- Why all the happy-dancing among conservatives? OK, I do understand they got a victory of sorts by defeating a bill they honestly see as bad for the country. But where does that leave us? Exactly where we were. With a President solidly behind a comprehensive bill and congress sharply divided, the likelihood that there will be a "fence-first" immigration bill passed into law in the near future is exactly zero. Which means the status quo is the best the conservatives can hope for, unless they compromise on something that's less than what they want.
- The total lack of trust from both sides. Wow. This last week has been amazing. Democrats lambasting Democrats, Republicans smearing Republicans. It occurs two me there is a total lack of trust on both sides. On the one side you have the "fencists", who want enforcement first largely because they feel they were hoodwinked in the past concerning immigration legislation, and are simply not willing to trust the other side when they say a comprehensive solution will also include vigorous enforcement. Then on the other side, you have the "comprehensivists" who do not trust the good faith of the fencists. They believe that if the fencists get their fence law, they will simply abandon the whole idea of a guest worker program. So, what we have here is two groups who can't trust each other father than they can throw them. And that, more than any particular legislative issue, is what is the biggest roadblock.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Immigration Bill Post-Mortem (for now)
Well, as most have probably heard, the immigration bill that was in the Senate is dead - at least for now. I have two thoughts about this issue:
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2 comments:
I recall the promises of vigorous immigration enforcement made before the 1986 amnesty became law. Past performance is the best indicator of future actions and our government (regardless of which party is in control) has shown little interest in cracking down on illegal immigration.
In my view, a border fence is needed and would pay for itself in the long term by reducing the number of illegals and their demands on social services.
Illegal immigration hurts the poorest American workers many of whom are Hispanic or African American. The cheap labor lobby would like an endless supply of low wage workers to exploit. Political pressures have prevented any real crackdowns on employers who hire illegals. In an era of public correctness, it would be unthinkable to require social service agencies and local governments to cooperate with the immigration authorities.
The fact that undocumented workers are breaking the law irks me but that is not my main concern. We are going to end up with a larger underclass with downward pressure on wages while straining the already limited social safety net.
If we can get control over our borders and employers hiring the illegals, then we can talk about the conditions of amnesty. While some opponents of amnesty may be unrealistic in their insistence that every illegal be sent home, the real extremists are the open borders crowd. The free market fanatics on the right and the politically correct on the left are perfectly willing to destroy our standard of living and national sovereignty.
There are ways to enforce hiring and social services and a fence is pointless without that. I'll stand in absolute opposition without those kinds of controls. I employ blue collar construction workers - legal ones. Guess what, it matters.
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