There are several angles to come at today’s story about the raid on illegal immigrants working on a federal courthouse.

(1) Like illegal immigration or hate it, you gotta admit it takes cojones to work construction as an illegal on federal property. Talk about sticking it to the man!

(2) Well, at least they’re working, instead of sucking up taxpayer dollars through federal handouts.

(3) Oh, wait, they are getting federal dollars. But at least they’re working for them!

(4) Anybody think federal immigration officials could possibly work just a little harder to keep egg off their faces? Just a teensy?

(5) Well, it’s tough to do that in an era when border patrol agents can be ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border. . .

GV,

Good to hear from you. As long as your thoughts are thoughtful and temperate and well considered, no wait, that would make you better than the rest of us.

I disagree with the first sentence. The struggle over immigration preceded the bad economy, so no one is blaming one thing on another. The reason it is heating up is the sheer numbers. The bad economy in Mexico is perhaps the precipitating factor, not sudden interest over here. I do agree though that a bad economy could intensify the already existing animus and dissatisfaction just as it no doubt did during Nazi Germany, but this issue existed before the housing debacle caused the bottom to drop out.

Yes, we need labor, but no we don’t need immigrants. Yes, outsourcing has a bad component. Lack of job training for the natives.

India has some of the best technical universities in the world. We have a slash and burn technical infrastructure which favors them. To think we can simply quit outsourcing and reverse basic supply and demand economics is impossible, replace that with protectionism, absurd. Job training and regulation, possible. Agree, the gov. does exactly what it “wants” to do, not what we want it to do.

Green cards should be unlimited, but there should be a very hefty payment required paid for either by prospective employers or by the card holders themselves. Yes, companies would pony up if they had to, but they won’t do it if we don’t require them to. 

Citizenship should be restricted only to the best and brightest, people thoroughly vetted and screened. No criminals. No drug runners. No lowlifes. It should never be random. The numbers should be small and manageable.

Mexican laborers should come over in air conditioned buses. They too should have documents detailing who they are, where they came from, where they will work, and approvals, expiration date. They should never be able to use anchor babies as an immigration tactic.

Volunteering in our military with a good conduct record might be grounds for immigration, engineers from India, grounds for immigration or H1Bs. Anchor babies, oh please, no, no…

We already have a swelling underclass of unemployable ignorants. We don’t need more of the same. We need to find jobs for the already existing underclass in our society and we will never do that by opening up the stopcock and letting in the Niagra Falls of humanity.

Q: Why did nobody care about illegal immigrants up until now?
A: Because we have to blame somebody for all the problems we have in our economy.

Throughout history, when something goes bad (like our economy), a group of people have to take the blame for it.  That is what the Nazis did with the Jews, right?  They blamed them for the problems that the country had.

If the government really wanted to get rid of all the illegal immigrants they could easily do it.  With all the money we spent in the war we could have taken just about every illegal immigrant out of the US and more.  Instead we built a wall that has tunnels going under it.  I don’t think this makes sense.  If they really want to solve the “problem” we would have to target the employers, but we don’t. The reason ? Because we need the labor.  The cheap labor is done at the agricultural level.  Buses come from Mexico to put people to work at the fields.  If those “Mexicans “ would be getting paid $10-12 to pick fruit, then we would have to pay $10.00 for a gallon of orange juice.  So we do need all of those illegal immigrants to pick fruit, tobacco, and do jobs that nobody will be willing to do for little money.
The truth is that we need the immigrants, or else we would be having bigger problems than now.  The government knows that, and that is the reason they are not doing MUCH about it. 
If you really want to complaint about Americans loosing jobs to other people, talk about outsourcing to India.  That is REALLY taking jobs away from the United States.  Not just jobs but careers.  Many people in the computer industry are feeling this. People who went to college for at least 4 years, are having their jobs outsourced to India for fraction of their pay.  That is unfair, and all that money stays in India. The money that illegal immigrants make, most of it stays in the US, because they have to consume here, part if goes to their native country, but at least most of it stays here.  Now ask yourself, who allowed outsourcing???? Those are the ones to blame. See http://www.nojobsforindia.com/ for more info.  This is the first time I write online, b/c I don’t think many read it, but if you want me to write more, let me know. I mean, it’s always good to read another thought, right?

Let me make it slightly less intellectual for you lesser Marxists.

The crackdown on illegals is ineffective because the powers that be don’t want it to be effective. They want cheap labor, and the thinktanks that back them are knee-deep into philosophies of open borders and amnesty, like the recent speaker at the World Affairs Council.

You have an unholy trinity, an alliance between the squeechy liberals like Citizen Kaine, greedy business interests who demand cheap labor, and the Mexican government.

A limited guest worker program might benefit Virginia, because we still have farms, and we still need farm labor and other labor to fill spot shortages. Amnesty and open borders however would only benefit that unholy trinity instead to the long term detriment of us all.

I have look at this from all angles over the past 5 years, including the angle that’s everyone’s favorite: “At least they’re working & not selling crack on schoolyards.” Yeah, that’s true…

...but I’m finally resolved that illegal immigrants DO take jobs away from legal Americans who’d otherwise get them. The companies hire the illegals simply because its cheaper for ‘em do so. Ok, fine, but…

...WHAT is that DOING FOR ME & MY FAMILY? I should jump & down with joy—because some tightwad company saved a few bucks?! I sure as hell ain’t seeing no benefit from that.

So get the damn illegals the H outta here! Now.

What the H does this mean: “Burn your robes Bart. Abandon the cult while ye still may before they turn you into Patty Hearst.  You can keep the sandals and the gold medallion in the shape of a big fuzzy elephant unless they make you give it back. Not real gold anyway.” Stop illegal immigration or shoot the interlopers or open the borders? Too intellectual for me.

My illegal buddy across the street finally got shipped home for his 3rd DUI.

That was 2 weeks ago.

Word is, he’ll be back by June. July at the latest.

Now I get to watch the wife and kids for 2 months.

Bart, Bart, Bart…

Your second link undercuts your comments. You wonder why everything INS does is so darn ineffective and then you provide a link to explain why, they don’t want it to be effective.

Please forgive the impending sarcasm.

You have done a fine job of staying above the fray considering how you wear the saffron robes of a Cato Institute monk. (a senior fellow perhaps ?)

Yesterdays T-D had a little blurb on how a Cato senior fellow gave a little lecture for the Mayberry Bloviated Pomposity forum, otherwise known as World Affairs Council, or some such thing.

(of course the entire world comes to Richmond for advice on its affairs)

(advice on how NOT to do things)

The subject was illegal immigration and how we need those illegals in order to get the work done. Fine. No problem with that. Also, guest worker provisions should go on the table. Fine. No problem there either. Then he concluded (alledgedly) with how there should be a more clearly defined path to citizenship. Whoa. 

The commenters state he is a well known open borders amnesty lover.  In other words, back to the issue of how “they” don’t want any crackdown to be effective. “They” want open borders and no regulation of immigration and a Niagra of cheap labor. He did mention the wall as a way to stop criminals and terrorists. Note, he did not say illegal migrants. He said criminals and terrorists (only).

My problem with conservative idealists is much like my problem with liberal idealists. They want to “fix” the world instead of taking care of business.

Way too much zeal. Why must we have senior fellows ?  Aren’t we asking for trouble to design jobs for pseudo-intellectuals to sit behind a desk in the Beltway and figure out theories to torture us all to perdition and back.

These people fit the same description as those junior vice-presidents at the bank who have to justify their expensive degrees and bloated credentials with money making schemes like mortgage-backed securities, hedge funds, and other exotic financial instruments. The only difference no one would ever accuse a banker of being an idealist or a philosopher.

Burn your robes Bart. Abandon the cult while ye still may before they turn you into Patty Hearst.  You can keep the sandals and the gold medallion in the shape of a big fuzzy elephant unless they make you give it back. Not real gold anyway.

The speaker at the “World Affairs Council” should have stopped at the idea of a limited guest worker program. That would have been taking care of business instead of attempting to “fix” the world with yet another grotesque philosophical boondoggle that will only de-stabilize and weaken our culture and threaten even the sleepiest furthest corners of the known universe, the Mayberry-ish Richmond climes, with unintended consequences.

“Andy” says the INS officer, “where oh where did I put my gun?”.

“In your holster last time I saw it.” says Sheriff Andy.

“Oh...”

According to tv news reports, ilegal immigrants were not just running from the fed site.

How many were running from the CenterStage site? Anybody care to report?
Or does that still receive the kids gloves treatment from the local corporate media?

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