Thread: The Misery Strategy

New York Times Editorial

The Misery Strategy

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/opini ... u1.html?hp
Published: August 9, 2007

The path the country has set on since the defeat of immigration reform in the Senate in June enshrines enforcement and punishment above all else. It is narrow, shortsighted, disruptive and self-defeating. On top of that, it won’t work.

What it will do is unleash a flood of misery upon millions of illegal immigrants. For the ideologues who have pushed the nation into this position, that is more than enough reason to plunge ahead.

The latest phase of the crackdown, expected to be announced this week, would require employers to resolve discrepancies between their employee records and those of the Social Security Administration. If the data don’t match, presumably because a worker is an illegal immigrant using a false number, the worker must be fired. There are millions of people in thousands of workplaces who could be caught in that net, and the government is promising to start dragging it zealously, with stepped-up raids around the country. “We are tough, and we are going to be even tougher,â€

What it will do is unleash a flood of misery upon millions of illegal immigrants. For the ideologues who have pushed the nation into this position, that is more than enough reason to plunge ahead.

What about the flood of misery that illegal immigration has thrust upon millions of American citizens?

Their one big idea is that harsh, unrelenting enforcement at the border, in the workplace and in homes and streets would dry up opportunities for illegal immigrants and eventually cause the human tide to flow backward. That would be true only if life for illegal immigrants in America could be made significantly more miserable than life in, say, rural Guatemala or the slums of Mexico City

Not a problem...just give us time.

The American people cherish lawfulness but resist cruelty, and have supported reform that includes a reasonable path to earned citizenship. Their leaders have given them immigration reform as pest control.

The American people are tired of being door mats and sugar daddies. Pest control works for me!

" Americans " are tired of illegal immigrants coming in and taking from them what they could be giving to there own families and the extra crime that comes with them. We have a hard enough time dealing with crime from our own much less extra brought in by others here in the country illegal.

Americans have finally had enough and want an end to it and are letting the gornment know it.


No more bleeding heart bull.

NYT editorial: supports illegal activity; acknowledges attrition; "pest control"
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/006919.html

As soon as I hear the words "New York Times editorial" I, like no doubt most others, think "wrong". The latest is on display in "The Misery Strategy". Notably, the NYT has finally acknowledged attrition - enforcing our laws in order to encourage illegal aliens to go home - as a strategy. This contrasts with their prior attempts to present a false choice between mass deportations and a massive amnesty. I guess they knew about attrition all along, they were just being disingenuous.

But, of course, they disagree with this strategy, claiming that it won't work because the situations in the home countries of those illegal aliens are so dire they won't leave. Of note, they don't suggest encouraging those other countries to repatriate their citizens, nor do they suggest urging (in one way or another) those other countries to make situations there more amenable.

And, of course, there's the name-calling: they explicitly state that "ideologues" want to "unleash a flood of misery upon millions of illegal immigrants". And, this:

The American people cherish lawfulness but resist cruelty, and have supported reform that includes a reasonable path to earned citizenship. Their leaders have given them immigration reform as pest control.

And, their disingenuousness (or schizophrenia, or inability to think things through) is on full display. This:

The latest phase of the crackdown... would require employers to resolve discrepancies between their employee records and those of the Social Security Administration... There are millions of people in thousands of workplaces who could be caught in that net, and the government is promising to start dragging it zealously, with stepped-up raids around the country.

Is followed by this:

The Senate had struggled for years to erect the immense framework of bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform, coupling stricter enforcement with a citizenship path and an orderly future flow of workers.

That "reform" would have encouraged millions more illegal aliens to try to come here, and according to "reform" stepped-up enforcement - the kind promoted by the NYT - would be performed to keep them out or send them home. Yet, the NYT is currently trying to portray enforcement of our laws in the most negative light possible. Certainly, a defense for them would be to say that they would support enforcement if there were some sort of "pathway" and "guest" worker program, but does anyone really believe that? Post-"reform", wouldn't the NYT simply write similar editorials opposing the enforcement of the "reform" they supported?

The bottom line is the bottom line: the NYT - for one corrupt reason or another - supports massive immigration of any kind. And, they'll continue to do so, no matter whether "reform" eventually passes or not.