ILLEGAL ALIENS CAUSE A MYRIAD OF PROBLEMS IN AMERICA
By
Michael Cutler
June 6, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
An
AP article
titled "Immigration
raid spurs calls for action vs. owners" is important for a
number of reasons. First of all it clearly illustrates the outrageous
conditions under which illegal aliens often toil. Illegal aliens are
perceived as being easy to exploit because of their illegal status in
our country. Exploitation takes many forms. It includes the payment
of substandard wages, it may also include working conditions that are
so substandard that they are flat out illegal. The working conditions
for illegal aliens often imperil their lives. Consider the serious injuries
that have been suffered by the employees of the Agriprocessors plant
that where noted in the AP news article.
While not discussed in the news article, it is significant to also consider
another component of the employment of illegal aliens. Often payroll
withholding taxes are not taken out and the employer often does not
pay any fringe benefits for illegal aliens or make the required payroll
deductions to Social Security. This means that not only are the illegal
aliens being exploited, but our government, and hence the citizens of
this nation, is not being paid the taxes that a company that operates
"on the level" would be paying into the system and our nation's
economy. This is also true of taxes not paid to states and municipalities
by unscrupulous employers.
Another factor that must be considered is that generally when United
States citizens and resident aliens receive their pay checks, they often
make purchases and through the circulation of money through the economy,
we all benefit. That is the theory behind the "Economic Stimulus"
program that was implemented this year to provide Americans with relatively
minor amounts of cash to hopefully make purchases and help to jumpstart
our nation's faltering economy.
Illegal aliens make little enough money to start with, but further exacerbating
the economic side of the equation is the fact that most illegal aliens
invested hefty amounts of money to smugglers to get them into our country
so that they could send money back home. Last year it has been estimated
some 45 billion dollars was wired from the United States to Latin America
and the Caribbean by illegal aliens. Still more money was sent from
our country to other countries covertly. Latin America and the Caribbean
were not the only regions of the world to receive remittances and other
sources of American dollars. This money is money that is permanently
lost to our economy. This money does not circulate within the United
States, spurring economic growth and growing our nation's economy.
Meanwhile, the fastest growing white collar crime is identity theft.
It would be interesting to find out how many illegal aliens are responsible
for committing this crime in order to secure a job or hide "in
plain sight." Of those aliens it would be perhaps even more interesting
to find out how many criminals and terrorists have engaged in identity
theft.
The Agriprocessors case is particularly egregious. I have highlighted
several key sentences to deal with the horrific conditions under which
the illegal aliens worked and as you read the accounts of the injuries
that the illegal employees suffered, I want you to think about the advocates
for open borders who always like to raise the issue of the "dignity
of the undocumented!"
What is amazing is that to quote from the article:
"James Carstensen, a spokesman for Rep. Tom Latham, said he views
the raid as a blow to families seeking a better life and for the community,
which is suffering economically.
"It's a tragedy of an immigration system that is absolutely broken and the tragedy of an enforcement system that is probably not working as effectively as promised by the Bush administration," Carstensen said."
That
statement nearly takes my breath away! Of course Representative Latham
is a Republican and, I suppose, is trying to be supportive of the President,
however, after the abysmal track record established by the Bush Administration
over the last 7 years, how could anyone possibly express any surprise
that the "...enforcement system is probably not working as effectively
as promised by the Bush administration" as is stated by Representative
Latham's staffer?
The enforcement and the administration of our nation's immigration laws
have been little more than a charade for the past several decades and
the current administration has arguably the absolute worst track record
of any administration in the history of our nation!
I have generally disagreed with Frank Sharry, however I find myself
agreeing with at least half of his quote in his article.
Such raids are designed to get headlines and make it appear that the
federal government is cracking down on illegal immigration, said Frank
Sharry, executive director of the immigration reform group America's
Voice. But he says even those who think enforcement is the answer can't
seriously believe the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. can
be arrested and deported.
As for the arrest of the 12 million illegal aliens- I would suggest
that by now there are probably twice as many illegal aliens in our country
since each and every day thousands of illegal aliens manage to enter
our country in violation of law or, violate the immigration laws since
they entered our country via the lawful process. The open borders advocates
have been using the 12 million number for quite some time.
While I agree that it would not be a good idea to attempt to apprehend
all of the illegal aliens who are present in our country today, the
solution is simple. As I stated a number of years ago when I was on
Lou Dobbs Tonight and then repeated it when I testified at a hearing
before the Congressional Homeland Security Committee, "No one would
break into an amusement park if they could not get to go on the rides
and, at the end of the day when they shut down the rides and turn off
the lights, everyone heads for the exits!" Mark Krikorian, the
director of the Center for Immigration Studies, the Washington-based
"think tank" with which I have been proud to have been affiliated
with for the past 5 years, has simply referred to this concept as the
"attrition" way of dealing with the huge numbers of illegal
aliens who are presenly in our country. Make it difficult if not impossible
for illegal aliens to obtain a job, secure a driver's license, open
a bank account or own property in our country and they will understand
the futility of violating our nation's borders and immigration laws.
Many will leave and many will be deterred from entering our country
illegally.
I have written a couple of commentaries about this particular food processing
plant. If the management of this corporation is not held accountable
for the violations of law committed by the company and their employees,
the message to all employers will be crystal clear. Even with the high
profile field operations that have been conducted to create the appearance
of a renewed interest in the enforcement of the immigration laws, employers
of illegal aliens have little, if anything to fear.
I had the pleasure of participating in a conference this past weekend
in Santa Barbara, California that was sponsored by the David Horowitz
Freedom Center. The panel discussion in which I participated included
Chris Burgard, the producer of the documentary, "Border,"
in which I have a very small role, Chris Simcox of the Minuteman Civil
Defense Corps, and Congressman Tom Tancredo.
As
I am certain you must all know, Tom had mounted what would ultimately
prove to be an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency. He was accused of
being a "singe issue candidate."
I wish that Tom had responded to that criticism by saying, "No
candidate for the Presidency of this nation, nor any candidate who seeks
a seat in the House of Representatives or the United States Senate could
seek such elected office without being deeply concerned about national
security, criminal justice, the economy, the environment, health care
or education and a number of other issues. The common thread that runs
through each and every one of these highly important issues is the impact
that our nation's failure to secure its borders and create a secure
immigration system has on these important areas of concern."
|
Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts! |
Immigration
is not a single issue but is, in reality, an issue that impacts nearly
every other issue that challenges our nation today.
Between now and Election Day, We the People must accept the challenge
and the responsibility of communicating our concerns to each and every
politician who seeks our votes. This issue transcends political party
affiliations. This is not a Liberal issue nor is it a Conservative issue,
it is an American issue!
© 2008 - Michael Cutler - All Rights Reserved
