The Wednesday Immigration Thread

[Pexster]

Another great opinion piece on the immigration issue from Ruben Navarrette, Jr.

Quote:

For the blame-Mexico bunch, the world is a delightfully simple place. To listen to them, we Americans were just sitting in the back yard, sipping lemonade and minding our own business, when all of a sudden we noticed that our country was being invaded by poor, uneducated Mexican immigrants.

And it's all Mexico's fault. Not the companies who hire illegal immigrants, or the politicians who take contributions from companies that hire illegal immigrants, or Americans who lost their work ethic so that companies feel they have little choice but to hire illegal immigrants.

Or from another of his columns here

Quote:

These are hard days in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's no consolation that we've been here before. It's not the first time that some group – African-Americans or Jews or gays or Muslims – was singled out and persecuted and judged responsible for society's problems. Then, as now, relations soured thanks to racism or ethnocentrism or some other “ism” lapped up by those who feel it necessary to view themselves as superior to others.

The conversation usually starts with someone serving up ignorant and careless remarks about how this group is taking over, or that group doesn't know its place or demands special treatment. It's become standard fare on conservative talk radio, where hosts are spinning rage into ratings by repeating the canard that the United States is being “invaded” by foreigners.

[Chuckiechan]

No I don't blame Mexicans, I blame Mexico. They have everything it takes to raise their population out of poverty and begin the road to economic success. The people in control don't want to do it, and the unarmed citizens can't do anything about it. The drug cartels are taking over Mexico, little by little.

We in this country have allowed ourselves to hire illegal aliens, and work them into the fabric of our economy so that now it's part of the economic fact of life. Tyson Farms has driven American chicken pluckers onto the welfare rolls and hired Hispanics who work cheaper and in some cases better. Why? They know what poverty is and they want no part of it.

We have broken the economic model that runs this country, namely we have imported cheap labor to undercut our own citizens, and now important segments of our economy are saying they will fail without them. Too bad. Speakeasys went out of business when prohibition ended, too!

Maybe Tyson Foods will have to open up in Mexico and (Gasp!) hire Mexicans in Mexico! We don't need them here if they don't hire US citizens. Want your lawn mowed, ask the kid down the street.

I take the Sacramento Bee - A regular Democrat, commie, pinko newspaper. Every letter to the editor was against the Hispanic demonstrations. I was surprised to see that, since the Democrat legislature in Sacramento voted it's support for the demonstrations last week. A total disconnect I would say.

No one is listening to Joe Public!

[Knothead]

Chuck, my argument with you hinges on only one thing in your (excellently-elaborated) post, to wit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckiechan

No one is listening to Joe Public!

Damn right, buddy! The politicos that you put so much faith in have sold us out at every bend and turn!

We are experiencing a time in history where Americans, being rapidly disposessed of jobs, means of survival, etc. are actually turning against people of different color, in a blind attempt to understand what is happening to us.

This is manipulation, and self-delusion, I say. And it serves the political oligarchy that you cede your own power to.

"Divide And Conquer"...does that ring a bell?

Do you people honestly believe that a few thousand Mexicans in this country means JACK, in terms of American employment?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a joke line:

"I just had my brain washed, and I can't do a thing with it!"

Get it?

[Pexster]

from the 1st linked article --

Quote:

One reason that blaming Mexico is so tempting is because the Mexican government is so inept. The administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox actually is an improvement over what preceded it – a string of corrupt leaders from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

But not everything changes overnight. The Mexican government still serves the interests of the few who are rich at the expense of the many who are poor. And it has cynically turned its national embarrassment – the exodus of millions of its own people – into nothing less than an economic engine.

Last year, Mexican expatriates in the United States sent home nearly $20 billion. Yet, naive Americans want to know when Mexico is going to help the United States control illegal immigration. How does never sound? [emphasis added]

[Beemer]

Quote:

Hispanics remain the USA's fastest-growing minority group, but most of their population increase comes from births here rather than immigration, according to Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday.

As debate over immigration policy roils the nation, government numbers show that 60% of the 1.3 million new Hispanics in 2005 are citizens because they were born here.

"When all the attention is on immigration, natural increase is what's driving the population change," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

A third of the nation's 296.4 million people are considered minorities. Hispanics are the largest minority group at 42.7 million, up 3.3% from mid-2004 to mid-2005. The Census counts all residents and makes no distinction between those here legally and illegally. The Pew Center estimates that up to 12 million U.S. residents are undocumented, most of them Hispanic.

"Obviously, a very large share of U.S. population growth and of Hispanic growth is driven by illegal immigration," says Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors stricter immigration controls.

In effect, the data show that even if immigration came to a standstill, the Hispanic population boom would not end for at least another generation.

"Illegal immigration has long-term consequences," Camarota says. "What this shows is that they have hundreds of thousands of children born here."

His research shows that Hispanic mothers here illegally give birth to one-third of babies born to Hispanics. Half of all babies born to Hispanic immigrant mothers are born to those here illegally, he says.

William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution, says one of every two new Americans every year is Hispanic.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/usb...icsdrivegrowth

[Chuckiechan]

There is another issue and that is the importation of corruption.

If you put a good boy and a bad boy together, does the bad boy learn to get better? No, the good boy usually goes bad.

Our immigrants are importing intolerance, racisim (viva Latino = screw everyone else), etc. What happens when they become cops? $ 100 bill clipped to your drivers license? They are already working under the table with no scruples. Graft is a way of life. It's a normal part of the landscape.

We're losing in more ways than jobs here.

[cyphen]

I don't care who's fault it is - it's a big problem. it's been a big problem for a long time. That every single politician has failed the US public on this issue is irrelevant to me as far as fixing the problem goes. I don't care if US corporations provided places for these illegal immigrants to work. Both should be happy they got away with it for so long. But it stops now. I can't stand hearing the phrase "providing a pathway to legalization". There IS a pathway to legalization - follow the immigration laws that exist! Get a green card! Apply for citizenship.

More applicants for citizenship than there are places? Oh well. Too bad. Maybe then with so many Mexicans forced to stay home (who, depending on who you talk to, are so qualified that we can't afford to lose them, or are poor hardworking people with a great work ethic), some positive change will be spurred on in Mexico.

And btw - our economy is right now the envy of the world. It's been described as fully employed with excellent growth, low inflation, and still keeping prices low. Further, many of the "arguments" for illegals positively impacting the economy are easily discounted. Their cost far outweighs their benefit.