Illegal immigration--my concern is Homeland Security, but there are many other factors.
Before George gave his "Victory in Iraq" speech, he gave a speech about immigration. I wrote about this topic in April of this year (The Minuteman Project and priorities and A follow-up on my Minuteman post regarding Homeland Security). My focus then was Homeland Security, and today that is still my primary concern. However, illegal immigration is a very complex issue which involves more than Homeland Security.
My introduction to the complexity of the issue came in June 1979 at Texas Boys State. Boys State is a program sponsored by the American Legion in 49 states (for more info go here). It is a place where participants learn firsthand about state government. Everyone is divided into two parties, people run for offices, conventions are held, and there is an election. It remains as one of the best experiences of my youth, and I learned lessons there that otherwise I would not have learned for many years to come.
One of the hot issues at Texas Boys State in 1979 was illegal immigration. At that time, I was very much opposed to it and was in favor of shutting it down because I felt like it was hurting our economy. During a precinct meeting prior to our party convention, I was exposed to a different perspective. The speaker was a boy from The Valley (which is South Texas, the area from where most of the fruit grown in Texas comes). His family owned a farming operation. As most of us in the group starting speaking out about the economic damage from illegal immigration, he said something very different. He explained that without the illegal workers, his family's farm--and most others in the area--would go out of business. He explained that if they had to pay more for labor, they could not afford to stay in business (and I mean "stay in business" not "get rich"). He explained that there was a shortage of workers in the area without the illegal immigrants. In short, he explained that in the agricultural industry in The Valley, illegal immigration was helping, not hurting the economy. The rest of us were taken aback. This was the first time we had heard such an explanation. It was then that I realized that illegal immigration involved many different considerations.
The economic impact of illegal immigration is a topic I do not want to tackle at this time, but I will say this...it seems to me that the biggest cost of all immigration (including legal) now is in the form of social services and education. However, I admit that I have not studied this issue in any detail.
My focus will remain on what I see as the biggest danger of illegal immigration, namely the threat to Homeland Security.
More to follow...
My introduction to the complexity of the issue came in June 1979 at Texas Boys State. Boys State is a program sponsored by the American Legion in 49 states (for more info go here). It is a place where participants learn firsthand about state government. Everyone is divided into two parties, people run for offices, conventions are held, and there is an election. It remains as one of the best experiences of my youth, and I learned lessons there that otherwise I would not have learned for many years to come.
One of the hot issues at Texas Boys State in 1979 was illegal immigration. At that time, I was very much opposed to it and was in favor of shutting it down because I felt like it was hurting our economy. During a precinct meeting prior to our party convention, I was exposed to a different perspective. The speaker was a boy from The Valley (which is South Texas, the area from where most of the fruit grown in Texas comes). His family owned a farming operation. As most of us in the group starting speaking out about the economic damage from illegal immigration, he said something very different. He explained that without the illegal workers, his family's farm--and most others in the area--would go out of business. He explained that if they had to pay more for labor, they could not afford to stay in business (and I mean "stay in business" not "get rich"). He explained that there was a shortage of workers in the area without the illegal immigrants. In short, he explained that in the agricultural industry in The Valley, illegal immigration was helping, not hurting the economy. The rest of us were taken aback. This was the first time we had heard such an explanation. It was then that I realized that illegal immigration involved many different considerations.
The economic impact of illegal immigration is a topic I do not want to tackle at this time, but I will say this...it seems to me that the biggest cost of all immigration (including legal) now is in the form of social services and education. However, I admit that I have not studied this issue in any detail.
My focus will remain on what I see as the biggest danger of illegal immigration, namely the threat to Homeland Security.
More to follow...
posted by WCharles @ 12/02/2005 10:49:00 AM
2 Comments:
Back in the 30s and 40s my grandfather grew strawberries in PA and he employed migrant workers. Not sure if they were illegal or not, but back then, we were less sophisticated with protecting the borders. Then again, there wasn't the problem with terrorism we have today.
On the emotional level it is easy to sympathize with this South Texas farmer; hey one of my jobs is to hire the best talent at the lowest possible wage, one that is reasonable and is within our budget. If we increased our average wage significantly it would have a deleterious effect on the business.
But.... and this is a big but.... where do we draw the line? Illegal immigrants may help this farmer's business, but what about the economic drain caused by other illegals? What about the increased crime apart from terrorism?
In my mind the negatives far outweigh the positives. Besides, just by virtue of the fact these immigrants are illegal makes it wrong. I believe there are laws against employing illegals.
By and large I agree with you. For me, the trump factor is the security issue. I feel like we are at a point where that has to take priority over everything else. I guess what I am trying to say is that to me the illegal immigration and border control issues are not so much about economics and enforcing laws against employing illegals.
Still the issue is multifaceted. For instance, I figure that some employers hire illegals not just because they pay them lower wages but as a way to skirt around various governmental regulations and employment laws--and that gets into a whole other area, namely the cost of regulation on businesses [gee, do you have any experience with that? :-) ]. And there are so many other subjects involved.
Still, the homeland security aspect has to take top priority in my opinion.
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