I Solved the Immigration Reform Problem in Just Under an Hour
By all reports, the president and congressional leaders are trying to address the illegal immigration problem, and it’s safe to say that things aren’t going well. Apparently, the electeds have gotten themselves bogged down with political posturing and all the other things that they spend their time doing instead of governing. We at the Rochester Pundit have decided to help them refocus their efforts by providing a commonsense birds-eye view of this issue. After reading this, the guys (and gals) up on the hill should be able to bang out this bill and get back banging…well, whatever it is they do.
1. According to most estimates, there are approximately 12 million illegal aliens in the country. (I’m sorry, but “undocumented worker” means the 12 year old kid who mows your lawn for $10 under the table. It does not describe an individual who has snuck across an international border and who finds ways to circumvent a host of employment and other laws). This current state of affairs – a porous border, toothless immigration enforcement, and a significant population of “illegal” individuals – cannot continue.
2. We have to lock down the border right away. First, it makes the illegal immigrant problem that much more difficult to solve if we allow it to worsen while we wring our hands and crap our pants. Second, as a matter of homeland security, we cannot be allowing every Tom Dick and Achmed to be waltzing (or doing the dance of the seven veils) back and forth across our border. I don’t think we need a dirty bomb to go off in San Antonio for this proposition to fall in the “self evident” category.
3. We cannot round up and deport 12 million people. Peggy Noonan addressed this point eloquently in her May 25st editorial in the Wall Street Journal: “Here is the truth: America has never deported millions of people, and America will never deport millions of people. It's not what we do. It's not who we are. It's not who we want to be. The American people would never accept evening news pictures of sobbing immigrants being torn from their homes and put on a bus. We wouldn't accept it because we have hearts, and as much as we try to see history in the abstract, we know history comes down to the particular, to the sobbing child in the bus. We don't round up and remove.” The tough talking Republicans in Congress need to shut up and remember that they could have done something about this issue back in the 80’s when it was manageable, but they acted like cowards and helped create the current mess.
4. The “illegals” are not stealing our jobs. Last time I checked, there weren’t any illegal doctors or school teachers or nurses. For the most part, the illegals are doing crap jobs that you or I would not do, like picking cabbage in the hot sun or caring for the spoiled children of wealthy Californians.
5. Citizenship in the United States means something. We live in the greatest country in the world, and if you are a citizen, you are entitled to all kinds of benefits. More importantly, you get to vote and to help determine our nation’s political future. People who cannot speak our language, ignore our laws, and disdain our culture should not be permitted to become citizens. It’s despicable that many Democrats would apparently trade away almost anything to get about 10 million extra votes.
Where does this leave us? We should shut down the border immediately. We should kick out illegals who have committed felonies while here in the states. We should provide a pathway to citizenship that requires assimilation (speak our language and follow our rules). And we should hold businesses (and rich Californians) accountable for hiring illegals.
If no one is going to take action on this, then at least send some illegal workers up our way. I need some cheap, competent help with a remodeling project.
3 comments:
I agree with your last paragraph, assuming you mean "lock down" rather than "shut down" the border. However, I don't really believe that locking down the Southern border is possible. It's huge and remote. Security can be increased, but there will always be ways to cross it.
You don't mention this, but I think it's implied in your post: guest worker programs without a path to citizenship don't work. Europe (esp. France) has learned this and we should avoid their mistakes.
Your comment about Democrats trading anything for 10m votes is interesting. There's no reason why hispanics should automatically vote Democratic. Hispanic culture has a strong conservative, traditionalist streak. Unfortunately, the over-the-top rhetoric of a lot of Republicans, who fail to acknowledge hispanic "illegals" as hard workers and decent people, has lost Republicans a lot of the hispanic vote. Bush understands that hispanics could be potential R's, and his moderate stance on immigration reflects his desire to capture the hispanic vote. Unfortuately, a lot of other R's don't get it.
Rottenchester:
Hispanic culture does tend to be more religious,however there are several facts that wipe that factor out:
A. Most voters vote with their wallets before they vote for social concerns. Since most of these illegals are poor,and come from socialist countries,why should we expect them to vote for small government conservatives? Even "conservative" parties like Mexico's PAN are quite fiscally socialist compared to even our Democrats.
B. Most Hispanics are Catholic (particularly Mexican voters). Mexico has a very strong tradition of separating the church and state. Similarly,American Catholics tend not to vote with the positions that the church holds. I've seen statistics that something like 61% of RC voters are pro-choice. Even at that, religion is at best a poor correlative to voting. We have to dig far deeper to see relevant voting trends (church attendance or denomination level).
I just don't see this Republican strategy of courting new immigrants as helping our positions. Will it help the GOP as they move to the center under pressure from waves of socialist voting immigrants who want more benefits? Sure,it will do that. But it won't help me as a conservative.
As to rottenchester's comment on the Southern border, I disagree. I see no reason why the border cannot be secured. It's not rocket science, and we've proven we can handle rocket science. Pardon the patriotic pride, but I don't see why American minds can't figure out how to build a decent wall.
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