Brewing Up Trouble: The War In The West

Reuters reported yesterday that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has filed suit against the United States federal government for failing to secure the border with Mexico.

"Because the federal government has failed to protect the citizens ... of Arizona, I am left with no other choice," --Gov. Jan Brewer

Last July, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton blocked parts of the states harsh anti-immigration law in response to a lawsuit filed by the federal government. The Judge’s argument was basically that immigration matters are the federal government's responsibility, so Gov. Brewer is trying to twist their arm to do something. At the passing of this law it was repeatedly said by Arizona lawmakers that this law was needed to defend the homeland, but the Obama administration was not convinced and filed suit.

Gov. Brewer even co-opted the popular WW2 "Rosie the Riveter" graphic for her own nefarious purposes.

Recently New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez got in on the hating too as she issued an executive order (2011-009) to officially reverse the state’s “sanctuary” status which had been in place since 2005. This “sanctuary” status prohibited law enforcement from asking criminal suspects about their citizenship.

A number of states, including California, are considering laws similar to Arizona claiming increased calls from their constituents calling for immigration reform.

Why all this hatred we NEED immigration.

U.S. CITIZENSHIP STATUS

Foreign-born population 37,342,870
Naturalized U.S. citizen 15,917,019
Not a U.S. citizen 21,425,851

(Source: Census Bureau)

Aging America

The United States benefits from the fact that we are, and always have been, a nation of immigrants. Today, immigrants make up a large part of the U.S. population.

Other industrialized nations, in Europe and elsewhere, face the prospects of declining populations as their baby boomers age and are not replaced by younger generations. In the United States immigration offsets the aging society.

In the next 18 to 20 years, 79 million Americans will turn 65, at a rate of 7000 per day! These millions of aging Americans will need healthcare, money and personnel. They will need to be replaced in the workforce. And each American household will be responsible for nearly a half a million dollars in retirement and healthcare benefits for them. Not to mention the time and money individual families will spend for their own loved ones.

We need immigrants.

There are many arguments that seem to be the major rational for these hate laws. They really are mostly knee-jerk reactions that people have heard or been programmed with, not reality.

Who Pays?

Since about 1986 most illegal workers have been forced to buy fake ID’s to get a job. That was the year when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set fines for employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants. The immigrants buy fake ID’s and Social Security cards so that it provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal. It also means that workers must be paid by the book – with payroll tax deductions, one down.

Is There Enough Room?

Our current situation is far from grave. During the late 1800′s we absorbed a proportionally greater number of immigrants, while benefiting from far fewer resources. I think the evidence shows that America can not only absorb the immigrants we already have, but that we are capable of absorbing far more than we ever have before.

Welfare

Do immigrants live on welfare? Not really. Of course undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive any "welfare" benefits and even legal immigrants are severely restricted in the benefits they can receive. In fact they cannot receive benefits until 5 years after receiving their green cards.

Education

Though the first generation immigrants are often poor and uneducated compared to native-born Americans. But by the third generation, they are on nearly level ground with native-born citizens both in education and in income. Many more Americans receive entitlements than do illegals, and usually those few that do get citizenship are either children of college graduates, or college graduates

American Wages

Many argue that immigrants lower American wages, I wont even spend time to address this to deeply, as it is well documented by many prominent economists that immigrants increase the economic productivity and thus the wages and quality of life of natives.

Crime

Again I think this one is just a reflex. University of California and others have proven that immigrants, both legal and illeagal, are LESS likely to commit a crime…’nuff said

and last…

Why don’t they come here legally?

We have a complicated system of visas and quotas, only about 5000 unskilled laborers a year get even the chance to get in legally, and a very small portion of those are Mexican.



Strategies geared simply towards building walls and sealing the border, or deporting the undocumented without restructuring the immigration procedures and providing a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants already in the country would cost the nation hundreds of billions of dollars while accomplishing nothing.

We need true reform, not prohibition. Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol, drugs, or any other social problem. We need a policy where people would be free to move the United States (as long as they passed a criminal background check), regardless of socio-economic status, job skills, or education. As the U.S. labor market became saturated, potential immigrants would hear from existing immigrants that work was becoming scarce. Once that happens, the flow of immigration would slow down, in fact this did happen as the “Great Recession/ Great Depression 2” took hold, it occurred without government intervention or direction, or infighting.


Get over America, give an immigrant a hug today, and don’t worry if they are allowed to cross a fake line, but worry if their needs are met, if they are fed, and if they are just generally swell…as a person. --♣


We need immigrants.