Why? Because they care? Yeah, right. It’s because illegal immigrants are a vast untapped Democrat constituency group, and whoever captures and controls them gets a seat at the big table.
These rabid community organizers think that if we grant amnesty to 11 million Hispanics (nevermind that it's actually closer to 20 million, and that an amnesty will grant citizenship to not just Hispanics, but also to unassimilable Middle Easterners and South Asians who have nothing whatsoever in common with us) that they will be the power brokers and the benefactors, milking the government cash cow while herding their new and ignorant charges into the Democratic corral. They want the power and clout that other minority organizations wield; a lighter shade of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
I would like to think it will backfire on them. People don’t leave their family and their homelands, risking it all for a better life, just to be treated like cattle. But the government social services pushers have already stampeded many into Uncle Sam’s dry gulch, corralled and branded them.
The only hope is that once we legalize these illegal immigrants, they will assimilate into welcoming local communities and churches and go their own way. Hopefully they will not be a homogenous group, just as US citizens of Hispanic background are not.
But let’s face it. Even if the GOP gets in front of the amnesty parade, they will get no credit and no Hispanic votes out of it. But that shouldn't be the goal anyway. The exploitation of illegal immigrants is a government-sponsored human rights violation and a humanitarian stain on us all. We need to clean it up.
Hispanic Group Demands Amnesty
Why Hispanics Don’t Vote for Republicans
Re: Why Hispanics Don’t Vote Republican
Romney’s Hispanic Disaster
GOP Needs to Wise Up on Immigration
Heartland Draws Hispanics
35 comments:
It won't backfire on the Dems, and there really is nothing that the GOP can do to ameliorate this situation.
The only hope is that once we legalize these illegal immigrants, they will assimilate into welcoming local communities and churches and go their own way.
Over time, perhaps. But the key word is TIME.
A house can only hold so many people before the living conditions in that house become those of a lower standard of living for everyone in the house. In my analogy, house = nation.
I do worry that our education system will become even more overwhelmed by the burden of English as a Second Language classes -- to the point that "regular" classes get short shrift. Then, what?
We do need people to do unskilled work. No doubt about it. And it is already well nigh impossible to find any doing yard work except those from Latino countries. We also need skilled and educated people. However, college education and even trade school are becoming unaffordable for those not in the upper middle class and higher.
One more nail in America's coffin. I do think in time Hispanic will choose their own way. To the point made by AOW, I have long been a proponent of English as the official language in the US. And, not government agency should publish and doccuments in any language but English.
It's over, and if you don't belie it. Wait till January or April 15th. It's over, it was a GREAT ride while it lasted. So thank you American Presidents of the PAST....
Please, the federal government doesn't enforce any of its immigration laws, so what's the point of "immigration reform". We HAVE a de FACTO immigration policy, its' OPEN BORDERS. Now live with it (and go buy an AK-47 for home defense... you're going to NEED it!).
Joe,
Yes, we have a de FACTO immigration policy.
How many other nations have that same policy?
"Bush deported 2 million immigrants over the course of two terms. That’s more than the 1.4 million that Obama has deported to date during his first term. But Obama is deporting them in higher numbers every month than Bush did—1.5 times more." --WaPo
"...the experts interviewed -- agree that [there's] a significant jump in deportations under Obama. Measured by the monthly frequency of deportation, Obama’s numbers are significantly higher than Bush’s were, even as the estimated population of illegal immigrants was falling." --PolitiFact
Amnesty?
"[President Reagan] signed amnesty into law in 1986, inviting three million ‘illegals’ to become ‘legals.’ He even defended the idea in his 1984 Debate with Fritz Mondale: “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.” Would he do otherwise now? Would the man who didn’t want to deport 3 million of God’s children, now deport 15 or 20 million of them?
Healthy and growing nations talk this way and Malthusianism be damned. More people means mostly more minds and hands, not mostly more mouths. It was taken as a given by the founders that population growth is a good, and that policy should encourage it. Healthy nations grow and talk about immigrants as source of hope. Anything else has just too much of the death rattle of empire to it.
No matter what Congress says, children born here (with the exception of those born to families such as diplomats who are not under our legal jurisdiction) are citizens. No amount of torturing the text can change the fact that the children of illegal immigrants are citizens. So what are the family values conservatives going to do, send the parents or grandparents packing, while the kids stay here? This is pro-family?
We need a re-set on this issue. Freedom, growth, assimilation, more freedom, more growth, more assimilation: that’s our heritage. If the Republican Party gets tagged at the anti-Latino party, because we give into austerity economic models and zero sum game theory, we’re dead. And we will have brought it on ourselves." --J. Bowyer, Forbes, 9/5/2012
I can't believe a political party as honest as the democrat party would use immigration to their advantage.
What is needed is an immigration policy that is equatable to all sides. The pandering that Obama did during his campaigning accomplished nothing for illegals, they just didn't see it as smoke and mirrors.
What would be nice to see is the current president get off the campaign trail and help govern the country for once. He has had four year to be a non-leader, try leading.
Shaw: I agree.
This is not an anti-immigrant rant.
I have been thrown out of many a forum for suggesting a return to indentured servitude or an entry fee, much like one pays to get into Disneyland!
Andie
"... and that an amnesty will grant citizenship to not just Hispanics, but also to unassimilable Middle Easterners and South Asians"
I have to say, Silver, that is a pretty broad statement.
I don't know what your experience is with immigrants but mine has generally been positive, especially with Muslims (who assimilate well despite the ravings of pissant hate sites like Jihad Watch).
Shaw can confirm that I live in an immigrant (legal and not so legal) heavy town (Everett) but my experience has been largely positive, especially with Muslims.
I just love the utterly ironic headline of this post! LOL! Keeping "illegals" illegal is about power and control. Making them citizens gives the power and control over their own lives back to them, and levels the field for all of us. Why is is that only government power so bothers conservatives, as if no other type of power even exists?
JMJ
Ducky: I appreciate anecdotal evidence from the field. Perhaps with Muslims its a case of a few bad apples?
My experience is the same as yours, only with Hispanics, mostly Mexicans.
Jersey:
Granting anyone here illegally who pops his or her head up a visa allowing them to work and granting them multiple entry/exits would also empower them.
How 'bout that for starters?
"Shaw can confirm that I live in an immigrant (legal and not so legal) heavy town (Everett) but my experience has been largely positive, especially with Muslims."
True. And here in Boston's North End, we have a section of Middle Eastern businesses where we interact on a daily basis as we interact with all other ethnic communities.
Most of the waiters in this neighborhood of 100 restaurants and coffee bars are Middle Eastern, and I see Middle Eastern folks every weekend at our local Haymarket open-air vegetable and fruit stands.
My daughter lives in SoCal, and most of her friends are either from Iran or Iraq. And they have completely assimilated into the SoCal culture. I've shared many a fine bottle of wine with her friends--and the women do not cover their heads.
PS. Everett was once a heavily Italian town. At one point, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, all lived on one street. I understand that Everett is now mostly Brazilian and Middle Eastern. The Italians moved on to the lawned suburbs and left the greater Boston communities to the next wave of immigrants.
"Granting anyone here illegally who pops his or her head up a visa allowing them to work and granting them multiple entry/exits would also empower them.
How 'bout that for starters?"
"Starters?" That's not even a solenoid!
No serious advocate of immigration reform is suggesting "anyone here illegally who pops his or her head up a visa (should be allowed) to work and (granted) multiple entry/exits..." Period.
You're not seriously engaging the issue with that sort of talk.
JMJ
Jersey: Since you are completely ignorant of this subject, let me help you out.
Not everyone here illegally wants citizenship. People want the right to work and travel freely.
Rich business owners like you love illegal immigrants, it keeps wages down, but for the rest of us in the working class, there are downsides.
The first step should be to get them out of the shadows so business owners like you can't exploit workers anymore.
Silver, I spent five years working in factories that mainly hired "illegal" immigrants, from all over the world, but mostly Mexico, the Caribbean, and the old Soviet Bloc countries. I then spent a decade working for the Chinese. So, to call me "ignorant of the subject" is to be a moron.
Now, why you think I'm a "rich businessman" is completely beyond me, but yet another example of how your judgement of character needs one hell of a serious tune-up. I've never been rich, and I certainly ain't right now! I do a little home business stuff on the side to compliment my meager income these days, but I do not own a business, and I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination.
"Not everyone here illegally wants citizenship. People want the right to work and travel freely."
Yes, of course. But we have to vet everyone, we need realistic and flexible quotas, and we need government institutions equipped for these tasks.
I've been advocating for realistic, various forms of legalization all my life, so I really don't know what the heck you must think I think!
JMJ
How many other nations have that same policy?
I doubt that any of them just shrug their shoulders when over 11 million people just walk across the border.
@ Jersey: "Yes, of course. But we have to vet everyone, we need realistic and flexible quotas, and we need government institutions equipped for these tasks."
We may agree on this one. Why the hell did you get so belligerent instead of simply stating your opinion?
And don't you own a restaurant?
Immigration isn't long going to be an American concern... after the coming tax hike, maybe we can all join Gerard Depardieu in Belgium.
PARIS (AP) — A Belgian mayor says famed French actor Gerard Depardieu has bought a home and set up legal residence in his small town, lured by the food, the people, the lifestyle — and lower tax rates than back home.
The Socialist government under French President Francois Hollande has infuriated many ultra-rich in France by presenting a 2013 budget that would tax top earners at 75 percent over the first €1 million of annual income. Belgium's top rate is 50 percent.
Mayor Daniel Senesael of Nechin, about a kilometer inside Belgium near the French city of Lille, said that "in our conversation, his reasons were also other than those about taxes," RTL radio reported.
@ Joe: "I doubt that any of them just shrug their shoulders when over 11 million people just walk across the border."
Mexico sure as hell doesn't. Just ask a Guatemalan.
Just my humble opinion, but the problem isn't the immigrants, it's the government.
Sure, Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million illegals in the immigration reform and control act of 1986 to aliens who had resided continuously here since 1982.
The problem is, there was neither reform nor control of immigration. So, after the Act and amnesty that was supposed to fix the problem we now have three times the number previously granted amnesty.
If you're going to keep granting amnesty, you may as well just give it up and open the border... they appear to be open anyway.
I'm not an open borders libertarian by any means... but doesn't the fact that there are 11 million people here illegally indicate a far greater security problem than those here to pick fruit and vegetables?
I wouldn't oppose amnesty on one condition... the government needs to demonstrate it has control of the border first.
Cheers!
@I spent five years working in factories that mainly hired "illegal" immigrants.
And how many times did you drop a dime?
Does the word 'complicity' mean anything to you?
Now, I'm just busting your chops... but I'm sure you see my point. How can we sit here and bitch if none of us actually does anything about it.
@Shaw can confirm that I live in an immigrant (legal and not so legal) heavy town.
I can confirm that too, last time I was in Boston (Andover, actually) the hotel room had a magnetic pictograph sheet stuck to the refrigerator, so I could point at pictures in order to communicate with the staff.
Lightbulbs, Towels, you name it.
Cheers!
I am with Finn on this one. I do not blame people for coming here illegally. They are trying to better their lives.
I do blame the stupidest, most wasteful government in the history of the planet.
And I am complicit. I have known many people here illegally, and there is no way in hell I would have ever dropped a dime on any of them.
After all, they are here at the invitation of the Chamber of Commerce and the US Government.
I agree, Silver. I would never begrudge a fellow human being the chance at a better life. However, our incompetent government has allowed the worst of them to get the best of us.
Andie
I just find it so unjust to legalize all these people who willfully broke our laws and are being rewarded, while, those who followed the rules, waited years and paid a pretty penny for their citizenship are being tossed aside.
I hate that there is nothing that we can do to stop it. Most Latinos are Democrats, how do I know? Because, in my own family, it is just my immediate family, my mom and sisters that are Republican and Christians.
The rest of our HUGE family are non-Christian and all voted for Obama and worship the guy. Breaks my heart.
@I just find it so unjust to legalize all these people who willfully broke our laws and are being rewarded, while, those who followed the rules, waited years and paid a pretty penny for their citizenship are being tossed aside.
That is a big downside.
Ideally, we could do something for those that follow the process, such as eligibility for benefits whereas those granted amnesty could be excluded.
That ought to inflame some liberal hearts.
This is why I think the Solomonic solution is to grant them visas but deny them citizenship. Their progeny born here would obviously be US citizens.
Many Mexicans who were granted Amnesty by Reagan continued to consider themselves Mexican citizens, and that is a shame on us, not on them.
If someone granted me Swiss citizenship, I'd take it...
So when does the reverse immigration begin?
I hear there are a lot of properties in Paris coming on the market ;)
"I ... blame the stupidest, most wasteful government in the history of the planet.
"And I am complicit. I have known many people here illegally, and there is no way in hell I would have ever dropped a dime on [betrayed? turned in?] any of them.
"After all, they are here at the invitation of the Chamber of Commerce and the US Government."
That sums up the entire situation perfectly. We live with a government of can kickers that prefers to saunter and slipslide its way over, under, and around the problems that affect us most profoundly instead of confronting and dealing with them in a straightforward, effective, efficient manner.
We do, indeed, have a de facto open border. Despite all the "deportation data" laid out above by Ms. Shaw in a competitive context primarily to show partisan support for President Obama while denigrating his immediate predecessor, the overall effects of such political posturing have had about as much effect as the proverbial fart in a bucket.
In truth laws are only good if they have been made with the full intention of enforcing them. That much of our legislation is effectively unenforceable indicates it has been produced largely for show to mollify constituents while playing to the peanut gallery.
"Playing to the peanut gallery" these days means making a concerted effort to get flattering sound-bite coverage in the venomedia.
<>"Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse. As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State, 'What does it matter to me?' the State may be given up for lost."
~ Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
We are at that point now -- and have been for some time. The state -- as we thought we knew it -- has been given up for lost. November 6 proved that conclusively.
~ FreeThinke
You could drop a billion dollars worth of "dimes" on illegals... and you'd still get the same governmental answer... "No hablo Ingles."
Well, thanks for thinking I was a rich businessman, anyway, Silver. I guess I should have taken that as a compliment. My thanks and apologies.
And Leticia - you come a "HUGE" Latino family that is "non-Christian"??? What??? Do you come from the "huge" Ateo family of Agnostico Mexico???
JMJ
Jersey, my family has lived generations on American soil.
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