That's the conclusion to which one would necessarily arrive when it comes to the "border fence" security measure.
Don't get me wrong--I'm all for making the flight of illegals into the U.S. all the more difficult.
Too bad those in Congress and the Senate aren't. For if you think this bill suggests those in our legislative branch have finally "gotten religion" with regard to getting serious about illegal immigration, think again:
Analysis: Congress wobbles on border fence By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News AnalystWASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The new border security bill hammered out by the U.S. Congress last week was about politics far more than security.
Writing for CNN, columnist Ruben Navarette called it "immigration reform for Dummies."
The new bill makes much of building 700 miles more of security fences along the border. But it nowhere suggests imposing sanctions on U.S. employers who hire illegal aliens. That would be the surest way of shutting down the economic magnet that lures hundreds of thousands north from Mexico every year.
Kinda like replacing tires on a car to fix a transmission problem.
Given the unequivocal message that has been sent by voters, one can only shake one's head in amazement as to our legislators' half-hearted attempts to solve the problem. In fact, when it comes to solving the problem of illegal immigration, only one thing is clear. They don't want to:
The fact that both houses of Congress have been working so feverishly to craft an acceptable border security bill before the midterm congressional elections in November therefore speaks volumes about the rapidly growing importance that illegal immigration and border security are taking on the U.S. political stage. But in contrast to the blizzard of legislation that swept through Congress to beef up homeland security, reorganize the federal government, and to fund the wars on terror and in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years after Sept. 11, 2001, the versions of the border security bill that have emerged in Congress are striking for how anemic they are. That is because while al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups had no voting constituencies in the United States worth courting, illegal immigrants do.
For there are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, the overwhelming majority of them Hispanic, and the largest single group within those Hispanic speakers are from Mexico. But there are already around 39 million citizens of the United States who are of Hispanic origin or who are Spanish-speaking. The challenge in crafting the border security bill therefore for both Republicans and Democrats is to be able to show constituents progress on the issue that will make them feel safer without angering or alienating significant Hispanic-American elements of society at the same time. (emphases mine)
In other words, to do much that results in nothing. Symbolism over substance.
With Congress now having given their unambiguous answer to voters regarding the illegal immigration issue, I guess there's nothing left to do but say,
"ˇBienvenido a los Estados Unidos!"
Posted by leo at September 25, 2006 07:52 PM
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Comments
The illegal immigration problem is made worse with companies exporting production to Mexico which pays substandard wages. The demand for workers to fill the many positions in our service industries lures immigrants here for better, but still low, wages.
This is capitalism working at its best, supplying labor at market rates where it is needed most. Meanwhile the profits of the capitalist investors increases.
I am surpirsed anyone here is against importing labor. Everything else you consume is an import.
Wade
Posted by: Wade at September 25, 2006 09:12 PM
Actually Wade, it isn't. With all due deference "importing labor" as you so casually refer to it is almost the antithesis of capitalism.
Capitalism is utterly dependent on a clear and present rule of law AND not fiddling with supply and demand. In other words, the importation of labor distorts capitalism in precisely the same way another country "dumping" steel into our market disrupts things.
As Congressman JD Hayworth commented in his book we have anti-dumping laws for everything except labor.
Por que?
Posted by:
Jake Jacobsen at September 26, 2006 04:59 AM
Illegal immigration is supported by both the left, who refuse to even consider the possibility that there is any non-racist reason for opposing it, and by the right, who support the capitalists who pay lower wages and save themselves labor costs, not just by exporting production to Mexico, but by paying illegals substandard wages under the table, right here in the U.S.A.
I am surpirsed anyone here is against importing labor.
The problem is not that labor is imported, but that it's imported IN A WAY THAT VIOLATES OUR LAWS, and thus attracts more illegal immigrants (i.e., people who VIOLATE OUR LAWS). Contrary to the canard, there are really no jobs that Americans won't do, just jobs that we won't do FOR THE SUBSTANDARD PAY.
I would also point out that those of us in the "build the freakin' wall, already" crowd are not necessarily opposed to imported labor, although we'd prefer the jobs be given to American citizens and LEGAL immigrants. We simply believe that before anything else is worked out, we must secure the border first. Afterwards, we can have a guest worker program, in which each worker, PRIOR TO ENTRY, is checked out for any criminal record and then given a defined time and place to live and work in the U.S. If he/she deviates from these, he/she is deported as soon as he/she is found. After the work sojourn is up, he/she leaves and cannot re-enter except at a legal port of entry with a valid passport, for purposes of visiting only.
Posted by: Bigfoot at September 26, 2006 09:34 AM
Just to reiterate, I am not against building the wall.
But that in and of itself, without addrssing the core problems that encourage illegal immigration, is an exercise in futility.
Posted by:
Psycmeistr at September 26, 2006 10:24 AM
Agreed. The wall alone is not enough. It's more of a "Hey this is all I could get done before I campaign to keep my job." This is an issue that needs to be solved and looked into. We've been talking about it for GENERATIONS, and yet we never truly work on solutions, just talk. *Sighs*
Posted by:
Gozer at September 26, 2006 08:56 PM
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The illegal immigration problem is made worse with companies exporting production to Mexico which pays substandard wages. The demand for workers to fill the many positions in our service industries lures immigrants here for better, but still low, wages.
This is capitalism working at its best, supplying labor at market rates where it is needed most. Meanwhile the profits of the capitalist investors increases.
I am surpirsed anyone here is against importing labor. Everything else you consume is an import.
Wade
Actually Wade, it isn't. With all due deference "importing labor" as you so casually refer to it is almost the antithesis of capitalism.
Capitalism is utterly dependent on a clear and present rule of law AND not fiddling with supply and demand. In other words, the importation of labor distorts capitalism in precisely the same way another country "dumping" steel into our market disrupts things.
As Congressman JD Hayworth commented in his book we have anti-dumping laws for everything except labor.
Por que?
Illegal immigration is supported by both the left, who refuse to even consider the possibility that there is any non-racist reason for opposing it, and by the right, who support the capitalists who pay lower wages and save themselves labor costs, not just by exporting production to Mexico, but by paying illegals substandard wages under the table, right here in the U.S.A.
I am surpirsed anyone here is against importing labor.
The problem is not that labor is imported, but that it's imported IN A WAY THAT VIOLATES OUR LAWS, and thus attracts more illegal immigrants (i.e., people who VIOLATE OUR LAWS). Contrary to the canard, there are really no jobs that Americans won't do, just jobs that we won't do FOR THE SUBSTANDARD PAY.
I would also point out that those of us in the "build the freakin' wall, already" crowd are not necessarily opposed to imported labor, although we'd prefer the jobs be given to American citizens and LEGAL immigrants. We simply believe that before anything else is worked out, we must secure the border first. Afterwards, we can have a guest worker program, in which each worker, PRIOR TO ENTRY, is checked out for any criminal record and then given a defined time and place to live and work in the U.S. If he/she deviates from these, he/she is deported as soon as he/she is found. After the work sojourn is up, he/she leaves and cannot re-enter except at a legal port of entry with a valid passport, for purposes of visiting only.
Just to reiterate, I am not against building the wall.
But that in and of itself, without addrssing the core problems that encourage illegal immigration, is an exercise in futility.
Agreed. The wall alone is not enough. It's more of a "Hey this is all I could get done before I campaign to keep my job." This is an issue that needs to be solved and looked into. We've been talking about it for GENERATIONS, and yet we never truly work on solutions, just talk. *Sighs*