Posted on 05/08/2002 2:18:56 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
The Republican Party needs to hire Andrew Smith to help shape its message on immigration. At 18, this senior at Novato High School in Marin County, Calif., has more common sense and cojones than the hapless panderers in the GOP who have thrown their principles to the wind.
Smith made headlines last week after blowing the whistle on school officials who attacked an article he wrote about illegal immigration for his student newspaper late last year. His message was simple: Illegal immigrants are law-breakers who should be sent back to their native countries, where they should wait in line like everyone else.
"Our country is extremely generous and possesses some of the greatest opportunities in the world," Smith wrote. "For these reasons people from all over the globe have come here in order to better themselves through the freedoms that only America provides. To insure that our generosity and opportunities aren't wasted by those that seek refuge inside our borders, certain laws must be enforced. These laws are there to protect and benefit the citizens of our country."
He continued: "In order for a person to become a citizen they have to comply with a few very reasonable requirements. The first and most obvious is that you have to speak, write, and understand simple English. Second, you cannot have any felony convictions. You must also show that you are not an immoral person. . . . You must pass a test on American history and culture, and you must be patriotic. . . . There should be no tolerance for anyone to be an illegal immigrant. If you can't comply with our requirements, then stay out of our country."
The day after the article was published, the principal and district superintendent sent a letter to Novato High parents and students stating that Smith's opinion piece "negatively presented immigrants in general and Hispanics in particular." (Notice the omission of the word "illegal." Welcome to the smear tactics of ethnic mau-mauers, Andrew.) Student letters called Smith "ignorant" and "racist." He was publicly reprimanded at two school forums.
"I am not a racist," Smith responded calmly. "I am a journalism student who wanted to stimulate thought and discussion among the student body." Smith took the school to court last week for chilling his free-speech rights. He refuses to back down from his opinions in the face of ethnic interest group pressure.
Republican leaders, on the other hand, continue to bend over backward to appease the pro-illegal alien crowd:
-- Last month, chief White House strategist and Hispanic vote groveler Karl Rove lambasted immigration reform advocate Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., for criticizing the administration's open-door Mexican border policies.
-- Last week, New York Gov. George Pataki announced his support for legislation to permit illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition rates at the state's public universities.
-- This week, Republican National Committee Chairman Marc Racicot announced a $1 million television campaign in Spanish designed to woo Hispanic voters. The 30-minute newsmagazine will air on the nation's two largest Spanish-language TV networks in Fresno, Calif., Miami, Denver, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and Albuquerque, N.M. In addition, nearly 1,400 GOP "team leaders" have been assigned as chief Hispanic panderers, and many more are undergoing Spanish language training through Berlitz courses.
-- And over the weekend in his weekly radio address, President Bush again pushed Congress to pass Section 245(i), a mini-amnesty that rewards tens of thousands of aliens who illegally crossed the border or overstayed their visas -- while millions of law-abiding people around the world wait patiently for green cards to become available.
Are Republican leaders so afraid of being labeled "racists," and so desperate for votes, that they'll continue to sell out their commitment to the rule of law -- and our national security with it? If an 18-year-old boy can stand up and communicate a sensible and unapologetic message to foreign residents -- speak English, respect our laws, love our country, or stay out -- why can't the GOP?
This kid needs to be in Congress. Too bad he would have to wait 7 years before even contemplating a run.
Gotta love Michelle....glad to see that the Houston Chronicle publishes her articles once in a while.
We can deport all of the illegal aliens and we can seal the borders. It is doable. The myth that's it's undoable is another myth you're perpetuating.
Sabertooth has posted a pretty good plan in which he outlines how the illegal aliens will deport themselves.
Give the illegal aliens 6 months to sell everything, they don't want to take with them, and return to their home countries. Make it clear that every illegal alien apprehended after that date will forfeit all.
In the meantime, we enforce all of the laws presently on the books against employing illegal aliens. Give employers fines and jail time for the worst offenders.
We spend $70 billion dollars a year for social services for illegal aliens. What kind of walls could we build along our borders for $70 billion dollars?
Happy Mother's Day! A day in advance.
The argument that America cannot operate without 10 million illegal aliens is absolutely ridiculous. How did we manage for over 200 years?
I personally know Americans out of work who would appreciate more jobs being available to them.
The price of labor in a free market determines who will agree to do work. To say American citizens will not do landscaping work leaves out the question - What will the employer pay to do that work? If the wage reaches a level at which an American citizen can support his/her family, you'll have all the help you need. The importing of illegal labor interferes with the free market price of labor and artificially depresses it.
Have you ever noticed how people are drawn to jobs paying "good money?"
Yes, you'll have to smuggle in illegal aliens willing to live 20 to a house and sleep on the floor to get people to work below a free-market wage.
LOL.
My son's company pays good wages..far above the average. The fact is that here in Indiana we do not have enough people to supply the industry. Those people who are willing to do landscape work can also choose between roofing, construction, and a host of other semi-skilled jobs. We don't have enough PEOPLE. The reason we are getting Hispanics here is because they can get better wages than in Texas, for goodness sake, and they have little or no competition. We have low unemployment here. They are not taking people's jobs.
My husband is having a hard time trying to hire guys to do drafting and engineeering work for his company...and at 20 dollars per hour. Believe you me, if he could find an immigrant who could do the work he would hire him immediately.
So that is the situation here in Indiana. I understand than the border states are dealing with a more serious problem. I am sympathetic, and I think something needs to be done. I do not think a fence is the answer...who is going to patrol it once it is built? Who is going to pay for those thousands of people needed to patrol it? Where are you going to find those people?
A better solution to me is to get the Mexican economy prosperous enough that people stay at home.
As I said in my previous post to NoControllingLegalAuthoriity, the shortage we have here in Indiana is people. We simply do not have enough people to staff all the service industries. We would welcome people who would want to re-locate here from other states. So far, the only immigrants we get in any numbers seem to be Hispanics.
The free market works two ways. Yes, you raise wages enough to attract American workers. HOWEVER, if your costs go too high, you go out of business.
Don't quote Sabertooth to me. I do not respect his attitude about this situation.
Lady, its no wonder your husband is having problems hiring drafting and engineering people to work for his company at 20 dollars an hour. I made almost that much money an hour in the mid 60's as a rookie. I wouldn't get out of bed for any kind of job that pays less than 20 dollars an hour.
Am I missing something here?
By the way, I love landscaping. It is one of my great pleasures to savor it when it is well done.
In any event, the case for immigration, and what to do about illegals, should rest on other grounds. It should be more focused on the long term consequences. And on that, I don't think the Hispanic influx has nearly as grim the consequences as most here at FR do. But that doesn't mean it should necessarily be celebrated without nuance or qualification.
Yes,but it's more about them maintaining personal power than anything else. They are ready to do anything to keep themselves in power,and if that hurts the country,too bad.
There is no purpose to working to elect Republicans if you can't tell the difference between them and leftist Dims.
The man who hired them both.
I have a friend whose son is home from college for the summer. He has three job offers...in gardening, helping a vet, and food service. Twenty years ago he would have been lucky to find one job for the summer.
This is only anecdotal evidence. If I have some time next week I will search out some statistics from the State Labor Department and see if I can figure it out.
However, trust me when I say that most companies here, even McDonalds, are not paying minimum wage.
You asked for someone to offer a workable solution to our immigration problem and here it is, but you don't like Sabertooth, so you'll ignore it.
As far as your landscaping crisis in Indiana goes, I look at it like this. If you are trying to operate a business that relies heavily on new immigrant labor (mostly illegal), because you can't pay enough, with benefits, to attract American workers, get a different business. Let people do it themselves or let it go.
To allow an endless wave of otherwise un-needed immigrants into the country, that will further bankrupt our social services, to perform such a non-essential service is insane.
You folks have got to stop thinking of just yourselves.
If your customers don't want to pay what it costs to get the job done, with benefits, by Americans then forget it.
We are closing plants all over the United States and sending that work to China, Mexico and other places. Something doesn't make sense.
I travel extensively throughout Tennessee and I am hearing from people every day who were employed in small manufacturing plants for years and suddenly find themselves out of work due to a closed plant and their jobs sent elsewhere.
That is a most healthy sign of a maturing and prosperous economy. That is about the phase out of lower paying jobs. That is a good thing. We simply shouldn't be in the business of doing low value added work.
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