May 29 2006
Almost Bailed On Reps on Immigration
I was thinking what kind of political loss would straighten up the Conservatives so the would accept their border and employer enforcement enhancements and accept the guest worker program. I was thinking if Rick Santorum had been on the hard line side (instead of the hard success side) then he could be a reasonable sacrificial lamb. His opponent is pro-life, which is what usually keeps me from supporting democrats.
But I have supported democrats before. I chose Chuck Robb over Ollie North. And let’s face reality. I think all conservatives would rather Joe Leiberman stay in office than Lincoln Chaffee.
But it seems Santorum is just the kind of person I want in the Senate (in fact he may be too lose on immigration) given the record I see here. This site basically says if you have one ounce of compassion for immigrants your dirt.
Oh well, Santorum is a good apple (as I had hoped, secretly). I cannot wait until his voice is amplified by a Rep Senator from Minnesota and Maryland. And we can hope from West Virginia as well. My own Senator, George Allen, is not impressing me with his voting record. He seems too much on the fence and wants to postpone guest worker programs. He is a shoe-in anyway.
I will say it again. The guest worker program, border enhancements and stricter employment laws will take beyond Bush’s current term to complete. Well beyond. We need to start these all now together. Putting a finger in one hole of a swiss-cheese dike is not going to fix the problem. We need more than the border fence. Those who want it are going to get it. Maybe they should be satisfied with that?
I heard on Fox that the Catholic Church is supporting immigration reform, in fact they are far more liberal about it than Bush.
The longer this debate goes on and the more people chose sides, the more confusing and devisive it all becomes.
So yes, we need comprehensive reform and a much tighter border.
Hasn’t anyone thought this “immigration reform” thing through? The reason there are so many illegals here now is because it costs employers less to have them on the payroll than legal workers who require mandated payments to govt. programs like Unemployment Ins. , Social Security, etc. If all the 10 to 20 million illegals now working off the books are made legal, they too become eligible for these government mandated programs. What makes anyone think that employers won’t get rid of these newly legalized workers and truck in the next batch of illegals to replace them? That’ s what happened after the last amnesty, and it will happen after this one unless the guilty employers are prosecuted and fined enough to make it unprofitable to work people outside the law. The fines should be big enough to make it unprofitable to break the law to save payroll costs. Marilyn
Because if they do, they should go to prison. That is exactly the argument for putting much tougher penalties in place for people hiring “under the table” labor, be they illegal immigrants or anyone else. We need to crack down severely on people hiring workers without the proper withholding. In other words, illegal employers.
Heck, I have a nephew in college who works “under the table” in construction in the summer and “under the table” as a snowmobile guid in winter. It’s the employers who are creating a culture of cheating by hiring even good old American kids and not doing the proper withholding. No wonder we have deficits and Social Security problems, a good bit of the taxes in this country aren’t being paid. An employer is responsible for half the employee’s Social Security tax out of their pocket, they don’t want to pay that if they can avoid it so they avoid it. That needs to stop.
I think that Bush’s plan is the only fair plan. While Mexico is not the model for government ethics, it is not all their fault we have been flooded with illegals.
I am sure all will agree that the current border holes are a problem and that it has reached epidemic proportions. The flood of illegals just keeps coming with no end in sight, but there is a reason for this migration, NAFTA.
NAFTA opened up the Mexican Market to US goods and removed just about every tarriff that existed. At the time, the MSM was saying all of the US factories were going to move to Mexico for the cheap labor and Americans were going to lose manufacturing jobs.
That did not happen!! What did happen was that the one thing we still produce here in the US, mainly agriculture, was now able to be sold in Mexico. This had a dramatic effect on the farmers in Mexico, especially the small farms that could not compete. Needless to say, they did not survive long. All of these small farms were located in Southern Mexico.
With their main source of income gone, someone from the family was sent to America to work in order to support the family in Southern Mexico. This is why we are flooded with illegals and is also why I think Bush’s guest worker program is the best solution. If you question any of the above, I challenge you to ask an illegal from Mexico what part of Mexico they are from. I would bet 90% will say Southern Mexico!!
SBD