One
of my favorite newspaper clippings is titled “With Regard to Foreigners”.
This article expresses alarm about the number
of poor
people coming to America. These are people
who have large families, no education, don't
bathe and don't understand our culture.
The columnist obviously feels that these
newcomers will never assimilate and become
good Americans.
Who
are these horrible foreigners who would
destroy America ? “ England and
other European powers are landing in hordes
upon our shores, all the refuse and offscourings
of their population. ” Hartford
Times , April 3, 1847. Besides the
novelty of seeing Anglos described as unwanted
immigrants, this article is also a testimonial
to how fast people forget where they came
from.
The
immigration mess we are in now was predicted.
It could have been prevented twenty or
even
ten years ago. Unfortunately, the “feel
good” lobby overwhelmed common sense by
depicting those who would limit the benefits
received by illegal aliens as being somehow
inhumane. The sensible Proposition 187
in
California, supported by a majority of
Hispanics, was condemned by the media.
I
am not anti-Hispanic. My wife and children
are from Mexico . As an attorney I did pro
bono work for 20 Hispanic families to help
them get green cards under the 1986 Amnesty
Act. I routinely give to charities that
primarily help Hispanics. Because
I care about Hispanics I have always favored
doing away bilingual education in our schools
and not granting illegals any special right
to health care, education or welfare.
When
last I looked (quick! Look fast before those
pesky judges change it again!) the US Constitution
guaranteed certain civil rights to American
citizens. While human decency requires we
treat all humans with compassion, it is
nutty to extend those civil rights to everyone
who crosses our open borders. The entire
world does not have a civil right to our
food, education and health care.
The “feel good” lobby
has caused great harm and pain. Guaranteeing
free education, health
care and welfare has the unintended consequence
of subsidizing and encouraging massive
illegal
immigration to the US . If you are earning
$3000 a year as a farmer in Guanajuato
supporting
a family of 8, more realistically an extended
family of 43, and you learn, accurately,
that as an illegal alien in California
you
are guaranteed $9600 in cash welfare benefits
annually plus food stamps and many other
benefits, and on top of this your 6 children
will receive a free education which costs
$48,000 each year and everyone gets free
healthcare, which costs at least $6000
yearly
and is priceless, you would be a
complete moral failure as a parent, and
a complete idiot as a person, not to take
advantage of the greatest giveaway in history.
This is the new Gold Rush!
Just
so there is no misunderstanding, I am for
all those illegals who come to the US. They
are doing what you or I or any sane person
would do in their position in order to give
their family a better life. It is the American
taxpayers who are at fault for allowing
their hard earned cash to be so disastrously
wasted. In a sense we are all illegal aliens.
But when our ancestors figured out how to
get here they didn't have any subsidies
and were treated as the poor outsiders they
were. They quickly learned to speak English
and worked hard on farms and in factories
in order to buy food and not die.
Unfortunately
we are far beyond such simplistic solutions
as closing our borders or deporting all
illegals home. The last people who tried
that in their country failed miserably
and
were executed at Nuremberg. And while our
Constitution doesn't give full civil
rights
to illegals, it does give rights to the
children of illegals born on American
soil
who will be American citizens. These “anchor
babies” cannot be deported and neither
will their parents and close relatives.
My guess
is that the majority of illegals are already
deportation proof and they know it.
It
is not acceptable to have between eight
to twelve million undocumented illegal aliens
within our borders. They will never be deported.
I have come to the reluctant conclusion
that our only alternative is to adopt a
plan similar to that proposed by Texas Senator
John Cornyn.
Cornyn
proposes “ a
system where guest workers could labor
on
a temporary basis, and then return home.”
He says this is necessary because to ensure
“that our homeland is secure requires that
our immigration system distinguish between
the benign and the dangerous. Our law enforcement
resources must be dedicated to hunting down
the real threats to our nation and our way
of life—the smugglers, the drug dealers,
and the terrorists who would threaten our
homes and our families.”
I
believe the President's initial broad-brush
proposal would too easily lead to permanent
residency and citizenship. While not amnesty,
it would give rise to the same false hopes
of amnesty. The 1986 Amnesty plan failed
because there was no enforcement of immigration
laws after the amnesty was over, which was
the major justification for the law in the
first place.
If
we lacked the political will to enforce
immigration laws back then, why should
anyone,
especially future illegals, believe we
will enforce those laws in the future?
Many illegals
here today might reason that their chances
of staying here a long time are much
greater
if they stay completely off the radar screen
and don't allow themselves to be documented
and “found.”
I've
gone through three years of hell trying
to get my wife and kids Green Cards.
Illegals
have to be thinking that if “legal” attempts
to get visas and Green Cards are so difficult,
it makes little sense for them to identify
themselves and expect to be treated better
than legal applicants.
Millions
of people abroad will not get coveted work
visas. What will we do differently to prevent
the next wave of millions of illegals from
crossing our open borders? Most American
citizens hold temporary jobs that may not
fit employment visa guidelines. If our children
cannot find permanent jobs, how in blazes
do we expect that farmer in Guanajuato to
line up a job with an American employer,
who likewise has to put himself on the INS
radar screen and has to prove no American
wants the job to boot?
Ultimately
we have to get a handle on those illegals
who come here for work, and are here only
because our companies hire them to do the
work other Americans won't do. Some
form of guest worker program is the only
solution that makes sense to me. If we don't
close the back door we will just have a
repeat of the failed 1986 Immigration Amnesty
Act. I don't hear anyone talking about how
to close that back door.
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