I don’t get the point that illegal immigrants are trying to make with boycotts. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Here’s the way I see it. If I am totally off-base let me know.
I think that anyone who comes here without coming through legal channels is basically disrespectful. They want the benefits of living here without following the laws of the country. So they want free public education and care at hospitals etc without putting in the time and effort to come here legally. They frame their discussion as basic human rights while claiming that anyone who disagrees is rascist.
I’ve been talking to recent immigrants lately and they are quite peturbed. They waited in lines and jumped through hoops to live here and get the same services that illegal immigrants are claiming should be theirs for the taking.
Living in the U.S. illegally has to be awful. The only people who will hire you are by definition unscrupulous. You have no recourse for poor working conditions. You live in fear of being discovered and deported. Why wouldn’t they want to gain the legal rights?
I was discussing this with the husband and his attitude surprised me. I usually think of him coming down firmly on the evil side of conservative on any issue. Legal immigration is causing him a bit of hassle at the moment too. He is in the process of hiring a new employee who has a green card. That isn’t as easy as saying, “You’re hired!” Lawyers have to get involved and weeks pass before she is allowed to change her work permit. His opinion was also that it is in the best interest of immigrants to have legal status. That way they can work for a higher wage and live better. He also dismissed the business cost of this by saying that post-slavery everyone thought that paying wages to ex-slaves would ruin the economy and the country survived so there is no reason to think that paying higher wages to immigrant workers will ruin this economy either. (I must say that that shocked me because we generally do not agree on political matters.)
So here’s my proposal. Open the doors wide to immigrants. Welcome them with open arms by making it easier to come here legally. At the same time crack down hard on illegal immigration. I can’t see any reason to let lawbreakers into the country. We grow enough of them here without importing.
I was recently reading a book called HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION. It talked about the fall of the Roman Empire. It sounded very familiar. The Germans routinely snuck across the northern rivers that divided the Empire from northern tribes. The legions did nothing about it most of the time because it was a small trickle of people at a time just looking for a better life. But eventually most of the northern empire was Germanic. This is now counted as the beginning of the end for Rome.
Do I think illegal immigrants are going to be the death of the country? No. But I do think that they are draining resources. I think the U.S. has been more than generous. It is time now to figure out a solution that benefits us both.
hi
I ‘d like to say that uk can’t be ran with out help of immagrats but they’re trying to show off that they can run the country with out any immagrant and that is not true one day is coming to pled to aske all illegal migrants to say and contributing in the economic of uk and the illegal migrant would say no thank you it is too late and bye.
governement are making a big mistake of not allowe to illegal migrants an asylum seekers to stay ,they are thinking of futur of uk and specialy scotland which became lively since asylum seekers entred so do positive action with those people before is late.
My relatives were imigrants too. They came from Norway, legally.
I believe we have quotas for different countries as to how many can come from each per year (correct me if I am wrong). That is what it is and those that qualify and are chosen can come. We can’t just let everyone in the whole world come to the U.S.! Put as much energy into fixing things in your own country – I am sure they could use good educated people – as you are in trying to come into ours. No one said life is fair! Our constitution says we have the right to the “pursuit” of happiness, not “happiness”.
Rod, I’m curious to know why you think I shouldn’t be allowed to live in the United States? I’m fluent in two languages, I have a BA plus enough extra credits for a BS, I’m still fairly young, and I’m highly skilled in many fields. I come from a middle-class family which has always supported me financially when necessary, and I’d never consider using public funds for support. Despite all these assets, the US government says I’m not qualified to live in the US because I lack relatives here or a degree like a doctorate. They’ll allow me to live here for five years, but then they will force me to leave.
Now, *you* didn’t say that I shouldn’t be allowed to live in the US, but you did say that the US can’t let “anyone who wants to come, come”. How do you suggest the government decide who should be allowed to come? Do you feel a person with my background would be a detriment to your country? If so, how can I change myself to better fit your ideal of the perfect immigrant?
I didn’t write my blog entry to be a “heart tugger”, I wanted to be an educator. The majority of Americans think that if a person wants to immigrate, they fill out some forms, pay some fees, and immigrate. That’s not the case.
Leigh Ann and many others are real “heart tuggers”. However, the fact of the matter is we cannot survive as vialble country with totally open borders, letting anyone that wants to come, come. Our wages will go down, our taxes will increase even more. We wll be taking care of those who can’t or won’t take care of themselves. We are a nation of laws. We must follow them or become a nation of lawlessness. Use your mind and common sence, not just a “politically correct” “heart tug”.
Leigh Ann over at The Blogpound posted an awesome surmation of why she’s here illegally and how it’s affected her life.
You are right! They are illegal and have broken our laws by coming here. Our country was built on immigration – legal immigration. The common view of the liberals is “but they are doing work our people don’t want to do”. They are doing the work our workers don’t want to do at the low wages they are doing it for. Imagine what low skill workers would be paid if there were not 11,000,000 illegals here competing for the jobs. Have some of us not heard of “supply and demand”??? What are our politicans thinging of even considering amnesty???