The one myth that really gets my back up in the whole "illegal immigration workers are good for America" meme is the one that holds that illegals come here to do work that Americans won't do. First, if that were true then how did this work get done in the decades before the current flood took place? Second, there's this story about a raid on a factory in a small town:
But helicopters were not what shocked Pena the most on her last, fateful day at Howard Industries, the largest employer in this small Southern town. It was the black co-workers who clapped and cheered, Pena said, as she and hundreds of other Latino immigrant laborers were arrested and hauled away.
If the next president decides to curtail or end raids similar to the one at the Howard Industries, it will not sit well with many residents of Laurel. The raid was welcomed by a number of native-born residents in this manufacturing hub of about 25,000 people that has been transformed in recent years by the influx of Latino workers, many of whom are undocumented.
"They need to go and do this in every little town," Tonya Jackson said.
Jackson, who is black, said that over the years she had applied numerous times for a job at the locally owned manufacturer, which employs about 4,000 workers. Jackson, 30, said she never received a callback. The raid, she said, was a welcome purge of illegal Latino laborers who had taken jobs they didn't deserve. . . .Their arrival created tension in the town, with black and white residents accusing the undocumented workers of taking the few available jobs and depressing wages. . . .
After the raid, the company put up a billboard on 16th Avenue, the busy commercial thoroughfare on which it resides, that said: "Howard Industries is now hiring!"
These are not yard workers and hotel doormen (even though Americans do those jobs every day -- my yard guy's name is Donald). These are factory jobs that Americans would be pleased to have -- if they could. Now maybe they can.
At least until the next liberal president (it'll either be John or Obama, right?) puts a stop to raids like this.
HT to the corner.
Tennessee lawmakers are often bound by federal legislation, and the fight against illegal immigration is no exception. But thanks to a bit of creative thinking by a Goodlettsville Democrat, the fight goes on:
A proposal to make it a crime for illegal immigrants to accept pay for work done in Tennessee is headed for floor votes in both chambers of the General Assembly. . . .
The measure sponsored by Sen. Joe Haynes, a Goodlettsville Democrat, could lead to fines of $500, up to six months in jail and require illegal immigrants to forfeit any earnings they receive.
Haynes says the Legislature is prevented from enacting tougher penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants because the state must defer to federal laws on the matter.
But federal laws do not pre-empt increased penalties against workers.
Now that's thinking outside of the box.
Bruce Schneier tells us why he thinks we should go ahead and give drivers licenses to illegal aliens:
The state driver's license databases are the only comprehensive databases of U.S. residents. They're more complete, and contain more information - including photographs and, in some cases, fingerprints - than the IRS database, the Social Security database, or state birth certificate databases. As such, they are an invaluable police tool - for investigating crimes, tracking down suspects, and proving guilt.
Removing the 8 million-15 million illegal immigrants from these databases would only make law enforcement harder. Of course, the unlicensed won't pack up and leave. They will drive without licenses, increasing insurance premiums for everyone. They will use fake IDs, buy real IDs from crooked DMV employees - as several of the 9/11 terrorists did - forge "breeder documents" to get real IDs (another 9/11 terrorist trick), or resort to identity theft. These millions of people will continue to live and work in this country, invisible to any government database and therefore the police.
As usual, Schneier makes some good arguments. Of course, I don't subscribe to that particular point of view, as I'm more of a believer in the Broken Window approach to law enforcement:
Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.
Tolerating illegals is bad enough. Given them official papers is, well, intolerable.
The latest effort to impose a restraining order to stop Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law from taking effect has failed, as U.S. District Judge Neil Wake denied the petitioner's request.
Under the law, employers that knowingly hire unauthorized workers can face suspensions of their business licenses for up to 10 days. Repeat violators would have their licenses revoked.
Even though the law won't go into effect until 1 January, the force of the sanction law is already being felt:
Illegal immigrants in Arizona, frustrated with a flagging economy and tough new legislation cracking down on their employers, are returning to their home countries or trying their luck in other states. . . .
"People are calling me telling me about their friend, their cousin, their neighbors — they're moving back to Mexico," said Magdalena Schwartz, an immigrant-rights activist and pastor at a Mesa church. "They don't want to live in fear, in terror."
Martin Herrera, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant and masonry worker who lives in Camp Verde, 70 miles north of Phoenix, said he is planning to return to Mexico as soon as he ties up loose ends after living here for four years.
"I don't want to live here because of the new law and the oppressive environment," he said. "I'll be better in my country."
Perhaps Arizona will serve as an example to other states -- or the federal government. Perhaps I'm dreaming.
The good news is that ICE was twice as effective in 2007 than in the previous year:
Federal agents who track down fugitive illegal immigrants arrested more than 30,000 people nationally in fiscal year 2007, nearly double the previous year, officials said Tuesday. . . .
There were more than 30,408 arrests nationally in fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to 15,462 last year, ICE said.
The bad news is that at least half of the 10.3 million immigrants who have arrived since 2000 are illegal (about 5.6 million). That's an average of 800,000 illegals per year.
Thus ICE is capturing less than 4 percent of the criminals coming into our country each year.
A "Mexican-American" in Reno, Nevada decided to honor the Hispanic community by flying a Mexican flag over his store. The problem is that he put it above the American flag.
How flying a Mexican flag honors Hispanics is beyond me. I don't fly a British flag along side my Stars and Stripes to celebrate my heritage. I don't go down the street and see French flags, German flags, Ukrainian flags and so on.
No, the man was honoring Mexican nationalism. Viva la raza.
The store owner professes to be an American citizen (although he has a stunning ignorance about the law regarding one of our most cherished symbols).
You can watch video footage of an outraged veteran taking matters (and an Army knife) into his own hands and fixing the situation. Good for him. God knows our chicken-shit politicians would be too cowardly to call on police to enforce the law.
MSNBC presents 20 of the "more difficult" questions that immigrants must answer on a civics test in order to become naturalized citizens. The only one that I missed concerned the name of an INS form (not something a citizen should need to know), though I will admit to taking an educated guess on number 8.
You answered 95% of questions correctly. Here's your rating:
0-20%: Maybe you're still thinking too much about the Old Country.
25-40%: Mmmm. Do you really want to be a citizen? This kind of performance isn't going to impress those nice immigration folks.
45-60%: Not too bad, but you really need to break out the civics books again -- word is, the INS is looking for an 80 percent score.
65-80%: Hey, you may make a good citizen yet! Look at your wrong answers and a little revision should do the trick.
85-100%: Welcome to the United States! (And, truth be told, you know more about this great land than most Americans.)
I believe that last one. Looking over this particular set of questions, I doubt that most Americans could pass. I know I couldn't have before my great political awakening in 2000 as Gore tried to litigate his way to the White House.
House Republicans met after hours today and passed a resolution that is eloquent in its simplicity:
Resolved the House GOP Conference disapproves of the Senate immigration bill.
The resolution passed the House Republican Conference by a large margin, 114 to 23.
Better yet:
[Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)] said the amnesty provision, no matter how strict the language, was a deal-breaker for most House Republicans.
“That’s why the fundamental bill has no credibility, and basically what we are saying today is it is dead on arrival in the House, we can’t have secret deals, this has to go through committee, it has to go in pieces,” echoed Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.). “A comprehensive bill will not pass the House.”
“The Z visa is unenforceable,” Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif) said, referring to a provision of the Senate bill that would put those in the country illegally on the path to citizenship.
At least some Republicans haven't forgotten their conservative base.
RedState says that House Republicans will be meeting tonight at 5:30 EST to consider a resolution "disappov[ing] of the Senate Immigration Bill." RedState urges:
Call your Representative today and ask him or her to support this Conference resolution. Doing so will send a clear message to the Senate that the majority of the House Republicans oppose this ill-crafted bill - one which was negotiated without a public hearing process and one which expresses contempt for the rule of law.
The roll call is up, so you can identify every potential RINO. Thankfully, I get to write my two senators to thank them for voting against reviving this very bad legislation.
The best commentary that I've seen on the immigration battle is by Stanley Kurtz [ht Say Anything and Junk Yard Blog]:
Something about this immigration battle doesn’t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there’s at least the sense that the government responds to the drift of public opinion. The Republicans in Congress turned into big spenders and the war in Iraq went poorly. As a result the Democrats prospered in 2006, if narrowly. That’s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that’s a problem), but this is because the public is deeply divided on issues of great importance. Deep down, we understand that our political problems reflect our own divisions.
Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it’s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it’s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we’re at each others’ throats, there’s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.
Wildly unpopular is right. LGF has a poll up to gauge the internet reaction. Vote and then see if you are surprised by the results so far.
Update: RedState lists the sellouts.
Imagine this: there isn't a Chinese character for "Fred", much less Thompson.
This is a dilemma currently being debated in Boston because of their large Asian population. So what to do? Officials will have to spell the names phonetically, one character for each syllable of the candidate's name. But there are problems with this approach:
So Mitt Romney could be read as "Sticky Rice" or "Uncooked Rice." Fred Thompson might be read as "Virtue Soup." And Barack Obama could be read as "Oh Bus Horse."
Galvin's own name could be read at least two different ways, as "High Prominent Noble Educated" or "Stick Mosquito."
But perhaps the most perplexing translation would be for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's name, which could be read as "Sun Moon Rainbow Farmer" or "Imbecile," or "Barbarian Mud No Mind of His Own."
To make matters worse, the ballots must be offered in two Chinese dialects: Mandarin and Cantonese. Why all the fuss?
"We are looking to make sure Asian Americans are able to vote for their candidates of choice," Glenn Magpantay, staff attorney of the New York-based Asian American Defense Fund, told the Boston Globe.
Here's a thought. Learn English!
Make rudimentary command of English a requirement of citizenship and this problem (and huge drain on my tax dollar) goes away. As does their ability to function in their new country.
Hey, you want to adopt a new country? Then adopt a new language!
A vote to limit debate on the immigration legislation, thereby setting it on a path to passage, miserably failed 33 to 63 (60 votes are needed for cloture).
Mitch seems to have played a part in this:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said his fellow Republicans needed more time to work on the bill that ties tough border security and workplace enforcement measures to a guest-worker program and a plan to legalize an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
Reid promises to try again (probably scheduled for late this afternoon), but if that fails this bad bit of history will be kicked down the road for a while (until our elected idiots takes another swing at "comprehensive" legislation).
Robert Bluey's sources say that the following list of Senators have yet to commit as to how they will vote on the final immigration bill and therefore can still be swayed to vote against:
via Ace at PoliPundit
Update: Right Wing News reports that Mitch McConnell just said on the Senate floor that he opposed cloture. Keep the pressure mounting!
. . . comes from Kim du Toit:
And speaking of reality: everyone keeps talking about how we should be “realistic” in approaching the illegal immigration issue (and should therefore accept the Senate/White House amnesty plan). That’s total nonsense.
What’s unrealistic is the expectation that granting amnesty will stop more people from coming here under the same circumstances as their predecessors.
According to Rassmussen, only 16% of the public believes the Senate will decrease illegal immigration. I am not one of those.
Worse yet, our senators recently defeated a motion to prohibit gang members, terrorists, sex offenders and other criminals (including those who have been ordered by a court to be deported) from being considered for being granted the right of taking permanent residency amongst us and our children. This was done by compromising on a weaker version of the amendment counterproposed by Democrats.
Our senators have their priorities all wrong.
Kim rightly urges everyone to call their representative right now to stop this abomination. Already called? Find your Senators and Representative and call again, then write and email!
A rolling gunfight occurred in broad daylight on a Houston highway which left one man dead. It looks like a coyote driving ten illegals in a pickup truck was ambushed by another coyote gang in an attempt to steal the human cargo.
About noon, the occupants of two trucks — one carrying at least 10 people — exchanged gunfire while heading northbound on the freeway, Elliott said. The vehicles exited at Bissonnet and ran a red light before one truck crashed into an older model Honda Accord that was not part of the chase.
Elliott said the occupants of the two trucks "then proceeded to get out of their vehicles to have a shootout."
One man collapsed beneath the overpass, on Bissonnet, apparently from gunshot wounds.
"Not only was he shot, but one of the vehicles that fled the scene ran over him," Elliott said. That man's condition was unknown.
One pickup fled north on the feeder road and stopped in a strip center parking lot about one block away. The truck had three flat tires, its passenger windows were shot out and at least five bullet holes riddled the exterior; one man inside was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are looking for the other truck and asking for anyone who witnessed the scene to call HPD homicide.
Democrats vow to fight increased fees for visas and naturalized citizenship, insisting that taxpayers should pick up the bill for immigrants rather than impose a "citizenship tax".
Meanwhile, the ironically-named Bank of America is offering credit cards to people without social security numbers. Hmmm, who has the money to pay their credit card debt yet doesn't have a social security number which is required for a job? If I had an account there, I'd close it.
Having the National Guard on the Mexican border is continues to work. There is an overall 27 percent decline in apprehensions and a 51 percent increase in marijuana seized, with the busy Yuma sector reporting an astounding 62 percent drop in arrests.
Even Dems are questioning the sentencing of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Sen. Feinstein wrote a letter in which she raises some very good points. Amazing -- she just went up a notch in my estimation.
The NFL is defending its refusal to insert a Border Patrol recruiting ad in the Super Bowl programs. After all, it mentions terrorists, illegal aliens and drug smuggling. The offending content:
As Border Patrol agents, it will be your responsibility to prevent the entry of terrorists and their weapons into the United States. You'll help detect and prevent the unlawful entry of undocumented aliens into the United States … [and ] play a primary role in stopping drug smuggling across our borders . . .
Meanwhile, a king in a black robe has struck down the voter identification law in Albuquerque, AZ. Does anyone else think that being asked to pull your driver's license or other picture ID is a "significant burden on the fundamental right to vote"?
Gunmen attacked a U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site on the Arizona-Mexico border at 11 p.m. Wednesday night.
The position is manned by National Guardsmen, forcing the guardsmen to retreat, although none of our men were hurt during the incident. The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired.
The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.
The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.
A probing raid? A diversion? No matter, this was an attack on our military on our soil. Which is why no one will put me in charge of the border — I would have instructed our men to lock and load, then pursue into Mexico with the intent of capturing or destroying every member of the invading unit.
The Bush administration signed a confidential agreement with Mexico in 2004 that could send billions of tax dollars to Mexico in the form of Social Security payments.
Under current law, illegal aliens are not eligible for Social Security benefits. Under the secret agreement, however, anyone who obtains legal residence can use their work history to obtain benefits for them and their dependents — and although the benefit amount is governed by work in the U.S., work history in Mexico counts in qualifying for benefits.
As Congress is on the verge of granting yet another blanket amnesty, this legislation has the potential of costing the teetering Social Security system billions of dollars, hastening the certain bankruptcy of the system.
The Social Security Administration claims that the agreement will only cost $105 million over the first five years, but the Government Accounting Office places that figure much higher.
- A 2003 GAO report said the agreement with Mexico was shoddy work that didn't investigate the reliability of Mexico's data or take into account the millions of illegal aliens who would become eligible.
- They also disputed the Social Security Administration's estimate that the agreement would cost $105 million a year for the first five years, saying the costs could be much higher given the uncertainty of who could benefit.
The TREA Senior Citizens League, an offshoot from a group of retired military personnel, sued the government to obtain the text of the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement after three years and a half years of stalling by the government. After reviewing the agreement, TREA says that the payout could be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Those aligned against the agreement say that it is potentially a huge drain on the Social Security trust fund and may encourage even more illegal immigration. Those supporting it say that it is only fair that those who paid into the system should receive the benefit.
Of course, many of those who paid into the system did so after having stolen the identities of real Americans. A loophole in the current Social Security law would authorize benefits for earnings under fraudulent or "non-work authorized" Social Security numbers.
Currently, wages that can't be posted matched to an individual worker because official records don't contain a name/SSN match go into an "earnings suspense file". Illegals who are able to obtain a real SSN will be able to claim those earnings, even if they are not citizens.
Note that the earnings suspense file now contains over a half trillion dollars. Further, according to the congressional testimony of SSA Inspector General Patrick P. O'Carroll in February 2006:
We believe the chief cause of wage items being posted to the earnings suspense file instead of an individual's earning record is unauthorized work by non citizens.
Once an immigrant gains access to a work authorized Social Security number -- whether a legal citizen or not -- wages earned while in the U.S. unlawfully could be reinstated to the worker's new Social Security account. The Congressional Research Service reports the earnings suspense file currently stands at approximately $520 billion.
And of course, all illegals who paid into the system did so as criminals that were here illegally. That's why it's called illegal immigration.
Thankfully, there are those like Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who see to the heart of the matter:
My record is clear: I do not believe that those who engage in illegal activity should benefit financially for their illegal actions.
Bush has not yet signed the agreement nor sent it to Congress for consideration, who will then have 60 days to reject it or it becomes law. Politicians don't have to go on record to vote against it, it'll just happen! Given that the alien-friendly, terrorist coddling, criminal loving Democrats take power today, it is not a stretch to imagine that Congress will see it soon. Nor is it unreasonable to imagine that they will either vote to further destabilize our retirement fund, or ignore the issue so that it automatically becomes our tax burden.
Yep, I'll be working until I'm 72 for sure. So will many of you.
Arrests of illegals are down since putting the National Guard on the border with Mexico, dropping 34 percent for the July through November time period compared to a year ago.
Victor Clark, a Mexican migration expert in Tijuana, says many migrants fear they will confront U.S. soldiers on the border.
"The presence of the National Guard has had a big impact on migrants," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Imagine that. American troops, feared even when all they do is put you on a bus back home.
Remember when we would arrest someone in the morning, put them back across the border in the afternoon, and they'd be trying again the next day? Those days may become a thing of the past because it is becoming so difficult to make the trip that many are giving up after a single attempt.
Ardia, 21, couldn't keep up with the group of about 30 illegal migrants and was abandoned by her smuggler after her legs cramped up. She was picked up by the Border Patrol and returned to Mexico.
"I knew it would be hard, but I thought I could make it," said Ardia. "It's very hard. I'm not going to try (to cross) again."
$400,000,000. Four hundred million dollars. That's how much California tax payers spend to pay for illegal aliens to give birth.
Of the one billion dollars that Medi-Cal spends every year to provide health care to illegal aliens, 400 million goes to pregnant women.
No wonder they flock here by the tens of thousands. They get the best medical care that money can buy and their squalling offspring are automatically little American citizens.
When will the insanity stop?
While my Senators were giving yet another Middle East nation a free trade partner last week*, my Representative was busy protecting our borders.
From my Congress.org MegaVote email:
Recent House Votes
Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006 - Vote Passed (228-196, 8 Not Voting)
This House bill would require voters to show valid photo identification in order to vote in federal elections beginning in 2008.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Cross posted to TennWatch.
Technorati tags: Marsha Blackburn, Immigration Reform, Illegal Aliens, Criminals Crossing Our Border, Border Security, Border Insecurity.
Here's a headline for you: No charges for Texas man who fatally shot immigrant.
We have to read the propaganda news article to get the facts (from the AP, of course):
A hunter who fatally shot an undocumented immigrant on a South Texas ranch when he mistook the man for a hog should not be indicted, a Maverick County grand jury has decided.
You could argue that they were trying to save space in the valuable headline space. OK, try "Illegal". That has become the short form of illegal alien -- or, as I like to call them -- "criminals illegally invading our country".
Basically, a bunch of criminals were standing in the darkness, Gonzalez (the hunter) shot at a wild hog 150 feet away and missed, striking Lopez (one of the criminals) in the abdomen.
The criminal's brother said, "I hoped there would've been more justice."
Me too. I didn't see anything in the report about the rest of the criminals going to jail.
Yet another injustice: citizen Gonzalez and ranch owner Rodriguez was sued by Lopez's widow and five children for $8,000,000:
The case was settled out of court in November for $50,000. The settlement included legal costs for Lopez's widow and $1,800 for each of his five children. The children's money was put into U.S. savings accounts under their names, according to court records.
This has got to stop. You commit criminal trespass and something that very well could be an accident befalls you, you should have to prove malevolent intent before you or yours get a penny.
This is going around the internet again, so I figured I would post it this time. A Maryland resident petitions his senator:
June 7, 2006
The Honorable Paul S. Sarbanes
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510Dear Senator Sarbanes:
As a native Marylander and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.
My reasons for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stem from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, what I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years.
I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out. Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.
Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications.
If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative. Thank you for your assistance.
Your Loyal Constituent,
Pete McGlaughlin
Whether this letter was actually sent to Senator Sarbanes or not, you have to admire the thinking.
I took a look to see who else posted this letter and found that Rohan Pinto also provided a link to Senator Sarbanes' report card from the Americans for Better Immigration. The man received a "D".
Technorati tags: Illegal Immigration, National Security, National Insecurity, Open Borders, Alien Amnesty, Income Taxes, Senator Paul Sarbanes, Maryland Politics, Rewarding Lawbreakers, Politicians Buying Future Votes.
An American who commits Social Security fraud ends up going to jail. An American who fails to pay taxes for two years ends up in the federal penitentiary. An illegal alien who does this gets citizenship.Why are the clearest thinkers stuck in the House?
— House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI)
[HT to The Corner, via non-blogging Advised by Wolves]
Dozens of undocumented immigrants demanded their jobs back Thursday after being fired during an immigration raid here in Chicago. ...Just to be clear, the government is still doing that whole "catch and release" thing, criminals are gathering in front of court houses (you know, those big solid buildings just jam packed with the best law enforcement has to offer) in broad daylight and, after they got caught being here against the law, demanding jobs.The workers rallied outside the federal immigration court on East Monroe Street. Inside, they begged a judge not to deport them. ...
The workers will have to wait several months to find out if they'll get their jobs back.
The judge granted a continuance until Oct. 12.
Moreover, they get to walk the streets for at least another four months before anyone even considers whether they will be deported or not.
Four months, during which (presumably) they will be unemployed but will still need money to support themselves and their families.
Now I realize that we can't automatically deport millions of people for lots of reasons. But come on people — someone has got to quit dragging their damn feet and get this figured out. For the citizens, for those doing the legal immigration thing (I know several), and yes, for those illegals left in limbo.
Technorati Tags: Immigration, Illegal Immigration, Illegal Aliens, INS, Border Insecurity, Border Security, IFCO, Homeland Defense, Government Inefficiency.
Leaders of the campaign, which has delivered an estimated 10,000 bricks since it began in April, said they had hit on the idea as a way to emphasize the benefits of a fence along the border with Mexico.It's not to late to join in:
Technorati Tags: Immigration, Illegal Immigration, Illegal Aliens, INS, Border Security, Homeland Defense, Government Inefficiency.
The response: 40 percent favored a decrease, 37 percent would hold it steady and 17 percent wanted an increase. There seems to be scant support for a doubling.
I, for one, would strongly support increasing legal immigration (doubling or even tripling) if the borders were fairly well secured, amnesty was taken completely off the table, those violating visas were quickly found and imprisoned, employers punished for hiring illegals, banks fined for granting home loans and giving checking accounts to illegals, and there were jobs waiting for those wishing to emigrate. I wouldn't even insist on English as a national language.
But the Senate did none of those. They just threw open the doors and promised everyone a piece of the pie.
If you have not already done so, I again urge you to read Goldberg's case for extremism.
Technorati Tags: