, you’d be committing a crime by cosigning a lease with them. The bill’s provisions are broad and

… could endanger advocates, social workers, lawyers, medical professionals, and others because the bill expands the scope of the federal criminal offenses of of smuggling, transporting, and/or harboring undocumented immigrants. [Link]

Finally, if somebody doesn’t like the way an illegal immigrant looks, they have few rights:

The bill would enhance the Department of Homeland Security’s powers to detain individuals considered dangerous indefinitely, with review every six months [Link]

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p>At this point we’ve gone from talking about Ahnold to describing something out of one of his movies, except that he’s not here to save the day.

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p>Here’s my bottom line: I’m too American to abandon the rule of law. That’s why I care about illegals.

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The analysis of Schwarzenegger’s immigration status comes from: No amnesty for Arnold, he’s an “illegal alien” (I’m Kaavya-proofing myself)
Related posts: Immigration smokescreen, A Day Without a South Asian American: Boycott May 1st

116 thoughts on “Brown illegals look like Ahnold”

  1. Well researched post- but I find the ahnold face staring at me each time I refresh SM a little, uh… scary? 🙂

  2. One Word – He is White and can getaway with lot of it. It’s kinda harsh but this is a reality in the US.

  3. Two points:

    On a B-1, you can’t pay a sponsored person but you can cover expenses (lodging, travel and expenses – actual or perdiem). So, I am not sure if the $ 200/wk constitutes a salary or not.

    Regarding the illegal immigration situation – you can oppose the Sensenbrenner bill and also oppose Amnesty. You make it as if is a either you are for the bill or for amnesty.

  4. Great post. You can also add to the category of “illegal immigrants” anyone who’s not a citizen and didn’t report a change of address to the Attorney Genderal within ten days of moving at some point in the past 50 years. Sound like anyone you know? 🙂

    But the question remains once you acknowledge that the House bill is terrible, what your concrete strategy is:

    1) Try to amend existing Senate legislation with pressure both inside and outside the beltway or 2) Start adopting the tack that none of this stuff is amendable to anything reasonably “pro-immigrant.”

    I lean towards #2. See the NNIRR statement here, which I’ve presented before:

    We stand together as immigrant, faith, social justice, labor, peace, human and civil rights organizations and other concerned communities to support human and civil rights for all immigrants and to oppose the immigration “reform” proposals presently in the U.S. Senate. We oppose H.R. 4437, the immigration bill passed in the House of Representatives in December, as well as all of the compromise bills presented in the Senate.

    And then the other question becomes what you do with the 43(?) states that are trying to pass their own legislation to make life hell for immigrants.

  8. HereÂ’s my bottom line: IÂ’m too American to abandon the rule of law. ThatÂ’s why I care about illegals.

    Boom boom dishoom dishoom! Well put, that.

    taz (#1):

    Well researched post- but I find the ahnold face staring at me each time I refresh SM a little, uh… scary? 🙂

    Yeah, how about a picture of the back of his head?

  9. I am not sure if the $ 200/wk constitutes a salary

    Back when Ahnuld made those billz, that was a lot more money than it is today.

  10. On a B-1, you can’t pay a sponsored person but you can cover expenses (lodging, travel and expenses – actual or perdiem). So, I am not sure if the $ 200/wk constitutes a salary or not.

    Unless the lodging, travelling, compensation were mere gifts, any payments made to Arnold for his ‘work’, in his case exhibition, promotion etc. of body building would constitute getting paid for ‘work’, which would violate his B-1 status.

  11. well, i’m not a lawyer or a law student. But i know other SMers are. wanted to note here that violation of visa status does not automatically mean “illegal” according to INS. You are only “out of status”. Such a violator gets into illegal mode depending on duration of violation and severity of it – basically, not every person who violates a visa is illegal, technically speaking.

  12. You raise some useful points – these are dealt with in the article that I’m citing but I left them out for reasons of conciseness:

    In his 1977 autobiography, Schwarzenegger stated that he worked out an agreement with Joe Weider to come to America. Under this agreement, Schwarzenegger provided Weider information about how he trained, while Weider provided Schwarzenegger with an apartment, a car, and payment of a weekly salary.(of $200 a week) [Link]

    The above is clearly a quid-pro-quo exchange of money for services and neither a gift nor merely expenses for food and lodging ($10,000 a year is what an entry level professional made in 1968).

    H-2 visas … restrict holders from doing work beyond what is explicitly approved by the federal government “Whether it’s one hour or 40 hours a week, it was considered employment,” said Don Ungar, a San Francisco attorney who has practiced immigration law since 1962. “That would be considered a violation of your status, and he would have been subject to deportation.” [Link]

    Both these quotes are in the original article, however they are in turn taken from other sources, and it is these sources I cite above.

  13. I feel it is my duty to mention the true immigrant menace among us: Yakov Smirnov

  14. B1-visa rules were extremely vague (on purpose, thanks to the Imm.Lawyer lobby). Most software engineers in the early-mid 90’s came on a B1-visa, received a “maintenance fee” (on which they paid no taxes or Social Security) for working. Typically, this went on for upto a year of coming to the US, after which they were told that the charade could not continue for long and they had to switch to H1-visa.

    But, it was legal. INS wisened up to this in the late 90’s and clamped down on B1’s altogether. However, desis, resourceful as ever, started doing this under the L1 visa which continues till today. And yes, that’s legal too. Until of course, INS wisens up again.

    M. Nam

  15. …angling to become the President of the United States.

    Well, Arnold cannot become the President of the United States. The constitution clearly states the criterion for a US President. They are as follows:

    It is found in the Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

    Source: http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP0601.htm

    Unless there is a constitutional amendment to let Arnold become the President he won’t be calling the White House his permanent residence anytime soon.

  16. Click on the phrase “angling to become President” and it will take you to this news story:

    The Republican governor said anyone who has been a U.S. citizen for at least 20 years — as he has — should “absolutely” be able to seek the presidency. A constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, would make that possible. [Link]

  17. Arnold could never be President because I’ve seen his ass. In Terminator his naked ass is visible. When he lands back on Earth in 1984 or whenever. How can you have a President of the USA who has shown his ass to millions? How could he negotiate with Iran or Japan when their leaders have seen his ass and so have an advantage over them, whose asses he has not seen?

  18. Is it the visibility of the ass or the quality of it that counts? Maybe he can intimidate the North Koreans into giving up their nukes, with just the globularity of his gluteus. Hmmm … maybe DD should become President …

  19. The main problem with this post is that pointed out by #3 above. And, almost all of the high profile groups and people against HR4437 are in favor of either a massive amnesty or something approaching open borders.

    And, some of those organizing or involved in the recent rallies don’t have this country’s best interests at heart. They include individuals with links to the Mexican government, Communist/Socialist/far-left groups, irredentist groups, paramilitary racial organizations, and just plain ol’ ethnic hustlers.

  20. Ennis

    How can Ahmedenijad take him seriously when he has seen the USA Presidents ass in all its glory? Speaking as a man with repressed gay tendencies I can also say that I don’t want a president whose butt I have seen and personally fantasised about pinching when I watched Terminator for the third time a couple of years ago on a late Sunday evening after I broke up with my girl. I was at a low point in my life and very confused, had some personal shit going on. But that’s beside the point. It’s the president and we cant have seen the President’s ass. It’s alright to hear about his sticking a cigar up the whoopsy of an intern, but we cannot have actually seen his naked ass in real life.

    Getting back to serious things. When Arnie goes to the UN to announce war on Iran, and everyone laughs at him and says ‘We’ve seen your ass, Mr President. You cannot declare war on us, we have seen your tight muscular buttocks, your big round naked ass, you can’t declare war on a country who’se leader’s ass we have not seen’

    As I say, I don’t want the President of Japan walking into a trade negotiation with the leader of the free world with such a psychological advantage. Either all leaders show their ass after Arnie becomes President (they can do this at a press conference photo op at the G7 meeting – Blair, Putin, Chirac, even Merkel the female Chancellor has to show hers) – or Arnie weakens our strategic position.

    In fact if Arnie becomes President we should declare war and bomb any country whose leader refuses to show their ass – just so everything is equal again.

  21. Great post Ennis !! I like that ironic sounding “bottom-line” that you highlighted.

    As I have learned (from debates on this blog) that all illegals may not be seeking citizenship and asking for “amnesty” is a political loser for both parties in the short term, I hope that some thing on the lines of “Guest worker” gets passed.

  22. In all seriousness, as someone who follows CA politics closely, Arnold is no longer angling to become POTUS. His approval ratings amongst both Republicans and Californians in general are fairly low — he suffered a serious beating from the special election last fall and his chances of even being re-elected as governor are diminishing.

  23. post #20: in the words of k.banya (from seinfeld): “That’s Gold, Jerry. Gold!”

  24. I feel it is my duty to mention the true immigrant menace among us: Yakov Smirnov

    In Soviet Russia, immigration gets you! Oh wait…that’s here too 🙂

  25. sigh …if we knew then what we know now in order to get that highly coveted pass to the Promise Land, perhaps our JAVA/C++/Unix resumes might have been worded a bit differently …

    SHIVA KRISHNAMURTHY

    6663 Viswamitra, Naval Park 91-666-000000 (India) Village 530014, India

    OBJECTIVE: A challenging Weightlifting apprentice position that would utilize my strength and analytical skills and provide me with an opportunity to further my knowledge of powerlifting

    PLATFORMS: Golds, NYSC, Bally’s Total Fitness, Lucille Roberts

    LANGUAGES: Jumping Jack, Sit-ups, Squat Thrusts, Wind Sprints, Preacher Curls

    EDUCATION:

        BS in Physiology and Physical Educationn   University of Madras, Chennai, India.
First Class        Graduated in '83

    EXPERIENCE:

        * Strength Consultant

    National Institute of Information Technology, Vishakapatnam (8 Months)

Bench Press - 120 kg (264 pounds) for three reps - 1997-05-??

Barbell Curl - 60 kg (132 pounds) for eight reps - 1998-08-??

* Lecturer

    Dr. M.G.R Engineering College, Chennai, India (10 Months)
    Courses:

    * Introduction to Exercise    : 1 semester 

Triceps Dumbbell Extension - 62 kg (136 pounds) for four reps - 1998-06-??
Incline Dumbbell Press - 50 kg (110 pounds) for six reps - 1997-11-30
Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 35 kg (77 lbs) for eight reps - 1997-05-23
Squat - 160 kg (352 pounds) for four assisted "butt to a bench" reps
Deadlift - 200 kg (440 pounds) for three reps - 1997-07-01
  26. In all seriousness, as someone who follows CA politics closely, Arnold is no longer angling to become POTUS. His approval ratings amongst both Republicans and Californians in general are fairly low — he suffered a serious beating from the special election last fall and his chances of even being re-elected as governor are diminishing.

    That never stops a real politician – you know that 🙂

  27. maybe DD should become President …

    with Sir-Mix-A-Lot as my VP? Unlike Aah-nuld, I was born in the US, so I can run, baby. My platform will be liberty, chocolate, and booty-poppin for all. Chickpea will be my Surgeon General. And Siddartha is my Secretary of State. Instead of “help is on the way” I will say “dishoom is on the way”…

  28. They include individuals with links to the Mexican government, Communist/Socialist/far-left groups, irredentist groups, paramilitary racial organizations, and just plain ol’ ethnic hustlers.

    Oh no, Communists, Socialists, far left groups!! The Evil Empire has not been eliminated with the fall of the USSR. Lefties are still attempting to undermine/overthrow the Leader of the Free World, the US.

    And, some of those organizing or involved in the recent rallies don’t have this country’s best interests at heart.

    I wish we could say the same about (ex)illegal immigrants who are right wingers, like Arnold, and some Cubans, who don’t have “this country’s best interests at heart”.

    Desi Dancer: Can I, Cheap Ass Desi, be your Secretary of Treasury?

  29. In all seriousness, as someone who follows CA politics closely, Arnold is no longer angling to become POTUS. His approval ratings amongst both Republicans and Californians in general are fairly low — he suffered a serious beating from the special election last fall and his chances of even being re-elected as governor are diminishing.
    That never stops a real politician – you know that 🙂

    Ennis, you only need two words to confirm your point: “George Pataki.” (And all of you thought Kaavya was a good opportunity for schadenfreude? Heh heh. Just you wait for the New Hampshire primary….)

  31. Who’d have thought that Predator had two future high profile politicians in its cast. First Jesse “I ain’t got time to bleed”Ventura, then Ahnuld… Carl Weathers might want to try his hand at running for governor.

  32. DD:

    My platform will be liberty, chocolate, and booty-poppin for all. Chickpea will be my Surgeon General. And Siddartha is my Secretary of State.

    hell yes! that’s a program i’d be happy to, uh, spread around the world!

  33. My platform will be liberty, chocolate, and booty-poppin for all. Chickpea will be my Surgeon General. And Siddartha is my Secretary of State.

    Sid, DD: Calm down, you two. I’m down for “liberty and chocolate”, but “booty poppin”? I don’t think so.

  34. Carl Weathers might want to try his hand at running for governor.

    He’s busy working with the US military. He trains mock Iraqi insurgents for simulated counterinsurgency exercises:

    Today, in a desert region nearly the size of Rhode Island, the network of 12 virtual Iraqi villages are eerie in their likeness to the real things. That is the idea, of course: that American soldiers will find the environment so real that they will make their mistakes here first, so they do not make them in Iraq. One of the villages is Medina Jabal, a hamlet of wooden huts and gravel roads at the base of a ravine about 35 miles from Death Valley. It is a marriage of military technology and Hollywood fakery; some 350 Arabic-speaking Iraqi-Americans and plainclothes Nevada National Guardsman live here almost year-round to offer American trainees what one officer described as “a vortex of chaos.” The insurgents even get acting lessons, coached by Carl Weathers, best known for his portrayal of the boxer Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” films. [Link]

  35. The insurgents even get acting lessons, coached by Carl Weathers, best known for his portrayal of the boxer Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” films

    Apollo Creed: See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man.

    Eye of the tiger, marines.

    smallprint: Quote from Rocky III

  36. Oh no, Communists, Socialists, far left groups!! The Evil Empire has not been eliminated with the fall of the USSR. Lefties are still attempting to undermine/overthrow the Leader of the Free World, the US.

    if nazis marched, we would notice, even though nazism is 50 years gone. scape-goating lefty groups as communists, that’s not cool, but let’s not diminish that communism was a barbaric system in much of the world.

  37. I know some very nice communists who care a lot about human rights. Have you ever met a nice Neo-Nazi? I’m not excusing the mass murders and other brutalities that happened under many communist regimes, I’m just saying that the association isn’t as strong in the US or Europe. A lot less variance in terms of what neo-Nazis stand for.

  38. cheap-ass desi- if you’re not down with booty, definitely this is not the party (political party) for you 😉

    Cicatrix will be my Chief Minister of Style

  39. I know some very nice communists who care a lot about human rights. Have you ever met a nice Neo-Nazi? I’m not excusing the mass murders and other brutalities that happened under many communist regimes, I’m just saying that the association isn’t as strong in the US or Europe. A lot less variance in terms of what neo-Nazis stand for.

    You can compare anybody against neo-Nazis and come smelling roses. If you take the history of Communism and the places they have been governing, it ain’t looking so good.

  40. Apollo Creed: See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man.

    That was 1982, this is now:

    You or nobody ain’t never gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit… it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward…how much you can take, and keep moving forward. If you know what you’re worth, go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit. Link

  41. Razib:

    let’s not diminish that communism was a barbaric system in much of the world. Yes, and let’s not forget that capitalism can be a barbaric system in much of the world as well.

    Desi Dancer: cheap-ass desi- if you’re not down with booty, definitely this is not the party (political party) for you 😉

    Yeah, I’m not down for “booty”, especially since I’m a female, so I guess I’ll go be Sec. of Treasury somewhere else!!!! Your regime reeks of testosterone. This is not the environment for Cheap Ass Desi. But I wish your crew the best of luck in running the show.

  42. CAD,

    Yeah, I’m not down for “booty”, especially since I’m a female, so I guess I’ll go be Sec. of Treasury somewhere else!!!! Your regime reeks of testosterone.

    Er…..DesiDancer is a woman 😉

  43. Er…..DesiDancer is a woman 😉

    Umm… ok.

    Maybe that’s why “chocolate” was included in the new political platform. I was wondering why a guy would include chocolate. Chocolate is a female thing (generally). Images of Desi men eating chocolate and “booty poppin” arose in my mind. Or men plying women with chocolate so as to seduce them into having their “booty popped”.

    I don’t know where I am going with this….

  44. CAD,

    Do a ‘search’ here on SM for the term “Sepia Mutiny Caboose Calibre-Estimation Model 2006”, and everything will suddenly become very clear to you 😉

  45. I’d like to nominate some more candidates for the DD-Chickpea-Siddartha junta:

    Kush Tandon — Ministry of Pimpness. Anna — Ministry of Humanitarianism. MoorNam — Ministry for Vice and Virtue. Punjabi Boy — Ministry of Heroes Missing-in-Action. Razib — Ministry of Encyclopaedic Knowledge, Obscure Terminology, Secularism, and Hot Blonde Scandinavian-looking Women. Dhaavak, DesiDudeInAustin, BongBreaker, and myself — Ministry of Snark. We’ll be like those grumpy old men sitting in the balcony in The Muppets, constantly cracking jokes.

    All hail the Project for the New Desi Century 😉

  46. … that capitalism can be a barbaric system in much of the world …

    CAD, can you elaborate ?

  47. CAD, ooooh– I’m using booty popping in the sense of “Rize”, as in pop and lock motion. Not as in… um, ew. Yeah, I could see why you wouldn’t sign up for that campaign. 🙂

    Jai, I accept your submissions… except for the slight problem where you, Bongsy and Dhavaak would need to be US citizens. However, as a benevolent dictator, I would let you cut in line after our party wins the election. So no matter.

  48. Desi Dancer– Oh, well then, let me be Secretary of Treasury. As my name indicates, I’m cheap as hell and I will put the defecit down in this country. Restricted national spending (psst…except for us, though… but don’t say anything).

  49. well trained in the budgeting skills of a kanjusi desi father? You’re in!

  50. DesiDancer,

    Jai, I accept your submissions… except for the slight problem where you, Bongsy and Dhavaak would need to be US citizens.

    Seeing as this is a desi political party, surely that “minor” problem could be circumvented with a suitable bribe donation to the DD Alliance for World Conquest DD Humanitarian Party for Global Peace & Benevolence ?

    Neo-Cons, make room. Here come the Neo-Browns/Neo-Desis.