Replies

"Levin is a smart guy, but I'm not sure just how clearly he's reading the political climate in the U.S. on this issue. I'm starting to wonder if all this controversy about illegal immigration is based on some mistaken notions about what exactly the electorate wants to see done in Washington. "

It is about taxes and accountability. We, the citizens and taxpayers in this country, are paying thousands of dollars every year to the Federal Government. In return, the the politicians are giving our tax dollars to people here illegally and use fraud to draw the tax-dollars we forced to pay under penalty of imprisonment from the IRS, and are doing this in order to gain votes so they can stay in power and CONTINUE to give my money to people who are breaking the law.

We, the citizens and taxpayers in this country, are paying thousands of dollars every year to the Federal Government. In return, the the politicians are giving our tax dollars to people here illegally and use fraud to draw the tax-dollars we forced to pay under penalty of imprisonment from the IRS, and are doing this in order to gain votes so they can stay in power and CONTINUE to give my money to people who are breaking the law.

One of the best, most succinct arguments on the issue I've read. Thanks.

My point is that the phrase "dealing with the illegal immigration problem" covers a wide range of potential options, and the hard-lined stance that people like Michelle Malkin and Pat Buchanan take is a political non-starter for most voters.

The first indication of this that I saw was an interesting news report within the last few months about a mayor in suburban Long Island, New York, who was instituting a "severe crackdown" on illegal aliens at the behest of the overwhelming outpouring of concern by the people in his town.

I tuned in to the report, very interested as I was to see what this "severe crackdown" would entail. They started with a bunch of interviews of local residents who were "outraged" and "finally had enough" with all of the illegal aliens in the town. They all said the mayor and police had to "do something about it."

As it turns out, the "severe crackdown" was just a matter of preventing the local pool of day laborers from hanging around in front of the local convenience store and the train station waiting to be picked up for work. No arrests on immigration charges, no threats of deportation, etc. In fact, the vast majority of these "outraged" people were perfectly comfortable with the idea that landscapers and contractors were hiring illegal immigrants to work all over the town -- and many of these "outraged" people were adamantly opposed to any suggestion that homeowners and/or private employers should be prosecuted for hiring illegal aliens and paying them cash for their work.

In other words, these "outraged" people really didn't give a sh!t at all about the illegal immigrants at all. They just didn't want them hanging around in plain sight where people driving through the town from other places could see them. So the "severe crackdown" involved nothing more than the enforcement of anti-loitering statutes that had been on the books for a hundred years. And these illegal immigrants still work in this town just as they always did . . . they just hang around in front of the convenience store and the train station in the NEXT town waiting to get picked up.