Mistake costs dishwasher $59,000
 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/27/imm...ney/index.html

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
Pedro Zapeta, an illegal immigrant, managed to save $59,000 while working as a dishwasher for 11 years.
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.

If the government allowed him to stay here for 11 years, then they need to give him his money back and let him go home.

This is a shining example of government incompetence. The guy was going home!!! He was going to buy some land in his own country and retire! Let him go and let him take his money and he will likely not come back! Take his money, and he will have no choice but to come back and repeat this process again.

I'm all for keeping illegal immigrants out of the U.S., but I also know how hard it is to save money working minimum wage in this country. He's earned it, let him keep it.

Hahaha! Awesome. Crime doesn't pay.

They should confiscate his money and send him home.

Crime dose not pay and the man is a illegal period. I wonder why he did not have check stubs or a checking account ??? Think he paid taxes on that cash ?? Well time for him to go home and after taxes, interest and penalties and maybe some time he would not have anything anyway !

>Think he paid taxes on that cash ??

Probably. Most employed illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than legal residents of similar incomes.

He may have been here illegal but the government let him stay for 11 years. He should have sent the money home little at a time. I am all for not letting illegals in but if the government won't do nothing to stop it then let him have his money.

I agree. The man has been here for 11 years already and the government waited until he was leaving to catching him? That is bullsh*t! Let him have his money and let that be a lesson to our government. If illegals are such a problem, catch them as they enter, not as they're leaving.

If the man did pay taxes on the money, then that's all the more reason he should have it. To me, it just looks like the government waited so they could shaft him at the worst possible moment.

Who knows? In his position, coming up in a poor community with almost no work, I probably would've tried what he did too. If a man can't make an honest living, he will try to make a dishonest one. That's a sad fact life that I imagine motivates many of these illegal aliens who come here looking for work. Having all of my hard-earned money taken away, I would also probably feel the same way he is feeling right now. I would feel that America was robbing me.

Again, I am not saying we should open our doors and let the illegal aliens in. They need to be legal to work here. However, catching them as they leave is @$$ backwards and typical for our mixed up, incompetent government.

>but if the government won't do nothing to stop it then let him have his money.

You honestly believe you should be able to enjoy the fruits of your crime if the police don't catch you until after you've committed them? If I rob your house I should get to keep everything if they don't catch me until the the next day? This man broke the law every day for 11 years, he's a piece of trash and should forfeit everything he has and be sent penniless back to his home country.

The only law this guy broke was entering illegally, that is it. He did not break the law by working that would be whoever employed him. He did not steal or attack anyone, if he had the police would have caught him before now. However you breaking into someone's house is totally different, you would be entering someone's private space, he did not. I understand you are moralless but get a life or a brain.

Your example doesn't fit the situation, Joe. The money was the fruit of 11 years of labor. The fruit of his crime, as you put it, was having a job to begin with. This man did not steal money from someone else's pocket. He was paid for services rendered.

If I were the authority over this situation, this would be my response. I would explain to the man that he must leave the country now and not come back without going through the proper legal channels. I would tell him that he can have his money in exchange for a detailed list of what employers he worked for over the 11 years. I would then deport him and his money. Finally, I would prosecute his employers for hiring illegal aliens (a crime you seem to be ignoring).

>you would be entering someone's private space, he did not.

Of course he did, he entered the private space of the United States of America. He's a criminal, he was a criminal for 11 years. He profited from being a criminal, and he should forfeit those profits because he's a piece of trash that broke the law.

>The money was the fruit of 11 years of labor.

11 years of illegal labor, same as if he had been selling dope or pimping.

>a crime you seem to be ignoring

I'm ignoring 100% of the other crimes committed elsewhere by other people because the topic is the crimes this guy committed.