Our Immigration Reform Dilemma

Like so many people, I think the current immigration reform bill stinks. It's being rushed through without enough debate, and tries to accomplish too much. So much of what I've read about it sounds like it's unworkable and unenforceable. Our politicians are ignoring us, which is infuriating.

The American people have said again and again, we want our borders secured. What part of that sentence don't the politicians in Washington understand?

SECURE OUR BORDERS
If they would simply do that, the rest could be sorted out in good time. Secure our borders first, and I think much of the opposition to everything else would calm down, and reasonable debate could ensue. I think what makes so many Americans angry is that our government repeatedly fails to demonstrate any serious intention of securing the border. They focus instead on everything else related to immigration, which is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.


Polls show that the majority of Americans don't want mass deportations that split up families. Proponents of the current immigration bill keep trying to smear all opponents with accusations of racism, to silence their criticism. Whatever happened to REAL debate?

Multiculturalism, which has advocates on both the left and right, has become the favorite tool of the new Stealth Socialists. They've not been able to dominate politically, so they support the open borders concept to bring in a new proletariat underclass they can manipulate. The Multiculturalists on the right support open borders, to bring in cheap labor.

The Open Borders crowd, both left and right, uses accusations of racism to try to silence any debate about or opposition to their open borders agenda. The end result is squashing debate, which is just plain wrong. Rushing faulty legislation into law without public debate is WRONG.



I do realize that we are trying to fix something that has gone unattended for far too long. I realize that we don't have endless time to do something, and that no bill is going to ever please everyone. Yet something MUST be done.

I say listen to the folks in the middle. The moderate center. Work for compromises that are WORKABLE and REALISTIC. Break this bill up into segments. Secure the border first. Then work on the rest, a chunk at a time.

It's fine if the extremists on both sides of the aisle are displeased. But debate these things properly, and listen to the moderates in both parties, and WORK for consensus. The way it's being handled now disrespectful to the American people.


Related Links:

Slow Down and Absorb:
Open borders? Mass deportations? How about some common sense instead?

Capitulation, from A------ to Z

Don't Run for the Border:
America needs comprehensive immigration reform, but not a law enacted in haste.

Opposition to Senate immigration bill fading?

THE AMNESTY BILL .. HEADED FOR PASSAGE?

[...] It's all very simple, really. Close the border. Stop the invasion. Turn off the faucets. Then we'll have time aplenty to sit back and figure out what to do with those illegals who are already here. Americans are not cold blooded monsters who want to uproot established Hispanic families and dump them across the border. You present the average American with the story of a Hispanic high school graduate trying to get into college, a young adult who was brought to this country by their parents at the age of three, and you aren't going to find many who would insist that this person, who has known nothing but life in America, be sent back to a country they don't know.

Why is nobody talking about the cost to the taxpayers here? Since 1990 Hispanics have accounted for 92% of the increase in poor people in this country. Only about 53% of the Hispanic adult population in the U.S. even have a high school education. This means we are legitimizing a huge number of people who will eventually end up on the receiving end of our hundreds of local and federal welfare programs. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has compiled some of the costs. He says that government tax payments ... entitlements and means-tested benefits ... would increase by about $8000 per American household. We're looking at about 20 billion a year .. and that's just starters.

You've read about the increases in crime across the country, haven't you? For every 100,000 U.S. residents in a specific age group you'll find Hispanics in prison at a rate of about two-and-one half that of whites. There seems to be some reluctance to report this in the news, but what would you like to bet that a huge portion of the increase in crime in this country is coming from the fine people who have been part of the Mexican invasion. This isn't rocket surgery. What, after all, have we been teaching these people? They cross our border illegally, and nothing happens. They stay here illegally ... they use forged documents to get jobs and they work here illegally, and nothing happens. Can you blame some of them for not believing that we're all that serious about enforcing our laws?

Again .. it's very simple. When the government becomes selective in enforcing our laws, it's only natural that the people would become selective in obeying them. [...]

Neal Boortz makes a lot of sense here. I hear lots of people saying ALL illegal immigrants are criminals. Technically, that may be true. But when we don't bother to enforce our own laws, people will not bother obeying them. That's human nature.

We haven't enforced our immigration laws for decades, and the consequences are 12 million or more illegals. That's the price we are paying.

We can send back the actual criminals in this group that are currently in our prisons. A path for citizenship for the rest who have otherwise been law abiding may be possible. Many don't WANT to become US citizens, they are here to earn money; perhaps some sort of work visa could be created. But none of this will be viable if we don't FIRST secure our borders. The open borders advocates on the left and right need to stop obstructing that. Then perhaps we can find real, workable solutions.


UPDATE 06-06-07:

From Neal Boortz:

AMNESTY BILL UPDATE

[...] Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions released an excellent report of 20 different loopholes he found in the bill.

* -Loophole 1 – Legal Status Before Enforcement
* -Loophole 2 – U.S. VISIT Exit Not In Trigger
* -Loophole 3 – Trigger Requires No More Agents, Beds, or Fencing Than Current Law
* -Loophole 4 -- Three Additional Years Worth of Illegal Aliens Granted Status, Treated Preferentially To Legal Filers
* -Loophole 5 – Completion of Background Checks Not Required For Probationary Legal Status
* -Loophole 6 – Some Child Molesters Are Still Eligible
* -Loophole 7 – Terrorism Connections Allowed, Good Moral Character Not Required
* -Loophole 8 – Gang Members Are Eligible
* -Loophole 9 – Absconders Are Eligible
* -Loophole 10 – Learning English Not Required For A Decade
* -Loophole 11 – Earned Income Tax Credit Will Cost Taxpayers Billions In Just 10 Years
* -Loophole 12 – Affidavits From Friends Accepted As Evidence
* -Loophole 13 – Taxpayer Funded Legal Counsel and Arbitration
* -Loophole 14 – In-State Tuition and Student Loans
* -Loophole 15 – Inadequacy of the Merit System
* -Loophole 16 – Visas For Individuals That Plan To Overstay
* -Loophole 17 – Chain Migration Tippled Before Being Eliminated
* -Loophole 18 – Back Taxes Not Required
* -Loophole 19 – Social Security Credits Allowed For Some Illegal Work Histories
* -Loophole 20 – Criminal Fines Not Proportional To Conduct

[...]

That's just part of it. Read the whole thing. This bill is NOT ready, it's too rushed. What can I say? AAAARGH!!!


UPDATE 06-10-07
Here's two bloggers that sum it up perfectly:

The Bloody Immigration Debate

Well-meaning but misguided Senate immigration bill dead