What Does Immigration Reform Mean to You?Follow

I was just reading MSNBC's Telemundo poll on racial outlooks between hispanics and whites and frequently read about the term "immigration reform," yet it is never defined. On its' surface I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that hispanics would say it means amnesty for Mexicans, but I'm curious to see just what you guys think.

Now I totally get why Mexicans would want more Mexicans in this country-- after all it just increases your particular demographic's political power. And I also get why Mexican gravitate toward the Democratic Party since they are the party of giveaways and Mexicans are as a rule poor, illiterate, and in their view, desperately in need of assistance. It's plain to see that it is a symbiotic relationship.

Personally I'd say that immigration reform does not involve a rehashing of quotas pertaining to specific nationalities, nor does it involve amnesty for illegal aliens. I also think that Texas' prior method of handling illegals was a stroke of genius: They loaded all the caught illegals up in a cargo plane, flew it down to the southern-most tip of Mexico, and offloaded them on the airport ramp and flew back for another sortie. Nice work, that. To me I'd say a nice barb/concertina wire fence, a wall, backed by a mine field and a couple of divisions of armed soldiers strung along the border to keep an eye on it all is a good idea, but that's just me.

In short, for me immigration reform is less a reworking of what we have, so much as it is the dedicated effort to stem the flow of illegals into our country-- both from the south and the north. Lock the border down, begin a Pakistani look-alike program of Predator drones identifying the narco-lords and raining missles onto their heads, along with a ramped-up version of Texas' cargo plane program.

Call me reactionary, a facist, a Mexicophobe, whatever, but the truth is I don't have a problem with immigration-- the legal kind. If the population shifts to a Latino dominate demographic, fine. Just don't let it happen by a purposeful slothfulness by the Left in an attempt to bolster their voting rolls.

Totem

Revising our quota system is an important part of "stemming the flow of illegals". Thinking you're going to keep a secure fence (literal or figurative) when there's thousands of people trying to push past it and thousands of (low paying) jobs waiting for them if/when they make it is pure fantasy. The fact is that there is a population of people who are willing to take incredible risks to get here and a quantity of jobs which aren't being filled via traditional means. There's no good reason not to work a system where those people are here legally and our current system is laughably inadequate. So now, instead of focusing on drug lords, gun runners & ocelot smugglers, we're chasing after civilians who just want a job.

Increasing the number of legal visas also allows for greater tracking of who is coming in and why. Again, we have a population of people very difficult to track because they have no documentation, we have no records of them entering or leaving and they actively avoid being tracked due to fear of deportation. For what? To uphold antiquated laws which obviously aren't serving our needs?

Allow people here a track to citizenship, increase the visa quotas and match it against harder employer crack-downs and enforced border security. One side without the other is silly if you expect it to work.


Great. So let's expand the legal kind.

To me immigration reform really has little to do with illegal aliens living and working in the country. That is merely a symptom of a broken system.

I don't for a second forget that this is the land of the free. If people want to migrate to this country because they're looking for a better life, until or if we have crowding issues, we need to not only allow them in, but facilitate it.

So, immigration reform to me simply means streamlining the process for legally becoming a citizen of the US.

Coming around to what? I've never argued against a fence, I said that a fence was pointless without being part of a comprehensive solution.

Come up with a workable comprehensive solution and you could build a giant Israeli style barrier for all I care (well, except for the ecological impact).

I can get onboard with an expansion of our immigration numbers. However, I'd like to see an emphasis on educated immigrants who either have a "good" job (ie., one that does not involve picking vegetables or fruit, but rather in the white collar industries) or have an extended family who have the means to support them if their job prospects peter out.

This would serve the purpose of increasing our tax base of higher paying citizens-- Look! Here's an excellent opportunity for bipartisanship! Higher income through taxes (Dems) via higher quality immigrants (Pubs)! --while keeping the political playing field level by not stacking the voting booth with giveaway hungry, erm, poor people. From down south. With funny accents. And sombreros.

However, I'll gladly take Castillian Mexicans any day.

Totem

That's very giving of you but it does nothing to solve the problem that illegal immigration stems from people finding fruit picking jobs.

"Hey, I'm in favor of letting in more doctors and chemists! Our illegal dishwasher and lawn care worker problems are over!"

We decided against it during the Mexican-American war. The white folk back home didn't want that many brown Catholics in the national stew.

Well, again, you're starting from the premise that citizenship is the goal. That isn't necessarily the case.

Heh... obviously not.

I have no problem with having existing aliens report to the Appropriate Authorities and begin a process of screening, restitution and (for those who want) eventual citizenship. As I said in another thread, if you're picked up and can't provide documentation, it should be able to throw up a red flag that you're a bona fide criminal, not just a guy trying to pick lettuce for farm wages.

I think the border-fence idea hilariously illustrates the simple-mindedness of its proponents. Their lust for little more than state-sponsored racism is transparent and abhorrent.

Real-world, non-fantasy immigration reform is going to require some extension of amnesty coupled with severe penalties for employers who exploit immigrant workers. I honestly don't see it happening in my lifetime. But I bet we build a fence or two.

Xarus,



You don't know what the f*ck you're talking about.

The illegals are f*cking up the true value of these so called lower paying jobs. Americans will do these jobs they just won't do them for so little. If I can pay a mexican to come weed my garden at 10$ an hour where if I were to hire a legal citizen they might charge 15$ that's a pretty strong incentive for me to hire the illegal.

Sounds like you, the cheap-*** exploiting employer, is ******** up the system.

Pretty much what BT and Elinda said. This is a problem where we should crack down on the employers not the illegal immigrants. It's the demand that causes the problem so deal with the demand. If there aren't jobs, they won't be coming. Of course all the cheap fruit etc that we all love depends on this cheaper labour.

This is so characteristic of your view though. The employer is just a helpless pawn, he has to hire the illegals, it's not his fault.

Edited, May 26th 2010 10:31am by Xsarus