What's Wrong With Illegal Immigraton

What's Wrong With Illegal Immigration?

By John Eberhard

Part II of III

http://www.commentaryusa.com/commentary/illegal-immigration/whats-wrong-with-illegal-immigration.html

Welfare - The Monkey Wrench in the Works

The second major problem with uncontrolled illegal immigration (along with non-assimilation), is welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. Welfare benefits for illegals creates a drain on the economy, and it attracts the wrong type of person to come to our country.

You may recall Prop 187 from 1994 in California. This proposition would have stopped all welfare benefits for illegal immigrants in California. At the time these benefits added up to over $3 billion per year. In the 12 years since then this figure has probably doubled. Prop 187 was passed by 59% of California voters, but was ruled unconstitutional by one liberal judge. I still don't get how it is unconstitutional to say that people who come here illegally from some other country, and aren't US citizens, shouldn't get free benefits - to the tune of $3 billion per year. But that's liberal judicial activism for you.

So in essence, we are being told by liberal judges that we HAVE to give illegal immigrants free welfare benefits (including health care, free education, etc.). Even in California which has been on the verge of bankruptcy for the past two years. So we can't afford it, the people don't want it, but we are forced to do it.

Then, in the face of that, we have people protesting because we want to limit the flow of illegal immigrants coming here. So we have to give them free benefits, we can't take those away, and according to the protesters, they have a right to come here and we have no right to tell them they can't or limit the flow. How many things are wrong with that?

In addition, it seems extremely obvious that welfare benefits for illegals forms an alluring carrot to attract millions more to come. And what type of person would be attracted to come to the US to receive free benefits? Is it the type of person who would work hard and help build the community? Or is it the type of person who would be a parasite on the community? We are told by the illegal immigration advocates that these people just want to work. If that is so, then why can't we take away the free welfare benefits? If someone wants to work then why does he need welfare benefits?

Clearly, the illegal immigration advocates are being disingenuous (i.e. dishonest) in the way they are promoting the issue and in the reasons they are giving. Clearly, part of their goal is the old Marxist story of socialist re-distribution of wealth.

How the Parties View Illegal Immigration

Neither party has really tackled the issue of illegal immigration solidly or honestly.

The Republican Party has stayed away from better enforcement of the immigration laws, it is reported on radio talk shows, because they view illegal immigrants as a cheap labor source. Apparently top Republicans feel that having a "cheap labor source" is good for business, especially certain industries such as agriculture.

In case, you haven't followed the issue, "cheap labor source" is a code phrase for "we don't have to pay them minimum wage." In other words, since these people are in the country illegally, and they are hired under the table and paid cash, they can be hired for less than minimum wage.

Some Republicans have been saying that illegal immigrants will "do the jobs that Americans won't do." I don't buy this, period. I consider it an insult to Americans.

On the Democratic Party side, we have people like Teddy Kennedy saying that illegal immigration is a "right" and that this is a civil rights struggle. Getting past the point of how ridiculous this is (it's like saying some stranger has a "right" to my wallet), my bet is that their true motivations are twofold:

a. They see that block of 11-12 million illegal immigrants, if they give them enough welfare giveaways, as natural future Democratic Party voters.

b. It's part of the old, tired, Marxist idea of redistribution of wealth, meaning they want tons of immigrants to come here illegally so they can take yours and my tax money and give them all kinds of welfare, and in the face of this we have the Senate working right now on a compromise bill, that is basically a guest-worker amnesty. Lots of Senators are insisting that it is not an amnesty, but let's face facts. It removes the major penalty that is currently supposed to be imposed on someone who comes here illegally, which is deportation.

The other problem with any proposal of this type is that there is no way to enforce it and no real incentive for the illegal immigrants to come forward and go through the new steps being proposed; pay a fine, learn English, get on the track to citizenship, etc. If we don't have enough manpower now to deport illegal immigrants (we deported 200,000 last year) then how would we have enough manpower to enforce and manage this new, complicated guest-worker amnesty system?

Recent polls show on amnesty show differing amounts of support, from about half the population to be against any kind of amnesty, to 99% against amnesty.

(See the last Section very soon Part III)