Unfortunately the illegals have a few allies.
Republicans: Sad to say there are Republicans whose hunger for the support of exploitive businesses seeking cheap labor supercedes their principles, and their real constituencies get sold out to these special interests.
Democrats: As African-Americans are moving up the socio-economic ladder, and more of them are abandoning the liberal plantation and identifying with the conservatives, the Democrats need a new underclass of dependency to empower them. The illegal Hispanics are a gold mine if they can be legitimized into legal voters! Note the tone of their rhetoric. To a Democrat, there is no such thing as an "illegal alien". They're not illegal, they're "undocumented". They're not "aliens", they're "immigrants" or even to some, they're "hard working citizens!". No! They're NOT citizens, or even immigrants… they are invaders! If they don't honor our laws and enter our borders thru the legal process… they are ILLEGAL ALIENS! But the Democrats want them legitimized so they may eventually become Democrat voters.
Unscrupulous businesses: Employers must pay "what the market bears" for labor. Without illegals (who are willing to work for less, thus lowering the labor market threshold), the market demands a higher wage for the labor they need done.
The corrupt Mexican Government & Vincente Fox: What a deal for Mexico! They get to export their poverty and crime problem to the US. Then they benefit by the billions of dollars sent annually back to Mexico. What is THEIR incentive to assist us in stemming the tide?
The social welfare system: As long as illegals have access to financial and medical benefits, there is a tremendous incentive for poor Mexicans to seek to flee Mexico and cash in here.
So, while it is in the best interests of the nation to secure our borders and return the uninvited parasites home, there is much political pressure to wink, nod, and turn a blind eye.
The outcry from the public on the issue has indeed put illegal immigration on the front pages… but will our politicians give it mere lip service, or real reform?
We should hold our elected officials accountable. We should express in no uncertain terms that half-measures without teeth are unacceptable.
Americans are a welcoming people. We are a nation of immigrants. LEGAL immigration must be streamlined and made less cumbersome to reduce the incentive to circumvent the process and crash our borders. Reasonable quotas must be set, allowing the maximum number of LEGAL immigrants that our nation can absorb and assimilate. Americans are not Xenophobic. We are, however, entitled to select and limit our houseguests, and especially our dependent adopted children. And our security depends on scrutiny of those entering our borders.
BUILD THE WALL! It must be more physically challenging to get across the border.
CONSTITUTIONALLY DEFINE citizenship to EXCLUDE citizenship to children of those not legally here! No more anchor babies.
LIMIT social welfare programs to provide assistance only to citizens. If a non-citizen can't be productive enough to support themselves here, they should not be a drain on US resources. Legal residents who are not citizens should be required to provide for themselves to retain their legal residency. Illegals who cannot support themselves and who find no nursemaid mentality here might just go home.
Provide severe penalties for employers hiring illegals. If the costs to employ them exceeds the labor cost savings over hiring citizens and legal residents… there is no incentive for them to hire illegals. If the jobs aren't waiting for the illegals, there is less incentive for them to cross.
The President must abandon his support of a guest-worker program. Let AMERICANS do the labor, even if that means higher wages and prices. The American Public will happily absorb a few extra cents for a head of lettuce or a bunch of grapes if they also see a concurrent reduction in the presence and curtailment of the influx of illegal aliens!
DEPORT! Do not be deterred by the claims that it is impossible to round up and deport the millions of illegals already here. It is easy enough to identify and deport a couple hundred thousand! If the illegals already here find it more difficult to find a job, impossible to get food stamps, welfare, medical assistance, and they run the risk of discovery and deportation… many more will voluntarily go home rather than have to be deported by the government.
Make English the official language of the US. ELIMINATE non-english communications from all government supported communications from education to streetsigns. Government offices should no longer be required to have interpreters. Anyone living in this country should be able to communicate in the native tongue of the US. Discourage bilingual labels on consumer goods, menus etc.
Illegals come here because getting in is easy, because there is a likelihood of an improvement in their status, and because there is a minimal risk of consequence. They stay because there is accommodation and enablement to live here without assimilation (bilingualism), and because their babies become citizens with the rights, privileges and opportunities that US Citizenship entails. Who wouldn't find that an incentive?
If we are to effectively change the situation, we must make it much more difficult to make the crossing (with a wall and increased border security), to find gainful employment (with stiff penalties for employers who hire illegals), or to establish their families as citizens (by denying citizenship at birth to any but children of lawful residents – or naturalization to any who did not arrive here legally). Unless we address the issue on the multiple fronts of the border, the employer, the giveaways and accommodation and citizenship, we may as well cede Mexas and Mexifornia now.
Brilliant synopsis. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Posted by: Thor H. Asgardson | April 03, 2006 at 11:02 AM
Absolutely on target! I have signed up with Congress.org and NumbersUSA.com, calling every Sen/Rep I could, the RNC and even LouDobbs. It never ceases to amaze me how the Beltway RNC-types cower at the voting power of illegals while ignoring the sustained anger and frustration of American voters. The Republicans could very well lose power in the coming cycle due to angering their voting base (recall the 'No new taxes' betrayal that led to George-Senior's ouster?? Have they learned nothing?)
I am a self-identified Patriot and Conservative. I was one of those drops in the sea that formed the tidal wave that swept the Left from power and helped to install the present-day Republicans in Congress. I -- and I imagine my fellow Republican voters -- cast my vote with the intention that the folks I was sending to Washington would hold the line and represent my --and America's -- best interests. That is, defend the rule of law that says you only enter the country by legal means. And, if we catch you here after you've infiltrated our border you will be deported.
Instead, it seems we are trying to shoot pool with a rope. The very Sen/Reps we've sent to Washington to face down the hate-America Left are now kow-towing to them and pushing Amnesties. Reward foreign invaders with 'Guest Worker' status? Have they gone insane?
Gosh, the very term 'Guest Worker' comes from the failed West German (see how old it was?) 'Gastarbeiter' experiment. Third-World menial laborers came, stayed, and never went home.
Now Germany, indeed much of Europe, is riven with a home-grown, foreign, alien and malevolent population that riots with impunity. (ya know, a couple well-placed Mk 19's [*] firing rubber bullets and baton rounds during the Muhammad Cartoon riots would've stabilized the situation pretty darn quick).
[*] http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/mk19.htm
Now these DC idiots want to tout the disasterously-failed Gastarbeiter / Guest-Worker program as a model to emulate? Only if you want to destroy American society as we know it.
Too many to deport? I have a quick and easy answer for you: cut off all money to illegals.
No food stamps, no medicaid, no housing, no student aid -- nada, zilch, zip.
Make it a felony to aid and abet illegal immigration by hiring them (and thereby undercutting domestic wages and displacing our own low-income workers).
THEN vigorously prosecuting the sweatshop owners and hotel industry that have served as magnets to illegals through the years.
They will go home. The money is the draw, that's absolutely no secret. Dry up the source and they will have to go back to their own country... or make such a fuss that they won't be hard to spot.
Posted by: para8654 | April 06, 2006 at 12:45 AM
"Sher cited their talking point that they're showing us how important they are to us… that we can't survive without them."
Where I live, Santa Maria, California is about 25-30% from south of the Us or are descendents. Some that want to make money on the immigration issue say that Santa Maria, and surrounding area is all Mexican.
At one point in the 1950s there was nobody from south of the US and no descendents. No Mecicans to work the hard work some now say whites did not want to do. It was the other way around- the Mexicans did not want to do that work- and today the Mexicans are the laziest I ever knew- except for their lying that they work hard.What did happen here was that me and a drug lord named El Lobo teamed together and brought in 1,000 workers in 7 weeks- from his home country of El Salvador, where men lived to be 20-22 years of age, according to a Life magazine article. El Lobo bought every man a new shirt, pants, shoes and new hat(most arrived without any original hat or shoes). El Lobo gave them 3 days food and a little pocket money. He paid the $40,000+ in bribes- I did not have any money. I had arranged for the local farm acreage to be tripled by making the conditions of new land leases. I created the jobs and ordered the dates for the crops to be planted,etc. I assigned teams to find housing and found farmers' wives to make sure every new man had a good start in his new home as far as cooking and such. None of the local stores sold tortillas- so I told the stores what to buy. A lot of work, but it was worth it.
El Lobo and I saw those men stay alive well past the 20-22 years of age. Only one of the 1,000 left his job- ever. None of them ever got arrested- sure cannot say that about the Mexicans. And the 1,000- 90%+ were under 5 foot tall- they outworked every Mexican that came after them. El Salvador workers in Santa Maria= working together, including making each do there best to jet the job done. Mexican workers=
stay silent when another Mexican screws up-
so they can "be amigos".
If you are wondering, how could I do what did about the 1,000(I was 8 years old)?
1. My mother's father,Frank Silva had brought every farmer between San Luis Obispo
and the Gaviota Pass to this country and set them up in house and farming and money(they had been homeless and hungry).Good ole family connections
2. I could remember anything about every bit of area farming, past and present- on the 40,000 or so acres of farm land.
Bobby Dias
Posted by: Bobby Dias | April 07, 2006 at 12:23 AM
Everyone wants illegal immigration to end except..... I don't know how much history you know but aparently not much. If you are not 100% Native american you are the descendant of an immigrant. Would you have treated your ancestors the same way??? "Ignorance is Bliss" What job did an immigrant take from you that you wanted??? Illegal immigrants do not qualify for food stamps, can't enroll in a university or even a community college. So how would they qualify for student aid???? Get your facts straight, idiot!!!
Posted by: Erick | April 25, 2006 at 04:35 PM