Friday, March 13, 2015

Arizona Supports Illegal Immigration

The horror of the news media is not that they lie to us, but that they frame the question.  The recent depiction of the Arizona statute is a perfect example.  On the one side, you have the softhearted liberals concerned with racial profiling, on the other the hardnosed conservatives determined to stop illegal immigration by any means available.  Neither of these depictions is accurate, yet they satisfy our prejudices.   Implicit in the discussion is the assumption that either one is opposed to illegal immigration.
Let us consider the supposedly intractable problem of illegal immigration.  If in fact we, the American people, were determined to do so, it would be quite easy to solve.  Why are illegal immigrants so valuable?  Because employers pay them low wages.  Why can employers do that? Because they have no rights.  If we want illegal immigrants to be less valuable, give them more rights, it’s that simple. Specifically cease deportations and award unemployment compensation.
This doesn’t mean opening up the country.  Rather than wasting time chasing the immigrants, prosecute the employers.  We do that a little, but not nearly enough to be effective.  The penalty should be far greater than the benefit of low wage labor.  There are well known ways to circumvent this, for instance hiring contractors.  So make every employer responsible for every person on their job site.
To put some bite into it, offer illegal immigrants a generous bounty for each employer they turn in.  This would make them radioactive.  It’s a lot cheaper than a stupid wall.
When some poor working mother is socked with a $100,000 fine for paying Consuela to watch the kids and Consuela gets $50,000 to turn her in, there will be no illegal immigration.
I know some are desperate to get Halliburton another contract, creating a national identification card.  With the right laws, we don’t need no stinking badges.
This would still leave the refugees, but that’s a very small subset.  If they can’t get a job, then who cares?  Some might give them charity, but be cautious, they might claim they were employees.
Instead of rounding people up, the INS might offer to repatriate people, perhaps for a small fee, just to cover the administrative cost of assuring that they are actually here illegally and that they are returning to their own country.
Problem solved, of course, it would never happen, the laws would never pass. Employers are the people with the money.  Arizona’s economy would collapse without illegal immigration.  Arizona is not upset with illegal immigration, what concerns them is that the illegals are getting uppity and demanding citizenship.

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