March 29, 2006
Immigration or Inmigración
It is pretty clear that this is a topic that is bubbling to the top of the American radar. From a domestic stand point there are security and economic issues to deal with while the international view has more to do with sovereignty and compassion. What seems to me is that too many people seem to make these “either/or”, rather than comprehensive solutions that deal with the totality of the problem.
National security and economic prosperity do not need to be at odds with one another – championing one interest should not be suppressing another. They need to work in tangent with attention being paid to our national sovereignty and the compassion that we export.
President Bush recently spoke at naturalization ceremony where 30 new residents were sworn in as American citizens. He took the opportunity share these words about his plan for reform, “I've laid out a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that includes three critical elements: securing the border, strengthening the immigration enforcement inside our country, and creating a temporary worker program. These elements depend on and reinforce one another, and together they will give America an immigration system that meets the needs of the 21st century.”
Here I think the President is meeting this problem in a holistic way as this three part plan works to solve our security and economic issues by maintaining our sovereignty with compassion. It is a balance between law and grace and a difficult one to keep. Focusing too narrow mindedly on one or the other will either create a Japanese type of isolationism or an amnesty that negates the very foundation of our constitution. Neither is a solution.
It is interesting to note this part of the naturalization oath each new citizen commits to, “I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” Were it that all citizens had to take this oath, natural and native, to support and defend our country with loyalty to our laws and compassion to our people.
It seems that these illegals want more than to stay here unlawfully and drain our economy but to actually take back the southwest.
Repubs need to buck up and do whats right for America...
and thats protecting our border including tough immigration laws.
Article from World Net about illegals wanting to take back Southwest US for Mexico.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49482
Go easy tiger…I don’t think I said anything contrary to that. Protecting our border, enforcing our immigration laws (creating/enforcing the necessary new ones) and dealing with the economic issues all do what’s right for America.
Vicente Fox wants Mexicans to be able to work in America; Americans want our country to be secure. Excluding the former doesn’t guarantee the later. If we are keeping track of those seeking economic prosperity by working here, they are paying their taxes and we enforce our borders then it is win-win.
Thanks for sharing the article. I’ve heard of this before and it is even more pervasive then just protestors like this. There are US citizens who seek political office to subversively move laws in this direction. Check it out: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2003/08/20/168155.html
Granted I'm not that up-to-date with current affairs, but I would be surprised if our legislature and President's sudden interest in the Mexican border has anything at all to do with national security. The concern is rather political capital.
With that being said, we still have a very real problem. I would be curious to know if the Hispanic immigrant population helps or hurts our economy. Granted many of them do not pay taxes as they are paid in cash or claim so many dependents that little taxes are deducted from their paycheck, and then of course, they do not file a tax return since they are not legal citizens. But at the same time, they are willing to do work that Americans are unwilling to do and for wages that we find unacceptable. On the flip side, their children requires ESOL teachers and they necessitate translators in hospitals, courts, etc. along with a host of other public services (indigent defense, etc.)
While I would certainly take my chances in coming to America if I lived in Mexico, I think that enough is enough. I'm glad our government is finally (for whatever purported reason) taking steps to work on a solution to this problem which has been brewing for over a decade in some regions of the country, and I hope that they are not just creating more bureaucracy (like the plan supported by some Republicans last week in the news). I suspect this will take as long to "solve" as it did to create. And like you Jeff, I hope we can do so while keeping our values in mind.
Posted by: Ally at April 10, 2006 03:40 PMAlly,
I’m more than a little convinced that our President is concerned about national security. That is one of the issues that he can be counted on day after day. Everything he has done since 9.11.01 has shown that.
As for the economic impact you make some great points. One thing I do wonder is and it is coming out of all these rallies with these statements by illegal immigrants. They say they are paying taxes and working hard to support their families to give them a better life. There is nothing wrong with that (other than their legal standing), but I wonder how exactly they are paying taxes as they claim.
I think that there needs to be a comprehensive solution to this problem. One that will create real enforcement of existing and new laws and some of it will create bureaucracy as these issues are dealt with. I don’t think that bureaucracy is inherently bad, but when it is ineffective that is the problem. Notice we don’t have a similar problem on our northern border. My hope is that Mexico can become a true 1st world country and step out of the 3rd world, and then there would be little reason to leave. Obviously that is a much bigger issue to deal with and real long-term solution.
Posted by: Jeff Price at April 11, 2006 04:10 PM