Thread: Immigration is About People, Not Corn or Cameras(Tancredo)

Fellow ALIPAC'ians :P , this is a little dated but still much worth reading. Tacrendo is one of the few voices crying in the wilderness on this immigration chaos.

Link to original article

Immigration is About People, Not Corn or Cameras
Rep. Tom Tancredo (archive)
July 1, 2004

It is not like Jack Kemp to enter an argument without having a command of the facts, so I was surprised and disappointed to see him do just that in his recent syndicated column.

Kemp attacked me and the 148 Republican Members of Congress who voted in June to restrict funds to cities that refuse to cooperate with the Immigration laws our country. No? He didn't attack all 148 Republican Members of Congress? Yes, he did: his sweeping attack shows he is sadly ignorant of the concerns of fellow Republicans regarding illegal immigration.

Kemp says correctly that the real solution to the immigration flood from Mexico is to help Mexico build a strong economy that offers economic opportunities to its people. I agree, and I support those efforts. Mexico needs to root out corruption, privatize state-run monopolies, and open up to foreign investment. But that will take a decade or longer at the current pace. In the meantime, we have to deal with concrete problems created by our porous borders.

Kemp would probably not call for an end to all port-of-entry security checks for the millions of tourists and visitors coming through our airports, seaports, and border checkpoints. Nor would he suggest that the 50,000-plus commercial trucks coming from Mexico and Canada should enter without inspections. Then why should over one million people be allowed to cross our borders in the dark of night and then be given safe harbor in our cities?

No serious person will make the claim that these illegal workers "only take jobs no one else wants." They take jobs in construction and many other fields besides agriculture. All economists understand the downward push on all wages created by this continual flow of cheap labor.

It is supremely ironic that the principal victims of this flow of cheap labor -Hispanic and African-American workers in low-wage jobs - are the people Kemp strives to "empower" through various reforms. Tragically, the greatest DISempowerment imaginable for these citizens is the open border policy Kemp champions.

Kemp and all open borders advocates need to recognize that there is a fundamental difference between the free flow of goods and services, which is called free trade, and the free flow of people, which is called chaos. Nations have immigration laws for a reason. Unless the open borders crowd is prepared to advocate the repeal of all immigration laws and the abolition of all barriers to entry to this country, they need to pay attention to the debate over illegal immigration. They need to join the debate, not hide from it.

Neither I nor the other advocates for immigration law enforcement are "anti-immigration." That is a smear and a smokescreen that open borders advocates use to avoid a debate about illegal immigration. Over 4,000,000 people are on waiting lists abroad to enter this country legally, and over 1,400,000 entered legally in 2003. How many immigrants can we absorb annually? That is a fair question and one that honorable men can disagree over. What we should not have to disagree over is that people should enter our country legally.

U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo represents the sixth Congressional district of Colorado and is founding chairman of Team America.

It is supremely ironic that the principal victims of this flow of cheap labor -Hispanic and African-American workers in low-wage jobs - are the people Kemp strives to "empower" through various reforms. Tragically, the greatest DISempowerment imaginable for these citizens is the open border policy Kemp champions.

The open border types just do not get it. They refuse or are unable to
see the effect the illegals have on US citizens. Labor unions certainly
do not like the idea of being inundated with illegals.

Kemp would probably not call for an end to all port-of-entry security checks for the millions of tourists and visitors coming through our airports, seaports, and border checkpoints. Nor would he suggest that the 50,000-plus commercial trucks coming from Mexico and Canada should enter without inspections. Then why should over one million people be allowed to cross our borders in the dark of night and then be given safe harbor in our cities?

No serious person will make the claim that these illegal workers "only take jobs no one else wants." They take jobs in construction and many other fields besides agriculture. All economists understand the downward push on all wages created by this continual flow of cheap labor.

CLOSE DOWN THE BORDER, MORE ICE - ENFORCEMENT LAWS!

Labor unions certainly
do not like the idea of being inundated with illegals.

You might put a finer point on this statement. Unions were handing out pre-printed protest signs to illegals "spontaneously" marching in our streets here in May 2006.

I got calls recently from unions to "support friends of labor." Honestly, who would that be these days?

And I for one am SICK and TIRED of hearing ENDLESS entreaties that ILLEGAL aliens are people. CITIZENS and LEGAL residents are people, too!