Posted on 10/26/2007 5:40:54 AM PDT by SJackson
Illegal immigration is one of our country’s most divisive, intractable issues. The Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986 was supposed to solve it, but illegal immigration has continued to increase. This year’s attempt to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation blew up in Congress. Given the record of failure for effective comprehensive reform, perhaps it is time to address the problem in incremental, piecemeal proposals.
Twelve to twenty million immigrants are in the United States illegally. This is socially corrosive. Respect for the law withers when masses of people disobey the law with impunity and government seems impotent to enforce it. Somehow, we must drastically reduce the number of illegal aliens in our country. To achieve this, two different ways are often suggested: deporting them and then sealing our porous borders, or reclassifying them so that they are not illegal.
Most of those who favor deportation are motivated by love of country and the honorable belief that those who break our laws should not be allowed to get away with doing so. However, I don’t believe that mass deportation is going to happen. Its implementation would be a logistical nightmare, requiring armies of law-enforcement personnel and possibly military troops (perhaps “aided” by citizen vigilantes) to conduct raids on neighborhood after neighborhood, like military sweeps in Iraqi cities. Politically, this isn’t a viable alternative. The party that attempts such a sweeping action will commit political suicide, driving the numerically decisive and currently-up-for-grabs Hispanic vote to the other party, as two GOP congressmen from Arizona who advocated an “uphold the law” strategy found out the hard way in the 2006 elections.
What can be done, then? First, let us reduce the incentives that draw illegals to our country. Of course, the primary incentive is our robust economy, teeming with opportunities, and we surely don’t want to change that! But we should at least stop rewarding illegals with the ultimate prize: automatic U.S. citizenship for their children born here. This is absurd: "Congratulations, Ms. Gonzalez! You have broken our laws, entered our country illegally, evaded the immigration service, and now your son has all the rights of U.S. citizenship." It is time to amend the Constitution so that the precious gift of citizenship is awarded only to babies born here of parents who are in the country legally.
Second, one way to reduce the number of Mexicans in the country illegally would be to make it easier for them to enter the country legally for a specific period of time to work on specific jobs. Finding a way to identify and register temporary workers has the potential to bring this segment of our underground economy above-ground. To be explicit, I oppose unlimited immigration, but neither do I accept the specious claim that we don’t need any of these workers. As much as 30 percent of this year’s crop of foods that are picked by hand went to waste for lack of pickers. An emerging shortage of nursing home employees is also becoming apparent. Let’s make arrangements for such productive work to be done legally by tax-paying visitors.
Third, we should rethink our longstanding policy (one enshrined in a Supreme Court decision several decades ago) of mandating that schools must provide free education and hospitals free health care to illegal immigrants. Why not have 10 percent of foreign temporary workers’ wages deducted for local social services that they consume? The current policy of giving away such services creates a powerful incentive for illegal immigration. Furthermore, this policy produces an inconsistency in our laws. Businesses that hire workers whose papers are bogus are subject to prosecution, whereas social service providers must accept illegals without question, and some city governments—the so-called “sanctuary cities”—openly defy federal law and actively help illegals evade detection. We can’t succeed in getting a grip on this problem if different segments of our society are working at cross-purposes. The unfair anti-business bias must go.
Fourth, let’s make the USA monolingual by law. Certainly everyone may speak and write whatever language they prefer, but when it comes to things like official business, this should be an English-only country. When I lived in Mexico, I spoke their language, and when they come here, they should speak ours, just as earlier generations of immigrants from around the globe learned to do. Let’s keep the melting pot working, and avoid the divisive impulses that plague bilingual countries like Canada.
We either reject immigrants, assimilate them, or let them cause the disintegration of our society. Which is it going to be?
first we need to build that fence. then we can wonder about what to do with all those who already made it in (maybe they will leave on their own if they realize they can’t go back and forth at their leisure)
I would applaud such an action to remove these invaders....These invaders must go back to their country of origin or be forcefully removed. There is no reason for these invaders to be allowed to stay simply because the invaders broke the law. Allowing the invaders to break the law and then to stay invites more invaders to come. A message must be sent by America or Americans (legal citizens) will be overwhelmed by these invaders.
We already have guest worker programs that allow millions to work here legally. The author presents a simplistic analysis and solutions. If you have a water pipe break in the basement, the first thing you do is shut off the water supply. Suggesting that we add another guest worker program without first securing our borders, including having a system to track and deport visa overstays, is nonsense.
It should be that citizenship is awarded only to babies whose parents are citizens of this country not simply here legally. A great number of people reside in this country legally that are not citizens and do not want to be citizens. The accident of birth place on this earth should not entitle one to automatic citizenship.
Do what other countries do about those born there but of foreign parents, make citizenship available at eighteen, not automatic at birth.
Cut off Federal funds to school districts that cut services to American taxpayers' kids in favor of the illegals' kids.
Bill Mexico for the 'free' hospital services used by their citizens here illegally.
Deportations are not necessary and allowing the left to focus on them is letting the left frame the debate.
If we paid higher wages for these jobs and give no welfare to able-bodied people who don't work, then we'd have plenty of people without importing any more.
The answer to our need for workers seems simple to me.
Now, if that isn't a bunch of convoluted BS. With between 20 - 30 million illegals, how can anyone with a straight face tell us that we lack crop workers?
We just have to figure a way to "keep 'em down on the farm"! .
The main reason people come to America is for jobs to earn money.
The fact that major companies have virtual employment offices South of the Border, recruit and hire illegals and employ them when they get here, sometimes furnishing cars and housing, is THE problem.
In my opinion, the companies, no matter who they are nor how big a corporation, needs to be shut down until they eliminate ALL of their illegal activity.
The Simpson-Masoli Act was supposed to police companies who hired illegals -- the government not only did NOT do as promised (big surprise there) they punished the INS when they attempted to detain and deport illegals.
All those companies had to do was call up their congresscritters and complain and presto, no more enforcement.
Suggestion, quiz your congresscritter and obtain a promise in writing to enforce Simpson-Masoli, if they refuse to do so, vote them out of office, no matter who they are or how good they are on "other issues."
If we could magically solve all the illegal immigration problems, we’d still need to secure the border against criminals, drug runners and terrorists.
Immigration is not a divisive issue. Divisive is when a nation is evenly divided. Illegal immigrant advocates are facing opposition from over two thirds of the US population. It will only get worst when the US economy starts to slowdown from the subprime scandal.
Not so modest and not so easy to shove through Congress. The Supreme Court might do something about anchor babies if the the right lawsuit makes it that far...
But how? The SC is only there to interpret the constitution and the language in the 14th amendment is very clear. Quite frankly, though I do not like outcome/consequence of the verbiage in the 14th amendment, I do not want a court that can willy-nilly find a way to interpret the meaning of that particular amendment in any other manner. In my view, the only sensible thing to do is to try and amend the 14th amendment by adding some key words -- key words that are carefully written so as to avoid other consequences.
I wonder how many pitchfork wielders will read those sentences and conclude that retail establishments, car lot, banks, and other businesses are the "official business" that this author was getting at. There is much too much anti-foreign bias in the Republican ranks, a lot of it makes sense, but much of it still does not...especially when much of the concerns are really the fault of an entitlement system run amok (as the author alluded to in his third point).
He also suggested making the jurisdictions, (counties, states) who issue auto tags to illegals be held liable (i.e.lawsuits) for the current untouchable accidents.
One rebuttal though is the physical deportation problem. I live among the illegal aliens (corporate agriculture) as much as anyone on this forum, and I assure anyone that they, the illegals, know, just like an ant colony, immediately and exactly, where the sugar is. They know it faster than any electronic communication. They know precisely where they can get away with jobs, accidents, services, etc. anywhere from Oaxaca to Maine. They know exactly who the politician is, local and national, they should fraudulently vote for. Anyone who doesn't understand this has no concept of the situation. Thus, decisive and assertive enforcement of the proper immigration rules, just like raising a teenager, is the only option. And it means that self-deportation can be totally effective. They got here, they can get back.
In fact to not understand this, that they can assess and adapt to the situation, really is the egocentric bigotry of liberalism. "I'm smart, they're not."
Tragically Democrats, virtually all Democrats in this country, from the local to the national level, and I see it demonstrably where I live among the illegals, WILL NOT support reasonable solutions such as these above. Democrats crave the votes, political power, and atonement, so avidly, that reason, like these suggestions, is not a parameter.
I'm preaching to the choir here but these comments are also sent elswhere - Democrats are really really a nasty psychopathological set - shallow "humanitarians" on the surface, self serving, guilt ridden phonies below (ala Eliot Spitzer).
We are seeing the LEFT. But can anyone stop it?
I disagree. As someone who participates in a grassroots organization in Northern Virginia, this issue cuts across party lines. It is only the political elites who fail to understand what is happening or are in the pockets of the corporate/union interests. It boils down to whom do you believe, the political class or your own lyin' eyes?
ping
That's just another form of amnesty and defeats the purpose of those waiting to enter the country legally for employment."
Not really, you're aiming at the two opposite ends of a scale, make it easier to bring in educated and successful people from anywhere - and encourage citizenship...
Allow for any real "jobs Americans won't do" to be filled with seasonal, short term, non citizenship track, taxed and regulated, braceros.
BUT: anyone here now illegally should not be allowed either option, wages for both should be on a level with US citizens, AND anyone calling for bracero labor would first have to prove that they couldn't get an American into the same job.
However, I don’t believe that mass deportation is going to happen. Its implementation would be a logistical nightmare, requiring armies of law-enforcement personnel and possibly military troops (perhaps “aided” by citizen vigilantes) to conduct raids on neighborhood after neighborhood, like military sweeps in Iraqi cities.
***Nope. All it would take is some smart lawyers who want to make some money. Since when did lawyers get all queezy when there’s money on the table and blood in the water? See below for my even more modest proposal.
Here’s my standard post. We can do something about this.
RICO —Citizen Recourse
Private persons and entities may initiate civil suits to obtain injunctions and treble damages against enterprises that conspire to or actually violate federal alien smuggling, harboring, or document fraud statutes, under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO). The pattern of racketeering activity is defined as commission of two or more of the listed crimes. A RICO enterprise can be any individual legal entity, or a group of individuals who are not a legal entity but are associated in fact, and can include nonprofit associations.
Here’s what I’ve been pushing: it’s time to file Racketeering, Influencing, and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuits.
RICO lawyers could turn it around in a few years and MAKE MONEY at the same time. I’m surprised they haven’t done it already.
In the absence of enforcement, we can get the word out in the meantime that there is money to be made in filing RICO lawsuits against employers who hire illegal aliens.
Employers would have no trouble shutting down the border if they could get sued by someone under the RICO statutes for hiring these people in the first place. The next time an illegal alien kills someone in a drunk driving accident or somesuch thing, I’m going to point out that the victim’s family might be able to seek compensation from the employer under these statutes in the hopes that it would catch on. If this did catch on, would see such a swift backlash against illegal immigration that no employer would go near these people and they’ll all simply want to go back home.
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