The town of Mattawa in Washington State has been overrun by new “residents” who are almost entirely illegal aliens from Mexico. The response of the federal government has been to force this town of several hundred legal, English-speaking residents, to spend money it doesn’t have, to hire translators for the illegal aliens, to make their take-over of the town easier.

The facts for this story, but not the legal conclusions, come from an article from the Seattle Times on 26 May, 2008. After pressure from the US government, a Washington town of a few hundred residents has been forced, at its own expense, to provide translators for illegal aliens who now outnumber the legal residents of the town.

The article from the Times was published from the wire service of the Los Angeles Times. Nowhere does it mention that any of the “residents” who drove this change, are illegal aliens. They are always referred to merely as “residents.” One must go to other sources, and use logical inferences, to conclude that they are illegal aliens.

Mattawa, in Grant County, Washington State, has grown in 20 years from a town of 300 residents to about 3,200 residents. All of the town’s elected officials and its small police force, speak English. Almost all of the new residents “speak Spanish at home,” and speak English “less than very well” according to the 2000 Census. Mattawa is a relatively poor community, and is located in the midst of Washington State’s apple orchards.

In addition to the language barrier, the demographics which give a clue that the new residents are not legal, are these: The population is Hispanic (89.8%) and White Non-Hispanic (8.5%). The median value for houses / condos in the town is less than 45% of the State average of $227,700. The median income in the town is less than 55% of the State average of $49,262.

The clinchers are that the median age in Mattawa is only 22.5 years, and the ratio of men to women is 60% to 40%. In short, the vast majority of the current population are illegal, migrant workers from Mexico. If they were legal residents, they would have long since voted out the English-speaking town officials, and replaced the English-speaking police force.

The town has made informal accommodations for its new Mexican population. All businesses and shops display signs in both Spanish and English. Police and town officials routinely use bilingual bystanders to “bridge the language barrier.” But that was insufficient for a “civil rights group” supported by the ACLU. They filed a Civil Rights Act complaint with the Justice Department.

With the full weight of the federal government coming down on its tiny staff and budget, Mattawa “agreed” in March to a plan ” to employ at least one bilingual employee during regular business hours and to make vital information available in Spanish as well as English. It also requires police to have qualified interpreters on call at all times.” The article makes this sound like a cooperative effort to solve a problem, rather than a small town forced to bust its budget to avoid being politically destroyed altogether.

Today, the town has only three police officers and one provisional one. It also has a very small tax base. As the article says, “More than half of property owners don’t pay taxes because they are subsidized or nonprofits.”

The article – keep in mind it comes originally from the L.A. Times – says this agreement is “seen as a bellwether for cities with similar demographics.”

Two questions come to mind: what is there in American law which gives citizens of other nations who take over an American community, the right to dictate that the locality must adopt the language of the “new residents”? And, is there any other nation on Earth whose government would force a local government there to adopt English and make it available, because a large number of Americans had moved in and taken over? For that matter, what other nation would even allow such an influx of Americans, if they came in violation of local and national law?

In short, Mattawa on a small scale, and Los Angeles on a large scale, are the future of the western half of the United States, if the Mexican invasion continues, and if the federal government turns a blind eye to the consequences of that. Though in this particular case, the federal government did not merely turn a blind eye, it joined forces with the invaders to make their take-over easier.

Source for original story on the Net:

https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004438670_bilingual26.html