Ripper 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 Ok here is another question though. Does your current fiscal situation also have to do with how easy it is to get into the country? I mean I am sure a lot of international actors/actresses get in here with no problem because they are rich and movie stars, where as the migrant worker struggling to put food on the table is shunned and told to go home. It isn't a question of money, it is a question of skill. It is a huge problem up here with hundreds of thousands of university graduates (usually $50000+ in debt by that point, so money isn't really an issue) heading to the US to work through legal channels. Our federal government pretty much ignores it exists, as it does any bad news. However, since these people provide something that the Americans want, they have no problem accepting them. I have several family members and friends who have found it easier to go and work in the US (legally) then it is to get a job up here in several fields (medical, for example). Quite sad, really. As for unskilled labour, why would the US accept some poor immigrant who will just end up working at McDonalds. The US has plenty of people like that already that can't find jobs, and is too overpopulated as it is. Not actually. You have plenty of skilled postions (alot of the illegals men(here at least) work in the construction area which requires knowledge of what they are working on) and you have unskilled (ie. Plenty of maid services here are kept in business through the work of illegals and legal immigrants). Then you have communities that have a large immigrant population. Bilingual employees are then necessary in these places and more places are built that fill in jobs for citizens and illegals alike. Like I said, there will never be a serious push to close the borders or get rid of illegals because of the huge boost to the economy that illegals give this country. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firestarter 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 (edited) You're all missing the point. This isn't about economic benefits or economic burdens, the ease of securing a visa or its difficulties. This is pure and simple about security and the rule of law. Do we live in a society which is governed by and respects the rule of law or not? Speed limits are an exact parallel. Right now, whether or not the vast majority of people get tickets essentially depends on the mood of the cops who pull them over. The speed limit is technically 55 mph on the highways, but NO ONE drives at 55 mph. 65-70 mph is normal (65 is actually pretty slow) and most of the time if you pace traffic as you're supposed to you'll find yourself going at 80-85 mph. The other day, my wife went to traffic court to fight a ticket (and successfully got it reduced), and there was a guy before the judge who had been driving BEHIND A POLICE CAR at 65 mph for over 5 miles. A bunch of other people were also pacing them. Eventually, the police car moved to the next lane to let him pass, and when he did so, the cop turned on his lights and pulled him over. That should constitute entrapment, plain and simple. It doesn't. Why? Because the law is out of touch with reality. My wife has noted that this creates a vicious cycle for poor people. If they drive with a suspended license they can go to jail. If they don't drive with a suspended license they lose their jobs, and if they don't have the money to pay the fine, they go to jail. We've created a system which makes it extremely difficult, if not absolutely impossible, for poor people to redeem themselves. One suspension, and your life begins to spiral downwards. If you don't have the resources to stop it, you're out of luck - because the laws themselves work in concert to drag you down. The exact same situation prevails in the case of illegal immigration. We wink at it most of the time, and then isolate a case here, a case there, and come down on them like a hammer. If the people we target are poor, uneducated, or unskilled, they suffer far more than they would if they weren't. That's wrong. The laws should be changed, enforced, or both. Personally, I'm for both. No, the United States are not overpopulated. Yes, immigrants provide a wealth of benefits. But we STILL need to screen them to make sure they're not security risks. Or health risks. Or any other kind of risks. 9/11 should have been a wake-up call. We need to screen every last immigrant and we need to repeal the various state and county legislations which make it illegal to inquire into someone's immigration status. At the same time we need to streamline the system and make it faster and a lot less labyrinthine. But not at the expense of compromising our safety. And paramount in such reform must be a reinstitution of the respect for the rule of law. Edited October 9, 2003 by Cancer Marney Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 Well if the government was actually commited to enforcing the immigration laws, then it would be a whole different story, but until that point comes, we have to kind of look at it as a "work in progress" and find the best solution with the situation we have got right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
