Posted on 02/23/2005 5:15:25 AM PST by Luis Gonzalez
Douglas, Arizona
LEE MORGAN'S SMALL, spare office has the somber feel of a personal shrine. A Vietnam veteran with 30 years' experience in the immigration and customs services, Morgan does undercover and investigative work on the Arizona border, now the gateway of choice for illegal immigrants entering the United States from the south. Everything in his lair in the dusty frontier town of Douglas speaks to his patriotism and dedication: his Bronze Star, his Purple Heart, the three folded American flags--comrades' commemorative flags--and proud photos of his fondest undercover busts. Like everyone who works on the border, he has had a new assignment since 9/11. The twin fights against illegal immigration and drugs, though not forgotten, have been subordinated to a new preoccupation--terrorism. But, tough and determined though he is, Morgan is far from confident that he can hold the line.
Every day last year, the immigration service apprehended some 1,400 illegal immigrants trying to cross into Arizona. Over 12 months, along the whole southern border, the total number arrested was more than a million. Morgan has seen too much in life to be anything but candid, and although it's his job to help catch these unauthorized migrants, he criticizes the apprehensions as a waste of time and resources. "They're just poor people trying to feed their families," he shrugs. But that doesn't mean he isn't concerned--very concerned. The main issue in his eyes: the distraction the immigrant influx creates. "What if another 9/11 happens and I'm responsible?" he asks. "What if the
Morgan's personal nightmare is one urgent reason why all Americans, no matter what their politics, should support President Bush's plan to retake control of our southern border. The White House proposal, introduced in early 2004 and allowed to drop from sight during the election year, is back on the table. The president laid out his ideas again in the State of the Union and is reportedly planning a major initiative to take the issue to the public later this spring.
Republicans are no less divided this year than last, and the White House has been working overtime to finesse those divisions. In early February it shrewdly avoided a confrontation in the House by backing a package of tough enforcement measures that many had expected would expose a rift between the president and less immigrant-friendly Republicans. Instead, the administration and its allies cast the "REAL ID Act"--the brainchild of powerful Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner--as a first step toward the broader reform they seek, helping the measure pass by a healthy margin. But this will hardly end the discord in Republican ranks, and a major showdown is sure to come, both in Congress and, more broadly, among conservatives across the country.
The Bush plan has two key components: a guest worker program and a transitional measure that would allow illegal immigrants already here and working to earn their way onto the right side of the law and participate legally in the U.S. labor market. Conservative critics lambaste both elements, not just as bad policy, but as inherently un-conservative--out of keeping with core principles and detrimental to Republican interests. The impulse behind the challenge is understandable. Conservative criteria are different: not just security, but the rule of law, traditional values, and national cohesion--not to mention the interests of the GOP. It's also true that the president often touts his proposal in terms designed to appeal across the political spectrum. He talks about "compassion" and a desire to reward "goodhearted" workers, and sometimes this emphasis obscures the hardheaded, conservative case for his approach--a case that begins but does not end with America's economic interests. In reality, though, demonized as it has been on the right, the Bush plan meets every conceivable conservative criterion--with flying colors.THE PRESIDENT'S REPUBLICAN OPPONENTS often put their case as a rhetorical question--"What part of 'illegal' don't you understand?"--and the gibe hits home, not necessarily because of what it says about the Bush solution, but because it so accurately diagnoses what's wrong with the existing system. Our immigration system is indeed based on illegality--on a long-standing and all but deliberate mismatch between the size of our yearly quotas and the actual needs of our labor market, particularly at the lower reaches of the job ladder. This mismatch has often been convenient for employers--it provides a docile, disposable foreign labor force--and it has been the norm in agriculture off and on for nearly a hundred years. But in recent decades, new technologies have spurred demand for low-skilled workers in a wide range of other sectors as well, and the public, quite understandably, is beginning to find the hypocrisy intolerable.
As the president's critics understand, this is a large part of what is driving voters' concerns about immigration. People don't like the idea of 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States but outside the law. They're appalled that entire American industries--not just agriculture, but hospitality, food processing, construction--operate on the wrong side of the rules, relying on the black market to find the labor they need just to keep their businesses open. The very idea of this second, illegal America is an affront, its practical consequences even more troubling: not just criminal syndicates that thrive on lawlessness, but also the haven it
So the critics' diagnosis is not far from the mark. But the question is what to do about this other, illegal America--and the fact is that the president has the best idea, arguably the only idea that can possibly work. Many of his critics believe that the answer is to turn off the immigrant influx. We should, they say, make the necessary economic adjustments and do without the imported labor. It's an option; with enough resources, we probably could stop the flow. But are the American people prepared for the changes that would come with that decision? The likely economic sacrifice is incalculable: not just a few extra pennies on the cost of lettuce, but forfeited growth all across the economy, on a vast scale. In many industries today, growth depends on foreign laborers, who filled one in every two new jobs created in recent years. Then there would be the cost of enforcement--a cost in dollars but also in the way we live. Just ask experienced agents like Lee Morgan: Cutting off illegal immigration would require thousands more men on the border, routine sweeps in every city, roadblocks, roundups, massive deportations, a national ID card, and more.
The president has a better solution. He proposes that we face up to the reality of our growing demand for labor, skilled and unskilled. His outline is still just that--an outline--and he is likely to leave it to Congress to fill in the details: to devise a way to match foreign workers with American employers, to make sure American laborers aren't undercut in the process, to design a method for monitoring employers and punishing those who don't comply, and so on. But the White House has nailed down the all-important central principle: If we raise our quotas to make them more commensurate with the existing flow of foreign workers, we can reap the benefits of immigration without the illegality that currently comes with it.
A new, more realistic policy would be much easier to enforce. The best analogy is Prohibition: Unrealistic law is extremely difficult to make stick. Realistic limits are another thing entirely. We can have robust immigration and the rule of law too--if, instead of wishing away the influx, we acknowledge reality, then find a smarter, more practical way to manage it. And that is exactly what the president proposes we do through his guest worker program. The idea is not to expand the total number of immigrants who enter the country each year, merely to provide those who are coming anyway--and would otherwise come illegally--with a safe, orderly, legal route. Assuming it works--assuming, as the White House does, that once most jobs are filled by authorized immigrants, there will be little incentive for others to come illegally--it's a simple, pragmatic solution, and that in itself should recommend it to conservatives.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANT would be the dividends for national security. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners enter the country each year without benefit of background checks or security controls of any kind. Then, once in the United States, they cluster in transient, underground communities, as often as not beyond the reach of the law. The president understands that we must come to grips with these potential terrorist havens, eliminating not just the illegal arrivals but also the illicit population that has accumulated here in recent decades. That's why he has included a provision that would allow unauthorized migrants to come in out of the shadows and get visas. Though mocked as a spineless, soft-hearted giveaway, this part of the plan too is driven by our needs--our security needs.
Under the Bush plan, foreigners seeking to disguise their identities would no longer find fake ID cards readily available on street corners in every American city. The Department of Homeland Security would have a much better grasp of who is here and what their names are and where to look for them if they turn up on an international watch list. Agents like Lee Morgan would be able to get back to their real jobs: tracking criminals and terrorists, not farmhands and busboys. And all this could be achieved without a draconian crackdown of the kind we would need were we to enforce the quotas we have, let alone close the border. Far simpler to bring the law back into line with market reality, then implement the new rules with modest, commonsense enforcement measures of the sort we rely on in every other realm of American life.
But isn't what the critics say true--isn't the president's plan in fact an amnesty? Not necessarily. It depends how it's done. Illegal immigrants should not be forgiven for breaking the rules; they should be offered an opportunity to earn their way back onto the right side of the law. Think of it as probation--that all-American idea, a second chance. The president is unequivocal: Unauthorized workers will not be permitted to jump the queue ahead of legal applicants waiting patiently for visas back in their home countries. And Congress should add other conditions. Those already in the country illegally should be required to pay a penalty; they should have to wait just as long as other applicants for full legal status. While they're waiting, they should be required to fulfill a variety of additional obligations: hold a job, pay taxes, abide by the law, take English classes, and demonstrate their commitment to American values. Once they've met these terms, it might even make sense to require them to go home to pick up their visas.
The vetting alone is sure to be a huge job, and it will have to be done with the utmost care on the part of law enforcement. But the truth is there's no other realistic way to eliminate the vast illegal world these immigrants inhabit: no other way to clear the ground in order to build for the future with a realistic, legal system of the kind the president envisions. After all, we as a nation aren't going to deport 10 to 12 million foreigners. However much they dislike the idea of illegal immigration, the American people aren't likely to have the stomach for that. Nor would it ultimately be in our interest. Surely it makes more sense to retain these trained, already assimilating workers than it does to send them home and start over with people who know nothing of the United States or its ways.
DOES THIS MEAN it may be possible to bridge the gap between the president and his conservative critics? Well, yes and no. The critics are right about many things. Our current "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" policy is unacceptable. The erosion of the rule of law cannot continue. We must secure our borders against terrorists. The critics are also right to be worried about the costs that even legal immigrants impose on social services--primarily schools and hospitals--in the communities where they settle. Any overhaul of the immigration system must deal with those costs, and it ought to include a set of provisions, both carrots and sticks, to encourage assimilation. About all of that, there can be no doubt. The only catch: Just think a minute about this list of concerns. In fact, what the critics find intolerable is not the president's plan; it's the status quo.
The Bush package acknowledges the critics' concerns and attempts to address them with realistic solutions. It's designed to serve America's economic interest. It's our only hope of ending the hypocrisy that undermines our law enforcement. It's the best way to restore the rule of law in our workplaces and enhance security on the border. Issues of assimilation and local service costs are among the practical matters still to be thought through--on the table for Congress to tackle as it writes the legislation to implement the president's plan. But surely eliminating the barriers that now prevent 10 to 12 million U.S. residents from participating in the body politic and requiring them to pay their full freight in taxes would be a good start on both problems. And this can be accompanied by other, more proactive strategies like mandatory health savings accounts for guest workers and incentives for employers to offer them English classes.
Where the critics are most wrong--where they seem most shrewd but are ultimately the most misguided--is in their view of the politics of immigration. Here, too, they see the symptoms accurately enough. Americans are frustrated and angry. They know the system is broken; they want change. Uncertainty about just how to effect that change is driving a wedge into the Republican party, dividing the president from his conservative base in Congress and at the grassroots. And if the system isn't fixed, it could create a dangerous opening for Democrats: an opportunity for Democratic immigration hawks to outflank Republicans, not just on law and order, but even more devastatingly on security. All of this is true--and scary. But the answer isn't to block reform. The antidote is to deliver a remedy, as the White House proposes.
The president isn't misreading public opinion. If anything, he reads it better than his critics do. Most Americans aren't anti-immigrant. As poll after poll shows, what they want is to regain control--of both the border and the underground economy. The paradox at the heart of the Bush plan makes it a little hard to explain to voters. The president is promising to regain control by means of a more generous and welcoming approach to immigration. But that doesn't change the underlying truth: The Bush plan is the only way to restore the rule of law, either on the border or in our communities. It's the best answer to the critics' complaints, the only answer to the illegality that plagues us. And surely--no matter what the skeptics say--it can't be political suicide to give voters a solution to one of the problems that frightens and disturbs them most.
The reason cliches become cliches is that they're true.
I take it you oppose the President's Medicare drug proposals?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights
I struck a nerve. It has been my experience when one is accused of something that is untrue the most frequent responses are bewilderment or a denial and explanation of the truth. But when someone is caught in an embarrassing situation, men of low character attack and swear.
There are big differences in the party. I pointed out several in my last post. You are angry because my post was effective and I proved your assertions wrong. Your response is to repeat the lie only louder. LOL.
There are individuals in BOTH partys that stand out as true Americans.
Since you recognize this "truth" am I to believe you must be one of those elite "true Americans." Too bad you have to deal with all of us "fake Americans." Too bad you are a very tiny minority of voters.
much less you who can't hold a decent argument without spewing insults at someone you know very little about.
If you really believed I can't hold a decent argument, you would not need to respond. You could let my words stand as a monument to my poor debate skills. Your beliefs are not supportable by reality, but I suspect you have never been confronted by others who questioned your beliefs. You haven't had to defend them and you find yourself angry because you are not equipped to rational defend them. Don't feel bad, nobody could defend your assertions rationally. Instead you make unsupported and angry declarations in big capital letters about how cool you are personally and how you are being persecuted by my words. I didn't buy your previous post...you figure it out.
If you don't want to debate the differences in an amicable, cordial fashion, just say so and we'll turn the flames up.
You're going to turn the flames up higher? Higher than than your response that violates "Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts." You won't be posting it for long Joe. Your threat designed to shut me down was ineffective. I await your next profanity.
I think a combined approach of letting hard working illegals stay, booting out criminal and welfare illegals, and cracking down on businesses that employ illegals is the most effective approach under realistic standards of cost and logistics. I think building an impenetrable wall on our border is impractical and ascetically unpalatable for Americans. It is also a huge barrier to trade.
You have mentioned several times that you contribute to a charity clinic. You never recieved a proper response. I'm sorry it passed by me. Thank you for helping your fellow man. If God is not already shining his benevolence upon you for your charity, I believe you will be rewarded for it in the future.
Yes. I understand why both parties believed they had to pass it. The people of the USA do not always want what is best for them, but I believe it is better to let the people decide what is best for themselves rather than elite elected officials in Washington. I hope America will demand a reversal this program just as they demanded a reversal of AFDC.
I could point out all the supporting evidence, but it is obvious you didn't read it the first time so why would you read my excerpts?
As for your "white pride" remark, you can take that up with La Raza.
I'll let this stand as a monument to your debating skills.
I'll let this stand as a monument to your debating skills.
There are differences between the partys but, IMO, they are differences of degree only.
You pointed out actions of individuals in one party not the party itself. Both partys want, eventually, the same thing. All the votes of the American public and the power to make their platforms law.
Am I a "true American"?
You tell me what you consider that to be and I'll tell you if I qualify.
I know what my definition is but don't know if it would qualify as yours.
Your beliefs are not supportable by reality
What are my beliefs? Do you know?
Let's put this to the test with the subject at hand.
It's my belief that illegal immigrants should not be given preferential treatment in employment, or in receiving citizenship, JUST because they were here, illegally, first.
What this comes down to, IMO, is that any "guest worker" that is outside the US that applies gets a job before any "illegal immigrant" does. If the "illegal immigrant" wants to cross the border and apply when they are outside the US, fine.
In addition, any "guest worker" that wants to apply for citizenship has to wait for all current citizenship applicants to be processed before they will be accepted for consideration. Is that so hard to understand?
You were the one that started the acrimony with statements such as, "I spit in your direction you liar.", and "It is hard for me to disguise my disagust for enablers like you..
My intent was to let you know that if you wanted to up the ante, I was available for the game.
Again, I apologize for the profanity used but not for the intent of the post.
My dog's poo is bigger than yours.
You admit it does not happen on a daily basis. That would be 364 crimes at most. We are discussing 15 million illegals. Broad brush. Can you understand this now that I have simplified it for you?
it's called the truth and I doubt someone like you is prepared to deal with it.
I'll deal with it if you post it. I haven't heard any truth so far...just discrimination.
Of course we have a larger share of crimes are committed by native born but why should countless innocent people and families have to suffer rape, robbery and even murder at the hands of people who would not be here if the fedgov had stricter enforcement policies?
At a certain point it becomes obvious that the problem is not the government's, it is the American people who rent to illegals, employ illegals, and purchase goods and services from illegals. The American people will not stand for one, just one, 4 year old Latino girl shot by the border patrol. How many Ellian Gonzales's do you need to see to realize that the American people will not let us remove 15 million illegals? They may let us remove 4 million criminals or 2 million welfare cheats, but I don't know how they will deal with the children of the welfare cheats and criminals.
We have enough homegrown cretins so why import more?
I don't want to import cretins. I want to import workers. We have a labor shortage. Business keeps expanding but our population is stagnant. When the baby boomers retire we will be in big trouble unless social services are reduced (which I'm all for but the American people are less enthusiastic) or tax payers increase in number. My hope is both will occur.
We live in a global economy. Driving up cost for American goods means American goods don't get purchased. This is a simple idea if you think about it.
The quickest path to socialism is to destroy the livelihoods of the poor at the bottom end of the middle class. That is the path that mass immigration is leading us down. Say good bye to the NASCAR voters and the gun-rights blue collar labor Republicans. They will vote their economic values in front of their social values.
Poppycock. The voters have rejected the rats after 60 years of rat socialism. Socialism doesn't work, but the American people needed to figure that out for themselves. They have finally discovered the truth and it will be a long time before the socialism they built up will be eroded by Republicans. Sometimes that will require 1 step backwards before we can move 2 steps forward. Things like the drug benifit show the people they can trust Republicans to look out for them even though Republicans are portrayed as heartless money grubbing corporate thugs by the media.
I would say that this is part of the problem. We should be working to wean the public off of government programs and convincing them that minimal government is optimal. I don't see how this will be done by expanding government.
Thanks for posting. A worthy contribution to the ongoing debate.
Yep, "certain" -- NOT "all."
Btw, you still haven't answered the question:
Are both your home and bedroom "sovereign"? OR has anybody and everybody the "right" to enter without your authorization?
[sound of crickets]
The Catch-22 is that as long as they're illegal, they don't want to show up on anyone's radar scope. And as long as we don't grant illegals driver's licenses, which we shouldn't, they can't get auto insurance (at least from my insurer).
And they're probably dating his daughter.
We are much closer in our thinking than you seem to realize.
Surrender, essentially, yep.
It is funny to imagine, say, Hillary adopting a similar attitude. Imagine the intense frothing from all nooks and crannies on FR. *LOL*
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