Posted on 03/23/2005 6:50:06 AM PST by TaxRelief
RALEIGH --North Carolina has experienced one of the most rapid rates of growth in illegal immigration in the United States, according to a new report. The Tar Heel State can now claim to host about three percent of the nation's illegal-alien population.
This is clearly news, though media accounts that dwell on the rate of growth alone will tend to exaggerate the significance of the trend (it is easy to outpace the nation in percentage growth if your starting base is relatively low).
The real question is: does North Carolina's role as one of the nation's magnets for illegal immigration constitute good news or bad news?
It depends on what factors you are examining, and the relative importance you place on them. On the plus side, rapid rates of illegal immigration into North Carolina suggest that attractive opportunities still exist despite recent and wrenching structural changes in the economy. Also, there is a very-real improvement going on here in the standard of living of many thousands of fellow human beings. Obviously, those who come to America from impoverished foreign climes realize significant gains (even if the official data show them increasing the "poverty" rate).
But less obviously, native North Carolinians also experience sizable gains in living standards as new enterprises start up, new entrepreneurial energies are unleashed, and labor costs moderate in competitive service industries that pass along much of the savings to consumers in the form of lower prices.
On the other hand, there are some entries on the cost side of the ledger, too. Some native-born workers face intensified competition for jobs, driving down their wages. Because immigrant families tend to be younger and have more children, their presence somewhat strengthens the finances of federal entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare but they worsen the finances of school systems, public health departments, and Medicaid. There are some adverse social and cultural consequences, much of them having to do with language differences and what many believe to be an inadequate commitment to rapid and effective assimilation of immigrants by public and private institutions.
A basic problem is the "illegal" part of the moniker. The illegality of current waves of immigration means that we don't have an effective means of distinguishing honest, hard-working people looking for economic opportunity from would-be criminals, welfare dependents, and perhaps even terrorists. Because they fear arrest and deportation, illegal aliens are less likely to assert their rights, less likely to obtain insurance and other necessities of modern life, and have fewer options for bettering themselves and their children's prospects.
The fact that illegal immigration is so widely recognized and tolerated isn't helpful, either. Like other laws on the books but enforced only at the margins, our immigration rules breed contempt for the law and condone its evasion. Whatever your view about the optimal rate of immigration, it is critical that illegal immigration be significantly reduced.
The question, of course, is how to do that. As two able debaters will explain at a Thursday forum on immigration policy to be held by the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, you can reduce illegal immigration either by 1) getting serious about enforcing current immigration laws, including sanctions for employers who hire illegals, or 2) increasing the annual quotas for legal immigration. You can even mix the two approaches.
One thing you can't do is ignore this complex, critically important issue.
I'm going to hope you're being sarcastic or else you're just suffering from some stray brain flatulence. The problem is floods of immigrants with no skills and no life who land somewhere and immediately go on public assistance. The only way to prevent that is to have strict standards for immigration.
No sarcasm. It's just too obvious for people to accept.
Blaming him, not you. But I was shocked that y'all would start out by asking for more time. Nobody wants to hear all that. I sure don't. There's no need for it. If anyone's gonna speak longer it's the nominee. Four hours of stupid speeches and arguments and votes, 99% BS??? You don't want to be seen suggesting lengthening that in any way.
But really, the quality of the speech .... look, I'm no Cicero myself, but that's the point of knowing your limitations, and he would have been far better off if he'd wanted LESS time, not more.
So then can I take it you are in favor of more aliens with no skills and no place to live flooding in and increasing the welfare ranks and living off the fruits of our labor?
Help me out here. I'm trying really hard to find an upside.
I would not provide easy access to welfare.
Yes, I would certainly be welcoming to immigrants coming here to work hard and make a better living. I have friends and relatives who have done just that, and our society has benefitted tremendously as a result.
Do you know how many jokes Mexicans make about how damn lazy Americans are?
Trouble is, you can't have it both ways. In order to separate the many folks who want to come here and improve themselves from the ne'er-do-wells and bums, you have to have a process. That takes time. Unfortunately, it also usually means bureaucracy. Any process that simply blesses illegals as legals, or shortcuts the process of weeding out undesirables is going to result in a bigger mess than we have now.
That's the problem I have with Bush's guest worker program. It gives amnesty to existing illegals, assuming they are not undesirables and then lets them become guest workers. I have no issue with a guest worker program as long as it is under control, but illegals need to return to their home country and apply for the program.
Do you know how many jokes Mexicans make about how damn lazy Americans are?
I've made more than a few of those myself.
If America REALLY wants to do something about illegal aliens, FIRST, we need to quit paying Americans for not doing those jobs Americans won't do. Cut out welfare - totally.
Excellent point.
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