May 15, 2006
Economics Doesn't Turn Wrong into Right
We have long advocated for the enforcement of laws already on the books. We have already pointed out the lack of enforcement of the Packers & Stockyards Act. The failure to enforce immigration laws is just as bad. While we applaud the new plan to beef up our border security, it falls short of what is needed. The magnet that attracts illegals to this country is jobs. For over twenty years it has been against the law to hire illegals. It is punishable with a heavy fine. But enforcement has never been a priority.
On the recent "Day Without Immigrants" several packing plants closed their doors. Meatpackers are one of the most abundant providers of jobs for immigrants. They and other industries like them are the ones behind the idea that "our economy cannot function without immigrants," as President Bush stated in his last State of the Union address. Such a view of these people as merely a cheap source of labor is dehumanizing. In the early 1800's people of the South said that the South could not function without slavery. That very argument was made by members of the U.S. House of Representatives. At that time Congress had the good sense to stop the importation of more slaves, but failed to prevent its continued existence.
Teddy Roosevelt wisely said, "Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit." He continued, "We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than 50 years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being." Sadly, we are doing just exactly that. The debate over illegal immigration is focused on economic rationalizations.
Unfortunately, the federal government has a dismal record of enforcing immigration laws. We cannot trust it to properly enforce a new "guest worker" program. Such trust needs to be earned. Until the federal government cracks down on those corporations that flaunt the law by knowingly hiring illegals, there should be no "guest worker" program of any kind.
Instead, we ought to consider how great a solution we could create by instituting a peaceful "invasion." By sending the 10 to 20 million illegals home to Mexico and asking them to vote to reform the oppressive and corrupt Mexican government, those looking for opportunities and demanding rights in our country could instead find those treasures of liberty in their own native land.
Contact The Stevenson Report by email at [email protected] or view at www.thestevensonreport.com
Economics Doesn't Turn Wrong into Right
We have long advocated for the enforcement of laws already on the books. We have already pointed out the lack of enforcement of the Packers & Stockyards Act. The failure to enforce immigration laws is just as bad. While we applaud the new plan to beef up our border security, it falls short of what is needed. The magnet that attracts illegals to this country is jobs. For over twenty years it has been against the law to hire illegals. It is punishable with a heavy fine. But enforcement has never been a priority.
On the recent "Day Without Immigrants" several packing plants closed their doors. Meatpackers are one of the most abundant providers of jobs for immigrants. They and other industries like them are the ones behind the idea that "our economy cannot function without immigrants," as President Bush stated in his last State of the Union address. Such a view of these people as merely a cheap source of labor is dehumanizing. In the early 1800's people of the South said that the South could not function without slavery. That very argument was made by members of the U.S. House of Representatives. At that time Congress had the good sense to stop the importation of more slaves, but failed to prevent its continued existence.
Teddy Roosevelt wisely said, "Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit." He continued, "We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than 50 years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being." Sadly, we are doing just exactly that. The debate over illegal immigration is focused on economic rationalizations.
Unfortunately, the federal government has a dismal record of enforcing immigration laws. We cannot trust it to properly enforce a new "guest worker" program. Such trust needs to be earned. Until the federal government cracks down on those corporations that flaunt the law by knowingly hiring illegals, there should be no "guest worker" program of any kind.
Instead, we ought to consider how great a solution we could create by instituting a peaceful "invasion." By sending the 10 to 20 million illegals home to Mexico and asking them to vote to reform the oppressive and corrupt Mexican government, those looking for opportunities and demanding rights in our country could instead find those treasures of liberty in their own native land.
Contact The Stevenson Report by email at [email protected] or view at www.thestevensonreport.com
