Thread: work permits, not walls, to stop illegal immigration (SOB)

http://new.savannahnow.com/node/149253
Alarcon: Use work permits, not walls, to stop illegal immigration
Opinion | Editorial
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 12:30 am




When the problem of illegal immigration is rooted in economics, the solution is rooted in economics.

The U.S. government has not gotten straight what it is going to do about the 11 million people who have lived in America without the proper paperwork. Instead, it has allowed each one of the states, cities and towns to take the matter into their own hands, giving politicians the perfect tool for their political campaigns.

Have you seen the TV campaign adds that are running? It's warfare in the name of immigrants' future, but it doesn't give us any information regarding the people or communities affected by it. Georgia, for example, has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the nation increasing from 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year.

Politicians talk about building a wall to secure the borders, which is unrealistic and contradictory. In 1989, the United States was celebrating the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in the name of democracy. Today, they are planning to build one in the name of national security.

Immigration reform and terrorism are two different battles, but the mixture of both is a useful political campaign. TV ads speak of amnesty. Amnesty for what? It's unrealistic and useless to talk about citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants. All that is needed is work permits, not citizenship.

I believe that citizenship is a privilege and that's why only birth gives it. But walls and amnesty are both factors pushed into our brains as political campaigns. I wonder how many of us in Savannah really know about how the state of Georgia is using the undocumented workforce and how this workforce is helping the state to move forward.

These immigrants come to work and only to work. Because of their hard work, we can go to supermarkets and buy inexpensive chicken, inexpensive Vidalia onions, cheap pine straw for our gardens, and of course, less expensive contractor's fees when remodeling our homes.

In Georgia, there has always been a balance between two social classes. Now that a third one, poorer than the rest, with working ethic imbedded in their blood, has arrived, most people feel more comfortable rejecting it than accepting it. But the latest immigrants did not come here for the cheese, milk, food stamps or government subsidized housing. Most of them don't even know that a government is capable to provide for the poor, except the ones who come from Cuba (the government gives them everything they need).

Most Americans hold on to the belief that immigrants don't pay taxes, which is only true if they don't have the legal paper work to work. But that's when the document forgery comes in. This is a big part of the political campaign of Gov. Sonny Perdue: crack down on document forgery.

The undocumented workers get fake Social Security numbers to be able to be on a payroll, which means taxes get taken out of their paychecks. But they will never see the benefits of paying taxes. Where does that money go? I bet the government is pretty happy with that money flow. It makes you wonder why the federal government has not enforced the immigration laws for over six years in Stillmore, the site of the latest raid?

Just two weeks ago, federal Immigration Crime Enforcement agents performed the most inhuman and drastic raids in the name of the law, leaving behind torn Hispanic families, a broken economy and a poultry plant that moves the economy of four surrounding towns on the verge of closing. People may respond, "They deserve it." However these 700 Hispanics paid taxes and supported the local economy by living and spending their money. What good comes from that raid? It was a perfect political campaign. Our state and local communities did not get anything out of it.

The migration of people from the poorest countries to the wealthier nations is happening all over the world. People tend to migrate to seek a better life. Mexico has a huge illegal migration coming from Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras.

Immigration law is needed. But immigration laws are supposed to prevent illegal immigration. These laws don't work in many cases. The solution isn't harsher laws against immigrants. That would not prevent the migration; people are willing take that chance. Instead, the problem is the growing economic gap between poor countries and rich countries.

When the problem of immigration is rooted in economics, the solution must be rooted in economics. Give work permits for those coming from poorer countries. It will empower the economy in their countries. The money they send home creates a stronger and healthier economy, which reduces the need of migration for future generations to come. At the same time, the U.S. economy will benefit with a hard-working class.

America has always benefited from an immigrant working class. In 1910, 11 million immigrants came in through New York. Today we are dealing with the same number. What has happened? Nationalism is taking over. Intolerance is taking over.

Do we know where these people come from? Why they choose to cross illegally and risk their freedom for a chance to work?

If immigration is seen through different eyes than those of political campaigns, a real strategic plan can be implemented for the betterment of us all.


Carmen Alarcon, a native of Colombia, is a freelance writer living in Savannah.


When the problem of illegal immigration is rooted in economics, the solution is rooted in economics.

The U.S. government has not gotten straight what it is going to do about the 11 million people who have lived in America without the proper paperwork. Instead, it has allowed each one of the states, cities and towns to take the matter into their own hands, giving politicians the perfect tool for their political campaigns.

Have you seen the TV campaign adds that are running? It's warfare in the name of immigrants' future, but it doesn't give us any information regarding the people or communities affected by it. Georgia, for example, has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the nation increasing from 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year.

Politicians talk about building a wall to secure the borders, which is unrealistic and contradictory. In 1989, the United States was celebrating the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in the name of democracy. Today, they are planning to build one in the name of national security.

Immigration reform and terrorism are two different battles, but the mixture of both is a useful political campaign. TV ads speak of amnesty. Amnesty for what? It's unrealistic and useless to talk about citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants. All that is needed is work permits, not citizenship.

I believe that citizenship is a privilege and that's why only birth gives it. But walls and amnesty are both factors pushed into our brains as political campaigns. I wonder how many of us in Savannah really know about how the state of Georgia is using the undocumented workforce and how this workforce is helping the state to move forward.

These immigrants come to work and only to work. Because of their hard work, we can go to supermarkets and buy inexpensive chicken, inexpensive Vidalia onions, cheap pine straw for our gardens, and of course, less expensive contractor's fees when remodeling our homes.

In Georgia, there has always been a balance between two social classes. Now that a third one, poorer than the rest, with working ethic imbedded in their blood, has arrived, most people feel more comfortable rejecting it than accepting it. But the latest immigrants did not come here for the cheese, milk, food stamps or government subsidized housing. Most of them don't even know that a government is capable to provide for the poor, except the ones who come from Cuba (the government gives them everything they need).

Most Americans hold on to the belief that immigrants don't pay taxes, which is only true if they don't have the legal paper work to work. But that's when the document forgery comes in. This is a big part of the political campaign of Gov. Sonny Perdue: crack down on document forgery.

The undocumented workers get fake Social Security numbers to be able to be on a payroll, which means taxes get taken out of their paychecks. But they will never see the benefits of paying taxes. Where does that money go? I bet the government is pretty happy with that money flow. It makes you wonder why the federal government has not enforced the immigration laws for over six years in Stillmore, the site of the latest raid?

Just two weeks ago, federal Immigration Crime Enforcement agents performed the most inhuman and drastic raids in the name of the law, leaving behind torn Hispanic families, a broken economy and a poultry plant that moves the economy of four surrounding towns on the verge of closing. People may respond, "They deserve it." However these 700 Hispanics paid taxes and supported the local economy by living and spending their money. What good comes from that raid? It was a perfect political campaign. Our state and local communities did not get anything out of it.

The migration of people from the poorest countries to the wealthier nations is happening all over the world. People tend to migrate to seek a better life. Mexico has a huge illegal migration coming from Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras.

Immigration law is needed. But immigration laws are supposed to prevent illegal immigration. These laws don't work in many cases. The solution isn't harsher laws against immigrants. That would not prevent the migration; people are willing take that chance. Instead, the problem is the growing economic gap between poor countries and rich countries.

When the problem of immigration is rooted in economics, the solution must be rooted in economics. Give work permits for those coming from poorer countries. It will empower the economy in their countries. The money they send home creates a stronger and healthier economy, which reduces the need of migration for future generations to come. At the same time, the U.S. economy will benefit with a hard-working class.

America has always benefited from an immigrant working class. In 1910, 11 million immigrants came in through New York. Today we are dealing with the same number. What has happened? Nationalism is taking over. Intolerance is taking over.

Do we know where these people come from? Why they choose to cross illegally and risk their freedom for a chance to work?

If immigration is seen through different eyes than those of political campaigns, a real strategic plan can be implemented for the betterment of us all.


Carmen Alarcon, a native of Colombia, is a freelance writer living in Savannah.

You are right, it needs an economic solution.

THE ECONOMIC SOLUTION IF FOR THEIR COUNTRIES TO GIVE THEM JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO THEY WON'T COME HERE.

According to the father of FREE TRADE {can't remember his name}
there HAS TO BE FREE MIGRATION without barriers!!!

And, folks, therein lies the beginning of this miserable problem with the Globalists!!!!! NO BORDERS & NO SOVEREIGNTY

My reply to the editor...

Editor,

The recent column by Carmen Alarcon claims that we can solve the illegal immigration crisis by granting work permits to the millions of aliens who currently reside in the US. She claims "Because of their hard work, we can go to supermarkets and buy inexpensive chicken, inexpensive Vidalia onions, cheap pine straw for our gardens, and of course, less expensive contractor's fees when remodeling our homes." I'm sure you could add cheap lawn service, cheap nannies and cheap restaurants to her list.

But she fails to mention the costs involved with all this 'cheap labor'. There's healthcare for illegal aliens, usually provided by our hospital emergency rooms, who rarely if ever get paid for the service. There's education, which costs over $7,000 per child per year in Georgia, being provided to over 100,000 children of illegal aliens. You do the math. There's public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps, provided to the US-born children of illegal aliens. And the list goes on.

In addition, American workers suffer from the suppression of wages to the tune of $200 BILLION a year nationwide. Estimates of the effect in Georgia range from $2-10 billion, depending on who you ask. Mohawk Carpets of Dalton is being sued under RICO laws for their deliberate use of illegal labor to lower the wages of American workers there. I hope the illegal employers are paying attention.

She also decries the raid in Stillmore, where the local chicken plant lost 70% of their workforce, but fails to tell you that after the plant raised wages by $1 an hour, American workers came from miles around to do those jobs 'that Americans won't do'.

It's time the American people learned the truth about the high cost of cheap labor.

Jeff Hermann

A fine letter, PINE

Why thank you, Sis

I just got a call from the paper, they will be publishing my letter in the next couple of days!

I guess it was pretty good, huh?

Yes, Pine it was excellent. Good piece of work.

When the problem of illegal immigration is rooted in economics, the solution is rooted in economics.

The Bush/Senate solution is akin to you hearing a burglar prying up your window wanting your valuables. Your reply to the attack? Simply toss your valuables out into the yard. Problem solved.

If an invader wants a job, the answer is not to give away your job, the answer is eliminate the invader.

Make the fine fit the crime.

The illegal invasion needs to fall on the shoulders of the American employers who hire them. They should be fined heavily and serve jail time. If they persist, they should be stripped of their own American citizenship and deported.

I just got a call from the paper, they will be publishing my letter in the next couple of days!

Good Job!