As I fight for my right to resume commercial operations of my former business, I am proud to announce that Illegal Alien Report: Immigration Control and Border Security Services will not be among them. The reasons for this are that although I fully support the right of illegal immigration opponents to express their views, I have come to learn that the greatest threat to America comes from within, and I do not believe that undocumented immigrants are treated fairly by the system.
When I originally created IllegalAlienReport.com I did so as part of a business model that targeted controversial issues with new and unique ways to serve one side or another. I would then intentionally fan the flames of the controversy to increase traffic and revenue. I never really cared about immigration at all and immigration had never really impacted anyone in my life. Even though I am not a racist person, I knew that I would be called racist just for creating the thing, so I chose to promote it under the pseudonym George O'Brien. The name came from a Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza pretended to be a man named O'Brien to get a free limo ride home from the airport. While in the limo, George found out that the real O'Brien was a white supremacist about to make his first public appearance in front of a crowd of angry protesters. When the people in the limo find out that George was not the real O'Brien they forced him to the podium at gun point. Once at the podium George kept screaming I am not O'Brien, but nobody could hear him because of the protesters. As a result, he ended up on the news identified as Donald O'Brien: Leader of the Aryan Union. So, basically, by picking that name I made art imitate life by being identified on the news as O'Brien and being called racist without actually saying anything racist at all. To people that knew the truth it was quite funny.
It was not funny of course to Latinos and because I never really hung out with them that did not negatively impact my life at all. It wasn't until I went to prison that immigration became anything more to me than content for a website. My first prison was FCI Sheirdan and while there my cellmate was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico doing three years for illegal re-entry. Prison is a very segregated environment, but despite that he was the best friend I had there. The more I learned about how he had been treated the more disgusted I became. He had been in America since he was a child and had no home to speak of in Mexico. When he was caught selling heroin, because selling drugs is often the most lucrative employment opportunity for immigrants, his court appointed lawyer never told him that he would be deported if he pled guilty, and as a result he was deported once he got out of prison. He then came back and was shot by a police officer. The officer claimed that he had reached for a weapon, but my friend maintains that his gun was not loaded, that he never reached for it, and that someone he knows has a video tape proving that. His paperwork confirmed that the gun was not loaded and he had no ammunition on him at all. This gives credibility to his claim that no sane person would pull an unloaded gun on a cop. I promised to help edit the video for him when I got out, but while at a Halfway House they would not let me use computers and I eventually was re-incarcerated for assaulting a staff member in response to that ban. Ironically, one of the biggest frustrations on my mind was my desire to connect with his people and help with that tape, but I couldnt and I hope that he found someone to do it. He filed complaints with the City of Seattle against the officer and with my help (I speak good English) was able to obtain a response, but all he got was a denial in the mail with print-offs of news articles about his shooting titled things like Illegal Alien Shot by Police and saying stuff like will be deported. It seemed that they were taunting him and relying mostly on the ability to deport him as a means of keeping him from suing them. I never told my friend about Illegal Alien Report because I was worried that he would not want to be my friend anymore, but he knows me well enough that I think he would believe me when I say that my cause was speech and not immigration.
My celly was not the last person I came to know whose immigration story includes grossly severe punishment for the act. I always said that walking on someone elses lawn without permission is not very neighborly, so people should not cross the border without permission. Today I say that locking someone up for years just for walking on your lawn is not very neighborly either. It is in fact, far more un-neighborly. Like I said, I still support the right of people to speak their minds, in addition, I still support the idea for a border wall because I support the right of my neighbor to build a fence around his yard, but I do not wish to solicit information that could be used to track down and lock up immigrants now that Donald Trump is President. During the Obama administration, I categorized illegal immigration as being basically the same as any lawful activity that people have a problem with because if the law is not enforced then whatever illegal activity being complained about might as well be legal. The sites legitimacy in the eyes of its supporters depended on a lack of immigration enforcement because if the police actually wanted to pick those people up they would not want information capable of tipping them off being published on the web. I am glad to say that I am not aware of any incident in which information posted on the site was used to arrest anyone and now that it looks like that information might be used to do that I do not wish to be a part of it. After having been to prison I do not wish to do anything that could put anyone else at risk of being sent there. If you have a problem with that I support your right to say so.
Enjoy a clip from Seinfeld Season 3, The Limo embedded below. Other clips can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzNIWVSHPAk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-6UwDP23s4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7G7WOMcBDI