Red, White, and... Green?

The sight of demonstrators waving the Mexican flag may actually galvanize the majority of Americans against some “liberal” immigration reform measures being debated in Congress. Hallelujah.

Rarely do the House Republicans make much sense. All the more reason to acknowledge the unusual event. The bill they passed would apply meaningful sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Maybe the representatives are listening (gasp!) to small business owners who do the right thing and hire Americans or legal immigrants. These employers have been undercut for years by employers who are willing to cut corners, flout the law, and exploit illegal immigrants. The Senate, on the other hand, is hosting an unholy alliance of politicians (redundant) in thrall of exploitative employers or a misguided subset of civil rights leaders.

Reform should be based on protecting American citizens, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants. I think that can be accomplished by (1) punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, (2) protecting the border, and (3) deporting illegals. Jobs bring the illegals into the country and displace legal job seekers, so employer sanctions are essential. Any meaningful reform must be based on real control of the border else it's just more hot air. Rewarding the illegal immigrants by legalizing their status would only encourage more illegal entry and frustrate those who try to immigrate legally.

Most developed countries in the world do not depend on dirt-poor immigrants for labor. Instead, they have living wages for cleaning, landscaping and other unskilled labor. Sure, their cost of living is high but their standard of living is higher still. Labor exploitation is a race to the bottom that almost all of us will lose. For example, look at construction, which was until recently a reasonably well paid job. Now the labor pool is dominated by illegals and the pay has plunged.

The debate should focus on real concerns instead of specious claims or scary stories. Some Catholic clergy (bless 'em) claim that provisions in the House bill against providing aid and comfort to the illegals will make it illegal to offer them soup or even say mass with them. It is obviously unlikely that any “good Samaritan” would be arrested. Also senseless is the claim that since we are a nation of immigrants, the illegals should be welcomed. The poor immigrants of 100+ years ago had practically no social services. Today, illegal immigrants cost local communities large amounts in services that are not recompensed through taxes.

It's great that Mexicans are proud and want to wave their flag. But why don't they want to contribute their efforts to improving their own country?