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 Editorials | Opinions | June 2006 
Bush's Immigration Plan is Half-Hearted
 Jack Chesney - gainesvilletimes.com
| | "... it is not true, as President Bush and others claim, that illegal aliens are needed to take the jobs Americans won't accept." |
As conservatives feared, President Bush proposed only a half-hearted attempt to combat the Mexican invasion of America.
In his "immigration reform" speech, Bush said he was against amnesty for illegal aliens, and then proceeded to outline an amnesty program.
President Bush did agree to send a handful of National Guard units to the border. But while he sent more than 200,000 troops to guard Iraqi borders for an indefinite time, he could spare only 6,000 to guard our own, temporarily.
And even those few would be de-fanged. Under Bush's plan the National Guard would be used only as surveillance, communications and labor support for the Border Patrol.
Presumably if anyone fires at the troops, or if illegal aliens are seen sneaking across the border, the National Guard is to call the border guards.
Internal enforcement also was left out of the "comprehensive" plan. The conventional wisdom is that "to deport all illegal aliens is not possible."
That's like saying that nothing can be done about crime because all criminals can't be rounded up and put into jail at the same time.
Granted, the 12 million illegal aliens said to be here can't be rounded up and deported over a weekend. But we can deport them where, when, and as we apprehend them, just as we jail other criminals as they are caught.
Because immigration laws are enforced loosely, most illegal aliens are out in the open and are not hard to find.
They can be seen crowding every Social Security office, driver's license bureau and welfare offices in the country. They heavily populate our hospitals, schools and prisons. There are entire neighborhoods of illegal aliens. They are ubiquitous
For example, there are empty lots and busy corners in almost every city in America where illegal aliens gather each morning to be hired for day labor. These groups should be arrested and sent home.
The next time illegal aliens hold a "rally" to protest the enforcement of our laws, the area should be cordoned off and as many as can be captured should be deported.
Illegal aliens on the welfare rolls should be reported to the INS and deported. (It's an outrage that they are not.)
Repeated raids should be made on employers such as the food-processing industry, landscape companies and construction firms who are known to hire illegal aliens.
Those illegal aliens found should be deported, and the companies who hire them should be heavily fined.
If even these few steps were taken, almost all illegal aliens would be deported in a relatively short time. Provided that first the flood of illegal aliens swarming across the border every night is stopped; otherwise it would be like trying to bail out the Titanic with a tea strainer.
An important benefit to be gained by enforcing immigration laws is that it would discourage illegal aliens from coming here in the first place.
Meanwhile Congress dawdles.
Tax cuts that began in the Reagan years allowed the U. S. economy to grow to the point where there is virtually no unemployment. In fact, we face a severe labor shortage in many areas.
But it is not true, as President Bush and others claim, that illegal aliens are needed to take the jobs Americans won't accept.
The truth is that if illegal aliens were not around to take the exploitive low-paying jobs, employers would be forced to be competitive in the labor market, like any other business, and offer wages that would attract legal workers.
This is not to say that more legal workers are not needed. The time has arrived when Western industrial nations, with their declining or negative birth rates, must consider importing foreign labor. It makes sense to allow a bordering country to provide those workers.
People from Mexico have more in common with Americans than do other Third World countries. Mexican nationals who come here to work and eventually become citizens can more easily be assimilated into our culture. Those who want to work and return home could do so as "guest workers" after they have been properly registered, identified and monitored.
There are two ways to approach the immigration crisis. The way favored, I believe, by most Americans is to first secure the borders. Second, deport all illegal aliens; and third, require that people who want to come here follow the legal process.
There is nowhere in the world, with the possible exception of the North Pole and Antarctica, that does not control its borders with similar immigration laws.
The other way is to leave the borders virtually open, give amnesty to wave after wave of illegal aliens, and ignore or give only lip service to immigration laws. That is the road to national suicide.
President Bush's third way seems to be a weak compromise between doing little and doing nothing.
Jack Chesney is a resident of Sautee-Nacoochee. |
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