The Boyce - Community College of Allegheny County

Monday, October 18, 2010 Perspective
Page 3
Proposed immigration ‘solutions’ not practical
By Tina Grace
BOYCE STUDENT
Both Tamar Jacoby,
known primarily for her writing
on immigration-related issues.
and Pat Buchanan, an American
conservative political commentator,
author, syndicated columnist,
politician and broadcaster, agree
that the present policies governing
immigration are flawed and
ineffective.
Jacoby is in favor of a system
that allows an unrestricted flow
of people across our borders so
long as we weed out terrorists.
Buchanan wants to severely
restrict or stop the tide because
it has destroyed the GOP base in
this country and is diluting our
culture. I think both authors have
flawed assumptions and have
missed the core of this debate.
Jacoby’s Disney Dream
While it would be nice to live
in a Disney version of our present
situation, this is impossible. Jacoby
proposes some sort of magic
legislation and makes unsubstantiated
claims of the positive effects
of immigration.
She refuses to refer to immigrants
as illegals. This would seriously
undermine her argument.
It is hard to idealize a group of
people when they participate in
criminal activity.
She describes a “bipartisan
bill now making its way through
Congress calls for better screening
of visa applications, enhanced
intelligence sharing among federal
agencies, new tamper proof
travel documents with biometric
data, and better tracking of the
few hundred thousand foreign
students already in the US.”
All one has to do is look at
the Shoe Bomber incident to understand
the difference between
good intentioned laws and effectively
stopping terrorist attacks.
The bomber obtained a visa
even though he was on a No-Fly
list. He flew from Africa to Amsterdam
without being questioned
or searched. It was not until he
was in the air over the Atlantic
Ocean that U.S. authorities were
aware of the situation.
In the end it was a combination
of the bomber’s stupidity and
the beating administered by an
Australian passenger that stopped
the attack.
All of Jacoby’s laws were in
place at that time. None of them
were effective at stopping anything.
The idea that the terrorist
could be identified and removed
from the pool of immigrants
failed miserably.
The claims that unrestricted
immigration is a positive force
for change or a benefit to the
United States economically, border
on lunacy.
Jacoby claims, “In many places,
the presence of immigrants
seems to reduce unemployment
even among native born blacks
– probably because of the way
immigrants stimulate economic
growth.”
What she is saying is that
just by having immigrants physically
present in a certain location,
black unemployment rates drop.
The reason for this is some
unknown process of economic
growth. It would make more
sense to say that areas of economic
growth attract immigrants
and rates of unemployment for all
groups will drop. In Jacoby’s version,
the cart is leading the horse.
It is a well known fact that
immigrants are more dependent
on government provided services
than U.S. citizens. At the same
time immigrants do not contribute
enough in taxes to cover the
costs they incur.
For Jacoby to make the claim
that “…immigrants by and large
(are) harder-working than the native
born” is an insult to working
people.
The U.S. citizens who go to
work every day and pay their
taxes provide all the health care,
food stamps, police protection,
utilities and social programs for
the illegal immigrants in this
country.
Employer Greed Responsible
Pro-immigration arguments
revolve around the idea that immigrants
do jobs that Americans
are too lazy to do. This is false.
It is not the job that is the
problem. The employer is the
problem. American workers are
used to having a forty-hour work
week with time and a half for
anything more.
They are also used to having
OSHA monitor the employer
to ensure that the worker goes
home in the same condition they
showed up in (unhurt). They expect
to be treated like skilled professionals.
Employers know that they
can force immigrants to do things
that are dangerous or involve
EPA violations. The immigrant
worker has no ability to stand up
to an unethical employer.
Yes, immigrants are very attractive
to U.S. employers. They
are cheap, expendable, interchangeable
and of no concern
to anyone if they are injured or
killed. The fact that U. S. citizens
will not work in that environment
does not make them lazy.
Jacoby claims immigrants
drive growth and prosperity in an
area whenever they are present.
There is some mysterious force
involved. “How do we measure
the energy immigrants bring –
the pluck and grit and willingness
to improvise and innovate?” she
writes.
I’m not sure what kind of
“energy” she is talking about or
how that relates to a state budget
surviving a mass influx of immigrants.
The claim that immigration
creates economic growth falls
apart later in the article when Jacoby
admits “…states with large
immigrant populations often face
chronic fiscal problems.”
Then she goes on to make the
qualification, “But that is at the
state level, and mostly in high
welfare states like California.”
She can’t have it both ways.
California is in the mess it is in
because of unrestricted immigration.
Illegals have overwhelmed
the state’s ability to pay for services.
By her own assumptions
and wild statements, California
should be booming and experiencing
massive economic
growth. Instead California resembles
Iraq.
Both areas have multiple cultures
and religions barely coexisting
in a world of rolling blackouts,
crumbling infrastructure
and lack of autonomy. If it wasn’t
for the federal government stepping
in to bail California out or to
rebuild Iraq, both would collapse
into anarchy.
It is a mistake for Jacoby to
hope that a magical new immigration
policy will fix the very
real and very serious problems illegal
immigration has caused this
country.
No amount of positive thinking
or feel-good legislation will
change the reality of its damaging
effects.
Buchanan’s Scare Tactics
Pat Buchanan is convinced
that immigration must be controlled
or halted. While I agree
with the idea that something must
be done, he really does not offer
much in the way of a solution.
The scare tactics he employs
are not unlike the Bush administration’s
speeches on terrorism or
elevated threat levels. The story
of the old lady besieged by marauding
Mexicans is extreme in
the least.
One of the few statements
Buchanan makes that is actually
to the point is his statement about
U.S. business practices.
He says, the 400 blue chip
companies and trade associations
want “…normalization of trade
with China…and easing immigration
restrictions to meet labor
needs…”
That statement is code for
moving U.S. companies to China,
allowing China to put tariffs
on U.S. imports and allowing illegals
to surge across the border
from Mexico.
U.S. companies have no
concern for anything other than
profit. An endless supply of slave
labor from Mexico is just what
they want.
Buchanan backs up his argument
by saying, “Should America
suffer a sustained recession, we
will find out if the melting pot is
still working.”
The current economic conditions
in the United States supports
his claim that the melting
pot is not working.
It is significant to note that
not only does Buchanan not point
the finger at liberals; he criticizes
other Republicans for their complicity
in the destruction of the
U.S. economy.
While he goes on to alienate
everyone except a Reagan Republican,
his point is valid. Illegal
or unrestricted immigration
is a major factor in the economic
downturn of the United States.
Immigration through legal
channels by skilled people wanting
to contribute to society is a
vital resource.
Look to Canada Again
Canada and its policy of immigration
should be a model for
U.S. policy. The United States
will never adopt Canada’s approach
to immigration because
U.S. businesses benefit greatly
from illegal immigration.
The current policy allows a
company to remain in the United
States and enjoy all the benefits
of what this country has to offer
while still employing slave labor.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF
ALLEGHENY
COUNTY
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Until lobbyists for big business
are barred from influencing
policy makers, we will continue
to experience economic and social
problems directly related to
immigration.
Middle Class Burden
Who stands to lose the most
if we don’t come up with a solution?
The same people who
watched their jobs go overseas,
their taxes go to foreign nationals
and their leaders sell out to
business interests.
Without a middle class we
are a third world nation. We will
cease to be the America that the
founding fathers envisioned, a
nation of opportunity and advancement.
Feudalism will take
over as the middle class disappears.
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