Border Security
Labels aside, President Obama has essentially granted amnesty to many young illegal immigrants. With his latest variation on the Dream Act - this time attempted through executive fiat rather than congressional approval - the president has allowed some 800,000 aliens to stay in their adopted country.
Let me say first off that, like most Americans, I have a great deal of compassion for these young immigrants. They were brought to this country while still minors - many of them while still children - and in all likelihood consider the United States their home country. And, in times of prosperity I would probably argue that their entrance into a healthy job market would have little or no harmful effects.
However, we are not in prosperous times. As I continually argue in this blog, we have entered a new era where the tough choices must often be made and President Obama has shown that he is not willing, or able, to make those choices. He has opted instead to pander for votes in the upcoming election. The reporter who insisted upon the president's attention at the amnesty announcement had a point. The president is essentially adding nearly a million new legal workers to an economy that is already struggling with 8.2 percent unemployment.
Two additional factors must be considered. First there is the specter of affirmative action. Will these new legal workers be afforded the racial preferences given to some minorities in this country? Will they be given priority over Americans of European and Asian heritage? If not, their descendants certainly will. Trying to tackle the topic of immigration - both legal and illegal - without speaking about affirmative action is like trying to discuss a forest fire while refusing to discuss flames. I am convinced that if we truly lived in a meritocracy, where the government insisted upon the best qualified always being hired and/or promoted, there would be far less hostility to immigration. Instead we live under a government that encourages a racial (and sometimes gender) spoils system.
There is also the matter of border security. The fact that we have 800,000 illegal immigrants that fall into this category demonstrates that we don't have control of our borders. Before 9-11, this state of affairs could be written off to laziness on the part of the federal government. In our current era, however, this can only be labeled as mass insanity. We simply do not know who is crossing our borders. At the very least, we need to be able to turn back those with criminal records and communicable diseases.
It was done at Ellis Island and it needs to be done now.
Let me say first off that, like most Americans, I have a great deal of compassion for these young immigrants. They were brought to this country while still minors - many of them while still children - and in all likelihood consider the United States their home country. And, in times of prosperity I would probably argue that their entrance into a healthy job market would have little or no harmful effects.
However, we are not in prosperous times. As I continually argue in this blog, we have entered a new era where the tough choices must often be made and President Obama has shown that he is not willing, or able, to make those choices. He has opted instead to pander for votes in the upcoming election. The reporter who insisted upon the president's attention at the amnesty announcement had a point. The president is essentially adding nearly a million new legal workers to an economy that is already struggling with 8.2 percent unemployment.
Two additional factors must be considered. First there is the specter of affirmative action. Will these new legal workers be afforded the racial preferences given to some minorities in this country? Will they be given priority over Americans of European and Asian heritage? If not, their descendants certainly will. Trying to tackle the topic of immigration - both legal and illegal - without speaking about affirmative action is like trying to discuss a forest fire while refusing to discuss flames. I am convinced that if we truly lived in a meritocracy, where the government insisted upon the best qualified always being hired and/or promoted, there would be far less hostility to immigration. Instead we live under a government that encourages a racial (and sometimes gender) spoils system.
There is also the matter of border security. The fact that we have 800,000 illegal immigrants that fall into this category demonstrates that we don't have control of our borders. Before 9-11, this state of affairs could be written off to laziness on the part of the federal government. In our current era, however, this can only be labeled as mass insanity. We simply do not know who is crossing our borders. At the very least, we need to be able to turn back those with criminal records and communicable diseases.
It was done at Ellis Island and it needs to be done now.
posted by dlh | 8:10 AM
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