Does not make a citizen out of you.
Of all the offenders that U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown has sentenced, a carpenter and union organizer who illegally immigrated from Mexico more than 15 years ago drew one of the biggest crowds.
Instead of spurning Jose Alfredo Cobian of Molalla as a threat to their jobs and wages, fellow union members packed Brown’s Portland courtroom last month in a gesture that reveals the changing relationship between organized labor and immigrant workers.
Many union members continue to support Cobian as he faces the possibility of deportation at a separate immigration hearing today.
How sweet. His union brothers and sisters didn’t go to work so they could support a criminal at his trial.
Sure, he was hardworking, but he was not honest; Not with his co-workers, with his union, his employers or the country that he was residing in. He’d been in the country since 1971 using the stolen birth certificate of a dead infant as his identity and was only caught when someone too smart to be working for the State Department saw something funny when Jose applied for a passport.
At least he’s willing to take it like a man.
“I had a chance to run but chose not to do it,” Cobian said during the Jan. 23 criminal sentencing. “I did something wrong, and when you do that, you pay for your mistakes. And that’s what I’m here to do. It’s something I want to teach my kids.”
Buh-bye, Jose. Hope you make it back the right way next time.
Found at Some Poor Schmuck