Thread: Calm down on immigration

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Calm down on immigration

By: North County Times - Editorial

Our View: The long-simmering debate about illegal immigration has suddenly neared a boil in North County. It is time for everybody to calm down and work together for reasonable, responsible solutions to our nation's immigration question.

Moderation is particularly important now that Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, has declined to stand for re-election next year. His North County district is heavily Republican, and a spirited contest for the June primary is already under way among local GOP politicians.

It will be tempting to compete on the basis of who can look toughest on illegal immigration. Private polling by Republican strategists suggests that voters are fed up with the federal government's utter failure to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into Southern California.


A race to the ugly fringe of immigrant bashing could break out in a close primary race.

It doesn't matter that there is no immigration crisis in the strictest sense of the term. Unemployment is near a record low in San Diego County amid a booming economy. Rising test scores suggest that educators are doing better at teaching all of our children the basic skills they need to succeed. Studies show that recently arrived immigrant groups are assimilating and climbing up the socioeconomic ladder just as fast as their European forebears. Arrests have plummeted along California's border with Mexico.

On the other hand, a record 201 people have perished in the Arizona desert this year, the Border Patrol says. The governors of Arizona and New Mexico have declared emergencies to free up funds for enforcement ---- one county plans to use its cash to double the capacity of its refrigerated morgue.

In California, school officials complain about the cost of illegal immigrant children, even as per-pupil funding jumps to record levels. And illegal immigrants with no insurance heap losses onto hospital emergency rooms already reeling from uninsured citizens, inadequate Medicare reimbursements and rising costs.

Meanwhile, experts issue dueling studies. Some show illegal immigrants contributing more in taxes and productivity than they consume in government services; others show exactly the opposite.

As a practical matter, U.S. birth rates are so low that we need millions of immigrants to provide the workers and consumers essential to future economic growth. Indeed, immigrants are our only hope of paying for the wave of retiring baby boomers that threatens to swamp the Social Security and Medicare welfare systems.

All sides agree that the nation must fashion a workable policy to manage who and how many cross our borders. Thankfully, President Bush and Congress are showing signs that the federal government will get serious about the issue.

It is imperative that progress come before the next recession ---- when a real crisis could radicalize anti-immigration sentiment.

North County is best served by sending a pragmatist to Washington with a workable plan for immigration overhaul. With a hungry national economy to feed and a 1,951-mile border with Mexico to police, real solutions certainly lie in the moderate policy center, well away from simplistic, get-tough chatter.

I know, why don't we ship all the illegals in San Diego over to these guy house and let them pitch tents in his front yard, or maybe they could move in next door and live 20+ to a house and he could see first hand the joys of illegal immigration. People like this burn my butt because the only time they see illegals is when they come to cut their grass, clean their pools or watch their children for 18 hours a day for peanuts

Originally Posted by steelerbabe

I know, why don't we ship all the illegals in San Diego over to these guy house and let them pitch tents in his front yard, or maybe they could move in next door and live 20+ to a house and he could see first hand the joys of illegal immigration. People like this burn my butt because the only time they see illegals is when they come to cut their grass, clean their pools or watch their children for 18 hours a day for peanuts

Amen