Immigration reform efforts ignore important points

Mike's Politically Right

By Michael Culver

IMMIGRATION IS THE hot topic of the day and the Bush administration is proposing a reform plan dubbed the “fences and doors” policy. Under this policy a 700-mile fence will be built in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas which will cost over $2 billion. Currently only 70 miles of the 2,000-mile border is fenced.

Bush is quoted as saying, “We believe that we can have rational, important immigration policy that’s based upon law and reflects our deep desire to be a compassionate and decent nation.” And Bush is in favor of opening the gates to the fence “if you’re doing a job an American won’t do, your welcome here for a period of time to do that job.”

That’s a simple a way to say, special interest groups need cheap labor. Furthermore, it’s an indication that these special interest groups are not willing to pay Americans the wages needed to sustain themselves.

These low paying jobs are usually in the construction, landscape and agriculture sectors. They are hard work. But Americans, for the most part, are hard workers provided they are compensated fairly. Just put an ad in any newspaper that says, “Laborer needed — $15 per hour” and see how many calls you get. Run the same ad for $6.75 per hour and Americans will find easier ways to earn the scale. This simply tells me, these special interest groups aren’t willing to play by the rules of our system. And Bush is willing to let them bypass the economic principles of supply and demand that dictate wages and salaries.Proponents of stiffer immigration policies argue, post 9/11 threats dictate we create policies that will help ensure our safety.

Yet this stance has little substance. First, not one of the 9/11 terrorist crossed the border through Mexico.

Second, if a terrorist organization is sophisticated enough to use our own aviation industry to train their pilots and organize a simultaneous strike against American targets, they will surely be able to bypass a fence.

It is estimated there are 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States today. Bush’s new policy would make instant felons of these immigrants. So, with this threat looming over their heads, I dare say our immigration troubles are over. I suspect millions of the illegal immigrants will return to Mexico rather than face a free bus trip to the border where they will be released. And the new multi-billion-dollar fence will keep them from returning. Unless, of course, you want your lawn mowed for an hour; then we’ll let them visit.

Opposition to the new policy argues, illegals are simply trying to escape from a poverty riddled country.

And we, as a nation of plenty, have a responsibility to aid our next door neighbors who are striving to provide a better life for themselves and their families. So, are we to open our borders and let every person who wishes to make a better life enter? This solution is impossible.

So who is right? Well, neither.

I’m reminded of the cliché, “You can feed a man a fish and he won’t be hungry today. But you can teach him how to fish and he can feed himself forever.”

The problem isn’t immigrants crossing the border. The problem is the Mexican economy, and that’s where we need to focus our attention.

We have billions to build fences and monitor our borders, and billions to spend on wars where people don’t necessarily want us. And billions of lost dollars that cross the border when workers send the money home to help support their families. And billions of dollars fighting crime from the less than desirable immigrants that cross for less than admirable reasons. And billions in financial aid supporting social programs. The list goes on and on.

Have we learned nothing from history? That quick solutions to complicated problems rarely work.

Moreover, they more often than not create worse situations, which result in more complicated problems, requiring more expensive measures to remedy.

Our only real long-term solution, and I emphasize long term, is to give Mexico the tools it needs to revamp its social, economic and educational system. This will take time and sacrifice, but most of all it will take commitment and cooperation. Only by doing this can we teach our neighbors how to fish for themselves.

E-mail your comments pro and con concerning the immigration reform to [email protected]. I will choose up to two statements that best describe the views of the readers and present these comments in next week’s issue.

Mike's Recent E-mail

Responses to last week’s column, “Paid e-mail system will make major changes”

“I think the certified e-mail system is garbage. It is wrong for companies such as AOL and Yahoo to charge for sending e-mails. This is just another way for the rich to become richer. Small companies, who cannot afford to use other methods of advertisement such as TV and radio, rely on the Internet to keep their companies alive. They shouldn’t have their one free method of advertisement taxed by big rich corporations. Where does it all stop? Soon people will be charged for every message that is sent. I just don’t think its fair…. The Internet is for now, and forever should be a place where beliefs, ideas, information, etc should be free to share…. Large corporations continuously come up with ideas that fill their pockets, limit the public of things that shouldn’t be limited and then tell us all what a great benefit the idea is. It makes me sick.”

— Dustin Boothe
Industrial technology major

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