Posted on 12/18/2006 8:36:17 AM PST by arnoldfwilliams
In sum, the insistence by impassioned theorists that illegal immigration south of the border is the pre-eminent problem of our time makes perfect sense — or would, had those been Salvadoreans piloting airplanes on 9/11, Guatemalans bankrolling their efforts, Hondurans plotting attacks on the subways and government buildings of Europe, and Mexicans across the global labor diaspora plotting how to bring down the American government, presumably by poisoning our gardens and toilets. If you do not think that is the way it went down, then Occam's razor dictates this: The sheer volume of emotion on the subject of illegal aliens makes most sense as a manifestation of denial about who would really like to see the end of the American republic — as it turns out, one form of many now circulating.
(Excerpt) Read more at hoover.org ...
And then we have posters here that don't understand the difference between LEGAL and ILLEGAL regardless of which country they're from and which border they cross. Jeeeez!!!
Ok, fine, issue them a citation, let them pay a fine. Or do you assert that every violation of any law is a capital felony?
"There are no illegal aliens in my client list: they don't buy shopping centers, or set up office buildings, or renovate the apartments I find loans for."
You would probably be surprised to know how many illegals are doing the work you just described. You're profitting from illegal workers as We type.
Funny, I live with/amongst a LOT of LEGAL immigrants that obeyed the law.
we don't have the luxury of sweeping through and arresting everyone
If we have the "luxury" of liberating 60M Muslims we were told could never be done, on the opposite side of the earth, why can't we enforce our own laws at home? Oh, that's right, because very few in Washington have the cajones to do so...
"You would probably be surprised to know how many illegals are doing the work you just described. You're profitting from illegal workers as We type."
You'd be surprised to find out how many construction loans are negotiated through Union pension plans. Let me suggest, gently, that there are requirements about who works for these projects as part of the loan. Be careful as you assume: the Colonias don't get my help, either. I don't assume tnat any of you rents space in office buildings that hire illegal aliens as janitorial services (after all, there are auditors for that sort of thing in my area, now), nor do I assume that any of you wash your cars at commercial carwashes that employ illegal aliens, or eat bacon packed by Swift, nor do I assume that you torture puppies in your basement for fun. Would I be wrong?
And of course, we all know that only Latinos can penetrate our southern border.
Then elect different ones.
And prepare for the labor shortages elsewhere while we go through the grim arithmetic of trying to add enough policemen, secretaries, supervisors, inspectors, busdrivers, jailers, jails, and holding pens to transport 12 million people: but don't make it too permanent, you're going to fire them when they're done. Doesn't sound practical. Let's choose a bit among who we have, and work that way.
At 15 a year (Tuscon jurisdiction), you're using too many people to catch them. If that is your focus, there are better ways to do it. Quit distracting the Border Patrol with immigration. Unless you think that they should all be there to catch one.
And more than that illegally, and still we're running behind.
We need more, not less, integration and cooperation of agencies, imho. Seperating BP from IMM is like seperating the FBI from the CIA.
As opposed to the grim arithmetic of having these same Americans deal with the 12M+ people here ILLEGALLY; who need schools for their children, healthcare, a residence, drivers license, a car, space to drive on the crowded highways, etc. Why do us law-abiding Americans have to pay for all that with OUR taxes??
Have you ever lived/worked overseas, legally or otherwise?
Cute. You do realize that you don't provide cars and driver's licenses, and that schools, healthcare, subsidized residences and highway space are paid for in taxes that all immigrants pay, illegal or not: but it's nice rhetoric.
You might also realize that educating their children is a good way to get tax money out of the children, as well as ensuring that you have people available for other productive work. But who's quibbling?
What you have to understand, though, is that capitalizing "ILLEGALLY" and screaming about it would have more effect if it were a morally, rather than economically, based statute. It's illegal because you want it to be. That you can then scream "Criminals!" allows you to assure yourself that this is the James Gang out to destroy society, and keep up the moral confusion.
The fact that the statute is based on economic considerations, however, ought to cue you to the idea that the correct approach to applying, and reforming it, is to study the economy that you are regulating part of. So far, all I see is handwaving from you: and from Nobel-prize winning economists, I see lists of benefits, with some cautions about the 819,000 mentioned earlier.
Actually, I'm suggesting that you quit fooling yourself that it's a security, rather than an economic issue. Re-read the prior post. Or, don't bother. You've got your pigeonhole, why think?
Your suspicions are, like everyone who denies the rule of economics, misplaced economics. Suffice it to say that I have a friend who has run a local body shop for years, and he isn't hiring any illegal aliens: yes, they'd be cheaper. But he doesn't want to operate that way. Economics does not trump everything: it merely indicates that opposing values may have different consequences, and that certain "obvious" thoughts dont' hang together very well. See, for example, Ricardo's Difficult Idea
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.