An illegal alien is merely an international tourist on holiday, until some American gives him a job.
That's my standard reply when I see someone vocalizing their disgust over our country's current immigration issues. Most of the comments are visceral, shoot from the hip exclamations, vented in frustration and anger over a situation that no one seems able to understand, much less control. Not even our leadership has an answer on which they can agree to act.
Is there a fix for immigration reform or is all the talk in Washington posturing and theater. If undocumented workers were "legalized", then they could, in theory, demand better pay and work conditions. On the other hand, maintaining a second-class work force, living in the shadows of our society, with no rights or privileges, makes for a powerful labor tool for getting work done that most Americans would look upon and say, "No way! Not under those conditions. Not for those wages."
Would fixing the illegal immigration issue address the crisis in our welfare system? Would fixing the undocumented worker issue resolve our unemployment conundrum? Would fixing these things introduce other socio-economic issues as we seek to backfill those positions left vacant from the mass exodus of 12 million illegal immigrants? At last estimate, illegal immigrants represent 4% of our population. What's the impact of demanding their immediate departure? Would it be like the removal of a cancer, where the patient suffers the ravages of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but ultimately survives and thrives to live the balance of a full and productive life? Would it be like the amputation of a limb, leaving us deformed, disable, and depressed as we struggle to compensate for a our life-long disability?
No, I have no answers here. However, as I watch our leadership gather in their Colosseum to give thumbs-ups or thumbs-down to the question of should they go or should they stay, I have lots of questions...and the list grows longer.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Mr. Pot
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| J. Scott Applewhite / AP |
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