Posted on 04/11/2006 7:58:58 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Americans have witnessed over the past two days the largest public protest since the Vietnam War: millions marching to protest Congress’s failure last week to enact immigration reform. So many immigrants left their jobs to parade that many businesses in major cities were shut down.
The immigration issue is a classic illustration of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The immovable object is, of course, the need to uphold the rule of law in dealing with immigration. But the irresistible force is the economy. Removing all the illegal immigrants in our society would deal a death blow to our economy. This is going to take a Solomonesque solution, something Congress is not very often able to provide.
Look at the economy first: If you could find and deport every undocumented alien in America, you would go to the grocery store next week and find the shelves bare. Without immigrant workers, we could not harvest crops. Just as happened yesterday, service industries everywhere would be shut down. With unemployment at a five-year low of 4.7 percent and with 200,000 new jobs added to the economy last month, there is simply a shortage of workers in much of America.
Yet while we need immigrant workers to keep the economy going, we are tolerating them at the expense of the rule of law. Once you discover that you have 11 million illegal aliens in your midst, you cannot in fairness grant amnesty. If these new alien workers are going to be assimilated into American life, they have got to understand that we live according to the rule of law. By allowing them to continue to work as undocumented aliens, we are telling them that we really don’t care about the law; that we just want them here to use them as our slaves in our agricultural fields so we can eat cheaply.
As Christians, we add a third dimension to this. We are told to welcome aliens and strangers in our midst—no matter how they got here—which is why so many churches are rallying to support the immigrants.
But what’s the root of the problem? Why do we have a shortage of workers? Aha, that’s the unspeakable “A” word that the elite dread the most: abortion.
The reason we must allow millions of illegal aliens in to fill these jobs is because we have murdered a generation that would otherwise be filling them: 40 million sacrificed since 1973 to the god of self-fulfillment. And Americans are barely maintaining a replacement-level birthrate of 2.1 children per woman.
Remember the compassionate stuff that the abortionists used to tell us: “We are just preventing these poor kids from growing up in deprived, impoverished circumstances”? Hah! False. What happens is that others come in from abroad to live in those deprived, difficult, and impoverished circumstances and at great public cost.
I hope the politicians will have the courage to face this issue in a way that does not undermine the American economy, shows compassion to those in our midst, and restores the rule of law. At the same time, you and I can contend to restore the culture of life, because it is the culture of death that has put us in this mess today.
Is there a solution? Sure. Seal the borders, which you have got to do with terrorists out there anyway, insist the workers we have welcomed in our midst file and comply with appropriate immigration laws, and—oh yeah—stop killing our children.
Not to mention that abortion did nothing to improve the lives of children who were here already. "Every child a wanted child" is one of the biggest lines of horse hockey in world history.
There are links to further information at the source document.
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Mr. Colson makes some good points in his article.
We do need to consider scriptures encouraging good treatment of aliens in our midst. We do need to recognize the need for workers. We do need to recognize there is a national security issue. We do need to accept the wisdom of immigration laws.
We certainly need to recognize the devastation caused by abortion.
WOW! Great insight linking abortion to this labor vaccuum that immigrants want to fill. I hope prolife media people pick up on this and get it into the public debate on television and in print. The truth is crystal clear and needs to be heard.
"The root of the problem !!!!
The democrats need the immigrant and felons votes.
They have not won a national election in over 20 plus years.
They can't win, they are too liberal for the majority of the country, so 'new' voters are needed, a few million will do fine.
SHUT DOWN THE BORDER!
Hire LEGAL, law-abiding citizens to do the work. So what if the cost of lettuce goes up 20 cents a head? Let the markets figure it out.
The negative cash flow from every single illegal cannot possibly be a good thing for this country, regardless of the "compassion" factor.
It really is a Solomon's baby. Anyone who thinks we can just pack up twelve million people and kick them out of the country is smoking crack.
They're here. It's too late.
Make it simple: You have one year to begin the process of working towards citizenship. In doing so, you receive an identification card and an interim SS# which clearly indicates your status (maybe an extra digit). This ensures that your employer starts kicking in taxes instead of paying under the table. After one year, if you do not have your transitional SS#, you're GONE. Deported. No questions asked. You're OUT. Businesses that continue to employ immigrants without the transitional SS# will be heavily fined.
This is the only kind of middle ground I can see. Establish a drop-dead date. Anyone already here has until that date to get documented and start paying taxes. Anyone who misses that date goes back. Transitional SS#'s are issued ONLY until that date. After that, you're out of luck. You had your chance. A solid YEAR of amnesty.
Does that make sense?
And your idea is...
And deporting every ILLEGAL alien at once is also nonsense. Any immigration reform requiring ILLEGAL aliens to go home to apply for a guest worker permit would take place over a period of months and years.
The root of ILLEGAL immigration is Mexico being a third world nation, American businesses being cheap labor junkies, and American politicians hooked on big business PAC money and delusional over future Hispanic voters. Hence, no enforcement of existing laws.
Chuck's trapped in his own ideology on this one.
That is the bitter irony of Dick Lamm being a big voice
against illegal immigration in Colorado, since he passed the nation's first abortion law which was signed
by Governor John Love on April 25, 1967.
What goes around comes around!!!
To our eternal shame.
Dick Lamm and George Soros have done more to destroy America than any two ever have, IMO.
The low unemployment rate as an argument is a total scam.
If the people on welfare were included as unemployed, where they are now included as employed, there isn't one illegal needed to do "the jobs that americans won't do".
When welfare is worth more than $15/hr to sit on their backsides there isn't any incentive to take a job.
What is the population of the United States? Between 280 and 300 million legal residents right?
Now we have arguably 20 million or possibly more illegals here. In addition to that 70 million in Mexico have said they will come to the US, according to the Pew foundation, if they could. Now, if these 20 million or so are allowed to stay, under the current immigration regime, they can bring their family members. In a few short years our population will become 400 million, 100 million of which have their loyalties to a foreign government and a foreign country.
What you are advocating is the destruction of the American culture with your suggestion, as there is no way the culture of liberty and self determination can survive the massive increase in foreigners populating this country who have no grounding in our type of government or way of life.
"This is pure B.S."
I absolutely agree with you.
Case in point: California. I grew up there and it was a great State with a strong economy, balanced budgets, and low crime. And that was BEFORE the flood of illegal aliens came into the State.
Illegal immigration has done no good for California. In fact, quite the reverse.
Mr. Colson's been listening to open-borders propaganda. He should read Thomas Sowell's recent commentary, and then address the topic again.
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