Thursday, September 02, 2010
Illegal Immigration
A quest for the right solution
For me, the starting point is the 11 million or so illegal immigrants now in the nation. They are human beings that were driven to breaking our laws simply to feed, clothe, and house their families back home. While we could organize a mass deportation over a few years, the human suffering and the dislocation of the Mexican economy–and our own economy–by such an act needs to be taken fully into account.
There are few answers that satisfy all comers to this issue. It seems to me that we need itenerant workers, and we need skilled workers, yet the quotas for them are not sufficiently high to allow for sufficient numbers of itenerants. Creating an effective itenerant worker program should be very high on the to-do list. Despite a number of difficulties, I believe that the US can solve this IW problem.
Good fences make good neighbors. We should complete the border fences and any other necessary additions to shut down illegal entry insofar as possible, while at the same time allowing legal entry to many more migrant workers under suitable controls. Employer sponsorship should be made more stringent and costly, and the migrants themselves should be monitored far more closely. The basic premise is that a migrant is not a candidate for citizenship here; he is expected to return home once his job is ended. Illegal hiring of migrants by employers should be penalized heavily.
Amnesty is another “third rail” issue. I believe it is not fair to those who have tried for years to emigrate legally to wipe the slate clean for the illegals that have managed to survive here—and to prosper in many cases. If we gave amnesty to all 11 million illegals today, we would in effect saying that the doors are open for all to come, and wait out the next round of amnesty here, instead of waiting for legal emigration at home.
This brings our current emigration policy into play. We have gone from Y’all come, to a strict quota system, and then to a looser system now in vogue that I cannot describe. I suppose the question is, how many emigrees per year in total should we allow in the US from now on? a million? Ten million? What? Should we require that emigrees be able to earn a living by way of their skills, or by sponsorship? Recognize too that by allowing many unskilled people into the nation during boom times, inevitably results in having them here without jobs during downtimes, when they may leave on their own, or may not.
I have not seen much cogent analysis of these issues by commentors here in blogs, but a lot of posturing for effect or beating of sour drums, when these and more issues cry for intelligent responses.
Labels: Identity Card, Illegals, Immigration
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Deporting Illegals
Many people are trying to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants by claiming that the US cannot deport 12 million people. Hogwash! As I have posted in the past, all that is needed is the will. Reflect on how we handled mobilization and maintenance of well over 12 million men and women during WWII for the armed forces. We provided clothing, shelter, medical help, food, and transportation to the lot for over 4.5 years.
So, it is obviously possible to do if we really want to do it. Such a program would have to be spaced out over a period of time, like 5 years, which would mean only 2.4 million people per year would be affected. It is also true that once such an effort was underway, many of the illegals would voluntarily go home to avoid the hassle.
At one point, I speculated that some 20 cruise ships could be hired to transport the illegals back home to their Central and Latin American nations from key ports around the US, plus the road and rail transport to the ports, and perhaps housing and feeding them awaiting a ship. If you do the math, each ship could turn around in about 2 weeks, and could carry about 5,000 per trip very comfortably. So that would be 26 trips per year X 5,000 people X 20 ships = 2.6 million people per year. In 5 years, the lot would be back home rather easily. The biggest glitch would be whether their home nation would accept them, and accept them at this rate of 2.6 million per year, divided, of course, between the various nations of origin.
So, please don't try to say that it is impossible to do, because it obviously isn't! It merely takes the will to do it.
Labels: Illegals, Immigration
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Steering Us into Chaos
A few thoughts on where the left is taking us.
Some key themes the left seems to be carrying forward are:
1) Castigating conservatives with false accusations in a constant drumbeat of slogans;
2) Castigating Constitutionalists and rightists with the meme that the Constitution is out of date, an idea that I challenge most heartedly;
3) Castigating conservative radio talk show hosts for being...themselves! and,
4) At least implicitly, riding the "man is the measure of all things" meme, or in other words, atheistic Secular Humanism, materialism and moral relativism. But, I suppose they have to believe in "something" in order to understand anything, even if that something is dead wrong.
It is amazing to me that anyone can believe in some form of benign-but-authoritative world government, a major SH and leftist tenet that includes equal and democratic shares of power for immoral or amoral governments, ruling parties and national elites. There is no common cultural, religious, political, social, economic, military or philosophical basis for such a lash up, and it would most certainly ruin the sovereignty of our nation and our way of life. So why entertain this corrosive idea?
This idea, in turn, suggests that one must have a higher allegiance than to our nation---that is, to all of unwashed mankind and their leaderships (and not to God, of course!). This is perhaps the root of the belief in open borders for the US and amnesty for illegal immigrants, which is an impending disaster if Obama has his way.
The last two world government attempts, namely The League of Nations and the United Nations, have been failures in the large--a statement that has been well-illustrated elsewhere. Promoting more of the same is sheer folly! The over 200 governments around the world, their power elites, and a majority of their people are simply too intellectually, economically, culturally, politically and morally primitive or insular, or both, to play their expected altruistic roles in democratic or republican world governance at this juncture. The UN record provides all the proof needed for this assertion. For the backward nations to learn by doing in the UN is also rediculous when so many lives are at stake worldwide.
We do need mechanisms for controlling aggression, world domination movements (think Islam), genocide, piracy, open seas violations, wanton exploitation of resources, theft, and commerce, to name a few international law needs. Most of these needs can and should be accomplished by enforceable and monitored treaties between relevant nations for now. They can be backed up by the military power of the US and allied democratic Western nations, where the notions of democratic governance and justice are culturally and politically dominant. We should not concern ourselves with events in the interior of sovereign nations, or else there is no meaning to sovereignty. If asked to help by a legitimate government, however, that is a different thing, and such requests should be carefully considered.
Labels: Illegals, Immigration, Obama, Secular Humanism, UN, Worldview
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Arizona Law and Illegal Immigrants
Several points seem right to me:
1. America is a sovereign state, and therefore has a right and a duty to control its borders and to ship home illegal immigrants that have found their way here.
2. Arizona is a sovereign state and is within its rights to control its borders and illegal immigrants as well.
3. The hurrah in the media and by Hispanics is just so much nonsense. We do not want open borders, and we never voted for a flood of illegal immigrants to reside in the country.
4. In enforcing the law, I would be humane about hustling illegals out of the country; I would give individuals 24 to 48 hours, and families perhaps a week or so to pick up their belongings and leave.
5. However, I would ensure that the illegals didn't just migrate to another state. The actual means to ensure this I cannot say offhand. Perhaps I am being too lenient and should support immediate arrest and hold for return to their home country.
6. We should not allow illegals to stay here on the grounds that they have children born here. These children are the product of lawbreakers and they are governed by those same lawbreakers; hence, they must leave also. I also believe that the idea that kin should be able to come here to join their legal relatives should be severely limited.
7. I believe that we must have foreign workers here on a legal and well-monitored basis, including identification papers that include unforgeable elements such as retina scans, fingerprints, and DNA samples.
8. Good for Arizona!
9. Think we can't ship all illegals back home? Think again. Over a 5 year period we could organize the necessary infrastructure rather handily. Remember the military effort to man up our forces in WWII? We housed, fed, clothed, trained, armed and shipped over ten million soldiers around the world inside of three years. Here, we aren't concerned with clothing, arming, training or shipping most of the illegals all that far.
10. I do hope that Obama will try to pass amnesty. It will be his final Rubicon.
Labels: Arizona, Illegals, Immigration
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Immigration and Fireants
It was a terrifying story of a fire ant invasion, where the many million strong column of ants defied every attempt to deflect them or halt them in their hundred-yard-wide swath of death and destruction. Every leaf on every tree was eaten, every blade of grass, every plant, anything edible, was gone. Unfortunate workers on the plantation that somehow fell down were swarmed and bitten to death, then systematically eaten as well. I had dreams about these ants and their raw power of numbers that could conquer a large plantation that just happened to be in their way. Is this what we in the US face from the massive invasion of Hispanics from Mexico?
Labels: Immigration
Friday, June 29, 2007
Immigration Revisited
What does an acceptable immigration bill contain?
A very easy question that 100 senators could not agree upon!
- Do everything needed to seal up our Southern border very tightly.
Enforce old laws
Enforce new laws
Photo and fingerprint all who cross and are caught, then deport them.
- Do everything needed to identify and bring to justice all Illegals.
Give arrest permission to all law enforcement.
Give deportation permission to all law enforcement. Force INS to follow.
Deport all Illegals forthwith over the next five years.
- Do not allow Illegals to be employed in the nation.
Punish employers severely that knowingly hire Illegals.
Search and find Illegals diligently wherever they may be.
Do not allow families into the nation.
- Rescind the ‘child born in the nation automatically a citizen’ clause.
Rescind the rule.
Make the new rule retroactive to 2000.
Ensure that there is no dual citizenship allowed.
- Create a legal migrant worker program with all needed provisions.
Limit the number per year, and number of years in succession.
Limit travel to only the registered employer’s locations.
Ensure positive identification and employer sponsorship
- Create a registered employee program, with penalties for abuses.
Employees must sponsor named migrant workers.
Employees must deposit $1,000 per worker he sponsors.
The deposit will be forfeited in the worker leaves.
Labels: Illegals, Immigration
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Iran, Iraq, Immigration: Cut to the Chase!
Does History Apply?
For some time, I have noticed that many prominent bloggers (who shall remain unnamed here) have the style of searching for the origins of issues, and only gently deriving any actionable conclusions from their efforts. It appears to be a fetish to delve into history as far back as the Crusades when focusing on Iraq or Iran, and to discuss the benefits of the Scotch-Irish immigrations when weeding through the issues hidden in the current immigration debate. There seems to be an enormous investment in past events, outcomes, and ideas that are supposed to inform our current debates. Perhaps so and perhaps not.
We are in the 21st century, and the contrasts in practically every category of life you can name in America are vastly changed, even from the early to mid 20th century till now. Thus, arguments by analogy can be terribly flawed because of: misuse of the comparison by a straining author; data from the past or present being incomplete, biased or in error; by the changed technology available today; or by the prevailing attitudes, spirit, conviction, or patriotism prevalent in the past or today. It seems then, that only the most gross comparisons can have real meaning and utility.
Vietnam versus Iraq is one to think about. The one comparison that has any real meaning is the abject defeatism of the media in both cases. In the Vietnam instance, it eventually turned military victory into a political defeat for America, and a genocidal disaster for the people of Southeast Asia. It is apparent that the lesson here has not been learned by the media for Iraq.
So I have little use for the media, which is yet another user of false comparisons to make their negative points.
There are many new factors to be accounted for, including: WMD; GPS; logistics and transport capabilities; communications; intelligence; modern weapons; speed of execution; and the commander's and the troops knowledge of the battle today. While some ruses and tactical or strategic ploys from the past still work today, they must be carefully tempered by these new factors, or even rejected because of them. This is not to say that study of the past of warfare is not meaningful. It is. It provides grounding for new officers in grasping the thinking of the excellent soldiers and generals of the past. Then it is up to them to apply these methods to the present, or to update them with their newly available capabilities.
In most cases that I have familiarity with, both bloggers and the media tend to misuse historical comparisons blatantly, causing untold confusion in the public mind. It is happening today in the totally politicized Iraqi situation.
There is no cure, either, I believe.
Labels: History, Immigration, Iran, Iraq, politics
Monday, June 25, 2007
Immigration Bill---Yea or Nay?
Where a vast majority of citizens heartily disapprove of the bill!
We have done our best to convince our Senators that we do not like this bill. I have called both of my Senators, and emailed them three times. I have joined in petitions, and I have posted negative comments wherever the subject was broached.
There is no argument that we have a real and pressing problem to solve in closing our borders, in handling somehow our flood of illegals already here, and in allowing migrant workers to work for our farms. But to load the bill with sneaky provisions that will negate most of the good it would do is a travesty, and an insult to our intelligence.
I hope, whatever transpires, the stealth provisions will be eliminated.
Labels: Immigration
Friday, June 08, 2007
Erase Amnesty
We should be clear about what we want!
Never mind the screaming idiots from the Left shouting: Bigot! or Racist! The fact is that we see no reason to mortgage our society in favor of a rag-tag swarm from Mexico. What could these people have been thinking when they promoted such a sell-out bill? Open borders deluxe!
We do not need more workers. We need fewer abortions.
We need migrant fruit pickers who pick and go home.
Day laborers who give a good job for their pay we always need.
But, do we have to subsidize them to the tune of $32,000 per family per year? I think not.
Do we have to pay for their health care? Why? Just tell me why.
Can’t these workers stand on their own two feet? Buy insurance?
Why do we have to give them amnesty, including criminals and gang members? What are these Senators trying to do here? Madness! They will not get my vote.
We do not want amnesty for illegal immigrants. We want to send them home. We want employers to stop hiring them.
We do not want criminals or terrorists to be given amnesty. We want them in jail, and then deported.
We do not want open borders. We want the borders fully controlled, and a big multi-fence installed for at least the lawful 800 miles.
We CAN send the illegals home if we so desire. It would be a big job, yes, but doable also! Over a four year period in WWII, we drafted, processed, housed, fed, clothed, gave medical care, trained, and transported over 12,000,000 men and women all over the states and many foreign countries, and then back home. So stop the nonsense that it cannot be done! Of course it can be done if we have the will to do it!
I have often thought it very odd that we seem to want 45 million lawbreaking, low-skill foreigners to come into the US essentially for free and to subsidize them as well. At the same time, or since Roe versus Wade passed, we have permitted 45 million abortions of our own potential citizens at a rate of over 1.5 million per year.
Doesn’t this strike anyone as nuts? It is morally reprehensible!
Labels: Immigration, politics
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Thank You Mr. Bush
We Conservatives are Stupid!
You have finally unmasked yourself to us, Mr. Bush. You have turned on the Conservatives in a vicious manner, and we, the original core of your constituency, deeply resent it. It was hard for us to pinpoint your real beliefs until now, since you openly stated your support for real reform of immigration. Real, that is, in the conservative manner. You and the GOP have lost a major part of your support by this action to effectively open our borders to all comers. The message is becoming clear to your party now. A 40% reduction in donations. You are sunk at the polls in 2008, as things stand now.
Labels: Bush, Conservatism, Immigration
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Subject: Illegal Immigration
We have a crisis over the immigration issue
By now, it ought to be clear to reasonable people that the problem of immigration is not one that can be finessed and passed off as “good for the nation.” Let us be more precise, however. We have no objection to legal immigration, per se, and if such immigration is by worthy souls, so much the better for us. But, we also feel that there should be a limit to immigration per year. About .5% of our population per year is comfortable, which would mean about 1.5 million people all told. We also believe that this number should be apportioned across the nations that are friendly to us, not those that harbor hatreds and religious, jihadist tendencies.
First things first, though. We have not enforced our immigration and border security laws on the books. These laws should be fully implemented before we diddle around with new and sweeping changes that we obviously cannot enforce well. Our borders should be firmly under control. After six years in office, the President has not made a real effort to beef up the borders and enforce the laws we have. We now hear that instead of 700 miles of border fencing, it will be scaled back to 350 miles. Wrong move! We must control our borders, and I do not see it happening.
The interior of the nation is also a security concern. We have some 10 or 12 million illegal aliens wandering around in the country that are not known to the authorities. That is the measure of the incompetence, and flagrant misapplication of our laws by successive administrations. Mr. Bush has had 6 1/2 years in office to correct this huge gap, and has not done so. In fact, he does not want to do a thing about it but make it worse.
The INS is dysfunctional. The State Department is namby-pamby about immigration. Local law enforcement is not empowered to arrest and deport aliens they discover. They turn them over to the INS, which means effectively the aliens are free to go back into the nation very quickly. Our police forces could do a tremendous job of finding Illegals and holding them for deportation. Many forces will not do it at all, claiming that it is useless unless they can deport the Illegals.
It appears that there are companies that want Illegal immigrants to work for them. Perhaps this is because they will work for much, much less than the going wages of Americans. Their influence has been felt in the manner in which the issue has been handled. These Illegals are law breakers. Companies that knowingly hire them are breaking the law also. The Illegals have access to forgers that can set them up with all the needed papers to appear legitimate to an employer. We need to attack both aspects of this problem, that of employers hiring known Illegals, and that of Illegals acquiring documents to allow them to pass muster.
So what about the mass of Illegals that have made a home here, or have a good job here and want to continue to enjoy the benefits of our economy, and of our social benefits as well, such as schools, and medical care? Their children, some of them, are born here and have US citizenship, which gives them a hook to prevent deportation.
A percentage of these people want to become American citizens and reside here permanently. Others simply want to work here and send money home. Many do not want to assimilate into our society, but to garner its benefits, while continuing to follow their foreign moral guidelines. Our jails are almost half full of such Illegals. Do we want to give these people effectively instant and unqualified amnesty and a route to citizenship? That is what the current Senate bill promises.
This bill must be defeated as it stands, and then completely rethought and rewritten. It is a future nightmare for my children and their children.
Labels: Illegals, Immigration
