I hate the thinly veiled racism and know-nothing-ism and sheer mean ignorance at the bottom of so much of the immigration “issue.”
And I understand very well that Our Betters have used wedge issues like this very effectively to divide and conquer.
But I can’t help thinking that when I want to uphold the rule of law for Bush, I ought to want to uphold it for everyone.
Anatole France’s famous quotation is all the more pointed placed in context:
“Another reason for pride, that of being a citizen! For the poor citizenship consists of supporting and sustaining the power and idleness of the rich. They must work for those goals before the majestic equality of the laws, which forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread.”
Yes, the law should apply first to those who can do the most harm when they break it; the rich and the powerful, like Bush. When we hold them accountable, we can worry about less important issues.
But on the other hand, isn’t the lesson of Jena 6 that the criminal justice system should apply equally to everyone?
Personally, I think that our current system is the worst possible, except for all the other ideas. By putting up obstacles, we’re getting the strongest and smartest and hardest working. And I would hazard the guess that immigrants pay a lot more in taxes than they take out in benefits, over their lifetimes, so the country nets out just fine. Plus, the enforcement measures needed to send all the immigrants back “home” take the form of internal passports, national ID cards, and showing ID to get a job—a cure which, to my mind, is far, far worse than the disease. These are powers over me that I absolutely do not trust the Federal government to have.
But all this is not the elevator speech or snappy one-liner—that great headline I should be able to come up with.
Thoughts?
NOTE If immigrants bring new, excellent forms of cuisine to our shores, I don’t care whether they learn English or not. The kids will. They always have.
Front page
Sleeping under bridges
I’m wondering if Anatole France was ever very likely to be forced to steal bread for sustenance or to have to use a bridge for shelter.
That said, the current immigration ’debate’ is not going to result in any significant reforms. It is serving much the same purpose as the gay marriage ’debate’ of a few years ago. It is a powerful wedge issue, and that is all. The immigration issue is a maelstrom of social and political conundrums that has taken centuries to form. It will take a Herculean level of effort and a Methusalaic (?) level of maturity to begin to address it constructively. I expect this problem to linger and worsen, as liberals continue to hide behind the ’respect for our laws’ and conservatives continue to demonize Mexicans.
If we want to deal with this honestly, we have to examine the economic and political factors that generate this massive migration. We may have to accept that our “blessed way of life” is part of the problem.
You know, before you try to
You know, before you try to ’reform’ immigration to important massive amounts of poor labor to compete with, and drive down wages for, the working poor in this country; maybe you should work to fix our economic problems?
As much as you all like to pretend that this is based on race, it’s far more likely that opposition to ’illegals’ comes from the decades of stagnant wages and the complete lack of egalitarianism in our society. Maybe you should work to solve those problems first, because immigration reform just isn’t going to happen under the current economic situation for most americans.
Stagnant wages are definitely part of the problem
That’s another part of “divide and conquer.”
Church Secretary: The quotation is heavily, heavily ironic.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
Immigration is a GOP cash cow
they march out every time there’s a threat of “economic downturn.” I covered the Reagan-era incarnation, that led to I-9 forms and having to show either a passport or a DL and SSN card to take a job.
NO EMPLOYERS are ever busted for hiring (or rehiring) illegals.
NO EMPLOYERS are ever busted for using illegals in near-slave conditions (meatpacking plants, ag labor, construction; and the nastiest trick of all is to call ICE the night before payday and “tip off” the agents that “a bunch of illegals” are living in the shacks / flophouses walking distance from the work sites).
NO EMPLOYERS are ever busted for rehiring deported workers who make it back (it can take a week or it can take three months) to be deported a second or third or fifth consecutive time (as recently happened in a raid on a couple of big dairy operations northwest of me).
Want to really fix illegal immigration? Bust the employers.
Fine ’em.
Shut ’em down.
Confiscate the business under RICO. (Yeah it does apply: repeated hiring of illegal workers is demonstrably organized criminal activity.)
Better yet: ENFORCE OSHA and NIOSH regs and make these a-holes pay a real living wage. It’s not that American citizens don’t want the work. It’s that American citizens have American-size bills to pay. Rent. Gasoline. Groceries.