Posted on 05/21/2007 9:10:14 PM PDT by jazusamo
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Nothing is more common than political "solutions" to immediate problems which create much bigger problems down the road. The current immigration bill in the Senate is a classic example.
The big talking point of those who want to legalize the illegal immigrants currently in the United States is to say that it is "unrealistic" to round up and deport 12 million people.
Back in 1986 it was "unrealistic" to round up and deport the 3 million illegal immigrants in the United States then. So they were given amnesty -- honestly labeled, back then -- which is precisely why there are now 12 million illegal immigrants.
As a result of the current amnesty bill -- not honestly labeled, this time -- will it be "unrealistic" to round up and deport 40 million or 50 million illegal immigrants in the future?
If the current immigration bill is as "realistic" as its advocates claim, why is it being rushed through the Senate faster than a local zoning ordinance could be passed?
We are, after all, talking about a major and irreversible change in the American population, the American culture, and the American political balance. Why is there no time to talk about it?
Are its advocates afraid that the voting public might discover what a fraud it is? The biggest fraud is denying that this is an amnesty bill.
Its advocates' argument is that illegal immigrants will have to meet certain requirements to become citizens. But amnesty is not about how you become a citizen.
The word is from the same root as "amnesia." It means you forget or overlook some crime, as if it never happened. All this elaborate talk about the steps illegal immigrants must go through to become citizens is a distraction from the crime they committed when they crossed the border illegally.
Instead, all attention is focused on what to do to accommodate those who committed this crime. It is a question that would be recognized as an insult to our intelligence on any other issue.
For example, there are undoubtedly thousands, perhaps millions, of unsolved crimes and uncaught criminals in this country and we cannot realistically expect to find and prosecute all these fugitives from justice.
But does anyone suggest that our focus should be on trying to normalize the lives of domestic fugitives from justice -- "bring them out of the shadows" in Ted Kennedy's phrase -- and develop some path by which they can be given an acceptable legal status?
Does anyone suggest that, if domestic criminals come forward, pay some fine, and apply to have their crimes overlooked, they can be put on a path to be restored to good standing in our society?
Just as we don't need to solve every crime and catch every criminal, in order to have deterrents to crime, neither do we have to ferret out and deport every one of the 12 million illegal aliens in this country in order to deter a flood of new illegal aliens.
All across this country, illegal aliens are being caught by the police for all sorts of violations of American laws, from traffic laws to laws against murder. Yet in many, if not most, places the police are under orders not to report these illegal aliens to the federal government.
Imprisoning known and apprehended lawbreakers for the crime of illegally entering this country, in addition to whatever other punishment they receive for other laws that they have broken -- and then sending them back where they came from after their sentences have been served -- would be something that would not be lost on others who are here illegally or who are thinking of coming here illegally.
Just as people can do many things better for themselves than the government can do those things for them, illegal aliens could begin deporting themselves if they found that their crime of coming here illegally was being punished as a serious crime, and that they themselves were no longer being treated as guests of the taxpayers when it comes to their medical care, the education of their children, and other welfare state benefits.
Incidentally, remember that 700-mile fence that Congress authorized last year? Only two miles have been built. That should tell us something about how seriously they are going to enforce other border security provisions in the current bill.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.
bttt
Sowell is always terrific- though I’m surprised he neglected the solution of attrition via enforcing the laws of fining the businesses who hire illegals.
Also, as much as I admire the mind and writings of T. Sowell, he won’t touch the economic aspects of this issue. He is a supporter of NAFTA and offshoring and any other 100% free-trade initiative (no restrictions) on the theory that global competition (even for jobs) is always good.
The fact that illegal workers have created an underground economy (a false floor of low prices in some key areas of economy, agriculture, construction) would topple a balance we’ve become comfortable with.
Once the citizenry becomes fully aware of the economic false floor, they will shout loud and hard against international competition for work (that is, people in foreign countries being able to do our jobs from their countries) because they will see that there is an unfair playing field in that they can work (at a much greater profit than those workers are used to) for wages far below the standard of living we are used to. I sent a couple of lengthy emails to Mr. Sowell outlining this very position, that the illegal immigrants are a concrete example of the theoretics behind international job competition. He shrugged it off and said he addresses the issue in the latest issue of his Basic Economics. I've only read the older version, so I don't know what his stats say. But we all know about statistics.
“We can’t punish the law breakers, there are too many of them,
so we’ll CREATE some lawbreakers we CAN punish.”
I respectfully disagree.
First, the employers ARE lawbreakers.
Second, if you merely deport the employee, there are 50 more standing behind him to fill the same job.
However, if you punish the employer harshly for violating the laws, jobs will dry up and the illegal alien will leave.
Enforcement of the laws on the books will solve this problem.
Agreed... but hitting employers is insufficient. I don’t like ANY of these “comprehensive” plans. I write to my CongressCritters stating that I want to see:
1. the border locked down and
2. employers (including individuals who hire yard workers and nannies) be required to yield VALID ID AND SOCIAL SECURITY info for ALL employees for whom they file any tax deduction, and that heavy fines be imposed on any discovered hiring any illegal, and
3.furthermore that Congress pass legislation stating that no public or private services or benefits shall be required for a person who is not a legal immigrant or citizen.
His point is that we don’t have have to catch and deport EVERY criminal; just like other crimes, rigorous enforcement will have a deterrent effect.
In the book “Crime and Punishment” there is this (much-overlooked) gem: It is not the severity of punishment that deters crime, but the certainty of its enforcement.
I wish our public officials and the American public as a whole would remember this.
No controlling legal authority when irreversible changes in the world occur?
A coup de grâce of Uncle Sam?
Yes, all that matters is that you visit your congressman with a group. Five or more. They are of a mindset that if you don’t represent a corporation or NGO you don’t count (from the United Nations inspired ‘civil governance’ model the globalists want America to follow),so its up to us to change that.
I agree that this article is not about jailing 12 million people. It’s about making the nation unhospitable to illegal aliens and causing others to think twice about staying or arriving.
I’m convinced that working America doesn’t really understand what it means to their wages to have a flood of people enter the country who are allowed with their Z visa to compete legally for jobs. If 2 people compete for a job the wage is high. If 1000 people compete for a job the wage is lower. Supply and demand.
I’m convinced that politicians who refuse to act on illegal immigration are doing so to provide cheap labor to certain industries.
Not only should employers who hire illegals be fined, but any employer found to be paying any illegal less than the average national UNION wage for that work should be imprisoned.
Notice I didn’t say minimum wage.
We need to let America’s workers know that this seriously, very seriously threatens their jobs and wages.
I can just hear the buzz this would create. "Hey, let's go to America and commit some crime. Even if we get caught, all they'll do is ship us back".
Agreed...It’s not either/or, it’s all of the above if the illegal problem is to be solved.
We can deport them.
Who says they have to be deported to their home country?
Deport them to Afghanistan.
If we start arresting and putting illegal aliens in prison, large numbers will decided to leave and far fewer will be encouraged to come.
That might work. LOL!
You are right. I’d willingly pay $4.00 per head for lettuce if I wasn’t being squeezed from underneath by the illegal underclass.
A guest worker program is in place for true MIGRANT farmworkers who actually come here for the harvest seasons and return to Mexico for the rest of the year. Expand that! I’m happy to have them!
I don't think that he meant jailing every illegal alien: I think that he meant that if an illegal alien commits a crime of any sort, they need to be jailed AND THEN deported. If it's not a jailable offense, they should still be turned over to the feds.
Mark
I just thought of something... Given the facts that the US is a "safety valve" for social strife in Mexico, and I also believe that money sent home to Mexico from illegal aliens in the US is either the second or third greatest source of income for the Mexican economy.
What happens if Mexico were to close the border, and tell us that they don't want their people back?
Mark
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