Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Immigration bill

There are a lot of angles to immigration.  There is a "comprehensive" (something for everyone) bill floating around.  Democrats would love to get some press and maybe a vote on it, anything to deflect the obmacare flak heading their way.  So what's in it for real people?
  Well, it could let in more low end workers for picking crops, construction, retail.  Planters, growers, farmers, and business are in favor of more low price workers.  For the same reasons, unions are against it.
  It ought to do something about the estimated 11 million illegal  immigrants already in the country.  These poor people have no legal standing anywhere and live in terror of a routine traffic stop that gets them deported.  Anyone, employers, the mob, petty criminals, cops, the Border Patrol can abuse them at will. This is unfair, unjust un American, and we ought to fix it.  
   Hispanics and Democrats want to turn all 11 million of 'em into instant citizens.  Hispanics like this 'cause a lot the illegals are friends, relatives and neighbors.  Democrats like this 'cause they think Hispanics will vote a straight Democratic ticket.  11 million voters for your party is not to be sneezed at.  A whole lot of other people see no reason why illegals in the country should get better treatment than the millions of legals who are waiting in line to enter the country. 
   Maybe we could compromise and issue work permits to illegals who have been here for a while, have jobs, look stable, and have stayed out of trouble with the law.  The work permit doesn't let 'em vote, or let them draw welfare, unemployment, medicaid, food stamps, or social security benefits.  But it does let them hold a job, get a driver's license, buy a car, buy car insurance, and send their kids to public school. 
   Or, we could deport them all.  I don't approve of that, most of 'em have jobs, contribute to the community, pay taxes and stay out of trouble.  We need citizens like that. Arresting them and packing them onto buses for shipment back to Mexico is the sort of thing the Nazis used to do.   American is what it is because we have a large and loyal population, both immigrant and native borne.  In fact, immigrants are as loyal, and often more loyal than the native borne.  
   And then honorable service in the US armed forces ought to earn US citizenship.  And illegals who were brought to this country as minor children deserve a break.  It isn't the kid's fault that their parents decided to slip into the US without doing the required paperwork. 
   We ought to have an immigrant quota of 1% of the current population, per year.  America can easily assimilate that many immigrants.  1% would be about 3 million immigrants a year.  We ought to favor the young, the healthy,  the educated, the skilled, the married.  Current policy favors relatives of American citizens, which gets us a lot of grandparents just about ready to retire and draw US social security. 
   If we cannot do enough log rolling and horse trading to pass a "comprehensive" immigration bill, then we ought to pass things that every one agrees on.  Getting something is better than nothing. 

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