January 7, 2008
This post at VB Dems disappoints me (mostly because I otherwise enjoy reading the blog):
PilotOnline is reporting a series of community forums on immigration issues will likely be held this spring in Virginia Beach. According to the article, “The report from the city attorney’s office is expected to detail what measures city departments now enforce and what actions the city could take on illegal immigration. Some council members in November proposed that the city tighten its immigration policies, including requiring that the city’s contractors and vendors prove that all of their workers are in the United States legally.” I say bravo. We need to clamp down on immigration. They should go beyond city services, and should extend it to all businesses operating within the city. It damages our economy, is unfair to our workers, and unfair to the many legal immigrants. If I had my way, we’d have a concrete slab wall 60ft in the air at the border. [Emphasis mine]
There still isn’t any real proof that illegal immigration harms the economy, but it certainly is the case that denying services and jobs to illegal immigrants will have a huge human cost, and may not even be beneficial. I agree that there needs to be something done about illegal immigration, but that something doesn’t include punishing illegal immigrants for the “crime” of trying to support their families. A real solution would include expediting citizenship (with a fine or something), bringing illegal immigrants under federal labor protections, and punishing employers that violate existing laws.
Demonizing largely innocent people is entirely counterproductive and adds to the growing problem of racism and prejudice against illegal immigrants.
January 7, 2008 at 6:48 pm
i ‘ll be the first one to tell you, just because i’m black doesn’t mean i can’t be racist. But, as a black person, i understand how racism affects people’s lives daily. This has nothing to do with race one bit! I understand that was not your argument, but a point; o still want to stop that talk there. The largest problem is about fairness. Illegals don’t have a right to be here, why, in my mind, is irrelevant. Supporting their families is fine, but for that to become a rationale weakens the resolve to solve the problem.
January 7, 2008 at 9:34 pm
“Illegals don’t have a right to be here.”
Tell me why you have a right to be here. Tell me why a legal immigrant has a RIGHT to be here.
January 7, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Ian, I wasn’t calling you racist or prejudiced, I was making the point that with all of the bigotry directed towards illegal immigrants, demonizing them only bolsters the hand of the more noxious members of our society.
January 8, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Sure Jamelle, and that is not acceptable. I think that part of it plays into the nativist’s fears, those who don’t like the “changing of our society”. Thats just code to me we don’t want our society more brown! If everyone of these immigrants were legal and we still had a latino explosion, it wouldn’t bother me a bit.
January 8, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Dmitry, they do not have a right to be here because they are not legally supposed to be. I am a citizen, therefore i am. Its about the rule of law. Laws that limit freedom, or repress liberty should not stand. But an illegal has no course when they go outside the system. The whole point of immigration law is to process the people who come in this country. make sure they are not a threat, then they are good. When you violate that those laws become void. You have to enforce the laws or anyone can walk across the rio grande.
January 8, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Ian, why is immigration (and citizenship) law as it currently stands worth defending? Recall that the birthright citizenship you enjoy came about only when then-current laws were overturned. I don’t see any point in advocating to enforce a law for its own sake. On a similar note, you are gravely misinformed if you think current immigration law does not repress liberty - does this mean that it should not stand?