Illegal and legal immigrants are out to stop America's economy today, in as many places as possible. They are boycotting America in the hopes of convincing Congress and the American people that we can't live without them, and we must keep them here and make them all legal. Further, they want Congress to leave our border open for their extended families and friends in Asia, SE Asia, Central America, S. America, Mexico, and the Middle East to come here at their leisure. Will it work?
America is a nation built on immigration. Legal immigration allows processing of immigrants through centers where their histories are taken, physical exams to protect community health are administered, and decisions are made as to whether the immigrants will be a net asset to America or a net liability. This system made America great.
However, illegal immigration has been growing at an alarming rate over the last couple of decades far exceeding law enforcement's resources to manage and halt. Congress and the White House have ignored this problem for so long, that it is now a full-blown crisis requiring large tax dollar expenses one way or another to remedy. This crisis is a result of America's politicians failing to live up to their oath of office to protect and defend the integrity of America which, rests in her Constitution and laws that emanate from it.
But what are politicians going to do? That remains to be seen. But, it is not difficult to see what they should do. Set priorities. We are a nation attacked and invaded by terrorists who wish us harm. This fact has demanded that America secure her borders since September 12, 2001. Yet, our politicians have not seen this as a priority. For there can be no border security when thousands of miles of our borders are open to the rest of the world to enter without detection. The first priority in dealing with terrorists and halting illegal immigration is to erect a barrier along our borders which will be impenetrable to most trying to enter illegally and without detection.
No other measures to halt terrorists or stem the flow of illegal immigration will be successful without such a barrier. Trying to catch up with terrorists and illegals after they have entered, costs American taxpayers far more, and far longer, than simply preventing their entry in the first place. And as we are witnessing in America today, emboldens illegal immigrants to actually publicly demonstrate for rights never granted to them by our laws, defying America and Americans to do anything about it.
So, the first priority must be border barriers, designed to fit the need of the terrain and locale along the border. The second priority is not so forthright - The Guest Worker program. There is nothing inherently wrong with guest worker programs, provided mechanisms are in place for insuring that guest workers comply with the program's regulations and laws. Currently, the U.S. has no mechanism for insuring that guest workers, who come here on temporary visas, leave when their visa expires. Therefore, logic would dictate that the U.S. cannot provide a guest worker program until those mechanisms, if they are even possible, are in place.
Technically, Guest Worker tracking is possible. Surgically implanted tracking devices with an alarm that goes off when the visa expires and gives the guest workers geo-positioning coordinates, would be highly effective, though not 100%. But, the moral and ethical implications of such technology and its implementation would hopefully never pass Congress. Another method, though less effective, would be to install reporting locations. Guest workers would be required to show up at a government site for checking in on a monthly basis. Failure to show up would result in an immediate revocation of their visa and a warrant for their immediate arrest and deportation issued. That would deter many if not a majority of guest workers to comply. However, it raises difficult questions regarding their families and children born here while on guest worker visas.
However, from the voters point of view, it should be politician's responsibility to devise and implement effective control mechanisms for a guest worker program BEFORE such guest worker programs are themselves adopted. Failing that, voters should consider new politicians.
The third priority is what to do with illegals already here. First and foremost, law enforcement must get beefed up in order to enforce the laws already in place regarding the hiring of illegals. Without that step taken, there is no way to bring our country back from the lawlessness for profit climate which illegal immigration has created. Businesses and individuals who hire illegals knowing this is against the law, is a very unhealthy state of affairs for a nation, which is built upon the rule of law. Our justice system is perverted when it prosecutes prostitutes and pot smokers while ignoring the profit motive from illegal immigrant labor which has created a national crisis.
I don't pretend to have the answers for how our government should handle humanely, yet lawfully, the 11 to 20 million illegal immigrants already here, many of whom, are fine upstanding working citizens abiding by our laws in all other respects. My instincts tell me that an attrition program should be installed. First, those illegal immigrants who have jobs or, are child and spouse dependents of those with jobs, and have no criminal record, should be allowed to seek citizenship status. And those illegal immigrants who are detained or questioned by law enforcement for everything from loitering to violent crime, should be deported. Over time, this attrition plan would take care of selecting those who should stay and those who should be deported by the actions of the illegal immigrants themselves.
However, such an attrition plan absolutely depends upon border barriers and security to prevent the attrition plan's avenue for illegals to become citizens, from becoming a magnet for ever greater numbers of illegal immigrants flowing across our borders. That is why the border barriers must be priority one!
In the end however, the responsibility for this illegal immigration crisis lies with our politicians in the White House and Congress. They created the problem by not enforcing our immigration laws already on the books. Now it is up to us to demand that they fix this problem they created, or vote for their challenger at election time. If the voters don't care about this crisis, why should politicians? Americans must vote out incumbents who are responsible for ignoring this problem so long. If voters don't, reelected politicians will never come up with tough effective remedies to this growing crisis.
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d.a.n said at :
3:14 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
Illegal aliens and irresponsible, bought-and-paid-for incumbent politicians have got the ball inside the 5 yard line.
Once again, even though polls show that 79% of U.S. citizens want the borders secured and immigration reform, slumbering voters are going to suffer (again) the consequences of doing nothing, not voting, and re-electing the very same incumbent politicians that keep using and abusing the voters.
Irresponsible incumbent politicians want cheap labor and votes, and they know, from experience, that existing voters won't do anything. The problem grew from 3+ million in 1990 to 12+ million, and will continue to grow.
Tax payers are currently experiencing a net loss of over $70 billion per year, and that is a very conservative figure, since it does not include the devastating costs of crime, disease, and job displacement.
Perhaps illegal aliens should be allowed to overrun the U.S. ?
Perhaps illegal aliens will do a better job of running this country ?
Look at how good illegal aliens are at organizing, on very short notice.
Americans are sort of like carpet. You can walk all over them, and they keep re-electing the very ones walking all over them.
Americans vote for the very same, irresponsible incumbent politicians that are selling them out.
Americans then reward them by sending them billions of dollars every election.
Yes, perhaps it would be best if America is overrun, since too many U.S. citizens don't seem willing to do the one simple, common-sense, non-partisan, peaceful, inexpensive, and responsible thing to force their politicians to be responsible and accountable too.
We might as well go ahead and just save ourselves a lot of time and trouble and just hand everything over to those demanding it, and overrunning the borders, because we are too lazy and corrupt to secure our own borders.
Besides, many Americans seem to think the U.S. will crumble without the cheap labor.
If fact, the U.S. Congress and Vicente Fox are both working hard this very moment to create a new U.S. flag design.
Like it ?
If you don't like it, you might want to start thinkin' about the way you vote.
Irresponsible incumbent politicians have sold you out.
But, too many of us let them do it.
The biggest part of this problem is not the illegal aliens themselves. Hell, who can blame anyone for wanting to come here. Especially when 32% of illegal aliens recevie welfare, and 50% don't pay any taxes? Even if they get arrested, they are released over and over and over.
The biggest problem is not the illegal aliens.
It is irresponsible, bought-and-paid-for incumbnet politicians that fueled it, greedy employers of illegal aliens who reap the most profits on the backs of an underpaid underclass, and voters that allow it and refuse to use the simple mechanism right there under their very noses, to stop it.
Culpability is as follows (1=least to blame, . . . 4=most to blame):
d.a.n | May 1, 2006 3:14 PM
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David R. Remer said at :
4:50 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
I see in the news where Mexico residents are also pulling together a "No Gringos" day of demonstrations and boycotts asking Mexican citizens in Mexico to buy nothing American on that day.
Guess that pretty well cements the conspiracy theory as reality that Mexico believes annexing the U.S. via exporting its population to the U.S. is in their future. Stop buying American in Mexico while sending Mexicans to the States to buy American, would make Americans dependent on the illegals to help keep the economy going. Clever, won't work, but clever.
David R. Remer | May 1, 2006 4:50 PM
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Stephanie Crist said at :
5:42 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
This is truly a problem that is out of control. And the way that Mexico is handling their portion of it, actually encouraging their own citizens to break the laws of a neighboring ally, is also worrisome. I fear that war may be an eventual result of taking back our borders, and yet if that's what's necessary for our country's security and prosperity that is a result we have to be prepared to handle.
As far as the protests, I'm already highly skeptical of any news that will come of it. By 9am CST there was already a news story about how peaceful the protests were. By noon they were already declared a success, economically speaking. To me, this is the utmost in irresponsible journalism! In the rush to be first, the news was being distorted by the simple fact that they were making declarative statements before the truth of those declarations could manifest themselves. I fear for the American populace that is being "informed" about this issue through such blatant bias.
I also worry about the constant press to make this issue a matter of race, on both sides. The accusations of racism against anyone who opposes illegal immigration; those who use the vitality of this issue to excuse their own racist remarks as being justified based on the predominant origin or our uninvited immigrants. This is an issue that can tear our country apart...and if those of us who respect the law and simply ask others, including our own "representatives," to do so as well don't act conscienciously, but respectfully, I fear it will do exactly that.
Stephanie Crist | May 1, 2006 5:42 PM
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Stephanie Crist said at :
5:55 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
Dan,
I'd have to disagree with your list of culpability. While I agree that voters have been lazy...many of thems don't break the law to do it. Every illegal immigrant who has come here, or stayed here, as done so illegally and, with the possible exception of very small children, knew very well what they were doing. It's not a question of why they would want to come here; it's a question of why they'd be willing to break the law to get here. Many immigrants come here legally and ethically, and work their way through all the red tape, jumping through all the hoops, and sometimes putting all their money into getting here. These legal immigrants wanted to come here very badly. They invested a lot of themselves into coming here. Many, if not all, had the option of coming here illegally if they so chose. But, they didn't make that choice.
To me, voter negligence, as bad as it is, is NOT worse than intentionally breaking the law.
Stephanie Crist | May 1, 2006 5:55 PM
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d.a.n said at :
8:50 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
Stephanie,
That's a good point.
Actually, illegal aliens should be broken down into three subcategories.
Culpability is as follows (1=least to blame, . . . 6=most to blame):
(1) There are illegal aliens that are simply looking for work and a way to support their family. It is hard to be angry at those illegal aliens.
- (2) voters
- (3) Then there are illegal aliens that abuse our public benefits (e.g. 32% of illegal aliens receive welfare, Medicaid, Foodstamps, Medicare, Social Security, healthcare, drive about without a driver's license or auto insurance, and, unwittingly, spread diseases).
- (4) greedy employers of illegal aliens
- (5) irresponsible incumbent politicians that are now attempting to pit U.S. citizens and illegal aliens against each other, and will forget all about this issue immediately after the November elections (as usual).
- (6) And, then there are the criminal illegal aliens. 29% of all 2.2 million prisoners incarcerated within our federal, state, and local prisons are illegal aliens. Someone in the U.S. is murdered by an illegal alien every 6.7 hours. The homicide rate by illegal aliens is twice the norm.
OK, how's that?
The reason I leave voters at position (2) is because they have had 20+ years to resovle the issue, but didn't. Most voters and politicians ignored it.
d.a.n | May 1, 2006 8:50 PM
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Stephanie Crist said at :
11:37 PM, 05 01 2006 | Permalink
Much better! ;-)
Stephanie Crist | May 1, 2006 11:37 PM
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steve smith said at :
2:14 PM, 05 03 2006 | Permalink
Many if not most would agree to some level of compassion for someone who has fallen on hard times provided it is not by choice.
As this alien/immigrant issue is discussed and the many ways to address it unfolds, I (who am in the group described above) come back to the single word/circumstance that is common to the argument. That word is ILLEGAL. What they are and have been doing is illegal. There cannot be a statute of limitations on this. What exists (those who are here) must be addressed and, those arriving every day and planning entry at some point must be stopped.
steve smith | May 3, 2006 2:14 PM
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Stephanie Crist said at :
2:21 AM, 05 08 2006 | Permalink
I agree, Steve. We can't just let this be...status quo as usual. As much as I understand their drive to come into this country, there are legal means of doing so. And, if it's not enough, then that's something to be addressed from the outside, not the underground.
The most disturbing thing for me, is that it's almost like condoned slavery in some cases, where the people come here thinking they're going to get the America most citizens enjoy, but instead get trapped in a dark and twisted version of it driven by greed and desperation. We, as Americans, cannot condone that no matter how compassionate we are...that sort of compassion only helps the Corporate money-makers, not the people who want to make a better life for themselves.
Stephanie Crist | May 8, 2006 2:21 AM
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