Immigration Issues
Immigrants, and by that we means Hispanic immigrants, are not spending money or going to work and marching nationwide today. The goal is to make the country feel how valuable and important a part of our economy the immigrant population is.
I'm confused about who exactly doesn't understand this already, and who this march is meant to convince. Let me be the first to say that I'm no expert on the immigration situation in the US. I know that there is one, and that reform is desperately needed, but I'm a little fuzzy on what the specific problems are and what our solutions should be. Still, to my knowledge, no one - not a single person, not President Bush - is advocating the whole-scale deportation of illegal immigrants. There is also no one advocating the removal of all Hispanic people from the country, making claims that immigration reform bills are "racist" pretty absurd.
Well, maybe there are a few. We have our share of bigots here - we in the non-Hispanic world - but you, the immigrants, have yours to. Take The Mexica Movement, for example: it's calling for the eradication or deportation of all "Europeans", meaning non-Hispanics, from the country. Let's make a deal: we'll both ignore the borderline terrorist fringe, and focus on the overwhelming majority of those who want to solve our current immigration problems. I was born in this hemisphere too. Don't call me a European, and I won't make jokes about the cars on your lawn.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what the problem is, and try to get some conversation going on what the solution should be.The Problem: There are millions of people living in America who are not legal citizens or migrant workers. These people are coming from terrible circumstances and forced to endure even more hardships to work here in America, where we pay them next to nothing and it's still better than their native countries. Gaining citizenship benefits these people for obvious reasons; it benefits the rest of America because it lowers crime, increases the tax base - while taxes for things like FICA and social security are taken out of everyone's paycheck (though many illegals are paid under the table), illegals aren't paying the same property taxes.
The Solution: Make citizenship an attainable option, and increase the number of legal non-citizens we allow in the country working towards citizenship. The present citizen-immigrant population can do a lot towards this end by helping immigrants adjust through educational programs, such as classes on learning English and assistance finding work. We also need to make it easier to get a green card - waiting more than a year to obtain a legal citizenship status when all of the i's are dotted and t's are crossed is just ridiculous. At the same time, "citizenship" should mean something, and this requires we monitor our borders and keep illegals out. Border security should be increased, and businesses severely penalized for employing illegal immigrants.
And this is all very vague. This description of the problem, and the solution, are generally agreed upon by both sides of the partisan border. This leads me back to my original question: what's the purpose of the marches? What are the immigrants hoping to prove?
I agree that the proposed bill, HR 4437, isn't the best way to solve our immigration problems - many conservatives don't like it either - but you have to admit that there is one, and immigrants need to be part of the solution. To talk about a "proposed ban on illegal immigrants" is just absurd - you're already banned, or you'd be a normal "immigrant." If 4437 isn't good, let's hear some alternatives. I want to see immigrants marching with a platform, with a bill, drafted by any congressman, Hispanic or otherwise, that they think justly solves the problem. I want to see Hispanic businesses set up to help immigrants obtain green cards. I want to see Hispanic organizations lobbying for green card reform. I appreciate the solidarity and influence demonstrated by today's marches, but I don't appreciate another group of protesters becoming part of the problem instead of offering any sort of viable solution.A few other links:
BBC on Immigrant Boycott Day
National Immigration Forum
Immigration Polls
Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo discusses Immigration Reform
posted by RJ @ 10:00 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
uh, illegal immigrants DO pay taxes. they pay into Social Security, for example, and never get anything back out because... they're illegal.
the link is too long--put the second part after the first part to see the story.
http://www.immigrationforum.org/
DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=724
This comment was on a previous version of the post that blogger posted for me before I was really ready - the internet has been pretty crummy here this morning.
Illegals do get services "back" for their taxes. Sure, it's more difficult, but if you walk into the emergency room with a bloody head, you're not turned away. And there are definitely immigrant families receiving social services through the welfare system here in Colorado.
While some illegals do pay taxes, and illegals amount for enough of the social security tax base that we'd hurt without them, it's still a bad tax situation. As I pointed out in the post, illegals are firstly often not being paid through channels where taxes are automatically removed, so the revenue could be higher. Second, illegals are often paid less than minimum wage, or paid minimum wage for jobs that deserve higher pay, so a legal citizen working this same job would pay a higher dollar amount into the system for the same services.
anonymous here--I liked the post you intended to post. had to challenge that draft version. I get what happened with blogger. no harm, no foul.
I'm not an expert on the topic of immigration, but I do offer my humble solution to the problem and have referenced your blog as well. Thanks for your insight...
So we drove by a few hundred protestors yesterday, and there was a woman I saw with a sign that said, “People are never illegal” with an American flag above it. So, I don’t even know what to make of this; I think the immigrants in question really resent that the United States makes a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.
I have to say that it really bothers me when non-Americans (that is, non-citizens) would presume to comment on what America is or how America should be. I sort of think that illegals come into this country knowing that it is illegal to do so, but believing that it is immoral that it is illegal, so they do it anyway. They don’t think that it is wrong for them to come in; they think that it is wrong that what they did is classified as illegal. I really see this as a principled disagreement that comes out of people everywhere thinking about America as an idea and forgetting that it is an actual place with actual laws.
Now I really don’t know very much about what is going on, so I have 3 questions:
1) Do you think I am right that this is basically what the disagreement is over or is it something else/simpler/more specific,
2) If I am right, then how do you deal with millions of people who refuse to acknowledge that they shouldn’t be here or that they did anything wrong/illegal to get here,
3) What are the consequences of even having this debate and even acknowledging this as an issue for the future of the public character of America?
I'm all for social activism to work for positive change, but I have to say that I feel that the strikes were largely unsuccessful. Was anyone's day really affected by the strikes? I haven't talked to anyone so far who could say yes. In fact, most people I talk to didn't even know they happened. This is too bad, because it proves again that most people aren't paying attention. However, I can't be too upset because I have to agree with RedHurt on this one. I'm not really sure what point the protesters are trying to prove. I was in San Antonio during some earlier protests and there were several young men running around with bandanas covering their faces carrying Mexican flags yelling "Vive Mexico!" Last I checked the US is not trying to invade Mexico or claim that it doesn't exist. In fact, I think the issue is that people feel that the government is trying to get more people to stay in Mexico. So, I'm not really sure what Mexican nationalism has to do with US immigration law. Furthermore, my general feeling about the protests is that most of the people involved didn't really know what they were protesting. If these people want to make a positive impact on the law and society they need to more clearly convey what they have a problem with and what solution they are proposing. Otherwise they come across as just a mob -- a mob of a lot of non-citizens, which is not likely to lead to anything positive in the mind of the general public.
The McDonalds by my house was closed, so I couldn't return a redbox dvd. Other than that, many people reported that traffic on the highways into Denver was MUCH lighter, and other than that, nothing.
I'm not sure why you call me a bigot for commenting on the out-of-control illegal problem we have here in the US and the lack of respect our leaders are giving to the solving the problem.
Erik
I'm not sure why you come post a few weeks late on dead threads. Now we're even.
Maybe you're not a bigot, Eric, but phrases like "Deport All Illegals", which is the huge title of your post I've linked to, show a huge lack of sensativity to the issue, are reactionary, are narrow minded, and are in and of themselves bigoted. I'm all for getting tough on illegals, which you'd know if you'd read my post. The issue isn't as simple as deporting the illegals, but involves other factors like making immigration easier, getting tough on businesses who support illegal immigration, and making sure the immigrants themselves receive the same fair and basic treatment we in the United States believe to be the self-evident right of all men.
Post a Comment
<< Home