Sunday, May 06, 2007
Real Immigration reform needed now, at the national level not local level
The City of Green Bay is stepping up its effort to rid everything it finds digusting including child sex offenders. Now, the city council is stepping up its efforts to rid the area of another problem--illegal aliens.
It is a sad day when you have to go down to the lowest level of government to help fix the problem. First, let's make it really clear, I oppose illegal aliens entering the country. They should be hunted down and sent back to their home country. Secondly, I oppose businesses hiring these aliens. They are here illegally. Paying them cash or other form of wage is illegal as well. These employers should be sent to prision and pay a fine so heavy they won't do it again. We need to militarize our border to protect our nation from, I don' t know, maybe terrorists crossing the open border just like the Mexicans and other Hispanics do.
With that said, the proprosed Green Bay immigration reform is just plain stupid. In short, it basically requires any business that requires a permit from the city to conform to immigration laws and disallow them to hire workers without documentation.
But we already do that--or at least employers are supposed to. There's a little thing called an I-9 form that all employees must fill out to be considered eligible for employment. On that form, it lists what kind of documentation is needed for employment. The potential employee must have all of these documents to prove their are a U.S. citizen or legal alien.
Celestine Jeffreys, a Green Bay Alderwoman, is a vocal oppoent of the measure. She appeared on the O'Reilly Factor Friday night and received the typical Bill O'Reilly treatment--little time to make a solid argument or even a coherent thought. But her arguements all along have been justified. In the April 29 edition of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Jeffreys had this to say:
Alderwoman Celestine Jeffreys, the only one on the council so far to voice opposition to Fradette's plan, agrees that illegal immigration is a problem.
"There's no question in my mind that the federal government needs to do more to stop illegal immigration," she said. "But for me, the issue is one of jurisdiction, resources and priorities."
The federal government is doing what it can do to combat the problem, but if each municipality in the country were to choose some kind of initiative to "help," it would lead to a hodgepodge of confusing and difficult-to-enforce laws and ordinances, she said.
Given that the council has a host of responsibilities of its own — acting as stewards of
the taxpayers' money, for example — Jeffreys said, why would it want to take on an issue that is better handled by the federal government and more reasonably worried about by the nation's border states?"I'm not sure what the impetus is," she said. "When my neighbors, my constituents talk to me, they are concerned about national scale problems, sure, but when they call me, they call about junky houses and streets not being repaired. Those are the issues I love to work on, the issues I know we have the talent and resources to work on."
She's dead on right. The real solution to the problem is to get tough on employers and illegal aliens. Jim Sensenbrenner's proposal last session, HR 4437, proposed tough changes to immigration policies. It would essentially eliminate the need for a municipal intervention.
But the U.S. Senate wanted nothing to do with it. President Bush wanted nothing to do with it. These guys wanted open borders and give amnesty to those who have broken the law. They were criminals by entering our country and now they want to "forgive and forget" because we need the workers. That is BS.
We have an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent as of the April report. That means there are approximately 6.8 million people that needs a job. And that report doesn't include people who's welfare has run out. With approximately 10 million illegals doing "jobs American's won't do," we could get these people off of living on the government. What exactly are these jobs you say? They are jobs Americans used to do--like mopping floors, picking vegetables in the fields, and a whole slew of "low-end" jobs. Somehow Americans became too good for these jobs.
Or maybe Americans just got lazy. Take your pick.
Why the immigration backlash now? No intergration.
This is the question that needed to be answered decades ago when we saw the mass migration of Hispanics into our country. Let's face it, everything is in two languages now. You call a company, you have to dial 1 for English and dial dos for Spanish. Everything is written in both English and Spanish. There are companies exploiting the explosion in the Hispanic population and needing workers that speak Spanish to they can speak to this new market.
Joe American is sick of having to press "1," having to ask for documents in English, and sick of seeing a group of people refuse to intergrate into American society.
That is the crux of the problem. Sure, when the Irish came to America, they weren't met with open arms. Neither were the Italians. Neither was anyone. But they intergrated and made a contribution to our American culture. Take a good look what all of these different ethinic groups contributed to an Anglo-Saxon society. All you have to do is spend a summer in Milwaukee and look at all of the different "Fests" that go on. The European immigrant tried its best to intergrate into American society. They didn't ask for special documents, need to speak to different telephone operator at the switchboard, and they didn't want special favors. Sure, the first generation had a rough go of it, but their kids adapt and succeed because they speak English, get educated at school, and contribute their cultural experiences in the larger melting pot.
A prime example of this today is the Hmong population. These people were removed from a different continent, and put into whole new world. The first generation have struggled. But the second and third generation are succeeding. They speak English, they want to get an education, and they want to succeed. All you have to do is take a good hard look at a class at UW-Green Bay. In the Fall 2006 session, there were 108 students identified as Southeast Asian. Five years ago there were 72. And 10 years ago, there were 58. That is 86 percent growth in decade.
Now take a look at the Hispanic population at UWGB. For the same time period, there were 71 Hispanic students in 2006, 36 in 2001, and 43 in 1996--a 65 percent increase.
Something in those ethnic communities is different. The Hispanic community isn't speaking English. When I worked in retail, I would see it daily. The Hispanic children are at a severe disadvantage--they speak Spanish first, English second. That isn't how my immigrant family was raised. My grandmother spoke English first as kid, and Polish on occaision--even though her parents didn't speak English well.
Now ask yourself this question: What if the Hispanic population spoke English and intergrated into society like past waves of immigrants did? Would we be having this discussion?
I doubt it. This Hispanic community brought this on by themselves, by their actions, and I'm not sure if there is a fix other than closing the borders and forcing their hand.
Update: WLUK Fox 11 proves my point
I just watched the 9 p.m. news replay and they interviewd a Hispanic guy about the proposed policy change and he spoke Spanish, not English. He needed an interpreter. They don't have video of it online, unfortunately.
Labels: Brown County, Strategery
