Sunday, March 26, 2006
Notes on Immigration
What a bunch of vindictive whiners now posting on message boards, sounding off in chat rooms, and producing blogs on the immigration issue! By accident of birth and for no other reason, they reap the benefits of the blood shed by others. And because of this, they believe they have a divine right to take it upon themselves to castigate and punish others from other countries who have not been so lucky but who yearn for only an opportunity to work, not to steal, not to commit crimes, not to spunge off the state, but to work. How can we know this? By the sheer numbers of such people who endure conditions to work that many of our lucky countrymen and women would call inhuman and inhumane if they worked under those conditions. So how do the would-be punishers offer to solve the problems created in part by the invitation on the Statue of Liberty? That's STATUE OF LIBERTY. L-I-B-E- R-T-Y ! By punishing those who do not wish to starve while waiting for their potential punishers and their own governments to decide if they can cross a border that is man made, not divinely created for a select few. Probably, those intoxicated on bile would like to remove those words on the Statue. If anyone needs punishment, it is the whiners who want to punish others for being human and wanting what we have and being willing to work for it. Can we change other countries? No. Can we change our own country and our own people in order to show a little bit of charity and a whole lot of compassion and even a little intellect to do what is morally right? Maybe. It depends on whether the words on the Statue of Liberty are taken by us to mean what they say. With a better attitude and a willingness to truly address this problem without the bile, we can do it. Otherwise, the problem will fester and get worse and all of us will be worse off because of it.
It is folly to affect piety in this matter by proclaiming that immigration is OK as long as it is legal. The fact is that immigrants that came to work here and are still here without the legal papers number in the millions. Piety WILL NOT SOLVE this problem.
The words?
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" - Emma Lazarus
Comments:
Man, this is one complex issue. I'm glad the Repubs are the ones tearing their party apart on it which, hopefully, will also insure that no draconian bill gets passed and, at the same time, will alienate the Latino vote from their quarter.
First of all, I really, really don't understand why they'd make illegal immigrants guilty of committing a felony. Wouldn't that require that they be sentenced and jailed? Surely, if the argument is that they are a drain on the resources that legal taxpayers provide, how could housing them in prisons at a cost of $45,000 a year per prisoner be any better? Not to mention, how inhumane and against our very principles that would be.
Secondly, they ought to just cut the bullshiit they're trying to peddle with the various flavors of guest worker programs that do nothing to allow the worker to gain legal status, but completely benefit the employer with low cost labor.
That IS the crux of the biscuit after all...low cost labor and non-enforcement of illegal hiring practices. If businesses were to face severe and I mean SEVERE penalties for hiring illegals I'm certain a majority would stop the practice, and without the possibility of work there is no benefit to the illegals to come here.
Now while some will argue that no American is willing to do the work that the illegals do, I'd suggest that's because businesses aren't paying enough. Sorry businesses, that's how the freakin' marketplace works. In essence, as things stand now, the practice of businesses hiring illegal immigrants is keeping payrolls artificially low. Raise the pay and you'll find plenty of American employees. How much more are fruits and veggies going to cost consumers for the pay increases versus the cost of schooling, healthcare, etc. for illegals not paying taxes? Remember, these Americans will now be paying taxes.
Now mind you, I'm not talking about cracking down on those who hire nannies or gardeners. That's alot of effort for too little a gain. They should go after the big agri-businesses and the restaurant chains, etc. with hundreds of employees. If those businesses hired Americans, with the increase in taxpaying employees, the government's haul would probably be great enough to give tax breaks to those types of businesses that showed big increases in hiring Americans.
Regarding the illegals that are already here, I do believe that we should also engage in a real work for citizenship program. Perhaps incorporating them into our military services with something like six years of service for citzenship.
At the same time, I do think the borders need better security. You can't just allow one million undocumented people per year into the U.S. It isn't fair to Americans and it isn't in the interest of our national security.
So, off the top of my head, slow the influx through greater border patrol, offer a mutually beneficial alternative of work for citizenship for those here already through all the various types of military service, and a combination of disincentives and incentives for businesses to hire Americans.
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First of all, I really, really don't understand why they'd make illegal immigrants guilty of committing a felony. Wouldn't that require that they be sentenced and jailed? Surely, if the argument is that they are a drain on the resources that legal taxpayers provide, how could housing them in prisons at a cost of $45,000 a year per prisoner be any better? Not to mention, how inhumane and against our very principles that would be.
Secondly, they ought to just cut the bullshiit they're trying to peddle with the various flavors of guest worker programs that do nothing to allow the worker to gain legal status, but completely benefit the employer with low cost labor.
That IS the crux of the biscuit after all...low cost labor and non-enforcement of illegal hiring practices. If businesses were to face severe and I mean SEVERE penalties for hiring illegals I'm certain a majority would stop the practice, and without the possibility of work there is no benefit to the illegals to come here.
Now while some will argue that no American is willing to do the work that the illegals do, I'd suggest that's because businesses aren't paying enough. Sorry businesses, that's how the freakin' marketplace works. In essence, as things stand now, the practice of businesses hiring illegal immigrants is keeping payrolls artificially low. Raise the pay and you'll find plenty of American employees. How much more are fruits and veggies going to cost consumers for the pay increases versus the cost of schooling, healthcare, etc. for illegals not paying taxes? Remember, these Americans will now be paying taxes.
Now mind you, I'm not talking about cracking down on those who hire nannies or gardeners. That's alot of effort for too little a gain. They should go after the big agri-businesses and the restaurant chains, etc. with hundreds of employees. If those businesses hired Americans, with the increase in taxpaying employees, the government's haul would probably be great enough to give tax breaks to those types of businesses that showed big increases in hiring Americans.
Regarding the illegals that are already here, I do believe that we should also engage in a real work for citizenship program. Perhaps incorporating them into our military services with something like six years of service for citzenship.
At the same time, I do think the borders need better security. You can't just allow one million undocumented people per year into the U.S. It isn't fair to Americans and it isn't in the interest of our national security.
So, off the top of my head, slow the influx through greater border patrol, offer a mutually beneficial alternative of work for citizenship for those here already through all the various types of military service, and a combination of disincentives and incentives for businesses to hire Americans.
# posted by 
: 3/28/2006 4:21 PM
: 3/28/2006 4:21 PMLinks to this post:
