Immigration Reform

immigration

By: Tom Weaver – April 2013

We are blessed that the US Senate has gangs – groups of like-minded individuals that unite across party lines in an effort to achieve compromise. We have had health care gangs, budget gangs and now immigration gangs. Apparently, the only way to compromise between those that want more government and those that want less is to form a gang. Maybe this immigration gang should be labeled M08 or something.

Here is the issue – the President wants immigration changes, the Democrats want immigration changes and the Republicans want immigration changes. They agree: everyone wants more laws in an effort to change immigration. And what is the goal of these sweeping immigration changes – new voters. Millions and millions of new voters, bypassing the current “legal” immigrants… Even the “establishment Republicans” now realize that if we do not ignore the Rule of Law, we will lose the immigrant vote.

If we step back for a moment, why do we pass new laws? Once, laws were passed to fix a problem or to “make regular” a repeatable action, for example: voting or registration. Today, it seems as through laws are passed as legacy issues, so that we remember the “esteemed colleague from the other side of the aisle.”

So the question is asked: do existing immigration laws work? How would we know? Have they ever been enforced? Here is a simple idea– until the existing immigration laws are enforced, the Federal government should refrain from all attempts to “fix” the problem, and we, the American public, should hold them accountable. As an engineer, it is insanity to fix something if you do not know how it performs – unless you happen to own Solyndra or Cape Wind windmills.

Why do we attract so many legal immigrants? We are the beacon of freedom and opportunity, which is why we have so many waiting to enter this Nation. Once, there were no fences, there were no safety nets – there was simply the Rule of Law with the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. An immigrant was either successful or they went back to their native land, if something worse did not happen.

But today, we want more voters. We change programs established for our citizens, and make them available for the less fortunate who come across our borders illegally. By providing welfare, education, in-state tuition, healthcare and other “entitlements” – are we that beacon of greatness; or are we slave masters – creating a dependent class who will trade votes for the magnet of welfare?

We have rules regarding child labor – and they are enforced. We have rules restricting the employment of illegal aliens – but we turn our backs on those rules because those are the jobs that no American will do.

Why?

It is slave labor. Government, business and most important, we know that it is slave labor. And the slave work force endures so that they can return much of what is being earned to their native land and their families. How sad is it that we allow them to believe that they have achieved the American Dream…

As a charitable Nation, we passed laws demanding that medical treatment always be provided, yet we failed to develop a payment plan. As a result, most hospitals within a few hours of the border are closed – bankrupted, unable to provide services to American patients. As a former Congressional candidate once offered, why not deduct payment from the foreign aid program?

Immigration is what made this Nation great. Millions of folks with different ideas, traditions and cultures, came to this land of freedom and opportunity, wanting to become Americans. They learned the English language and shared their expertise; we became greater due to the melting pot of excellence. They came knowing that there was no safety net, there were no guarantees – but they would have the opportunity to achieve.

Compare that with today, when millions leave impoverished countries where governments fail to support the poor, to come to America where the government provides prosperity – slavery in return for votes… Government charity has never worked and it will never work, and the price to pay for the attempt is simply slavery…

This Nation is great. We need to return to the values that made us great: freedom, opportunity, rule of law. And before we bastardize immigration laws yet again and create even more economic magnets, let’s see if the existing laws actually work, especially if we remove the false charity of those magnets.