Ah, the American dream. We peddle it around the world, people are suckered in, come here to seek it, then are hit with the stark reality.
Mistake costs dishwasher $59,000
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.
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.
“I am desperate,” Zapeta said. “I no longer feel good about this country.”
Hasn’t he heard of Western Union? This ‘declare your money’ thing is a huge scam.
Of course I won’t feel too bad because of the key phrase ‘illegal immigrant.’
I’m not a big fan of illegal immigration but jesus christ give the guy a break. I hope he gets his money back. What a shame.
>>“I no longer feel good about this country.”
Welcome to the club, Señor Zapeta.
Most of us haven’t felt good about this country since the Chimperor in Chief and his puppeteers stole the election in 2000. May you get your money back….and 2008 – BRING IT ON!!!
“They are treating me like a criminal when all I am is a working man,” he said.
Um, that’s because you are a criminal, what with the whole illegal alien bit…..
And honestly, if you see a guy carrying $59,000 cash what do you expect people to think?
Ok, bad idea walking out of the country with $59k cash. But, that doesn’t give the government a reason to sieze it. What’s next, confiscating little old ladies’ mattresses and coffee cans!?!?!
And he’s trying to leave the country, so we seize him to deport!?!?!
Pathetic Government Bureaucracy. Not Republican, not Democrat, just evil and wrong.
Historically, there have been whole cultures where being a bureaucrat was an honorable and productive occupation.
Not in the U.S.. Not in my lifetime.
Hummm no TAXS!
Yes it does give the government the right to seize the money. I have to pay taxes, why doesn’t he? Oh wait! Money made from the commission of a felony is forfeit!
Yes I congratulate the man for saving, but hey DO IT RIGHT!
oh well…I feel so sad for Señor Zapeta. =/
Another “I hate America” thread. Yes, you’re a hack. No, you don’t matter.
I’m glad there aren’t enough of you to impact this country. Back to your whining.
>>I have to pay taxes, why doesn’t he?
wtf? Have you ever worked at a job like Señor Zapata’s (or any hourly or salaried job at all)? They take the fucking taxes out of your paycheck.
Some one should start a fund for this guy and give him 100k as a bonus. Anyone who can save that much at under $10 an hour deserves it.
#7, Lexx – Maybe you meant to say ‘ No Taxis ‘.
Surely you didn’t mean to imply that the accumulation of a relatively large amount of cash occurs because the holder paid no taxes.
Having worked for $5.50/hour, the first thing that I noticed upon receiving my salary was that my employer had deducted various taxes from the gross amount of my pay.
Then, on the other hand ( she had a wart ), I wasn’t named after an automobile.
Allen McDonald, El Galloviejo®
Reminds me of when I was taking a Greyhound back into Canada from the US and just before crossing the border a bunch of police officers came on the bus yelling “If anyone is carrying more that $20,000 cash on them, they must declare it now” and some guy at the back of the bus yelled “Ya, I’ve got $20,000 on me and I am taking the fucking bus!”
What is it with the $20,000 thing? Why can’t you leave the country with $60,000 in a bag? From a security point of view I can think or reasons why you shouldn’t….
wtf? Have you ever worked at a job like Señor Zapata’s (or any hourly or salaried job at all)? They take the fucking taxes out of your paycheck.
How did he do that if he was illegal. No Social security number, no taxes. I for one don’t feel sorry for him.
You guys may not like it but it is the law.
http://tinyurl.com/2gnbdx
http://tinyurl.com/ynkjek
#10,
Since he was here illegal, he did not have a SSN, or green card, which means if the places he worked did indeed take taxes out, they kept it for them selves, or, he committed another crime by using a fake SSN.
I live in a state that has lots of illegal workers, and people who hire them typically pay cash, and do not take taxes out. Unless the worked provides a SSN, in which case it is a fake.
>>so, people like that entering the way he did is not a reason why you
>>feel like him about the US? What a hypocrite
Have you started in on the margaritas already? You’re not making any sense.
If I can decode what you’re saying though, my answer is no. Somebody who comes to this country, works his ass off for 11 years, and manages to save $59K in the process….that’s one of the reasons I DO feel good about the US.
One of the reasons that I feel bad about it is that this sort of Horatio Alger activity is used as a reason to steal the guy’s money and treat him like a sub-human.
I guess that makes you feel good.
>>How did he do that if he was illegal. No Social security
>>number, no taxes.
If you had ever worked at a job, you might know that Social Security taxes are not the only taxes with held from your paycheck.
And most illegal aliens have FAKE social security numbers, so that means they PAY the SS taxes, they just won’t ever be able to collect what they have paid in.
And hey, that’s more SS lucre that Dumbya can steal from the un-locked box, using it to pay for his war. He should be loving the illegals. I guess his xenophobia trumps his greed though.
#10 – There are still quite a few jobs that can be obtained in the US that pay cash compensation as opposed to a payroll check. coincidentally, they are also primed to hire illegals, since there is a lot less official documentation of their workstaff.
There has to be more to this story than what is being told. Anyone with the brains to be able to save that much money here in the states would know that that kind of money could be carried or commuted in many other ways besides carrying a sackful of cash through airport customs. That’s just idiotic. I mean, even if customs didn’t require declaration, I definitely wouldn’t put it past the barely-high-school-educated TSA employees to seize it themselves and trump up charges toward the carrier.
You don’t need a SS number to pay taxes. There is a convenient loophole that allows illegal aliens to pay taxes. Most estimates say that the majority of them pay most if not all of their taxes because there is a significant hope that paying taxes will prove residency and that some future time they will be allowed to gain citizenship.
Second, our current Social Security system is based on these people paying taxes and Social Security that they will never be able to receive benefit from. According to one government report (this is from memory so I may be off, but the basic idea is right) we need a minimum of 900,000 illegal immigrants paying taxes and an increasing number each year to keep Social Security afloat. This was in the most recent social security report.
Allen McDonald:
Nope, I meant exactly what I said. Yes they take some taxes out of the paycheck. I have NEVER seen it be enough to cover the full tax liability at the end of the year. So again I have to cover it with higher taxes on my earnings. Oh yes I did the 5.50 and hour thing (actually it was $1.85) when I came to this country LEGALLY.
Here you have a guy that probably does not have a bank account, living on cash day to day, and ignorant of the fact that carrying around the money that you actually own can get you into trouble.
You many of you can tell me, without using Google, what the amount of money that is that you can legally carry out of the country on your person.
.
,
,
Wrong. Even a single dollar bill can put you in the slammer if they want to accuse you of it being illegally obtained.
To those morons that cry about un-paid taxes and faked SS – guy was here for over 11 years, he “produced pay stubs from restaurants where he had worked.” – which means he did paid ALL the fucking taxes. As far as fake SS, not necessarily, back then you could obtain legal SS # on a tourist visa, the only difference was that your SS card would read something about “Not authorized for employment”, but our government doesn’t care where tax money are coming from as long as they do….
Whatever happened to the good old USA?
Since when did Americans start thinking it was a great idea for the federal government to start seizing large sums of cash money off anyone, anyone at all – for any reason at all?
Attitudes sure have changed in my lifetime.
“Illegal alien”
End of story. Too fooking bad.
Try the legal route then I will have sympathy.
I dont understand how some of you americans can complain about illegal aliens coming into your country and doing all the shit jobs that you would never touch, for wages below what you would call acceptable, making goods cheaper for you.
perhaps it would be wiser for them to “legally” enter the country by wiping out its current population with small pox
Around where I live White teens have been robbing hispanic (primarily illegal) people coming out of check cashing stores because someone at the county thought it was a good idea to require police to check immigration status for anyone that makes a complaint, gets stopped at a traffic stop or is picked up for any other reason. So there is nothing that these people that get robbed can do because if they report it, they will be deported. So far the police have arrested a couple of teens, but it hasn’t stopped.
This note is illegal tender …
I guess its easy not to feel sorry for the guy who lived frugal and to the bone for years, scraping shit off your dinner plates for minimum wage, all so he could gather up a very meager fortune to improve the life of his family living in abject squalor.
After all, he saved America the expense of refunding his poverty level taxes return, and he did a job you blue blooded ‘Mericans wouldn’t do.
So yea… its easy to not feel sorry…
It’s also easy to be a prick.
#7, use your common sense- if he had pay stubs, he certainly paid taxes- and likely never got any refunds he was due, either. Quit whining.