Thread: With illegal immig you can never go home again

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Exclusive: With Illegal Immigration, You Can Never Go Home Again
Mike Cutler


Author: Mike Cutler
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: June 26, 2007


FSM Contributing Editor Mike Cutler points out not only that those who support the amnesty bill are living in the past and why, but that the bill would devastate the American worker…and so very much more. Read what he suggests we ought to do with the Senators who vote for it.

With Illegal Immigration, You Can Never Go Home Again

By Mike Cutler

I read recently that one of the reasons, and perhaps the driving force, behind President Bush’s push for the amnesty bill is that he found the work ethic of the Mexican laborers among whom he lived and worked as a young boy and man to be inspiring. I cannot fault him for appreciating their hard work. The critical issue about illegal immigration now, however, does not concern whether those who come from other countries are conscientious: the core issue is whether they are here legally and what their presence costs us in out-of-pocket expenses and human tragedy, both painfully borne by American citizens of all ages.

Mexico alone does not provide hard working people. Our nation was built by immigrants who legally came to the United States from almost every nation on the planet and worked exceedingly hard to build America. My mother, in fact, came to the United States from Poland. When my mother arrived, she was a teenager who had nowhere to live so she rented an apartment in a rooming house and got a job at an umbrella factory. She earned three dollars per week and managed to send a few cents home to her mother who was unable to come to the United States.

My mother was fluent in two languages, but unfortunately, neither language was English. She could speak, read and write Polish and Yiddish. Once she arrived, however, she set out to learn English, the language of the country to which she owed her allegiance, the United States of America.

My dad, on the other hand did not have far to travel to get to the United States; he was born in Brooklyn. His parents and most of his siblings came to the United States from Russia. My grandfather was a Kossak in the Russian army and was fed up with the way the peasants and Jews were treated in Russia by the Tsar and his regime. It offended his sense of justice. At the age of 33 he went to the American Embassy and made arrangements for his family legally to emigrate to the United States. They boarded a ship not long after the turn of the 20th century and headed for the U.S.

My grandfather had a number of skills. He was a roofer and a coppersmith. He was also a plumber. The one thing he lacked was the ability to communicate in the English language. Shortly after he and his wife and kids arrived, he set out to learn English by comparing the Yiddish newspaper to the previous day's edition of the New York Daily News since the Yiddish paper, The Forward, was largely a word-for-word translation of the previous day's Daily News newspaper. He did this by candlelight at the dining room table after everyone had eaten. He worked a 6 day week and worked more than 12 hours a day.

They were typical of our nation’s earlier immigrants: a tough bunch who put in more than a hard day's work for a paycheck. In those days, they were paid only for the hours they actually worked; therefore, if my dad was sick, he went to work anyway because a day off from work meant a day without pay.

So I couldn’t agree more with President Bush on this item: those who put in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay should be valued. However, the recent massive influx of illegal aliens is different from what it was when the president lived among so many decent immigrants in Texas a few decades ago, let alone when my ancestors arrived. In fact, it has become so overwhelming that the invasion has been consistently eroding wages and working conditions for all Americans.

When the president and others claim that illegal aliens do the work that Americans don't or won't do, I’m greatly insulted. In fact, all hard working Americas should be offended by that nonsense. If there are Americans who will work in coal mines, steel foundries, garbage trucks and do such dangerous work as firefighting, then there is no job too arduous, dirty or dangerous for Americans to do, just so long as they can support themselves and their families. But with our massive influx of cheap labor, the ability for Americans to earn a decent wage is eroding fast. Illegal aliens are not unique in their ability and desire to do a hard day's work, but they will do it for less money and under conditions that are often illegal.

The Civil War that nearly split this nation in two was fought over the issue of cheap exploitable labor. Back then it was provided by slaves. Today cheap and exploitable labor is provided by illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are exploited by virtually everyone with whom they come into contact. They are exploited by their own government who wants them to send money back home and enrich their home country's economy. They are exploited by savage alien smugglers. They are exploited by many of the advocacy organizations that claim to represent these millions of illegal aliens. In fact, it is quite rare to see those organizations picketing the unscrupulous employers who treat those illegal aliens so miserably. Obviously, employers exploit illegal aliens, but so do their lawyers who often charge them outrageous fees for their services. Illegal aliens are also preyed upon by landlords who cram large numbers of illegal aliens into filthy, dangerous apartments that were designed to accommodate relatively small families. Illegal aliens are also exploited by criminals who manage to come to the United States from the same countries as the illegal aliens. These criminals find it easy to intimidate and victimize these people.

Meanwhile resident aliens and United States citizens are finding their own wages dropping because they are now competing with an ever increasing pool of illegal aliens who will work for far less money. The only people who succeed in this situation are the very wealthy. However, they are foolish. As the middle class gets hammered, the greatest consumer group in the U.S. comes under ever-increasing pressure to make ends meet. More and more people are defaulting on their mortgages. I am concerned that a point will be reached when the average American will have to decide on whether to spend his limited money on food or heating oil or gasoline or whether he can even afford to purchase a new refrigerator or wide-screen television. When that day comes, luxury items will sit on the shelf and companies will no longer make the record profits they are today.

George Bush needs to understand, as the author Tom Wolfe proffered, "You Can't Go Home Again". George Bush is creating an economic disaster for our nation as well as creating a national security nightmare, because he is attempting to live in a past time when a few Mexican people made it over the border, united in family units, and then worked hard and built businesses in Texas. Today’s issue is not about that: it is about the physical as well as the fiscal survival of our nation and our citizens who are often the unfortunate victims of heinous illegal alien crime (does anyone remember 9/11?) as well as the unwilling sponsors, through our tax dollars, of millions of illegals.

I do believe that George Bush really does have respect and admiration for those who work so hard to feed their families. But he would do well to remember that the citizens of the United States also fall into that category; indeed, we are the most productive workers in the world! It is time that he remembers that fact when he talks about the "work that Americans won't do". I also hope that the members of the Senate who are considering the immigration bill (my new nickname for it is "The Freddy Krueger Bill" because it seemingly won't die) realize that the majority of Americans are outraged by this legislative travesty.

The more accurate descriptor of the amnesty bill is the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007." This one bill has so many components that have the potential to do so much harm to our country and our citizens. It would devastate the American worker and leave our nation vulnerable to terrorist attacks. It would also make it virtually impossible to remove criminal aliens who are preying on our citizens and resident aliens. Any senator who approves that bill should be seen by his constituents as their worst nightmare, and s/he should be sent packing the next time s/he is up for re-election. With Congress "enjoying" a 14% approval rating, I wonder what senator would be stupid or arrogant enough to say “yesâ€

Could this bill be about Mexico's oil?