Thread: Immigration Mess Was Built By A Cowardly Congress

http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/di ... c2d10ba90c

The Road To The Immigration Mess Was Built By A Cowardly Congress
By ED HOWARD

December 22, 2006

Representatives of several churches in Omaha and Grand Island are calling for a moratorium on raids at meatpacking plants aimed at rounding up workers who are in the country illegally.

Criticism of the raids on Swift & Co. plants in Grand Island and in six other states centered on hardships they caused the families of the workers, assertions that the workers were simply trying to better their lot, and that the federal government should be faulted for not enacting workable immigration laws.

The first two arguments reflect compassion, the third reflects the reality that every bit of this trouble is rooted in a Congress that has for decades shirked its duty, sniveling and kowtowing before industry, and the fear of potential backlash from the Latino population.

Make no mistake: The trail of lawbreaking, from illegal entry of the United States to identity theft to the cynical industry that “unknowingly” hires illegals, leads straight to Washington.

For more than 50 years there has been the joke that, “If it weren’t for Mexicans, there wouldn’t be a fence post standing in Texas.” Regardless of whether such was or is the case, the deeper meaning is legitimate.

Employers welcomed illegal workers – unknowingly or otherwise – in order to profit from cheap labor. It was the busting of effective, and sometimes abusive unions that first brought untolled numbers from south of U.S. borders. Their laboring as migrant workers, and the grist for sweat shops, had previously been accepted, regardless of sporadic enforcement. As the economy changed, Congress did not keep pace with its policymaking duty. When the meatpacking industry and other segments of the economy set its mind on the cheapest possible labor, the enormous influx of illegals was not only predictable, it was encouraged.

How many business representatives have told members of Congress something akin to “We need those people!” to keep their profits up and their costs down.

In 1980, the average meat-processing job paid $19 an hour. The industry's wages now average about $9 an hour.

Business is business. Meatpackers want to make money, it’s their job. Workers want to provide for themselves and their families, that’s their responsibility.

There was a time when an on-the-job death in a steel mill wasn’t cause for stopping the production process. Doing so would have been inefficient and, after all, dead is dead. Congress only began to represent the mass of workers, instead of moneyed interest groups, when it had no political choice.

Remember the surround-sound lying during the 2006 election year? The for-show public hearings? The whole stinking charade?

There is no reason today, none at all, to think that there will be any meaningful changes.

Tomorrow might be a better day. It depends on who strikes the greater fear in the poltroons on the Potomac.

________

Columnist Froma Harrop made some interesting points Thursday about who profits, who is punished, and, on the other hand, who doesn’t have to put up with illegal immigration.

For starters, she noted that reporters are big on covering the continuing immigration story with anecdotal reportage – featuring broken homes, and hardworking people who go to church. True enough.

Harrop made another very good point: Those same reporters would fall into the primal scream mode if a load of foreign reporters poured into town, and took their jobs at 10 percent less than “the going rate.” Publishers would point out that a few cents could be saved at the newsstand. Who would care?

She also noted that professionals – doctors and lawyers, etc. – do not and would not tolerate competition from “illegals,” regardless of the latters’ qualifications. We thought this portion of her analysis to be especially telling:

For some reason, the job of keeping prices low has fallen entirely on the shoulders of the most vulnerable Americans. If we banged down CEO compensation and sliced lawyers' pay by a third, the same thing would happen. Everyone's prices would drop.



The corporation could sell its products for less, and the cost of legal services would fall.

No vocation keeps a tighter lid on immigration than the medical profession. "If we let in 100,000 immigrant doctors," Richard Freeman, another Harvard economist, recently told a group of journalists, "everyone in this room would benefit." Except the American doctors.



Suggest a U.S. labor policy that depresses professional pay as a means of keeping prices in check, and you get laughed out of the room. But say that sitting on the wages of unskilled factory workers stems inflationary pressure -- a frequently made argument -- and the PhDs quietly nod in agreement.

________

Some coverage from MSM:

Hotline calls to Grand Island’s largest Hispanic church suggest that as many as 180 of the approximately 260 workers who were detained in the raid have been depoarted, accoding to the Lincoln Journal-Star.

One Episcopal clergyman told an Omaha rally: “Forcing millions of undocumented workers into underground existence is not only not productive, but is inhumane,” the World-Herald reported.

Swift & Co. in Grand Island is contributing thousands of dollars to local organizations with the intention of easing the burden on those affected by the raids, according to the company and those organizations, according to the Grand Island Independent.

How many business representatives have told members of Congress something akin to “We need those people!” to keep their profits up and their costs down.

Business is business. Meatpackers want to make money, it’s their job. Workers want to provide for themselves and their families, that’s their responsibility.

......and to h+++ with the rest of us...I guess................what about us.....the Americans who want to feel safe in our homes and communities. That want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the kind of America that we knew as children. WHAT ABOUT US? Do we not factor into this equation? I think the noise of our discontentment should be deafening

what about us.....the Americans who want to feel safe in our homes and communities. That want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the kind of America that we knew as children

ABG Gonzales said these invaders will do everything....everything to get the American dream for themselves.
It's going to be a matter of wills.
As a grandparent I must be prepared to do everything...everything to secure the American dream for my grandchildren. That is my right.

Loservillwrote:

It's going to be a matter of wills.
As a grandparent I must be prepared to do everything...everything to secure the American dream for my grandchildren. That is my right.

My thoughts exactly!!!!

Congress is corrupt. But they write the laws so they can get away with it. Campaign Finance Reform would solve most of our problems, including the illegal invasion problem. The day a politician has to go to prison for accepting money from anyone other than an american citizen will be the day congress stops representing corporations and illegals and starts representing american citizens again.

So true, Hawkeye