What percent does Al Qaeda comprise?
In fact, the Fort Worth Star Telegram has no idea.
As we've seen, it doesn't take many.
Posted on 04/30/2006 6:21:01 AM PDT by sinkspur
In Texas, we shouldn't need a Hispanic boycott to demonstrate the significance of immigrants. They've been driving growth in the state economy for more than 30 years.
But maybe we could use a reminder about their increasing clout, and the assets and challenges they bring to the mix.
That might boost appreciation and provoke new initiatives to improve the future.
Immigrants' success at assimilating here -- in particular, their ability to close the gap in education and income -- will go a long way in determining Texas' prosperity.
For those who believe that immigration is more threatening than promising, consider that it accounted for more than half the job growth in the country from 1996 to 2002.
It may not be surprising that foreign-born workers accounted for 86 percent of the growth among mechanics and construction workers. But they also represented 27 percent of the group that includes doctors, scientists and teachers, and 31 percent of new health and science technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The numbers would be higher, if not for rules that restrict the number of highly skilled foreigners who want to work here. In fiscal 2006, the annual cap for so-called H-1B visas was reached two months before the fiscal year even started.
Immigrants have been a crucial complement to the economy, with their numbers climbing when times were strong and waning in the downturns. Which means there's something a lot worse than having immigrants flow into Texas and the United States: having them not come here.
On Monday, Hispanics and other immigrants are planning rallies and a consumer boycott in major cities across the country. Their primary goal is to influence the immigration debate in Washington, which has become increasingly polarized.
Some lawmakers are focused on reducing undocumented workers and even punishing them. They propose to build fences between the U.S. and Mexico and beef up border patrols.
There have been some high-profile raids on employers in the past few weeks and talk about deporting an estimated 11 million illegals. That notion is both destructive and impractical.
Others talk about creating amnesty and guest-worker programs, proposals aimed at helping immigrants improve their lot here and keeping the flow of foreign-born residents coming.
"The only way to move forward is to move forward together," says Pia Orrenius, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
"Somehow, we have to legalize people who are already here," she says. "But we also need to have a system in place to keep employers honest and make sure there's a level playing field."
Here's what I'm wondering: Why do anything at all?
The state's population has grown at roughly twice the rate of the nation since 1970, largely because of the influx of foreign-born residents and a higher birth rate among Hispanics.
Because immigrants are younger, they also offer a counterweight to the aging baby boomer generation. Texas ranks as the second-youngest state, thanks to immigrants, and this demographic trend boosts labor markets, consumer sales and the housing industry.
But the federal government has intensified its campaign against illegal immigrants, primarily in the name of national security. It has become much more difficult for undocumented workers to get driver's licenses and do their banking.
Rumors of raids on big employers have sent a chill through the immigrant community, and workers fear mass deportations.
"Illegal immigration was working before, because we weren't enforcing the laws, and people lived almost as if they were legal," Orrenius says. "Now we've changed the rules of the game, so we need a more comprehensive solution."
Which leads to the current debate in Washington. A guest-worker program would make life easier for many immigrants, Orrenius says, but the rules can't be too complex or they'll be sidestepped again.
Some current restrictions are confounding. We allow a steady flow of low-skilled, often illegal, immigrants into the country, and they do many jobs that natives shun. But they generally take in more in public benefits than they pay out in taxes -- usually in the form of schooling for their children and medical care.
(Low-skilled natives also use more than they pay for, because skills, not nationality, most closely correlate with income.)
The workers who put more into the pool than they take out -- those with high skills and high income -- are restricted by federal policies.
From 2001 to 2003, we temporarily allowed 195,000 H-1B visas a year. Often used by engineers and scientists, almost all H-1Bs have bachelor's degrees, and half hold advanced degrees.
The annual cap is back at 65,000 visas, and it's not nearly high enough. In 2004, the cap was reached five months into the fiscal year, says the latest Economic Report of the President. In 2005, the cap was reached on the first day. In 2006, the visas were gone two months before the year began.
Orrenius says the current debate over immigration is similar to past conflicts. In the 1850s and early 1900s, there were backlashes against immigrants from Germany, China, Ireland, Italy and Poland.
Today, it's Mexico and Central America that account for 37 percent of immigrants, followed by Asia (25 percent) and Europe (14 percent).
People often complain that immigrants can't speak and write English, and Orrenius says that's reminiscent of the literacy laws that were proposed for newcomers almost a century ago.
She doesn't see much difficulty in our economy absorbing immigrants. They total about 36 million people, with fewer than 30 percent undocumented. Our total population is almost 300 million.
The bigger challenge is helping immigrants develop skills more quickly, so they can earn more and have better prospects. That puts the onus on education, because high school dropout rates remain twice as high for Hispanics, even in subsequent generations.
Texas has been confronting this problem for years, dealing with chronic underfunding in many poorer school districts.
Maybe immigration reform could help.
Many immigrants, especially illegals, pay payroll taxes and never collect from Social Security. The government keeps track of those numbers, and the pool was valued at $463 billion in 2002.
Imagine what some of that money could do on the local level.
No mention here that these illegal aliens have stolen these Social Security Numbers from American Citizens. Many, if not all, of these stolen Social Security Numbers belong to our children, and years from now, when our children attempt to get a loan they will find that some illegal has trashed their credit record.
For every dollar illegal aliens pay into Social Security through payroll deduction on stolen Social Security Numbers, how many dollars do they borrow using our children's Social Security Numbers and never pay back? Our children will find out some day.
What really provides a good indication of how much this country has changed is that we entered a war in which 53,402 troops were killed in less than 6 months fighting an enemy that had merely PROPOSED what is happening right now.
Incredible! Sinkspur goes to any length to defend illegal aliens & the supposed financial boon to our country while ignoring the hundreds of billions of dollars to cover their free medical expenses, social services, free education, in-state college tuition, etc. On the other hand, he loves to attack evangelical Christians, conservatives and patriotic Americans who are willing to fight to defend our country from enemies both abroad and domestic.... like 18-20 million illegal aliens.
That's why apologists/champions like Sinky use it as a rhetorical point - you can't attack its logic headon.
The real issue is prevention & detection. Failing that, we're learning all we need to know about our national 'leaders'.
I'd also like to see a Supreme Court ruling that says specifically that illegals born in this country are auomatically US ciizens. The close thing I can find is US v Wong Kim Ark but that case really does not settle the issue about if the 14th amendment says that anyone born on US soil is a US citizen.
Congress needs to immediately pass a law that says that children born to illegals are no automatically US ciizens and also that English is the only and offical language of the US.
What percent does Al Qaeda comprise?
In fact, the Fort Worth Star Telegram has no idea.
As we've seen, it doesn't take many.
Here in Nashville, the local Gannett org The Tennessean never even distinguishes the difference.
It's all about IMMIGRANTS....not illegal, not even undocumented.
Just IMMIGRANTS.
Even some FROBLs do better than that.
We're not "cracking down" on immigration. That liitle word, "illegal," always seems to disappear with these BS arguments.
I think F is on the Duke Lacrosse team.
And we can't expect illegals to homeschool, use private or parochial schools, etc.
From the researchers at the Los Angeles Times:
40 percent of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes.
95 percent of all arrest warrants issued for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
75 percent of people on L.A.'s most-wanted list are illegal aliens.
Over two-thirds of all births are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by the taxpayers.
Nearly 25 percent of all inmates in California detention centers are here illegally.
Over 300,000 illegals are living in garages.
The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegals from south of the border.
Nearly 60 percent of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
Of the 10 million people in Los Angeles County, 5.1 million speak English and 3.9 million speak Spanish.
21 radio stations in Los Angeles are Spanish speaking.
Less than 2 percent of illegals are picking crops but 29 percent are on welfare.
Over 70 percent of the U.S. annual population growth (over 90 percent of California, Florida and New York) are from immigration.
29 percent of inmates in the federal prisons are illegal aliens.
The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a negative.
They also send about $15 billion back to Mexico annually.
It cost Los Angeles $276 million in welfare costs for 100,000 children of illegal aliens.
Agree and I'm not sure that an executive order won't work too.
Every article, editorial and column in the paper, Star Telegram (DFW) was like this, way too many to post here but they were all pro-immigration legal and/or illegal.
This is not about immigration. This is the infancy of a leftist, separatist, "home-rule" revolution. In time, we will see the violent tactics used in Mexico and South America, complete with bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of police and political figures. And I have total faith and confidence that our Government will cower and eventually capitulate.
That Supreme Court case did note that the children of invaders were not citizens. But the OBL types call the invaders "undocumented workers".
I slipped one of the Osmonds in there as a trick question.
Interesting conversation with my Italian/American friend, Emilia --(dual citizenship). Once in a while she comes out with remarks to curl your hair. Yesterday, it was that Hitler hadn't been such a bad dictator after all. (Maybe she has a soft spot for Mussolini.) Hitler had done some good things for Germany. Well, the trains ran on time, etc., but with slave labor! Her sister in Italy works for an organization that takes in orphans, most from African countries and Eastern Europe. Huge growing problem. Ignorance, poverty, racial factors, and more illegal immigrants pouring in every day. They're overwhelming Italy and Spain...which is why Spain put up the wall. Not enough people to keep the labor force going...socialism requires workers! She said the govt.'s begging Italians to have more kids, as is Germany. And the UK is paying immigrants to leave, three thousand a head. Just please leave. And we know who this is aimed at.
We started talking about illegal immigrants in the US, the cultural divide between Mexicans and Americans. They don't value education so kids drop out of school at alarming rates. Fifty per cent in Denver. Polled, they said the three reasons they'd dropped out were hard times at home, poor self esteem, and peer pressure. Studies being hard or boring wasn't a factor. In Colorado, schooling's probably bilingual anyway.
The glaring irony is illegals pulling kids out of school for the march on May 1. Out of their minds. You couldn't ask for a more stark indicator of what's wrong with them. It's the here and now. Gimme, gimme, gimme. I want my American/human rights! Who cares how my kids are going to support themselves in ten years. The US govt. owes them.
A man from Holland, but in the US for the past 2 years, now being transferred to Belgium, said the trick was not to think about Europe's troubles with Muslims/Iranian nukes, illegal immigrants, any of it, or you'd get an ulcer. What's the use? You can't do anything about it anyway. I didn't point out that Holland is already lost and Belgium is beyond help. The man's in total denial.
Congress needs to immediately pass a law that says that children born to illegals are no automatically US ciizens and ....
Why do some people think Americans are against immigration? It's immigration that's ILLEGAL that we oppose.
Middle Class Americans can't afford health care, but have to pay for illegals' health care/education/welfare, etc.. One fairly well off self-employed man said his healthcare cost him $19K a year, so he'd had to downsize to catastrophic -- $15K.
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