Addressing the Immigration Problem

Removing the impetus to come to the US will slow down illegal immigration.

To begin with, this position is not against illegal aliens, the vast majority of whom are simple, hard working people trying to provide for their families. Without recourse available to legal residents and citizens, these same people generally end up living in what we would consider deplorable conditions and are often taken advantage of by their employers.

We often hear two issues that are at the heart of illegal immigration to the US: “There are 12 million illegals; what’s the sense of trying to catch them? It would be easier to give them amnesty,” and “We need ‘guest workers’ for the sake of our economy. They do jobs Americans won’t do.”

Bull.

The first excuse is a cop out. If that were considered a legitimate reason for not enforcing a law, marijuana and prostitution would have been legalized decades ago. Giving illegals amnesty would effectively do one thing: remove from employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants the onus of complying with immigration laws. Keep in mind, many illegal immigrants are employed by wealthy people on both sides of the political isle to work in their homes and yards. It would be foolish to think these politicians and corporate movers and shakers would kill the cheap labor goose.

How we could go about catching and deporting illegals is anyone’s guess, but it can’t justify giving them a free ride to anyplace but the border.

Again, if we change the law because it cannot be enforced, we damn well better consider doing the same with other, unenforceable statutes.

The second attempt at justifying “guest workers” is also without justification. The first reason, “We need ‘guest workers’ (read: illegal aliens, if we can get away with it) for the sake of our economy,” smacks of pre-Civil War, pro-slavery rhetoric. Landowners and businessmen who made the argument that the Southern agricultural economy depended on cheap slave labor. A simple analysis shows that slaves cost more than do free workers. Slaves need to be cared for: fed, housed, clothed and looked after. Employees only need to be paid; their welfare is their responsibility. I won’t get into a slavery argument here, but illegal aliens who work in this country are paid slave wages and still have to watch out for themselves. Yes, it’s the best of both worlds for the agriculture industry and wealthy homeowners who employ these folk.

The argument that illegals “do jobs Americans won’t do,” is an open invitation to a solution. A solution that may not kill two birds with one stone, but it sure wounds them. In its simplest form, and for the sake of this discussion, it is a three step solution:

1. Consider every able-bodied welfare recipient, who is a US citizen (not resident), eligible to perform farm work, or work concomitant with where they live. Obviously, not a lot of farm workers can be found in urban areas, so there must be reasonable considerations for opportunity.
2. Offer each person who takes a job his current welfare allotment, and subsidize this with wages provided by the employers. The wages are determined by historical pay scales. Neither the wages nor the welfare payments influence the other. If a worker begins earning more wages, it should be seen as a sign of the program’s success and the welfare amount must not be cut until the worker is consistently earning a “reasonable” amount above the poverty level. (I’m not an economist, so I won’t guess what that would be.)
3. Provide, without cost or fail, each subsidized worker and family adequate health care, housing and education. Poor living conditions perpetuate the poverty cycle. The cost to the government will be amortized by moving families off welfare over time.

Now, it’s obvious not all who would be willing to work will be able to, but this will address the issue of needing cheap labor to control costs and helping the impoverished find a way to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If we can fill the job ranks with citizens who are given an opportunity to better themselves, we can remove the opportunities illegals come here for. When the economic well dries up, they’ll have no reason to stay here, and even less to come in the first place.

Business will do anything to find cheaper ways to make a greater profit. That is an essential concept of business, but it can’t be done on the backs of American citizens who are tired of supporting the wealthy who abuse the system, lazy welfare recipients who feel they are owed something, and illegal aliens who break our laws for their own, personal gains.

Many both in and outside this country demand we allow anyone to come here and live as they please. We have immigration laws for a reason and they should be enforced. And, dammit, it’s our country, and we should decided who comes here to live.