Home of Today's Common Sense

Published Brownsville Herald June 21, 2010

I am frequently confused at how the players in our political society want to define us and our wants and needs in terms of what we look like or how we think.
We describe ourselves a certain way only to find that we have many similarities and when others do it, it becomes racism. Some even have the idea that if one gets an education, is creative and works hard he can succeed, it is a bad thing.
It even seems that the current goal of government is that everyone is the same; no one is different and should not be treated differently. Still we like to think of ourselves as individuals, Irish American, African American, Filipino American, Mexican American, Hispanic American, etc. I think of myself as an American and then as having Irish descent. However the brand of Celts I came from originated from Portugal and North West Spain. Does that make me of Hispanic origin. How about the Mexicans near Monterrey of Italian descent, what kind of hyphen do we use?
The law recently passed I Arizona, in frustration that the Federal government seems to have failed miserably in protecting the borders there. It is sad aspecially when it is a genuine Constitutional responsibility that should take priority over other functions where there are genuine arguments.
Though, when a larger number of folks that has similar characteristics have been identified as violators of one misdeed or another; it is racism to reduce the potential pool of violators with a focus on those criteria.
In the West Portal area of San Francisco those looking for undocumented aliens would look for light completions and an Irish brogue among construction workers. The faces in that area are very familiar. There are Irish pubs in that area however, where a new face will stop conversation.
In South Arizona and South Texas it also seems the predominant visual characteristics of most of the people you see are also shared with the majority of those identified as undocumented aliens. Further, the most high value among the immigration violators are of asian or middle-eastern descent.
I just saw the 2008 TV movie Frozen River concerning smuggling illegals from Canada at the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation only a few miles from where I grew up. Further I noted that in several recent issues of my home town paper “Malone Evening Telegram” there were no less than 3 stories daily about drug smuggling. In that area Native Americans are the most probable smugglers and they use the Reservation as it stretches across the St. Lawrence River with no legal crossing areas. During the winter they just drive across the ice covered river.
If a State Trooper sees a Native American with two Asians in the car would it be racist to stop the vehicle and investigate?.
I find it difficult to build up a prejudice based on what someone looks like or some other person says.
Still the passions are aroused, and Immigration and its policies are sharply dividing the Country based on what our neighbors say will happen and specific interest groups say it means.
At the real foundation of the mess is Mexico, a country that has apparently been so mismanaged that most of its people do not trust the government. This has resulted in lawlessness and violence that grips the entire country and leads the populace to look “north” for the only future.
This has resulted in a massive migration legal and otherwise primarily across our southern border more than half of which has been across the Arizona border.
How the administration deals with the issue of fixing immigration is so important that it trumps all others and has such far reaching impact on everything from our basic concept of the rule of law and Social Security. Immigration is indeed broke and needs fixing; and has the potential to damage the nation as no other issue.
Keeping people out is not the answer!
FactCheck.com, my “go to” for the real story, says that most economists state that immigration, legal or illegal, doesn’t hurt American workers. Migrants do not take American jobs. Though it is a common refrain among those who want to tighten limits on legal immigration and deny a “path to citizenship”. Study after study has shown that immigrants grow the economy, by expanding demand for goods and services that the foreign-born workers and their families consume, and thereby creating jobs. There is even broad agreement among economists that while immigrants may push down wages for some, the overall effect is to increase average wages for American-born workers.
As it stands now the laws are so unrealistic and confused that the purpose is even obscure. The laws are not being enforced as they should be and when they are, the public doesn’t support them. This is resulting in the belief that we only need to obey laws that we agree with. We are rapidly losing respect for the rule of law and this could lead to even worse things. The current Immigration law is a jumble of special interest legislation aggravated by judicial activism that has been compounded for decades.
While a Customs Officer at a number of places in the U.S., I repeatedly heard from my colleagues in Immigration that frequently when officers took alleged violators / offenders before a magistrate new interpretations of the law left their understandings in confusion or a new law or administrative practice made the difficult nearly impossible. This was all made worse by a perennial lack of staff to do the job. Add to that political risks that motivate all but the brave or foolish to avoid dealing with the issue and you have an agency whose duties were nearly as unpopular as those of the IRS.”
There indeed is a serious need for an overall reform and that will allow the new border management agency do its job effectively.
Critical to this is a clear and easily understood set of requirements that must be followed by aspiring visitors and residents, as well as the effective and consistent enforcement of those requirements. The idea that you can secure the border with more troops, that have been advanced in many quarters, in particular by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, is in my mind a lot of bunk.
The practicality is that you just cannot put enough people arm to arm along the entire border. Our past use of soldiers to do the impossible hasn’t been successful either. Soldiers win wars with decisive action, breaking things and people. That is why there is a “posse comitatus” law. It was reviewed for suspension in 2002 but the thinking prevailed that the training and military approach might lead to inappropriate actions being taken..
Several years ago I suggested a plan, providing that a new immigrant, once employed, could retain a temporary resident status so long as he was employed. No 3 year limit! This is because, many resident aliens, I have known, intend to work for a period of time, save some money, then return home to start a business or retire.
However, as a carrot, after 3 years one should be able to apply for permanent residency and once approved must apply for citizenship within five years or return to temporary residence status.
There should also not be any new bureaucracy to find jobs for temporary workers as that would be very susceptible to corruption.
Past experience has demonstrated clearly that foreign workers and employers find each other quite efficiently, even in stealthy circumstances. In the past several years the number of young people that dropped out of schools or did not proceed to higher education has gotten less and less. Those folks would traditionally have taken the lower paying jobs that the new immigrants are now happy to get, as a start to a new life.
Further, as the sponsoring employer is responsible, no public benefits would be available to temporary residents.
After the expiration of earned unemployment insurance the temporary resident would be required to return home. Children born in the U.S. to temporary residents would not automatically be entitled to U.S. citizenship but could earn it through military service or naturalization.
The important thing is that the existing laws for employers must be vigorously enforced; If there is an availability of legal workers and an effective enforcement of clearly understood requirements is accomplished (severe financial costs and periods of operation stoppages), employers will be motivated to stay legal rather than risk the hassle.
Of substantial importance is that those already in violation of the law must not get a free ride or preference over those seeking opportunities legally and must pay a penalty for the illegal activity.