Thread: Illegal immigration debate brings out the worst in us

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July 30, 2006
Illegal immigration debate brings out the worst in us

Immigration has been an important issue for Americans since before the forming of the republic. Before the Revolutionary War, the colonies complained about King George III restricting the migration of Europeans to this continent. After independence was won, the same complainers started doing the same thing themselves.

Nativism has a long and shabby history in the United States, and every now and then it creeps out of the shadows and puts on a very public face. Thus, the current debate over illegal immigrants is nothing new. In the 1800s, concern about Irish Catholics, Italians, Germans, Chinese and other immigrants led to the formation of the Know-Nothing Party. After World War I and the Russian Revolution, there was the Red Scare which spawned an American version of political repression that resulted in so-called foreign radicals — immigrants from Russian and eastern European nations — being deported and Congress eventually adopting immigration quotas in the 1920s.

Local communities, perceiving a growing problem and frustrated with the federal government's failure to come up with a solution, have started taking action themselves. For the last five years, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has been focusing prosecution efforts on crimes committed by illegal aliens. Earlier this month, Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta got national attention when he persuaded his city council to adopt an ordinance to penalize employers who hire illegal aliens and landlords who rent to them. A few other Pennsylvania communities have done the same. In Allentown, Councilman Louis Hershman has proposed a similar law, supposedly to protect jobs and control the supposed financial burden illegal immigrants cost the city.

But, this is as much about perceptions as it is about hard realities. Even the federal government has no accurate idea about how many illegal immigrants there are. The most-used estimate is 12 million illegal aliens in this country. In Pennsylvania, the number is put at about 150,000. Although Mayor Barletta can point to a number of crimes committed in his town by illegal aliens, he admits he doesn't know how many illegal immigrants are living there. Mr. Hershman makes similar vague allegations about illegal aliens costing Allentonians jobs and draining city coffers. But where's the proof? Public officials should back up calls for action with facts. When they don't, public policy becomes a hoax. Worse than that, it becomes a waste of the public's money and it encourages the worst tendencies in society.

Mayor Barletta and Mr. Hershman say they value the diversity of their cities and aren't targeting legal immigrants with their measures. But too often, these efforts accompany steps requiring official business to be conducted in English. The state House Republican Policy Committee started holding hearings on ways the state might curb illegal immigration only weeks after the House passed a bill to make English the state's official language. Considering that the fastest-growing demographic in cities like Allentown and Hazleton is the Hispanic population, it becomes all too easy for contemporary know-nothings to target Spanish-speaking citizens. While we had a Red Scare in the early 20th century, we're fostering a Brown Scare in the first part of the 21st.

None of this is to say that illegal immigration doesn't cause problems. Some illegal aliens do commit serious crimes. (All break the law by being here without visas and green cards.) Mr. Morganelli correctly notes that identity theft is one of them. But, as one witness at the House GOP hearing last week in Whitehall pointed out, even illegals with stolen Social Security numbers paying taxes into the system. Some might be costing Americans jobs, but most job losses are caused by cheap labor overseas.

Somehow in this debate, people have lost sight of the promise of hope to the world's downtrodden captured in a poem at the Statue of Liberty. Instead, illegal immigration has become the political football of the 2006 election. GOP Sen. Rick Santorum has made it an issue with Democrat Bob Casey Jr. Mayor Barletta has a much higher profile than he did when he ran against Rep. Paul Kanjorski in 2004, should he run sometime in the future. Republican Lynn Swann has criticized Gov. Ed Rendell for his reaction to Hazleton. The politicians have fabricated a bogeyman to blame all our problems on. The danger is that real people, citizens most of them, will suffer as a result. It has happened before.

Poor Statue of Liberty .
Those wonderful words are abused so much lately .
The illegals have a very preferential treatment for everything in this country , including the Statue of Liberty .
They are only choosing the laws , the situations , the words which benefit and can possibly justify their actions and violation of the laws .
This manipulative behaviour only makes me sick

None of this is to say that illegal immigration doesn't cause problems. Some illegal aliens do commit serious crimes. (All break the law by being here without visas and green cards.) Mr. Morganelli correctly notes that identity theft is one of them. But, as one witness at the House GOP hearing last week in Whitehall pointed out, even illegals with stolen Social Security numbers paying taxes into the system. Some might be costing Americans jobs, but most job losses are caused by cheap labor overseas.

They break the law, they steal American jobs, they use up our hospitals and schools, many drive drunk, drive illegally, drive unisured and many kill, rape and deal drugs. But as one witness at the GOP hearing last week in Whitehall pointed out, even illegals with stolen Social Security numbers paying taxes into the system.

Please take this argument and stick it where the sun don't shine!

But too often, these efforts accompany steps requiring official business to be conducted in English.

Brian, I don't have time to go through this post, sentence by sentence today.

re the above quote: English only is how this nation became great...E Pluribus Unum"... Out of many, one. My folks had to learn English. They did. They were able to COMMUNICATE with people from all over the world. They were grateful and became American citizens and contributed to this great nation.

So what's wrong with a plan that works?

I'll have to send this writer some links, later today. Arrrggghhh!

Originally Posted by hope2006

Poor Statue of Liberty .
Those wonderful words are abused so much lately.

hope, you are starting to sound like me.

Dixie

Somehow in this debate, people have lost sight of the promise of hope to the world's downtrodden captured in a poem at the Statue of Liberty

Once again we get hit with that stupid poem on the Statue of Liberty.

Here's a clue: without the rule of law, there is no liberty.

It would be nice if all the open borders types who have no problem with people breaking laws they don't agree with could grasp this, but I won't be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.