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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000
#7465245 - 09/28/07 06:40 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- For 11 years, Pedro Zapeta, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, lived his version of the American dream in Stuart, Florida: washing dishes and living frugally to bring money back to his home country.
Two years ago, Zapeta was ready to return to Guatemala, so he carried a duffel bag filled with $59,000 -- all the cash he had scrimped and saved over the years -- to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
But when Zapeta tried to go through airport security, an officer spotted the money in the bag and called U.S. customs officials.
"They asked me how much money I had," Zapeta recalled, speaking to CNN in Spanish.
He told the customs officials $59,000. At that point, U.S. customs seized his money, setting off a two-year struggle for Zapeta to get it back. Video Zapeta describes how he lost his money »
Zapeta, who speaks no English, said he didn't know he was running afoul of U.S. law by failing to declare he was carrying more than $10,000 with him. Anyone entering or leaving the country with more than $10,000 has to fill out a one-page form declaring the money to U.S. customs.
Officials initially accused Zapeta of being a courier for the drug trade, but they dropped the allegation once he produced pay stubs from restaurants where he had worked. Zapeta earned $5.50 an hour at most of the places where he washed dishes. When he learned to do more, he got a 25-cent raise.
After customs officials seized the money, they turned Zapeta over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS released him but began deportation proceedings. For two years, Zapeta has had two attorneys working pro bono: one on his immigration case, the other trying to get his money back.
"They are treating me like a criminal when all I am is a working man," he said.
Zapeta's story became public last year on CNN and in The Palm Beach Post newspaper, prompting well-wishers to give him nearly $10,000 -- money that now sits in a trust.
Robert Gershman, one of Zapeta's attorneys, said federal prosecutors later offered his client a deal: He could take $10,000 of the original cash seized, plus $9,000 in donations as long as he didn't talk publicly and left the country immediately.
Zapeta said, "No." He wanted all his money. He'd earned it, he said.
Now, according to Gershman, the Internal Revenue Service wants access to the donated cash to cover taxes on the donations and on the money Zapeta made as a dishwasher. Zapeta admits he never paid taxes.
CNN contacted the U.S. Attorneys office in Miami, U.S. Customs and the IRS about Zapeta's case. They all declined to comment. Don't Miss
* Census: Education divide among immigrant groups
Marisol Zequeira, an immigration lawyer, said illegal immigrants such as Zapeta have few options when dealing with the U.S. government.
"When you are poor, uneducated and illegal, your avenues are cut," he said.
On Wednesday, Zapeta went to immigration court and got more bad news. The judge gave the dishwasher until the end of January to leave the country on his own. He's unlikely to see a penny of his money.
"I am desperate," Zapeta said. "I no longer feel good about this country."
Zapeta said his goal in coming to the United States was to make enough money to buy land in his mountain village and build a home for his mother and sisters. He sent no money back to Guatemala over the years, he said, and planned to bring it all home at once.
At Wednesday's hearing, Zapeta was given official status in the United States -- voluntary departure -- and a signed order from a judge. For the first time, he can work legally in the U.S.
By the end of January, Zapeta may be able to earn enough money to pay for a one-way ticket home so the U.S. government, which seized his $59,000, doesn't have to do so.
cnn.com
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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wilshire
free radical


Registered: 05/11/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: SE PA
Last seen: 14 years, 3 days
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: Diploid]
#7465265 - 09/28/07 06:48 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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if he's on the up and up, that's so sad.
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afoaf
CEO DBK?



Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: Diploid]
#7465460 - 09/28/07 08:00 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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didn't pay taxes while he worked in the US...that's a big blemish on his story, IMO.
at the same time, considering all the circumstances, I think any american would be generally displeased with the notion of confiscating all of this man's money.
that's just a farce.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: afoaf]
#7465478 - 09/28/07 08:06 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I wonder how much money would be left if they deducted back taxes and penalties and let him keep the rest.
BTW, aside from not paying taxes, he was here for 11 years! and didn't learn to speak English. WTF? Shit like that understandably pisses off a lot of Americans re illegal immigration. It's not uncommon either. I live in the Miami / Fort Lauderdale area and see it every day.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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DNKYD
Turtle!

Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: Diploid]
#7465672 - 09/28/07 09:18 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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11 years in the country and he still doesn't know shit about our laws? Take the taxes he owes, give him whatever remains and kick his ass out of the country.
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DieCommie


Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: DNKYD]
#7465708 - 09/28/07 09:30 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
DNKYD said: 11 years in the country and he still doesn't know shit about our laws? Take the taxes he owes, give him whatever remains and kick his ass out of the country.
Sounds good to me
edit- hmm, but he did commit tax evasion and broke numerous laws. On second thought I would fine him a few thousand (above what he owes) and make him serve a little time before kicking him out.
Edited by Qubit (09/28/07 09:36 PM)
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs




Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 3 months, 10 days
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: DieCommie]
#7466640 - 09/29/07 08:33 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
make him serve a little time before kicking him out.
I say just kick him out after giving him his money after taxes and penalties. Throwing him in jail isn't going to make anything better and will just waste taxpayer money.
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole


Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: DieCommie]
#7466798 - 09/29/07 09:45 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Some of this is quite suspect. For instance, they say he paid no taxes and yet he had pay stubs. If he had pay stubs, he worked on the books and taxes were taken out. What he probably didn't do is file tax returns, which is a no no anyway but not nearly as big a deal as not paying. Who knows, maybe he was due a refund. He should pay the fines for failure to file and then get the money back except....
The money was a result of his illegal activity. We allow immigration to people who want to be Americans. We allow temporary workers to apply for work permits. We do not allow any asshole to come here and suck up our resources and then return home with their ill gotten swag. $5.50 an hour? Working 60 hours a week that amounts to about $17,000 a year. Deduct for soc sec and med and tiny taxes probably knocks that back to $15,000 per or a total of $165,000 take home. Subtract the $59,000 and he basically lived for eleven years working 60 hours a week on about $900 a month. $30 a day for every expense. Food was probably free but room, transportation, clothing, everything on $30 a day? Something doesn't add up. And that's if he worked 3,000 hours a year, which is a lot. Can you live on $5.50 an hour with all those extra hours? Sure. Can you put away more than 1/3 of that? I doubt it.
And fuck him for learning zero English, that's bullshit. My guess is that he availed himself of a tremendous amount of social services and now wants to fuck off with his subsidized swag. It's also my guess that this journalist is a retard who heard how little he made and how much he saved and asked no questions whatsoever. Willing suspension of disbelief indeed, especially if it drives your agenda. Have we seen this before? Well yes, Dan Rather comes to mind and Scott Thomas Beauchamp and everybody who bought into that fake "soldier" who just got sent to prison. "Lived frugally"? Maybe the pay stubs were just a portion of his income and he really didn't pay taxes at all. This fish stinks.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar



Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,926
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: zappaisgod]
#7467063 - 09/29/07 11:33 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Edited by EntheogenicPeace (01/01/18 08:04 PM)
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole


Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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For 11 years this man either did or did not pay taxes according to the law, which taxes, based on his meager income, would come nowhere near covering his share of the collective services offered by our government and made zero effort to assimilate himself into America. The richest 10% pay 50% of the taxes. His share would be virtually nil, if he did in fact pay any at all. He also refused to apprise himself of the laws of the nation in which he was accumulating this wealth, by as yet unclear means. I say again fuck him and he's got some real explaining to do and not to an utterly gullible journalist with a sob story to sell about the big meanie man.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar



Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,926
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: zappaisgod]
#7467201 - 09/29/07 12:32 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Edited by EntheogenicPeace (01/01/18 08:05 PM)
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Fuck them all.
Yes, fuck everyone equally, all humans.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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zorbman
blarrr



Registered: 06/04/04
Posts: 5,952
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Quote:
..fuck that guy & fuck all immigrants who don't want to assimilate into the fattest culture in the history of the world.
Would it be okay with you if someone stole thousands of dollars from a large corporation? After all, they're making tons of money..they won't miss a few measly bucks, right?
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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wps
Well-PaidScientist


Registered: 09/22/07
Posts: 579
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: zorbman]
#7467448 - 09/29/07 02:00 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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subtract taxes and fines, and deport the gentleman with the remainder of his funds.
case closed.
only a horrible, bungling bureaucracy would take more than five minutes to make that decision and enact it.
its the maddening delay of bureaucratic procedure that makes governments so frustrating to deal with sometimes.
but whatareyagonnado?
-------------------- "America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve." - Tom Morello
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RandalFlagg
Stranger

Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Quote:
EntheogenicPeace said: P.S. It's good to know that you so-called 'libertarians' are so strongly opposed, on principle, etc...etc..
zappa isn't a libertarian.
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DieCommie


Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Quote:
EntheogenicPeace said:
Quote:
...and made zero effort to assimilate himself into America.
Ok, thanks. That's what I wanted to hear... just to make sure there's no hypocrisy or double standards. I know when the European colonialists came to the Americas, they strived to so hard to learn the native languages & assimilate into the existing culture.
Yea, and that was bad too. No body is saying that what the Europeans did was right, it wasnt. We dont want to repeat this horrible history do we?
I hate to use a stupid old cliche, but this is a case where two wrongs dont make a right. Mexicans doing to modern americans what eupopeans did to native americans is not justice and is not right.
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole


Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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What crap. Move on from this poor poor pitiful native thing. It is irrelevant. If he doesn't want to be a part of the current nation that is the USA he can stay the fuck home. He doesn't just get to suck our titty and anyone making that wage is not pulling his weight.
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Edited by zappaisgod (09/29/07 04:45 PM)
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?



Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: Diploid]
#7467883 - 09/29/07 05:53 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
"They are treating me like a criminal when all I am is a working man," he said.
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?



Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: afoaf]
#7467887 - 09/29/07 05:55 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
at the same time, considering all the circumstances, I think any american would be generally displeased with the notion of confiscating all of this man's money.
As he is here illegally, they should keep it all/
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar



Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,926
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Re: Illegal Immigrant Loses $59,000 [Re: zappaisgod]
#7468058 - 09/29/07 07:11 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Edited by EntheogenicPeace (01/01/18 08:06 PM)
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