Our government is currently trying to come up with a bipartisan plan to "fix" the immigration issues facing this country. I'm glad to hear they are attempting this. So far the bare bones of the plan seems like it will work. Of course, the meat of the plan has yet to be revealed and like most things in Congress, I doubt they can come up with a cut and dry plan. They will be trying to insert this here or there or cater to a special interest group. I hope for the sake of our country they can actually come up with a good plan.
The first problem is the borders. Illegals come here all the time, the borders are not secure in the least and they aren't sent home. What are they going to do about that; dig a fence that can be dug under, or climbed over, have unreasonable searches of every vehicle and boat that comes from another country? So far I have seen nothing that addresses this issue. I think once you make the laws tough enough on them, they'll stop coming illegally.
The second problem is what to do with the illegal aliens already here. The plan somewhat addresses this in that they state they will have to go to the end of the immigration line for citizenship. Okay, do they have any idea how many illegals are in this country; what would that do to the timeline of obtaining citizenship; does it mean they have to leave the country until it's their turn in line or do they continue to live here until it's their turn? More questions for this problem are what if the illegal alien doesn't want to get their citizenship; are law enforcement personnel going to have the authority to send them back to their home country?
The third problem is how are you really going to collect back taxes? How do expect get to proof of their wages? I think this part of the plan is ridiculous. They should just pay taxes from day one once they obtain their citizenship. Of course, this goes back to the second problem.
Here are some more of my thoughts.
Arizona took a hard stance against illegals and was criticized by some other states and the U.S. Government. The State ended up in the Supreme Court. Arizona had the right idea, a good plan to curb illegal immigration, a way to secure their border and a way to send them back home. Their hard line attitude reduced the number of illegal aliens going into Arizona. Maybe our Congress should take a look at what Arizona did and get some ideas from them.
Illegal aliens are a drain to our economy. They use our programs and don't pay taxes. Yes, I know that here in the Southwest they make up a good portion of blue collar workers and without them we would have a lot of jobs to fill. I have heard it said they do the work that lazy Americans don't want to do. Is that true; if all illegal aliens were sent home, would the Americans do the work? Who knows, there is only one way to find out.
Immigration and illegal aliens is a very tough subject and a fine line to walk. I believe the U.S. Government needs to change the process for becoming a citizen and limit the bureaucracy in the Immigration Department. It is very time consuming and cumbersome to become a legal citizen. Why wouldn't someone want to sneak into the country and reap all the benefits when it's much easier than coming in legally? Even work visas are cumbersome to obtain. I did a Google search to see how long the process is and the immigration government website doesn't give a clear answer, they state it depends.
Let me conclude by stating I respect anyone willing to work to support themselves and/or their families. I don't care what you look like or what country you come from - just come legally!
2 comments:
http://redwingrhetoric.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-criticism-of-immigration.html
I am a litle confused about the first statemet you made about the borders. Where did you read that illegal immirgrants that are caught don't get sent home? Today, law enforcement has the authority to send aliens back to their home country. According an artical in the Las Angeles Times, the U.S. deported a record breaking number,392,862, of illegal aliens in 2010. Heres the link to the artical http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/06/nation/la-na-illegal-immigration-20101007. The problem is that they just keep coming back.
Another interesting stat from the LA Times article is that illegals crossing the boarders have decreased from 850,000 annually prior to 2005 to roughly 300,000 in recent years. In the research I did for my blog posting reviewing an editorial on immigration, the author stated that the recession had done more to reduce the number of immigrants trying to cross illegally than any bills that congress has passed on border control.
Here is a link to my blog: http://majorityofthepeople.blogspot.com/2013/01/immigration-reform-editorial.html.
However, I do agree with your statement about how unrealistic it would be to have all illegal immigrants in the U.S. to get in line for citizenship. It already takes a long time for many people. If they are already here and settled they would be better off hiding away and staying as illegals rather than paying a lot of money and having to wait years to become citizens.
I also agree with your statement that "even work visas are cumbersome to obtain". As I covered in my editorial review the source of the problem is how the US government distribute the visas between countries. Neighboring countries get the same number of visas as countries in Europe; yet they have 4 times the number of people applying for visas.
Another interesting stat from the LA Times article is that illegals crossing the boarders have decreased from 850,000 annually prior to 2005 to roughly 300,000 in recent years. In the research I did for my blog posting reviewing an editorial on immigration, the author stated that the recession had done more to reduce the number of immigrants trying to cross illegally than any bills that congress has passed on border control.
However, I do agree with your statement about how unrealistic it would be to have all illegal immigrants in the U.S. to get in line for citizenship. It already takes a long time for many people. If they are already here and settled they would be better off hiding away and staying as illegals rather than paying a lot of money and having to wait years to become citizens.
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