Immigration Reform, La Raza and the DREAM Act
Commentary by Neal Feldman Salem-News.com
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/octo ... 102507.php

La Raza accuses their opponents of being 'anti-immigrant' when they are just anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant'.


(SALEM, Ore.) - Uh oh. La Raza, the organization who loves to accuse anyone opposed to AMNESTY for the millions of illegal immigrants in this country of being 'racists' yet calls itself "The Race", is 'saddened and angered' that the misnamed DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) has again been blocked in the US Senate.

This bill has nothing to do with dreams any more than the USAPATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act has anything to do with patriotism. It is all about amnesty, utilizing misleading and misrepresentative anagrams, pure and simple.

La Raza makes claims that the majority of US voters want Congress to come up with immigration reform. This much is true. But it has been made clear that this majority does NOT want AMNESTY in any way, shape or form.



La Raza accuses their opponents of being 'anti-immigrant' when they are just anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant'. La Raza wants desperately to erase that distinction, that those they are promoting are CRIMINALS who are here ILLEGALLY.

La Raza keeps promoting the debunked myth that these illegals 'only are doing jobs no one else wants to do'. Oh really? No one else wants $20 an hour construction jobs? What about all the fast food jobs teens used to do which are now filled with illegals to the point that you have to be bilingual to even be hired because you almost never hear a word of English between employees behind the counter? And there are all the other jobs they fill driving wages down so far that the only ones willing to work for the depressed wages are those same illegals who depressed the wages in the first place.

And Salem, Oregon does, indeed, have a serious problem with illegal immigrants. The public does indeed want immigration reform. What we do NOT want is AMNESTY. Amnesty was tried in the 1980s and granted to about 2 million illegals.

Instead of stopping illegal immigration all it did was entice them further. So now we have ten times as many illegals here 20 years later and if we grant them amnesty now we will find that 20 years from now we will likely have 200 million illegals. Amnesty is not an option in any form that the american voters will accept again, and La Raza and their fellow travellers should realize that.

You want immigration reform? I got your immigration reform right here. Not that the likes of La Raza will ever like it.

Severe (bordering on draconian) fines against employers found to employ illegals. Even higher fines (like ten times as high) on those employers actually found to be importing illegals.

Severe (bordering on draconian) fines against landlords and landowners who rent or sell to illegals or who allow them shelter in any way.

Denial of any and all social services (public schools, TANF, WIC, Section 8, Pell Grants, the lot) other than ER services and emergency response services (police and fire). At the ER those who are here legally get the majority of the intake services. Illegals go to the illegals line with one nurse practitioner unless they are triaged with something obviously life-threatening such as a sucking chest wound.

This should help those here legally be served in less than the standard 6 hours we seem to be forced to wait these days. Maybe someone in an INS/ICE jacket patrolling the waiting room would speed things up a little faster as well.

Reworking the 14th amendment 'anchor baby' issue. The children born here are US citizens according to the 14th amendment (under some interpretations). Fine, so be it. But that should not give their parent(s), siblings, extended family, godparents, friends or neighbors a foot in the door to jump the immigration line. Such children should not, until 18, be allowed to sponsor anyone. Also the parent(s) have a choice regarding family unity. They can take the kid back where they came from and the kid can reenter legally when 18 or alone to live with those here legally if still a minor, or they can place the kid here legally with someone who is here legally as their legal guardian.

Those should be the only choices allowed. I am not the one breaking up families. The pregnant women who dash across the border illegally like a running back trying to make the game winning touchdown are. Children are not footballs and should not be treated as such. How many miscarriages (or even deaths of these running back mothers) occur in these attempts?

It is true that the country needs guest workers to REALLY 'do the jobs US citizens REALLY do not want to do'. So make a real guest worker program and immigration reform with teeth.

Have the guest worker list the one, maybe two, jobs they are seeking. Picking crops, cannery, maid service, etc. Give them a visa and guest worker ID card with their biometric data (fingerprint, retina scan and DNA sample) that is valid for six months and renewable twice before they must return home to reapply.

They they would be barred from being issued state IDs. If they want to drive their card could be given a driver endorsement if they pass the DMV tests but I would think commercial driving is not what the guest worker program should be for, just regular driving. They would be ineligible for any social services as listed above except that they, not being illegals, would not go to the illegal line at the ER.

If they are not working in the job(s) listed on their IDs they would be required to go home. If found here out of compliance they would get deported and be banned from legal entry by any means for ten years for the first offense, with a lifetime ban for any further offense.

On the employer side they will need to demonstrate a true bona fide good faith effort to hire those here legally before they will be allowed to hire a person from the guest worker program. I would also like to see a requirement on the guest worker program of fluency in English but that is not a dealbreaker.

On regular immigration those wishing to legally immigrate to this country should demonstrate marketable job skills, fluency in English etc. If sponsored, such as by family, these can be relaxed (although I would like to see english fluency within say 5 years of entry) and a sponsor should be required to sign papers and prove they can financially support the immigrant they are sponsoring so that they will not become a burden on the taxpayers.

Anyone immigrating legally in this manner should be ineligible for social services, as above, for at least 5 years (I would prefer ten). They should also have a federal immigrant ID card (with biometric data) issued which would eliminate a need of their getting a state ID. If they want to drive there can be a driver endorsement added to the immigrant ID card. Commercial driving endorsements would be allowed in these cases as these are legal immigrants.

This will allow people to legally immigrate to the US in a sane and orderly manner. It will also get rid of most if not all illegals because the country will be made toxic to them. They will have nowhere to work legally, nowhere to live legally, and all the candy store enticements will be gone as well as there being the severe penalty for being found here illegally of never being allowed to legally immigrate to the US, ever, for any reason. You will see them running for the border like they already are in Oklahoma.

There is nothing racist in my positions or policy here. I do not care what their skin color is or where they are from. Illegals Go Home. It has been pointed out that there is less outcry about 50,000 Irish illegals... well, I do not see them forcing everyone here to speak Gaelic and there is a large difference between 50,000 and 20,000,000 isn't there? But I do not differentiate. I do not care who you are.

If you are here illegally you are unwelcome and I, and according to the polls the majority of US citizens, want you to leave. If you wish to be a part of our society you are expected to do so LEGALLY. If you cannot do so legally then we neither want nor need you here. Period.

And anyone who thinks my suggestions are harsh should check out the immigration laws and penalties in Mexico.

National borders mean something, even if the President of Mexico disagrees and claims 'anywhere there is a Mexican is Mexico'. If that really IS the case I even more strongly suggest we get rid of every Mexican illegal in our borders to eliminate this claim against our national sovereignty.