Yep, it’s time for me to go all Lou Dobbs here, and discuss illegal immigration!
I have no problems with people coming to this country. Indeed, since humanity isn’t native to this continent, all our ancestors have come from somewhere else. That’s part of what makes this coutry great. But while I have no problems with people coming to live here, I have a great problem with them coming here illegally.
People illegally come across our border with Mexico for a lot of reasons (and yes, I’m aware there are illegal immigrants from Canda, as well as many other places. But let’s face it, the real problem is down south). They mostly come looking for a better life than what they can find in the crappy, shithole, third-world country they left behind. Once here, they’re willing to do whatever they need to in order to survive. They work long hours at crappy jobs, they put up with very low pay, they keep quiet and pay their taxes. Why they’re almost ideal citizens!
Well, except for the fact that they aren’t citizens and aren’t here legally. This creates a system whereby they can be exploited and where wages for legal immigrants and American citizens can end up badly depressed. If, for example, there are two firms bidding for a landscaping contract and one uses only legal labor and pays its people $14 an hour, they will lose out to the firm that hires illegals and pays them $5 an hour. This means to compete, the legal firm has to lower their wages.
I also, by the way, don’t buy the bullshit argument that illegal aliens are doing work Americans won’t do. That’s nonsense. Americans will go out and pick crops and sweep floors and mow lawns. They just won’t do it for the extremely low wages one can pay illegals.
Of course there’s also obvious security risks to consider as well. While all the 9/11 highjackers were here legally, any terrorist who wants to enter this country illegally would be stupid to use any method other than strolling across the border with Mexico.
While the problems of illegal immigration are obvious and well-known, less obvious is the solution. Various amnesty proposals have come up over the years, but none have been acceptable. Thankfully I, in my wisdom, such as it is, have a few suggestions.
1. Seal the damn border with Mexico! The current border-fence notion is a joke, made all the more bitterly funny by the fact that apprarently some of the contracters were hiring illegals to build it. Let’s stop dicking around. If we’re going to build a barrier across the border, and we should, then let’s make it a serious barrier!
I suggest a wall 50′ high and 50′ under ground running the length of the US-Mexico border. Tilt the top part of the wall that people can’t secure ladders to it. Put razor wire, shards of broken glass and things like that along the top to deter anyone who does manage to get up there. Leave gaps in it for animals to travel back and forth, but make sure those gaps are well-staffed and manned 24/7. I know this sounds like a bit of an overkill, but if we’re serious about keeping out the illegals, we need to do something like this. Nothing else will work.
By the way, don’t inundate me with stupid comments comparing this idea to the Berlin Wall. The major difference with the two is that I’m not suggesting landmines and machine guns be used to keep people out of this country.
2. Dramatically increase the number of people allowed to come here legally from other nations. There’s lots of people who would love to come to this country legally, but can’t, cause there aren’t enough visas to go around. Well, let’s change that. I say increase the number of legal visas by a factor of ten. This country draws strength from diversity and we shouldn’t be opposed to allowing more people from everywhere, including Mexico, to come live here. But we do need to control it.
3. Put political pressure on Mexico to clean up their act! Mexico is, as I have mentioned, a third-world shithole. It’s very, very bad for us to have something like that right next to our country, especially since there’s people, like me, who’d like to see a North American version of the EU. Before we do that, however, Mexico needs to be doing better, and there’s no reason they can’t. They have a willing population and tons of natural resources. They can and should be doing better than they are.
Right now, the fact that so many people can just come to the USA is something of a pressure release for their government. If we put up the wall I want, it will be like putting a lid onto a pressure-cooker. It behoves us to try and help them to avoid an explosion once the lid is on.
4. Heavier sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants. This one’s a no-brainer. If you hire someone you know is here legally, or neglect to verify that they are here legally, then you need to be heavily fined for it. How much of a fine? Well, enough that it won’t completely kill a small business, but will still get the attention of a larger business. Perhaps an adapation of something I mentioned before. Either way, the logic here is that if people are crossing illegally to get jobs, and then can’t get jobs when they get here, other people won’t cross illegally.
5. Amnesty… of a sort… Much as I dislike “rewarding” those who came here illegally, the fact is that there are millions and millions of people who are here illegally, and we can’t hope to deport them all. Each of them is entitled to a hearing and if we have 11 million people getting hearings, that would take, possibly, decades to complete. It just isn’t practical. But I also don’t favor full citizenship for those who came here illegally. Instead, I’m thinking we need some sort of compromise.
Here’s the plan: if you’ve been here X number of years, you’ve paid your taxes, you’ve learned enough English to communicate and such (and it’s worth noting that of the illegal immigrants I’ve personally known, most of them were constantly trying to learn more and better English), and you’ve behaved yourself, then you can stay. You can have permanent, legal resident status. You would have the same rights and privledges as anyone else who is a legal resident of the United States, but you would not get to do things like serve on a jury and vote and things of that nature. I don’t know quite how we’d work things like welfare and Social Security, but I’m sure there’s ways.
This would, of course, only apply to adults. If you were under the age of eighteen and your parents brought you here, you’d be eligible for full citizenship. It’s not your fault you were brought here illegally, after all.
I’m not going to pretend this isn’t a complex issue, cause it is, and it requires a complex, multi-layered solution. Neither of the parties, sadly, has really dealt with this problem, but they need to, and soon.
