Now that the election is over, and the chest thumping and pompom waving have started to subside, it is time to return the focus back to some of our real issues. A particular hot-button for this elf has been something nearly forgotten since the primaries, and that is immigration.
The United States was built largely in part due to the hard work of our immigrant predecessors. Most people in America (Native Americans, and slaves of all races that were brought here are another issue to be discussed at another time) are decedents of these brave men and women who came to the United States through various means, in order to make a better life for themselves. From the 1600s on, not only has this land been a land of opportunity for others to come to, but also a land that needed its immigrant influx. In the 1900s, this need started to change, as the US got more settled, and our people came to the forefront of education, production, military, etc. At this point our needs began to change. As they have changed, our country has needed to change its policies. Currently, there are two forms of immigration I would like to cover: Legal, and Illegal.
Let me start with the legal form, as it will be my shorter point. Legal immigration is still necessary for this country’s continued growth. Immigrants of all cultures, and financial status still bring ideas, and motivation to our great land. Our current immigration system is quite flawed whereby often times, the path to citizenship is extremely difficult, and this needs to be streamlined. Much of this can be done by simplifying the paperwork registration and administration of immigration programs. We need to work on a more simplified progression of visas for those who come here to work with them, and then want to become citizens. While doing this, we need to make sure that we are very respectful to our existing citizens, especially in the area of employment as we can easily perpetuate a cycle of citizens using state aid because visa workers are often paid less for the same jobs. This can be done by better reporting systems of needs for employers and industries. For Americans, the top priority, before “saving the world” as many feel we are supposed to do, is to save ourselves. We need to make sure our people are employed, and that we don’t do anything through policy that drastically jeopardizes this.
The other form, and the one that has really infuriated me that we have nearly forgotten, is illegal immigration which I spoke briefly about in an earlier blog. This is simply defined as someone who has not followed proper channels, and has broken the law to get here, or remain here. This is a criminal act, and has cost the citizens and taxpayers billions, and maybe trillions of dollars.
Who is to blame for this? Employers that knowingly employ people that are here illegally, politicians who are afraid to lose these potential votes, people who look the other way, and the people who are here illegally.
Where does it cost people money? It costs money to have to investigate and track these people down. As many do not ever pay into the tax system, our government loses revenue from those who do not pay taxes. Many illegal immigrants do not have health insurance because they are not on the payroll, and therefore have to show up at free clinics, emergency rooms, and the like for critical treatment, which then falls upon the states, and the people who pay insurance premiums to then cover. Illegals have children, and they go to our schools, further burdening our education budgets. Many do not speak English, and thus require more translators to be hired to service them. This list goes on an on.
Now let’s get this straight, I don’t believe most illegal immigrants are evil or bad people. Many have no clue the burden they cause, and are often escaping a life that was filled with poverty, and other horrible situations. I feel compassion for this, but unfortunately, we can not bankrupt this country to help the world’s citizens, we’re doing fine on our own (bankrupting that is). The only reason they are currently here, is because they have committed one or more crimes, and I don’t believe you give rewards to people for illegal behavior.
While I am good at pointing out problems, I think that this is only worthwhile if you can start offering solutions.
- Strengthen our borders. The easiest way is with a fence. Our largest influx is through the Mexican border, so we should start there. After this, we will see the flow increase from Canada, so we can work on this next. We can beef up the Coast Guard to patrol more those coming in via the water.
- Create special expedited extradition courts — Unfortunately our constitution protects not only American citizens, but also people on our soil, period (I believe we’re the only country on earth that does this) – so we can hasten the expulsion of those here illegally.
- Change the laws on those born within our border. Currently, you hear the term “anchor babies”, and this means that anyone born in the US can instantly be a US citizen. Once this happens, it is more difficult to extract the parents. Change this law, and we have fewer problems.
- REALLY crack down on employers hiring people here illegally. Whether it is bars in Boston hiring Irish students that have not returned home when their visa expired, the clothiers in San Francisco importing Chinese to work under horrible conditions, or the landscaper in the southwest whose whole crew is made up of those who have crossed the border illegally, these employers need to be fined for the first offense, fined heavily for the second, and shut down for the third.
- Work on improving the visa system in this country to get employers the people they need, when the resident population is not enough.
- Create a more streamlined path to citizenship that makes the steps easier to follow for those that want to become citizens.
It is in tough economic times like these, that we have focus even harder on getting our country back on track. When 1 in 25 people in this country are here illegally, this is a problem on par, or greater than others we face.
Filed under: Economy, Illegal Immigration, Politics, Taxes Tagged: | Centrist, Conservative, Democrat, Economy, illegal, Illegal Immigration, immigration, Indepependent, liberal, moderate, Politics, republican, Third, united states, Visas
[...] be a rock and roll drummer for the drums I beat, and Illegal Immigration is one of them (see here, here, and here). Under this bill, one of the covenants being pushed for is a “path to [...]
[...] you’ve read my blog for long, you have read about my issues about illegal immigration (see here, here, and here). With our economy in shambles, I am hard-pressed to find a positive point FOR allowing [...]
I have some additional thoughts on immigration reform that I’d love to have you take a look at and comment on.
http://politicalthirdrail.wordpress.com/about/immigration-border-reform/
Terrant,
Great comments. I do believe that the H1 process is broken, but by streamlining, I don’t necessarily mean making it even easier for applicants, or companies, but moreso for the government to administer to reduce some of the abuses you mention.
I run a tough problem in writing: Do you fully elaborate on all points and fully express a point with documentation, or do you keep the reader’s interest and provoke discussion by keeping it short.
Again, well-thought comments
rjjrdq,
I agree, and believe if a law is to be made, it needs to be enforced 100%. Unfortunately, I made this assumption, without stating it..
Here’s a novel concept: enforce existing laws There are laws on the books, they’re just ignored. Take Obama’s aunt for example. Zip, zip, she should have been deported immediately. The law was ignored. Driver’s licenses for illegals? The laws are blatantly ignored. In-state tuition for illegal aliens? More ignoring. There are existing laws. They aren’t enforced. That’s what’s broken…
I have to agree with many of your points. There is a need for immigration reform and to make it more streamlined.
I’ve worked with a number of legals and the hoops that they have to jump through to stay here just boggles the mind. I’m sure that trips back to their country of origin to fill out paperwork has got to be a major burden (and if you’re single and Indian, possibly life changing).
To change the laws about those who are born within the borders, that is probably going to require a constitutional amendment. The current interpretation is reasonable. Unfortunately, this is one of those areas where the founding fathers left things a little too vague.
I don’t think that improving the visa system to allow employers to bring people in is such a good idea. As it stands, the H1B visa system is already abused by employers especially in the technology business (Microsoft comes to mind). To make it more streamlined would invite even more abuse.
In many of the areas where these visas are being abused, there is no shortage of Americans who can fill the position with some training. These employers are instead bringing people in to work at a fraction of the prevailing wage.
Finally, I think that we should also crack down on companies that hire contractors that use illegals because of what Walmart was caught doing a few years ago. When cracking down on these employers, it needs to be something substantial and not just a slap on the wrist as what is being done now (especially if they are paying the illegals less than minimum wage).
For those interested:
“These estimates are based mainly on data from the 2000 Census and the March Current Population Surveys for the years since then. Because the Census Bureau does not ask people their immigration status, these estimates are derived using a widely accepted methodology that essentially subtracts the estimated legal-immigrant population from the total foreign-born population. The residual is treated as a source of data on the unauthorized immigrant population.”
In my opinion, if this is based off of census date the number is probably more than 12 million. I doubt many illegal immigrants actually fill out and return a census. It’s important because it shows the magnitude of what we’re dealing with and the associated problems. This is indeed too big of a problem to ignore.
Nevermind, I found it. The Pew Hispanic Center was at least one of the organizations that came up with 12 million.
Staggering indeed.
I get the math, that’s not the method I was asking about. I was wondering how the number 12 million was estimated. I just wanted to look at the method used to collect the data, out of interest. I’ve heard anywhere from 7 million up to 22 million. If you don’t know who or where the number originated from, that’s fine – it’s as good a guess as any. Whether it’s 7, 12, or 22 million it doesn’t really take away from what you wrote.
I know I seem like I like to nit-pick (and sometimes I do), but this is a case of curiosity not criticism. I’m always interested in methodologies.
Ian,
Estimated number here illegally: ~12 million.
Estimated population of US: ~300 million.
300/12=25, or 1 in 25 (4%)
Staggering numbers, even at 2%…
For once, I can say that I truly agree with you.
I’ll admit this is a minutia, but I’m interested – where did you get the 1 in 25 number? I ask because I’ve always heard it was more in the 1 in 40, 1 in 45 range (2-3% of the total population). I don’t doubt the 1 in 25 number as most of the data is collected using methods that probably underestimates the true number, but I wanted to know your source so I could look at their methodology.
That being said, you made some good points and I think your solutions are spot on. We just have to keep kicking the 500 yard sponge, that is our bureaucratic system, and hope that we can get it moving.