Immigration reform has been a hot topic for a long time now, and most of us have chosen our sides. However, the propaganda machine still churns out a heavy amount of garbage to undermine and countermand the ideas most of us have already formed. Be wary readers, listeners, and otherwise active talkers; for the wording of propaganda plays a heavy role in our future determinations.
The first move stopping immigration decided by Congress was a law in 1862 restricting American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 restricted the immigration to the U.S. of people entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were allowed to enter the U.S. to work in new industries. By this time anti-immigrant felling rose with the flood of immigrants and in this period the anti-Catholic, anti-foreign political party the Know-Nothings, was already born.
After World War I, a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for furthering the already tight legislation. In 1921 a congressional act provided for a quota system for immigrants, which the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910. This law applied to nations of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Asian Russia, and certain islands in the Atlantic and Pacific. In the 1980s concern about the surge of illegal aliens into the U.S. has led Congress to pass legislation aimed at cutting illegal immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allows most illegal aliens who have resided in the U.S. regularly since January 1, 1982, to apply for legal status. Also, the law prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens and mandates penalties for violations.
But that's all boring ass bullshit... who needs to know immigration history to get riled up or become mentally aloof, right?
I was driving home from work one evening and a radio spot aired asking listeners to allow immigrant workers for the economic sake of this nation. It asked the listener to imagine "What if tomorrow there were no immigrant workers", and explained that if this were a reality then national progress would slow to a near stop and that ridding the country of immigrants would cause an unbearable cost of labor to hit businesses in turn causing them to fold, which would cost Americans their job. So far this ad has already misled the listener more than three times. The ad closed with asking the listener to be compassionate and think of their families when considering the possibility of shutting immigrants out.
First, the ad stated "immigrant workers". There is nothing wrong with immigrant workers, as it is the illegal immigrant workers that we want to get back in line and wait like everyone else. Forget the "New Colossus" opening stanzas and the false interpretations. It has become misunderstood poetry. It wasn't an open invite, but rather a commission work done prior to the competition of the Statute of Liberty. The poem embodied what the concept sketch made the author feel and nothing more. In no official US document regarding any branch of government nor how it is run, does it acknowledge that the borders to the US are, will, and must be open to everyone at all times for any reason. Arguments have been made claiming that America was built by immigrants. I can't say that the argument is untrue, but the times and circumstances were and are now very different. At a time slavery and sexism to a scale larger and more severe than any woman can understand today was commonplace, even encouraged.
On a side note - I just love how people like to keep tradition or revert back to "how things used to be" when it is convenient for them or their cause. No, fuck all that noise. Either put it all back or none of it. We can put back the old idea of America being a melting pot and jsut let people come and go for any reason, but then we'd have to bring back all the shit we got rid of too, like slavery and lower wages based on sex or race. Yeah, I know... progress is going forward leaving bad ideas and actions behind. True, very true, but at the same time be fair with how you move forward or we'll end up with some malformed multinational dildo in our collective asses - for what?... I digress...
Times have changed and these things are scorned and considered a social attrition. Using the argument of American being built by immigrants is no different. This country has been built, is in gear, and steadily moving. No one alive was a part in building this nation up during key parts of development no more than there is no one alive from the African American Slavery period of pre-Civil War. A nation that lives in the past on parts that favor the easement for any particular group denies itself the nourishment for a fruitful future. This is not to say that a nation must move on and forget it's past, but it cannot feasibly reside in it and expect anything good to happen. The phrasing of "immigrant workers" was to blur the line that separates legal status of immigrants. Legal immigrants should not come under fire for being here.
Second, we as a nation lack the logistics to round up all illegal immigrants and deport them in a 24 hour period. It would be something that happened over a period of time and as such businesses would acclimate accordingly without missing a beat.
A practical solution to workplace shortages include better workplace partnerships, or simply put – employee retention practices. While I worked in the retail sales business, the company I worked for noticed a shortage of employees.
To counter this they began to offer competitive packages that included employee stock options, slightly higher wages over time, and a 401K. Now, not everyone will want to remain in retail sales for the entirety of their career, but the 401K was not for new employees. It was for mid to upper-level management who had put a substantial amount of time into the company. Any and every business CAN afford to offer better packages. When a shortage happens they will do so.
Another common practice is to broaden their employee base. This comes in form of either ethnic diversity which reaches a broader audience, or by adjusting their employee age range. The latter ensures that the business also reaches a more broad audience than just ehtnic diversity. The company I worked for was specifically targeting early teens to young adults that enjoyed either the skate / surf activity (or at least liked to pretend as if they did - fuckin' pousers). So an age range wouldn't be as effective here. However, it would serve better in other retails sales such as large and small electronics, vehicle sales or food service.
Illegal immigrants often work in labor intensive industries, so in respect to the issue a realistic solution would simply be to offer normal wages to those who can prove legal residency and remove the floor on minimum wage for illegal immigrants or those without proof of legal status. Yes, it's a horrible thing to suggest ; to pay one person less money than another based on status, but this already happens (and with the fair tax idea growing wings, the government shouldn't have a huge issue with it on a financial level - if you're going to rape them, rape them the right way). I make less money than I could because illegal immigrants will work for less and do no more than I do on my "field days".
Many people argue that illegal immigrants hold jobs that many American citizens will not hold because they either pay too little or they are simply unwilling to do them. This is not a completely true argument. I live in Georgia, a state that houses the third largest number of illegal immigrants and is responsible for employing ¼ of the nation's illegal immigrants in the Agriculture industry (of which 92% are illegal immigrants), there is a huge influx of illegal immigrants. Most of them are working in either construction or agriculture. Neither of those jobs is overly hard. I work segued between both industries. Doing landscape irrigation and design architecture, I do some construction and have to handle some agriculture. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I've seen more natural citizens (blacks or whites) working at the drive-thru window of McDonald's, asphalt and quarries, waste disposal and management, fisheries, houses, and paper mills where those jobs scrape the bottom as far as prestige and glory. However, these jobs require that the employee have a basic understanding of the English language (written and spoken), and some degree of training. This however doesn't mean that these jobs are worthless and unwanted.
Third, business is a feral beast that is fully capable of self sustainment under some very severe conditions. The real issue is that business doesn't want to increase labor cost by hiring someone unwilling to work for less and thereby having to decrease their profit margin or keep the same profit margin by counteracting the labor cost with the installment of higher consumer prices. Most illegal workers make money "under the table". This is tax free pay that most of them send a portion of back to their homeland. In turn we have to make up for the loss of money at some point and it contributes to inflation and the cost of living; both of which have been on a steady rise. Illegal immigrants pay no income taxes in the US. If they pay no income taxes then how can we as a country pay for public services that both legal and illegal residents use such as police, fire and rescue, public schooling, and social welfare.
Many illegal immigrants send part of their income to their homelands. If money is taken out of our economy it causes a small short term issue and a very big long term monetary problem. This can cause an inaccurate account of money in circulation which partly causes inflation. Lastly, I am under no obligation to consider the feelings of an illegal immigrant when compared to the needs of my own family. I, like many of you, work very hard to make just enough to survive. Fortunately, unlike some of you, I do not live outside of my means. Still, my week day is long, hard, and bears little to bring home (compared to some college nerd who can work calculus in their heads but cant use simple hand tools - for the record - I'm college educated, but work int he labor industry becuase I like it). For all intents and purposes I'm considered a blue collar worker. I come home covered in clay, dust, and glue three days out of the week. The other two days I spend hours upon hours doing plant research, client meetings, co-contractor collaborations, and hardscape drafting. I spend 50 or more hours a week under a sweltering Georgia sun and often times go long periods without breaks or water. I am not exaggerating, and I do not want people to feel the least bit sorry. I chose this line of work despite the fact I'm capable of achieving much more in life. I like my job. The illegal immigrants are also capable of achieving much more in life, and they too chose to be both illegal and work under harsh conditions. If people can find no compassion towards me for the conditions in which I work due to the fact that I'm a natural citizen and I chose my job, then why would people feel compassion towards an illegal immigrant under much of the same circumstances?
The Mexican government has worked hard at trying to talk down the idea of a border fence that would span 700 miles across the US / Mexico border. However in Mexico there is a border fence that is there to keep illegal immigrants from crossing over from Guatemala and El Salvador. Blatant hypocrisy aside, in Mexico it is a felony to be an illegal immigrant. MIchael J Waller wrote "Mexico's Immigration Law: Let's Try It Here At Home", which gives a great list of laws surrounding the immigration workings of the country so willing to ask us to allow them into the US. Beyond this extensive rundown of Mexican Law and Constitution points, there seems to be a huge double standard that Mexico has. Pardon My English has a very interesting overview of some of these double standards. We can also look at Canada when in need of immigration reference. Canada has several ways to legally immigrate into their country, but you've got to fit into THEIR system of life and social governance (which is fine and probably best). From the Canadian Immigration website:
SKILLED WORKERS AND PROFESSIONALS
Skilled workers have education, work experience, knowledge of English or French, and other abilities that will help them to establish themselves successfully as permanent residents in Canada.INVESTORS:
to apply as a skilled worker: •you have at least one continuous year of full-time, paid work experience or the equivalent in part-time continuous employment; •your work experience must be Skill Type 0 (managerial jobs), A (professional jobs) or B (technical jobs and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC); and you must have had this experience within the last 10 years. Investors, entrepreneurs and self employed persons The Business Immigration Program seeks to attract experienced business people to Canada who will support the development of a strong and prosperous Canadian economy.
The Immigrant Investor Program seeks to attract experienced business people to invest $400,000 into Canada's economy. Investors must: •show that they have business experience; •have a minimum net worth of CAN $800,000 that was obtained legally; and •make a CAN $400,000 investment. Your investment is managed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and is guaranteed by the Canadian provinces that use it to create jobs and help their economies grow. CIC will return your $400,000 investment, without interest, approximately five years and two months after payment.ENTREPRENEURS:
The Entrepreneur Program seeks to attract experienced business persons who will own and actively manage businesses in Canada that contribute to the economy and create jobs. Entrepreneurs must: •Show that they have business experience; •Have a minimum net worth of CAN $300,000 that was obtained legally; and •Respect the conditions for entrepreneurs after they arrive in Canada.SELF-EMPLOYED:
The Self-Employed Persons Program seeks to attract applicants who have the intention and ability to become self-employed in Canada. Self-employed persons are required to have either: •relevant experience that will make a significant contribution to the cultural or athletic life of Canada, or •experience in farm management and the intention and ability to purchase and manage a farm in Canada.SPONSORING YOUR FAMILY This is pretty self explanatory in title alone. If you live in Canada as a permanent resident then you can apply to have other family members join you to live in Canada. It works pretty close to the same way here in America, with one "minor" exception:
If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you are responsible for supporting your relative financially when they arrive. As a sponsor, you must make sure that your spouse or relative does not need to seek financial assistance from the government.PROVINCIAL SPONSOIRED NOMINEES / QUEBEC SPONSORED NOMINEES Basically this is where the province / Quebec sponsors you to live in Canada.
Persons who immigrate to Canada under the Provincial Nominee Program have the skills, education and work experience needed to make an immediate economic contribution to the province or territory that nominates them. They are ready to establish themselves successfully as permanent residents in Canada.
Why Quebec has their own thing going on, I'm not sure, but I suspect is has to do with the political division between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
Another huge impact illegal immigration has is on Unions. In the north there is little issue with maintaining a Union, however in the South you'll be hard pressed to find a union of any kind. Lastly, medical care is affected by illegal immigrants.
At a time in our nation where good medical care is in demand and expensive, we can't afford to squander the resources we have here. As an example, the Savannah Hospital in Georgia has lost millions of dollars in caring for illegal immigrants. The government doesn't reimburse the hospital or physicians for their services and the illegal immigrants don't pay a dime for their care. Now, back in 2004 the barred illegal immigrants from receiving non-emergency care, but the illegal immigrants then went straight to the ER for any ailment. Aside from that many of the illegal immigrant bring with them illnesses and diseases that were once eradicated or near removed from the US; Chagas and cystercosis(not common, but noticed primarily in illegal immigrants) are just two that come to mind.
Illegal immigrants also have babies, or sometimes called"anchor babies" (prejrotive...with merit), which secure the legal status of once illegal partners. Often times the illegal immigrants will come over with their family and then have one or two more children. Sometimes the eldest son or daughter of the family will marry another illegal and have a child to also secure the legal status of not only their new child but of their partner. While technically the baby will not automatically make the parents legal citizens, a judge will opt out of deporting the biological parents because the result is a legal breakup of the family. However, when the child becomes an adult, they can sponsor their parents so that they may become legal residents. As many parents come to find out, birth is far from inexpensive and if we toss into the mix any form of complication, the cost increases seemingly exponentially. With the illegal immigrants receiving "free" medical care (becuase they don't have anyway to pay but hospitals can't turn them away thereby eating the cost), there is no option left but for taxes to go up to cover the cost of this. Moreover, babies with defects or health issues, receive full legal state funded health coverage which detracts from the coverage for babies born to legal residents. Hospitals also get further punished by slowly being required to have translators on hand for immigrants (mostly illegal) who have not or will not learn the English language. What it boils down to is that we're facing a serious problem, and with Democrats and Republicans talking out of both sides of their ass on the topic, it's left to us as Americans to figure this mess out. I understand the business side of wanting cheap labor and the idea of in turn keeping the cost of the product cheaper. I understand that when someone is in need of medical attention that they should receive medical attention.
I understand that when living conditions put someone in poverty then they must find a way to provide for their families, and I even understand going to the extremity of doing things outside of the law. However, I am an American. I was born here. I was raised here. I was educated here and I served this nation with great risk to my life. All I'm asking is that when I die here, that it is still the America I defended and grew up in.
Simply denying illegal immigrants an easy way in, or some form of fast track to citizenship is not fixing the solution (nor would it be easy). It's giving up and refusing to backtrack to figure out where the problem started. There is a zen saying that when paraphrased conveys the idea that "no matter how far down the wrong path you go, turn back". In this situation it would be far more beneficial to those who have worked hard to live here by legal means and have that birthright to live freely here than it would to throw our hands up as if to shrug and say "well... it's too late". I do not find that as an acceptable or responsible course of action.
Should we round up every illegal immigrant and kick them out? No. That would be a financial and logistic disaster, aside from being disorganized lackluster.
Should we force them to assimilate and tax them into submission by granting them a free pass? No. This goes back to giving up or quitting on the hard work that generations before any of us put into this country.
Should the legal status be revoked of those who have had anchor babies? No.
This will only serve to ignite tension and make the US to look hypocritical on yet another front. It would be better to remove the provision that grants legal status to otherwise illegal parents for simply procreating in the future.
Should we outright deny medical care to those illegal immigrants who are in honest urgent care? No. It would be inhumane to leave someone in need of medical treatment in a bad condition. However, slowly making laws that clearly define the definition of "urgent" and allowing highly trained medical professional determine and classify this definition would be a better alternative then placing that power into the hands of a medically untrained politician. Hell, I barely believe most politicians tell the truth outside of words like "a", "the" and "and", so I surely don't trust them to make an accurate definition of a medical condition above a doctor. Over a course of years, a small portion of the money that would have been lost in medical care by hospitals should be redistributed to countries like Mexico so that they can have a staff of medical doctors and nurses to treat the conditions that cause some immigrants to illegally seek care in the US. Then the illegal immigrants that come from beyond Mexico can stop at Mexico and receive treatment at a much closer facility with a staff trained just as well.
Immigrants – okay. Illegal immigrants – not okay.
I'm tired of feeling as if Mexico's biggest import is US dollars and their biggest export is illegal immigrants.
Now, most of that was the wish-washy shit but it makes sense to me. Though, people don't really listen to reason too well, and when they do it is dictated to them by CNN, FOX, and whatever ass clown decided they wanted to read "news" off of a teleprompter. Here's a clue people: don't take information from these sources to freely. They're the one's that spend weeks on what Britney Spears does with her kids or what that Trim Spa bitch dies from for months, yet talks about real news for minutes on the day.
This bullshit I keep hearing about making the immigration process easier and how that will decrease the sure in illegal immigration is... laughable, because the logic behind it is flat retarded and overlooks what poor people often think about - MONEY
So, let's break this down into a language most people understand - money.
I work with about 17 guys who have no intention of becoming a citizen. They come to the US for 8 months, then go back home for 4 to be with their family. They just want more money. They get home, live well, and then smuggle themselves back in. Many times, these same guys send money home so they can buy passage for their brothers, cousins, nephews, uncles. So, in some cases, the money they send out goes to helping others get in so they can send more money out... and people want to make that EASIER? The game will be the same my friends. Changing the rules to be easier will only make it easier to exploit.
If Country B has a "dollar" that is worth .50 cents and Country A has a "dollar" that is worth $1, logically you hop over to Country A to work and send it back to Country B because instead of sending over $1, you've virtually sent $2. The other thing to consider is that the cost of living in America is substantially higher than say... Mexico or El Salvador. So, the value of the virtual $2 grows even more.
These people DO give up a lot... but they gain so much more. ON MY TIME AND MONEY.
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