Letters to the Editor
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No.
Mr. Shapiro’s manipulation of the terms of the debate and condescending “liberal” piety toward this issue are discouraging and insulting. He paints an Edward Hopper scene of anxious busboys and dishwashers to distract from the far more anxious restaurant owners and far larger corporate interests who in fact brace for this vote knowing that what hangs in the balance is their freedom to import low-cost labor and undermine the achievements of the past 150 years of American labor organization and struggle. He wishes us to imagine a flower-strewn “path to legality and eventual citizenship for 12 million immigrants [sic] residing in the United State illegally”—that last, sinister word is tossed off with insouciance, as in “residing at their Newport summer homes ‘for the season’.” He would like to laud this single “good deed” of Bush, without once seeing its subtle, calculated political cynicism. Amendments and provisions, which might clarify or correct egregious faults in the proposed bill, are “punitive” or worse “questionable.” The plainly sensible notion of evaluating immigrants based on their positive attributes is somehow a “Rube Goldberg scheme” that inexplicably “troubles high-tech employers.” Those few liberal voices positioned in the meda to loudly challenge the assumptions of this bill, like Lou Dobbs, are branded “anti-immigration TV zealots,” and are guilty of “racist rhetoric"--a poorly chosen phrase from an author who can cite the appalling National Council of La Raza, whose allies include brown-shirted, aspiring terrorist organizations like MECHa.
If “national polls … found that a majority … back giving illegal residents … a path to citizenship,” this simply means that the core of the American populace welcomes immigrants though it bridles at "amnesty" for subverting the country’s immigration laws and placing its security, economy, and health at risk. If “only 13 percent … believe that deporting illegal immigrants is ‘a realistic and achievable goal’,” this might reflect the American public’s loss of confidence in the government’s will and ability to enforce its laws or secure its borders, not enthusiastic support of a ruinous amnesty.
The odious bill is not “liberal social legislation,” and it promises “lives free of fear” for no one.
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A Simplist Take of a very Large Problem
I am sick of reading editorials about how we should provide a path to legalization for Mexican migrant workers as if this is a one time problem that we can solve with a single bill. The number of South American workers entering this country is growing and providing a path to citizenship for the ones who already reside here, will do nothing to staunch that flow. In fact the most likely result will be an even larger influx of workers once they realize that once again the US is prepared to offer amnesty to those who are willing to wait long enough. In addition, legalizing the current migrants will mean that they will no longer fill the demand for cheap, uncomplaining labor and a whole new crop of legal immigrants will be needed to replace them.
It is a myth that Mexican labors only perform jobs that Americans won't do. They have taken skilled jobs from American construction worker, electricians, and painters, not to mention that have mention the fast-food jobs that used to be the mainstay for are young workers. I do not blame them though for I would do the same in their position. I blame the policies of the US that allow South American nations to be run by corrupt oligarchies who despite abundant natural resources, starve their masses and drive them from their homes in order to survive. If the US does not find away to force these nations to provide for the general welfare of their citizenry, we will collapse under the weight of their people's desperation and become another third world nation, teaming with uneducated masses ruled by a wealthy minority.
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No To Walter
No.
The true dilemma is what the rest of us working Americans have to deal with, while bleeding hearts like Walter Shapiro and Senator Ted Kennedy join forces with big business interests like Tyson Chicken and the Bush Administration to attack the shrinking working poor and middle class. (Isn't that a bed with strange fellows?)
We are being squeezed at from all sides.
Our taxes pay for schooling, health care costs for illegal immigrants while our own wages, health benefits, and on-the-job safety cut because millions of illegal immigrants compete by working for less, asking for less, and shutting their mouth about workplace safety violations.
Why else is was the El Paso Independent School District forced to hold a $290 million bond election? To deal with the influx of illegal aliens.
Why are so many trauma centers and hospital emergency rooms across the country closing, shifting the burden to public hospitals? Because illegal aliens make up a great number of those living in America without health insurance.
Bring in 12 million people into the Social Security system, and we'll see the already frayed Social Security and Medicare systems ripped to tatters, as their paltry billions in contributions through illegally obtained Social Security Numbers - numbers with which they also fraudulently apply for and skip out on credit with, ruining the finances of their legal citizen victims - will not make up for the trillions they will take out of the system.
I'm sorry, Walter, but some of us are poor and struggling and it ain't that easy competing with someone who is willing to take less than minimum wage, no health benefits, and ignore workplace safety violations. Making these 12 million illegals into legals will just encourage MORE like them to come, much as they did after amnesty was offered to their predecessors back in the 1980s.
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Bravo Walter!
Well written article. I've read over the other letters as well and since others do not seem as well versed in the details of the bill, perhaps you should not have assumed what people actually know about this particular bill.
A few of the punitive bits -- $5,000 as the price for citizenship; Head of household must go home for 10 years before they are able to apply for citizenship (leaving family and dependents behind); Citizenship takes 8-13 years and these people will not be eligible until the backlog is brought up to date.
I agree with you by the way. The bill is horrible in the extreme and it would be much better to wait for a time when we have democrats in Congress and the Executive to attempt a bill of this magnitude.
And the in the meantime, all of the complaints I've ever heard about Mexicans are really about money. If the federal government would step up to the plate and begin to make payments to the states that are in the most trouble (not Texas, they have a surplus this year even after Katrina victims; if El Paso has to pass a bond issue they could have looked to state government).
And as usual, people chose to blame the victims rather than to look for the real cause of the problems. Blame the Mexicans -- it's a lot easier than asking the federal government to pony up. Folks, there is $33 million dollars sitting in the federal coffers that cannot be returned to taxpayers -- Mexican taxpayers. Imagine what is in social security and the state budgets.
Give these people legal status so that they are treated as American workers. They would be delighted! They are not trying to be mistreated; they don't want to work for employers that don't pay them minimum wage. Those are just the only jobs available. Blame the employers who are taking advantage of this situation. Make the employers pay everyone minimum wage.
Let's stop blaming the victims. This happens over and over. When funds are short, people start blaming the "other" group. Why not ask how your money is being spent instead? $210 million to religious groups out of the executive budget. $33 million sitting at the IRS unclaimed (decent overpaying Americans one and all, I'm sure). And that's just the beginning. Let's not even start with the billions for war!