I would also like to point out that I do not oppose immigration, as long as it is done in a legal and orderly manner. We have set up a horrendous situation, where we have no control over who comes into the country. This is more than just a budgetary issue, it is a national security issue. We have created a market for more immigrant labor than we legally allow. This is unfair to us, unfair to them, and unsustainable in the long run.
If we feel the need for these people, expand the INS so that we can legally process those we need, check their backgrounds so we aren’t letting criminals or terrorists into the country, and so that we have some way of keeping track of them, and see to it that they are given the knowledge of our laws and culture so that they can be an asset and not a liability. You and I can’t exist in a shadow world where we don’t have a social security number, avoid taxes, and obtain benefits with fraudulent documentation, but they can and regularly do. Again, I would love to see how some of the apologists feel about the issue when they find out that someone has been using THEIR social security number for all their transactions.
The current situation punishes employers that follow the law in terms of hiring. A contractor that pays illegals low wages under the table is always going to be at a competitive advantage over one who follows the law, and soon the guy who plays by the rules will be out of business, and the guy who picks up his labor force down in front of the U-Haul will be sitting pretty, even as he exploits the low wages those folks can ask. This situation is unfair to the workers and the law abiding businessman. And those U-hual guys don’t have health insurance, or disability, or anything, so when something happens, it is off to the ER to rack up bills that will never be paid. That is why all the hospitals are going broke and the trauma centers are closing. Remember that when you or someone you love dies in an ambulance because it now takes twice as long to get to an appropriate facility!
The fact is, however, that most of these folks are illiterate in two languages, possess very few skills, and even if they do pay taxes beyond sales tax on the few taxable items they purchase, they are in a very low income bracket, so really don’t pay much anyway, and most of the things they spend income on are exempt from even sales tax because there is no sales tax on rent or food, which is where a majority of their income goes. But- the moment they have a baby on US soil, they become eligible for all kinds of benefits!
Do we really want to import the all peasants of the world who care to make the trip? Is there any limit to the number? The answer is that there is no limit. The third world has six dozen folks who would love to come here and put their face in the trough for every US citizen that makes a decent living and pays a significant amount in taxes. At what point do we say enough? Because, if we don’, at some point say enough, the limit will be that people will stop coming when the US is just as big a craphole as the places they are coming from, and at that point our country will be ruined.
I know that there are bleeding hearts out there who feel that outcome would be just fine, and that we are a bunch of overprivileged greedbags, and that the world would be more “fair” if every country were brought down to the same level, but I do not feel that way. What is happening in California is a preview, just a small taste, of what is to come for the entire country if we don’t regain control of our borders and regulate immigration in a way that is fair to the immigrants and to our advantage as a nation.