THE DANGERS OF DOING 'NOTHING' ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Posted by Bobby Eberle
In a recent statement to the media, the #2 Republican in the Senate, Trent Lott of Mississippi, said in reference to the immigration deal brokered by the White House and a select group of senators, that the “only thing that’s unacceptable is to do nothing.”
So… it’s unacceptable, even dangerous to do “nothing,” about illegal immigration? Let’s take a look at what doing “nothing” actually does for us.
Last year, the Congress passed a bill which the president signed creating close to 800 miles of security fencing along America’s southern border. The “grand bargain,” as it’s being called in the Senate, calls for hundreds fewer miles of border fencing. Hmmm… let’s see… this means by doing “nothing” and not passing this terrible immigration bill, we actually get MORE border fence. That doesn’t sound unacceptable or dangerous to me.
Next, let’s look at employer enforcement. There are numerous laws on the books right now to crack down on the hiring of illegal aliens. What’s lacking, of course, is the political will to enforce those laws. For some reason, the White House and some members of the Senate want America to believe that with the new bill will come a new courage to enforce those laws? Show of hands… how many believe that??? So, by doing “nothing,” we still have laws against hiring illegal aliens and still have an administration with no spine for enforcement. I guess it’s not really dangerous or unacceptable to not pass the bill in this case either… let’s just enforce the laws we have.
How about economics? The White House says there are jobs Americans simply won’t do… that we NEED cheap labor and this Senate bill is the way to go. First of all, this is ridiculous. Pay a real wage for the hard work, and Americans would do it. Oh… prices would rise, you say? How much are we paying now in taxes for health care, social services, education, and more for illegal aliens? Imagine not having to pay all those extras taxes… I’d pay a little bit more for my oranges if that were the case.
In addition, the “temporary” worker plan does more than provide for cheap labor to come into America. According to the bill, each “temporary” worker is allowed to bring his spouse and children with him. Thus, the temporary worker has now become a permanent family in America which will likely draw more social services. The bill has yet to address the problem of “anchor babies,” so if these temporary workers have children in America, those children are now U.S. citizens. That doesn’t sound very temporary to me.
Then, there is the concept of deporting those who continue to break the law. As I noted in a previous posting, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that “illegal immigrants living in the United States who don’t try to gain legal worker status will be forced to leave.”
“The people who don’t apply and don’t get the Z visa are going to be hunted down and they’re going to get deported,” Chertoff told FOX News. “So there’s a very clear choice: You can either bring yourself into the system and find, you know, safety, pay your fine, and work within the law, or you can stay outside the law and we’re going to focus our attention on those people and deport them.”
Now, one has to ask… How many of the 12-20 million illegal aliens will decide it’s better to keep the status quo than go through the hassles of a Z Visa? It will likely be millions. What the administration and Senate “leaders” are saying is that with the passage of this bill, America will deport the law breakers. Wait a second… Didn’t they say it was impractical to consider mass deportation? Isn’t that what they are saying they will do if the new bill is passed? Ok, then let’s go after law breakers now and deport them! We don’t need a new bill to do that, do we?
We have the laws in place, both old and recent, to increase the level of Border Patrol Agents, to construct hundreds of miles of security fencing, and to punish employers for illegal hiring practices. We can deport law-breakers now, and we have a system that allows for legal immigration. Add a strong dose of political cajones, and not passing this bill doesn’t seem so “dangerous” or “unacceptable” to me.
