Posted on 02/04/2013 8:38:04 PM PST by blam
Ron Paul Warns Immigration 'Reform' Will Turn The US Into A Police State
Politics / US Politics
February 05, 2013 - 03:31 AM GMT
By: Dr Ron Paul
Whenever the federal government decides to reform something we can be fairly sure that the problem is about to get worse, especially if they call the plan bi-partisan. The bi-partisan immigration reform proposal launched last week in the US Senate will be no different.
The new plan, introduced by Sens. McCain and Schumer, would provide a path to citizenship for many of those in the United States illegally. This would only begin after the borders are deemed secure and applicants have paid fees for their illegal entry. They must also pay back taxes on their earnings while working here without government permission. Those on a path to citizenship would be subject to background checks and would be monitored while in the US.
The devil is in the details, and the details of the McCain plan are deeply disturbing. To secure the borders he is calling for a massive increase in drones flying over US territory, spying on US citizens along the border - and presumably within the 100 mile "border zone" over which Department of Homeland Security claims jurisdiction. What if these drones detect suspicious activity unrelated to illegal immigration? Imagine the implications for the federal government's disastrous war on drugs. Imagine what's left of the Fourth Amendment completely tossed into the trashcan. The "privatized" prison system in the US that now benefits from the war on drugs and illegal immigration will no doubt look forward to booming business thanks to the army of drones overhead.
Additionally, the McCain/Schumer plan calls for a nationwide, mandatory E-Verify program, which forces employers to act as federal immigration agents, and forces American citizens to prove to the government that they are allowed to work. E-Verify is an East Germany-like program that creates a massive federal database of every American citizen and notes whether or not they are permitted to work.
As Cato Institute privacy expert Jim Harper noted of e-Verify, potentially tens of thousands of American citizens would come up as a false positive for illegal status, denying them the right to work and forcing them to prove to the government that they are not here illegally. He writes, "If E-Verify goes national, get used to hearing that Orwellian term: 'non-confirmation.'"
Harper rightly notes that E-Verify is in fact a national ID card, writing last week that, "the system must biometrically identify everyone who works--you, me, and every working American you know. There is no way to do internal enforcement of immigration law without a biometric national identity system."
Much of the most recent immigration problem of the 2000s was actually created by the federal government. The easy money policy of the Federal Reserve blew up the housing bubble and created enormous demand for labor. This artificial demand was filled largely by workers who crossed into the US illegally. Within a year of the housing market crash in 2008, an estimated one million illegal workers left the United States for Mexico and beyond. Net illegal immigration into the United States last year had fallen to zero.
As I noted in my most recent book, Liberty Defined, much of our immigration problems would be eliminated were the federal government to simply return to sound money practices and end the welfare incentive for individuals to come to the US illegally. Afterward, what remains of the problem would mostly be solved with a far more generous and flexible guest worker program. Whatever the case, turning the US into a police state in order to fight a hyped up illegal immigration "crisis" is a bad deal for us all.
How can this man be so right about some things and so wrong about others? I don’t get it.
As far as I can tell he's a 'nut' because (a) he thinks the War on Drugs is destructive to liberty, (b) he thinks the US is far too entangled in foreign engagements, and (c) doesn't buy into the propaganda of the Magic Money Man we know and love as the Federal Reserve.
Funny thing is that I pretty much agree w/ him on all these issues, and I'm not a nut.
Because he's human.
Specifically, Paul was talking about the wisdom (or not) of treating a PTSD-scarred person AT A FIRING RANGE. Gotta agree with him there, it’s not where I would have taken the fellow.
Now let’s see, Paul was opposed to the war that gave that guy PTSD in the first place, and he’s generally opposed to most wars because they are costly, destructive, end the lives of innocent people, and often lead to the curtailment of liberty.
But apparently Paul is a pinko commie America-hater for his opinions.
Sorry, I used to be gung ho about the war on terror too, and I regarded anybody who opposed it as an America-hater and probably a socialist. But I’ve done some growing up, some learning, and a lot of praying, and I have to say that as a Christian and a lover of freedom I think I agree with just about everything I’ve heard Paul say on war. A lot of pro-war conservatives have been brain-washed to be in favor of a huge military and more war because of the Cold War alliance between liberty-lovers and the US military and its interests.
But it’s time to realize that war is almost always a big government program designed to fix problems caused by other big government programs.
I disagree, I can think of a lot of things more threatening to America than a bunch of Mexicans wanting no-skill jobs. Socialism, for example. Government “stimulus” of the economy. Abortion. Regulations. The nanny state. The police state. All of them have done far worse damage to America than immigrants. The FDA has caused more American deaths via its refusal to approve drugs or providers than 9/11 did. I’m not trivializing 9/11, I’m just illustrating the point that everything outside our borders is small potatoes compared to what our own government does to us.
You are entitled to your opinion.
If this was on the west coast, this would never have happened. California fired all their ESL teachers because they found that students learned faster and better when they were forced to learn in English.
Discrimination Complaint filed against Wissahickon School District
So, we are now, not only required to education the children of the illegals, we are also required to translate all school communications into the various languages.
Ron Paul and most of the Paulestinians are either hippy-dippy dopers, neo-Nazis, 9/11 truthers, anti-Semites or mentally ill. They are NOT the Tea Party!!
Ron Paul’s ideas actually support the Natural Individual Freedoms as posited by our BoR and Constitution and he does not support this flailing and unsustainable US Empire resulting in a massive tyrannical Central Government. The fervor of some Freepers to support US military intervention in every damn piss hole in the world, paid for by the 100M American taxpayers is what amazes me. Paul’s ideas seem more relevant to turning this country around than any of the GOPe and clones of Romney/McCain/Rubio/Cantor/Bonehead/90% R Senate.....there is a jihad against RP on FR for what reason I don’t know.
I believe that the first part of your sentence spells out why he is a nut better than I ever could.
Truth bump.
Also, watch Ron Paul's farewell speech.
Thanks for the bump and the URL for the RP farewell! Have a great day.
Why does he always seem to make these REALLY good points a day or two after really sticking his foot in his mouth?
I’m not a nut either, I’m not even a Paulite, but I agree with him on a lot.
The police state horse is out of the barn. The only question remaining is how many citizens slump their shoulders and shuffle on the train.
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