Streamlining immigration
Darrell Laurant
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By Darrell Laurant
Published: July 6, 2008
I’ve said it before in this space, but I think it bears repeating: If you want to know what makes the United States of America unique, just look in your telephone book.
Almost all of the people in a Parisian phone book will be French; in Beijing, they’ll be Chinese. Only in America can you run your finger down a line of surnames and find echoes of Ireland, England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and virtually every other nation in the world.
How would you draw a picture of the “typical American”? Can you name 10 “American foods”? The official American religion?
Here in the 21st century, our professional sports leagues are full of foreigners. Our palates have grown accustomed to food from Mexico, Thailand, Ethiopia and India. In a movie I watched recently, the actress who played a small-town Texas girl was actually from Australia. In case you haven’t noticed, a guy with a Kenyan father is the Democratic candidate for president.
In other words, as singer/poet Leonard Cohen once wrote: “The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold.” Which brings me to a subject that Lila Rosenthal covered so eloquently Sunday —
immigration.
A lot of Americans, in Central Virginia as well as elsewhere, are currently both irritated and concerned by the rising tide of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries.
This is nothing new. The immigrant English didn’t want the Irish to follow them, the Irish mistrusted the Germans, the Germans wanted to ban the Eastern Europeans, and on and on. That, too, is America.
Nevertheless, this seems to me one of these issues that requires compromise instead of soundbites. Let’s look at the pros and cons.
On the upside ...
1. Immigration is, and always has been, what America is all about.
2. It provides a constant, bracing influx of new energy and new ideas.
3. It is a humanitarian policy that provides refuge for people fleeing violence, poverty or instability in their own countries.
4. It provides a valuable pool of people who will take on jobs most other Americans won’t.
On the downside ...
1. Immigration is messy. It’s hard to tell who is supposed to be here, and who isn’t.
2. Illegal immigrants can create a drain on our social services and health care system.
3. By compensating these newcomers under the table, unscrupulous employers are able to avoid paying benefits and taxes.
4. If too many people from one country come to America at the same time, they tend to form enclaves of people who have no need to learn the English language.
So how do we reconcile the upside and downside? Well, maybe we should start spending more money toward streamlining the system of handling new immigrants and less toward keeping people out. Just based on common sense, a few suggestions come to mind ...
1. If Mexican citizens could enter the U.S. legally, it seems obvious that fewer would take the chance of entering illegally. So perhaps a better system could be developed to issue work permit cards. Employers in the U.S. could make requests for labor through a central office, and they would be matched with qualified (i.e., no criminal record, reasonably good health) Mexican job-seekers. This would help take this function out of the hands of the often shady private middlemen.
2. Stop making a game out of illegal immigration. Most of those who slip across the Rio Grande are seeking jobs that they can use to send money back to their families. Keeping those who are caught in detention for six months to a year (instead of simply tossing them back) would make illegal entry extremely counterproductive. Get caught twice and you are forever banned from American citizenship.
3. Put immigrants on the track toward citizenship. Let them know that they’re welcome, but also let them know that they will be watched carefully while they’re here as long as they’re guests rather than residents.
4. Revamp and reform the INS. Then give it whatever it needs to do its job.
5. People learning a new language have to be treated with understanding and patience. Still, if the Germans, Eastern Europeans, Vietnamese and others had to learn English, why should we create a bi-lingual society for one group?
Just a few thoughts for a Monday. What do you think?
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( toddnelson13 ) on July 08, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I am frequently dumbfounded that a nation right next to America is SOOO poor.
If all the Mexicans who are in America illegally were sent back, and they united together to better their country, Mexico would have the potential to become a great nation.
Let’s not deport them, let’s graciously send them back. We could take some of the $346 Billion that taxpayers are paying (per year) for illegal immigrants, and we could give it to the country.
They have their own land, let’s help them improve it. Both Mexico and America will benefit.
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Posted by ( burgmom ) on July 08, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I appreciate this opinion article. I have found that people who have actually lived in areas with high numbers of immigrants(legal or illegal) tend to have very different opinions on immigration than those who haven’t. It is hard to make judgment on an issue that doesn’t impact you directly. I have lived in many immigrant rich communities in America. I chose the word “rich” on purpose…meaning that different people add richness to a community. Being college educated…well-traveled…and the daughter of an immigrant I appreciate the content of this article as so many opinions on this subject are so full of bigotry and ignorance. Open your minds and Love thy neighbors. You may learn something and make a friend at the same time. People are people…what are you so afraid of?
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Posted by ( GoHome ) on July 07, 2008 at 7:43 pm
The Iraq funding bill that was to fund safety for our soldiers had a provision attached to it that we HAD to give citizenship to 2.3 MILLION illegal aliens. One of the “qualifcations” was that they had to have experience in GOAT HERDING!!! What NEED does this nation have for 10 goat herders, let alone 2.3 million AND their entire families??? Why should American soldiers’ safety have that dead weight attached to it? Goat herders…Good Lord!!
Immigrants..the LEGAL ones…should be allowed in this nation only if they can be of BENEFIT to this nation. They’re the ones looking for the “favor”, so why should WE be the ones who suffer for letting them in?
Every single time I read an article about this invasion where AMERICAN CITIZENS are given an opportunity to voice their opinion, hands DOWN 95% of the comments are against this invasion.
You say our immigration laws are too tough for the poor dears and that’s why they just “have” to break in? That’s just plain stupid. That’s like saying a woman wouldn’t have sex with a man willingly so the “poor, pitiful dear” had no CHOICE but to brutally rape her, and since she might also be so “unfair” as to report it to the police, why of course, he has no CHOICE but to kill her so he won’t have to pay for the free sex. Get a clue, will ya?
Those pesky banking laws are preventing ME from having all the money I’d like to have too, so would you please tell the banks it’s THEIR fault if I rob them and they should change THEIR rules to suit ME? Thanks.
If these people don’t LIKE our laws, guess what? We don’t care! They can leave! We wish they would! This is OUR nation, not theirs. I don’t like all the laws of this nation either. I LIKE to drive 80 miles an hour, but you can bet your sweet bippy that if I’m caught doing 80 in a 35, they’ll throw the book at me…and I BELONG HERE!
I have studied this PROBLEM…this is way beyond an “issue”...for over two years on a daily basis. I’ve read news reports from all over this nation, in addition to the Homeland Security report I left the link for and countless other studies, and I’ve learned a lot.
We ALL know the Lamestream News is horribly biased for these illegals and their anchor babies. We ALL know it, so once again, please stop insulting our intelligence.
You’re fortunate—you don’t have a job most illegal aliens could take because on top of breaking in uninvited, using us for everything they can get, they refuse to speake Enlgish, so YOUR job is safe. It’s mighty easy to sit in judgement on those of us who have jobs that can be taken, live in neighborhoods that can be trashed and sit in ER’s waiting our turn BEHIND people who don’t even belong here. YOU can probably afford to send your children to private schools, while most Americans have to send our kids to the hellholes where they’re told what racists they and their parents are because we want our laws enforced and these ILLEGAL ALIENS deported. Lucky you.
Hey, here’s a thought! Why don’t you interview some AMERICAN FAMILIES who have been devastated by this invasion? It’s a question I see asked on these boards over and over again, and yet…you people act like you never saw it. What’s wrong? Don’t you read the responses to your articles or won’t your corporatized news company LET you write about it? I dare you…make it your mission. FIND American families who have been adversely and tragically effected by these third worlders. Start by interviewing the families of the 12 Americans who are killed daily by illegal alien drunk drivers…then move to the 12-13 other families who had a family member murdered by an illegal alien that same day.
I double dog dare you!
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Posted by ( GoHome ) on July 07, 2008 at 7:40 pm
First of all, we are no longer a nation of immigrants. Most of us have roots here going back for many, many generations. My great great great great grandfather was an immigrant. I’M an American. The old “nation of immigrants” routine is just that…old…and outdated. So, 80% of us wish the other 20% would stop trying to guilt-trip us into condoning this invasion. And yes, this is an invasion. How many troops did we send to Iraq? 150 THOUSAND? And we called that an invasion. We have, by conservative estimates 20 MILLION third world cruds here (and if you don’t BELIEVE they’re cruds, look at the pictures on the link)...so I say it’s an invasion. So do millions of other Americans. We are sick of Politically Correct, do you understand that? Most of us like to call a spade a spade. They’re illegal aliens and this is an invasion.
These people are not “immigrants”—they’re ILLEGAL ALIENS. And until people like the writer can approach the subject honestly instead of trying to euphamistically gloss over the REAL truth, people like 80% of the REAL Americans are going to resent this writer and people like him. He destroys his own credibility by treating REAL Americans as if we’re so stupid we don’t know the difference.
Hispanics are 8% of the world’s population and 80% of our immigrants AND illegal invaders. That strikes most of us as discriminatory, but this writer apparently hasn’t done his homework. And before you call me a racist, it might be important for you and people like you to realize that hispanic is NOT a race…it’s a culture (and I use the word loosely). Whose fault is it that 80% of them are hispanic??? MINE?? I didn’t drag them over here, and from the thousands of pictures I’ve seen neither did any OTHER American. I invite you, dear journalist, to read this report by the Department of Homeland Security. http://www.house.gov/mccaul/pdf/Investigaions-Border-Report.pdf If you don’t do anything but look at the pretty pictures, you’ll see all these “poor” immigrants. The report, if you bother to read it, will tell you that, during an 88 month study (that’s 7 years and four months), it was determined that we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 260,000 serial sexual predators in this nation who are here illegally. It will also tell you that they fully expect ONE MILLION women and children to be raped by these illegal alien sexual deviates, and we all know that many sexual perverts do not allow their victims to live to tell the tale. Does the writer have a wife? A daughter? A mother? A young son? Think before you write.
They’re not, in most cases, taking the jobs Americans “won’t do” and, quite frankly, Americans are sick of it and mad as hell at having this complete lie shoved down our throats. If Americans won’t do those jobs, I want some “smart guy” like the writer to tell me who did those jobs before the invaders sneaked in illegally. I dare you. Illegal aliens are doing many jobs Americans WILL do, and they are, in many cases, getting pay Americans WILL accept—gladly! This can be evidenced by the people…AMERICAN PEOPLE…lining up around the block at unemployment offices for the jobs vacated during an ICE raid. However, hiring them and not paying benefits and having slaves who won’t open their mouths when something is wrong is more beneficial to greedy business owners who skim the huge profits off the top while telling Americans how much MONEY WE SAVE. More BS that no American swallows. Right along with the lie that all those millions of manufacturing jobs “off-shored”...what a crock…is saving us money. The goods are cheap and cheesy, nothing like the QUALITY was when Americans were doing the work, and they are more, not less, expensive. Once again, traitorous so-called “American” companies skim huge profits off the top and NO savings has been passed to the AMERICAN consumer. NONE.
We ALL already know how devastating this invasion…yes, invasion…has been on taxpayers. Hospitals are closing in record numbers, schools can’t keep up with all the foreigners in our country illegally who DAMAND to have their offspring taught in their native languages, neighborhoods are trashed by these pigs who live 20 to a 3 bedroom home, parking their cars all over the lawns and streets…and then guess what happens as a result? The “American Dream” WE worked all our lives for goes right down the toilet. Who wants to live next to that? Who can sell a house at a profit when you’ve got an illegal alien SLUM next door??? Jobs that haven’t been shipped to mexico, india, taiwan, the philipines, south africa or china or any other third world slave nation are being taken by third world jungle dwelling peons. (I deliberately didn’t capitalize the names of these so-called countries because they don’t deserve the respect.)
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Posted by ( crispy daisy ) on July 07, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Mr. Laurant, I think you are the voice of reason in an argument that is too often based on distorted perceptions, made-up statistics, ignorance, prejudice and sweeping generalities. Unfortunately, I’m sure you’re going to get crucified for it.
freedom, even if I could spare the time to try to wade through your post, I already pretty much know what it says. You hate everyone who wasn’t fortunate enough to be born American, you don’t want them cluttering up your country, and you don’t think we should help them for any reason, ever. Now that you’re here, courtesy of your immigrant ancestors, no more immigrants allowed! Time to stop giving other people the chances given to your great-great grandparents or whoever first came here.
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Posted by ( cvangel ) on July 07, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The flaw in the writer’s article is that he doesn’t make a clear distinction between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL ALIENS. LEGAL immigrants are put on a path to Citizenship, ILLEGAL ALIENS are not and rightfully so. ILLEGAL ALIENS should enjoy NO benefits for willfully breaking our laws least of all the privilege of becoming a Citizen in our Country. The fact that they break our laws and show disrespect for America at the very point of entry shows NO regard for this Country. Deport them now.
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