Thread: Editorial: Illegal immigration won't fix itself

Editorial: Illegal immigration won't fix itself

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, August 8, 2008

There's cold comfort in the illegal immigration numbers reported last week by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. It estimates 1.3 million illegal immigrants, mainly Mexicans, have returned home in the past year.

That's good news because it means fewer illegal immigrants putting strains on public services such as schools and hospitals. But it also indicates the U.S. economy's sorry state when growing numbers of immigrants see greater job prospects south of the border than here.

The reasons behind the "Mexodus" are speculative at best, because no official U.S. census figures exist on the illegal immigrant population. CIS researchers say the illegal population is dropping while legal migration continues to grow. They say the economy can't be to blame since it would have negatively affected both groups.

CIS contends that increased enforcement measures, which target illegal immigrants, explain why only they are leaving. Therefore, the study suggests, if Congress would abandon comprehensive immigration reform and focus on tougher enforcement, the problem would be solved.

Hardly. Remember that 11.2 million illegal immigrants still reside in America, despite tougher enforcement measures and increasingly hostile local conditions.

What's undisputed is that employment is dropping in sectors that rely on cheap immigrant labor. The construction industry, for example, accounts for 22 percent of Mexican workers' jobs here. The Pew Hispanic Center says that Hispanics lost nearly 250,000 construction jobs alone over the past year. Mexico's Central Bank reports a 2.9 percent drop in remittances, a clear sign of falling incomes.

Tougher enforcement and tighter economic conditions are having a combined effect. But it doesn't take a migration expert or economist to know that, as soon as the U.S. economy rebounds, so will illegal immigration.

That's why Congress cannot continue pushing this problem down the road. Tougher enforcement and border security are partial steps, but America also needs a way for businesses legally to import cheap labor for jobs that its own citizens won't take.

Only comprehensive reform can provide the mechanisms for illegal immigrants to come forward, be registered, learn English and comply with the law. In return for doing so, they would take steps over several years to regularize their status and stop hiding in the shadows.

Don't be fooled by the numbers. The immigration problem is nowhere close to being fixed. Until Congress tackles the tough job of comprehensive reform, we'll be confronting it again as soon as the economy improves.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c8782.html

WHO DOES THIS GOVERNMENT WORK FOR THE CORPORATIONS OR THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA?

The writer was doing well until he got here and his lididiot, IA hugging bleeding heart shined through:

That's why Congress cannot continue pushing this problem down the road. Tougher enforcement and border security are partial steps, but America also needs a way for businesses legally to import cheap labor for jobs that its own citizens won't take.

Only comprehensive reform can provide the mechanisms for illegal immigrants to come forward, be registered, learn English and comply with the law. In return for doing so, they would take steps over several years to regularize their status and stop hiding in the shadows.

Don't be fooled by the numbers. The immigration problem is nowhere close to being fixed. Until Congress tackles the tough job of comprehensive reform, we'll be confronting it again as soon as the economy improves.

No, No, No, no one understands English that is for sure. Lawful entry and exit is the rule in America. Go to your country and get in line.

Or has the people breaking in line not noticed that Americans are in line first; or in my American opinion it should be law that that all American dollars go to all Americans and not the illegal criminal aliens - be you student, worker or not.

Leave - Deport the United States before August 22, 2008