Take the Right Steps in Solving Our Illegal Immigration Problem

I will give you fair warning, if you are easily offended, stop reading this blog now. This blog is not intended to target BigJ but more to relieve my frustration because people continue to be led astray by unrealistic proposals in handling our very serious problem of illegal immigration. The only reason I'm using BigJ’s proposals is because he continues to post the same 13 points without any updates or thorough research. I read his proposals five years ago; they were wrong then and more wrong today. For example, the president is already using a systematic way of going after criminal element first and is now finding ways of keeping families together with his new deportation, methods. It’s a more humane approach that invites cooperation from our southern neighbors. I think the proper thing to do is explain how BigJ’s approach would be better since this president’s plan seem to working better than his predecessor and that’s without the cooperation from congress.

I will start with saying any proposal that doesn't immediately deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States today will not go anywhere. Right now it's a battle of semantics; green card or amnesty. The plan should not call for an amendment to the constitution because that will delay any solution by six years or more because it will take ratification by all the states. Before that, it will take a 2/3 majority of both houses of Congress and a signature by the president. BigJ's idea of the deporting United States citizens under the age of 16 is a violation of the 14th amendment. That's the reason the only way that we can resolve a problem is with a comprehensive  immigration reform plan. It can only be done by people who know the consequences of their proposals; that's supposed to be Congress. My brother-in-law (lawyer) said the bold print “All persons born or naturalized in the United States” clause of the 14th amendment is almost impossible to overture.

A lot of BigJ's proposals are in place now, but he never tackles the problem of Visa over- stays or the economics' of building a temporary fence and taking it down. Never does he mention the outdated Social Security database which keeps us from implementing E-verify. I have no idea what 1800 land grants have to do with illegal immigration because that's a civil case or one that has to be settled by the State Dept of both countries.Besides,that’s already been settled;it’s called “to the victor goes the spoils.”

Proposals such as limiting immigration from the Middle East is insulting and will make dealing with those countries much more difficult. It's the same way with trying to end NAFTA and imposing high tariffs on our southern trading partners because their citizens are violating our immigration laws. Especially when they are enticed by United States companies. These are feel good solutions but are not very pragmatic. His other solution is to entice people from other countries to fight our wars with a promise of citizenship. What happens when that soldier dies? That sounds like a way to get someone else to fight our wars because I guess they are expendable. You see what I mean when I said if you are easily offended? That goes along with wanting people to pick the fruit (at very low wages) during the day and then go back home at night to their country of origin to have their babies. I read a book (What's Matter with Kansas) that described the origins of our out-of hand illegal immigration problems. The author used the meat-packing plants outside Chicago to illustrate his point. He said that they collectively decided to move out of an area loaded with investigative reporters and environmental lawyers to a more hospitable business friendly (wink* wink*) state like Kansas.They agreed to look the other way as the plants were allowed to pollute and use deplorable labor practices, since they were using illegal immigrants. When the immigrants were no longer able to work they were dumped and forced on the surrounding communities. The companies then ran campaigns screaming about the ills of illegal immigrants to take the attention off them. It worked by greasing the palms of city and state officials.

Then you have people like Getsmart, who will exaggerate the problems we're having and support it with one-sided hypotheticals. The other 20% are like jasonbourne who want to send the military to the borders armed to the teeth and conduct a war of cracking heads. That illegal action would not improve relations with our southern trading partners. He doesn’t care just as long as he gets self-satisfaction. These people represent the radio talk show audience that kept us from signing the first comprehensive immigration reform bill by President Bush. What they don't know is that their hateful rhetoric alienates American Hispanics, and they make their views known at the polls. Everyone should know by now that attrition will not work. The demographics are changing, so, unless they come to the table with a more reasonable humane plan; they will get a solution not to their liking.

If I'm going to criticize all the proposals; I'm obligated to give my opinion. I've already mentioned winning the battle of semantics in dealing with the 11 million undocumented people residing in this country. That's a security issue. This isn't just about Mexico because we have to implement E-verify, tamper proof identification cards and documents. We have to come up with some incentives for people to come forward and get processed because having 11 million undocumented people is unacceptable. A majority of those who did not cross an ocean to get here are not interested in citizenship, but they don't want to get in the back of a 10 year line just to get a green card. Those people should pay a penalty for breaking our immigration laws, get processed, and if accepted, be put on a probationary status for some period of time,fined and not be granted automatic citizenship at anytime.

The Democrats and Republicans are using “secure the border first" as an excuse for not tackling comprehension immigration reform because it might anger their constituents. All they have to do is update our Social Security database put the tamper-proof documents in place and that will take away the excuses American companies have for hiring illegal immigrants. We then have to accept the realization that the cost of goods, we buy will go up and there will be fewer people paying into Social Security and Medicare to support those who are on the system. I've read stories of orchard farmers creating web sites trying to recruit American workers to work in their fields, but they rarely get takers. I've always said that I wish I was a lawyer representing these people because I would encourage them to leave our country voluntarily because I know I would have a great bargaining chip, when it came time to renegotiate.

Yes we should make every effort to seal the borders, stop the abuse of our welfare system (Federal laws prohibits welfare to non-citizens) acknowledge the burden on our schools and hospitals but that's not all there is to it. We can send all the task forces we have but unless we do something about our excessive appetite for illegal drugs ,we are just wasting time and money and perhaps lives.

I know a lot of you are not controversial or that discussing this issue makes you uncomfortable, so I don't expect a lot of comments but views contrary to mine will not make me angry. This is another one of those issues that remain out there because we can't come to grip with what's fair or tackle the complexities that prevent us from finding an actual solution.

BigJ, feel free to come in here and tell and show me where I am totally wrong because I know I don’t have all the answers. I have studied this issue for a very long time and I was around when illegal immigration was not a problem and more or less accepted by the locals. It was common for fellow coworkers to hire and recommend illegal immigrants but the situation is much different today. I also disagree that liberals and conservatives can’t fix this problem because a compromise will have to made. One last thing, I know that a solution won’t come from us; it has to come from Washington.