Compassion and Illegal Immigration

The left is always talking about compassion, but where is their compassion when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration? A few key points.

The Tea Party advocates enforcement at the border, which somehow makes us racist? But crossing the border is dangerous for illegal migrants for a number of reasons. Consider this:

The number of deaths among illegal immigrants crossing the Arizona desert from Mexico could reach a new monthly high, a county medical examiner said Friday. Since July 1, the bodies of 40 illegal immigrants have been taken to the office of Dr. Bruce Parks, the Pima County medical examiner. At that rate, Dr. Parks said, the deaths could top the single-month record of 68 in July 2005.

The summer heat and lack of water is killing people.

And what about the coyotes? From wikipedia:

It is often very difficult for the police to identify the suspects, because many groups might be involved. Authorities think that most of the more violent deaths were orchestrated by illegal immigrant smugglers, known as coyotes.

The coyotes (a term used to describe people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States for profit) are infamous for the way in which they treat their clients, who are also often deemed as "human cargo." Cases of rape and beatings by coyotes have been reported by illegal immigrants who were smuggled into the United States by coyotes. The number of times this has happened is hard to ascertain since many illegal immigrants fear they would be deported if they went to the police for help, and because the coyotes often threaten to hurt family members that are still in their native countries.

By selectively enforcing the border, the United States government policies are the primary cause of these tragedies.

What about the Obama administrations policy of "silent raids?" This is a policy where the administration reviews payroll records at plants and farms. From the New York Times:

The audits force businesses to fire every suspected illegal immigrant on the payroll— not just those who happened to be on duty at the time of a raid — and make it much harder to hire other unauthorized workers as replacements.

What would one expect from the most anti-business administration in living memory? Now, I know we could say that these businesses should not be hiring illegals. However, this policy hurts everyone. The businesses lose money, hurting the economy. The communities are saddled with increased costs to support the newly unemployed illegals, because no one is sent home.

“Even if discovered, illegal aliens are allowed to walk free and seek employment elsewhere” said Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee. “This lax approach is particularly troubling,” he said, “at a time when so many American citizens are struggling to find jobs.”

My key concern is that this is not real enforcement, because only employers get penalized, and we are still left with the burden of supporting the immigrants. From the same article:

Many immigrants purchased new false documents and went looking for jobs in more distant orchards, former Gebbers Farms workers said. But the word is out among growers in the region to avoid hiring immigrants from the company because ICE knows they are unauthorized.

“Many people are still crying because this is really hard,” said M. García, 41, a former Gebbers packing house worker who has been out of a job since January.

...

After the firings, Gebbers Farms advertised hundreds of jobs for orchard workers. But there were few takers in the state.

I added the last point, because we are going to have to get serious about a guest worker program once we secure the border.

So I ask those on the left, which is more humane? The current policy of selective border enforcement with internal employer sanctions or a policy of strict border enforcement that would preclude people from making the trek across the desert in the first place? The results of the Obama policy are clear: dead bodies in the desert, kidnappings in Phoenix, lost production in agriculture, illegal immigrants still wandering America. Compassion?