Friday, July 16, 2010

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. GarcĂ­a, 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?

5 comments:

  1. There's no coherence to these actions. Why would you make businesses fire these guys and then not deport them? Like you said, you're just chasing them from one spot to the next. There's no rhyme nor reason to it. If this was accompanied by threats against the businesses or if it was aimed at businesses that didn't support Obama, it would be the perfect Fascist strong-arm tactic. Instead, it just seems like it's a single square in a quilt of randomly selected progressive policies.

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  2. You have some nerve talking about compassion! It was the Republican Party that shot down immigration reform when the war criminal Bush tried to do it; you talk about compassion when Hilary Clinton tried to get the Uniting American families act passed with Bush’s immigration reform. Where was Bush and the republicans to build the wall back then? You talk about compassion when the tea party and the Republican Party and the skin head hunt down the illegals like dogs. You talk about compassion with gay couples not being able to sponsor their husbands and wife’s into this country. Right now over 23 countries allow it.
    You talk about dead bodies when people leave out water and food for the poor people and you re-thuglians find it and pour it out. Lost production of agriculture if it wasn’t for them your food would be twice if not three times as high.
    What amnesty???????????? They are going to have to pay heavy fines and to have to learn how to speak English, and pay taxes. Paying fines and fees is not amnesty, and what about gay couples that are legal married in other countries that have been in long relationships that can’t sponsor there husbands and wife’s into this country> I know personally because I’m one of them!

    So you re-thuglians and tea party people talk about compassion you have none, look at the unemployment insurance benefits you guys shot down.

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  3. Well roy_b, that's quite the rant, I'm impressed and more so with your failure to address my complaints. Also, we are not primarily nor solely Republicans in this movement. Second, how about addressing my points? The current administration and Congress have enforced a set of polices that have the effect I describe. I don't think the basic facts are in dispute. What would you propose as the policy of the United States? I await your well reasoned response.

    KT, thanks for linking.

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  4. Pouring out water left for homeless people?

    It's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that.

    If only I can find the time between kicking puppies and making threatening calls to small children.

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