Keep 'em here, send 'em home

Published February 26, 2014

by Carter Wrenn, Talking About Politics, February 25, 2014.

Immigration, the newspaper says, is ‘bedeviling” Congresswoman Renee Ellmers. It’s also bedeviling Speaker John Boehner. And half the Republicans in Washington.

It’s a knotty problem.

Part of the politicians have decided it’s best to send every single illegal immigrant back to where they came from – but no one’s quite sure how to go about rounding up 10 to 20 million people.

Another group of politicians, who’re mostly Democrats, want to make all the illegal immigrants citizens.

And, as a sort of compromise, a third group of politicians propose to let the illegal immigrants stay here but not make them citizens.

It gets more complex.

Groups like the Farm Bureau say they desperately need workers and without illegal immigrants the crops won’t get picked.

And, to make it more complex still, amid all this hollering, no one’s answered a couple of questions.

For instance, how, in the middle of a recession with high unemployment, is there a lack of workers? Is there really no one to hire? Or are the farmers simply looking for cheap immigrant labor?

Farmers have given their answer to that question loud and clear.

But isn’t there an independent study by Harvard or North Carolina State that proves it’s a stone cold fact unemployed workers won’t touch a job on a farm with a ten foot pole?

There’s another question.

Out of the ten million or so illegal immigrants living here now there must be at least one who’s a saint. Or genius.

Should we deport saints and geniuses? Or let them stay here?

There’re also bound to be some thugs and gang members among the illegals. If we make everyone a citizen, what do we do about them?

The politicians are treating illegal immigrants as a class which is a lot simpler than treating people as individuals – but wouldn’t it be more practical to ship the ne’re-do-wells home and allow the saints and geniuses to stay?

Sorting out the good guys and bad guys would be another complex problem but, instead of answering tough questions, all we hear is politicians howling: Keep ‘em all here. Send ‘em all home.

http://www.talkingaboutpolitics.com

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February 26, 2014 at 7:53 am
TP Wohlford says:

Just once, I'd love to have a pundit actually grasp what it is that kills "immigration reform". Just once. And perhaps then they'd address their articles to a debate that might actually NOT devolve into "they are so stupid" or "They are so racist" rant. Just once.

Mr. Wrenn -- Should you read this, here is what people who oppose immigration reform are saying:

1. We did "amnesty" back in the Reagan years. "We" were promised that ICE would be reformed, and that the borders secured, and we'd never have that need for amnesty again. Yet during the Bush, Clinton and Bush years (it's a bipartisan thing), we watched as millions more came over the borders. ICE never got fixed, instead being swept up into post-911 hysteria and made a part of DHS. So, the first problem -- THE MAIN PROBLEM -- is that Americans don't trust politicians to solve this issue. Without trust, we won't move forward. And we sure as hades won't accept promises of future actions before we get amnesty!

2. The perception is that big businesses want to use cheap foreign labor to replace, or dilute, or drive down the wages of American workers. This is seen at the "top end" with H1 visas, in an era when PhD'd "rocket scientists" are unemployed. And we see it at the bottom end, with arguments like you make. And this, we believe, provided the campaign contributions that "bribed" both parties into turning a blind eye to the problem after Reagan said he fixed it.

So, to summarize -- the fix was in, Americans were sold down the river by their politicians and big contributors, and now we're told "so sorry there isn't anything we can do Oh we will do better in the future we promise."

Look, I get it: Doing the math on rounding up 13 million people and putting them on buses to "send them home" is akin to that classic Ripley's deal about Chinese marching into the sea. Just the logistics alone dictate that this isn't gonna happen, and that is BEFORE we get to the massive protests and the world condemnation. So, yes, they won't be going home.

And since ICE can't handle its current work load, it surely can't handle 13 million applications. So, amnesty it will be. I get it.

But that doesn't mean that I give up my negotiating power to FINALLY fix the problem. And that, sir, is neither racist nor stupid.