On the face of it undocumented workers who literally wade the river or jump the fence ARE ILLEGAL. It's undeniable. The knee-jerk reaction is to round them up and send them back. IMO, that is probably the worst thing we could do, and probably impossible to do, too.
Truth is, we NEED these people. Stop and think about it....without them most of our restaurants would simply not be able to function. They grow and harvest our crops. Roads and bridges, not to mention homes or office buildings, would not be built. Landscape companies, janitorial companies, all sorts of blue collar companies would go out of business. They do honorable work that we want and need and value.
And no, there aren't enough native-born (white, black, or brown) Americans to fill those positions if all the illegals were sent home. There are "Help Wanted" signs out there right now and I don't see whites or blacks lining up to apply. I frankly doubt that even much higher wages would entice enough whites to fill those positions. Consumers simply can't pay more for their daily necessities. Our buying power is stretched now.
So what form should immigration reform take? I have no idea, but I know we need to agree to something that will make these illegals a legitimate part of our economic landscape. Industrious, clean living undocumented workers should be made taxpaying partners in America.
This ties in with another news bullet that just popped up on my 'puter: Whites in America had more deaths than births last year for the first time ever. We need MORE workers to pay taxes, and we can't count on those new workers being white.
We'll need to either raise taxes or make even deeper cuts in services, including defense, and as the recent sequester has shown, we squeal like 2-year-olds when you ask us to do without something. The solution (to me) is obvious.
OK, rip me.
S
PS....I had another post in the que, but decided this one was more "in the news". It follows if you're interested.
Unfortunately with Republicans calling the shots I doubt anything sensible will happen anytime soon. Like you said these people are already here; sending them home would be a disaster. And most will probably just jump the fence again at the first opportunity. Anyone who really cares about the problem should be working to make Mexico better so no one will feel they have to come over here.
ReplyDeleteWell, I totally agree with you. My sister is one of those who think they should all be sent back and apply for legal immigration. Even the adults who were brought over as young kids who have no family and no connection to where they are from. And the bit about them not paying taxes is bullshit. every time they buy something they pay tax and I bet many of them pay payroll taxes and will never be able to apply for benefits. there were a couple of stories in the news during the midst of the recession about farmers who didn't hire illegals and tried to hire Americans instead. they ended up in a very tough spot as the Americans worked for half a day and then quit because the work was too hard, too hot, too dirty, not enough pay and the farmer's were left with no one to harvest the crops.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you say to my friend "Dan The Mountain Man" In North Carolina who has been waiting for over a year and a half to get his fiancé a legal visa to immigrate and marry?
ReplyDeleteLou, Finally in Arkansas went through a ringer to come from England to marry her California citizen. So many people with so much to offer want to come to our country and go through mountains of red tape to get here. But it is ok to just look the other way to people that simply hop a fence? The answer is not that simple...and you know what...cut your own lawn, everyone did in the last century!
AND Pat D. why don't you just round up all the Republicans and drown them, as they seem to be the reason for all that is wrong with the world!! If only everything was so simple as to just blame one group of people for EVERYTHING!! Hmmm kinda like racism ain't it?
I agree with you Joe. It is inexcusable in this computer age for it to take years to get permission to emigrate. I'm not saying we should just allow anyone to hop the fence. We need to register them, check them out, make sure they are "industrious and clean living", then make sure they pay taxes for the privilege of living here. Why should it take years to do this? And he has a point Pat. This isn't just a Democrat or Republican problem. It's something everyone needs to acknowledge.
DeleteMy old church (from before we moved) is a sanctuary church for illegal immigrants. That congregation is a champion for some sort of reform that will take the stigma off of these folks. It's BAD that so many of them have to live "underground" - it breeds distrust & man what a sucky way for them to live! All the ones I met were just trying to make enough money to survive. I wish we could wave a magic wand & just make them "legal!" Sometimes I wonder if people oppose that notion because they want them to be terrified & willing to work for peanuts.
ReplyDeleteOh, and good post Scott, you stirred my pot!
ReplyDeleteFinal thought Scott, and lets just call it like it is politically speaking...The Democrats are all for legalizing millions of VOTERS, and the Republicans are reticent to allow millions of votes against them...just the truth here...so here is my solution allow these illegals, where it makes sense, to be legal NON-VOTING residents. Then let them earn the right to vote through the normal red tape cumbersome process of becoming full citizens. or is that already part of the current legislation? (Not really following that closely.)
ReplyDeleteFine with me. And I'm not sure what the fine print they're negotiating now says either.
DeleteI read somewhere that by 2050 half of the American population will be brown-skinned and the other half will all be named Duggar. Probably true. Deporting eleven million undocumented aliens is impossible and will never happen so those politicians holding out for this are morons.
ReplyDeleteThere have been stories in the Buffalo News about what would happen to the family farms in upstate New York if suddenly undocumented (illegal) workers all were to be deported: they would go out of business and their crops would rot in the field.
ReplyDeleteWho proposed the idea of a "guest worker" program? Let them come here to work, pay them properly, collect taxes and social security from these aliens, and let them decide if they want to become citizens after a few years.