Illegal Immigration Destroys the Environment … Will Dems Do Something About It Now?
BY: NCViking
The only thing more important than protecting the environment to a liberal Democrat is protecting voter blocks. It turns out that illegal immigration across the U.S./Mexican border is destroying once pristine lands and habitats. Wild animals are being displaced, threatened and America is suffering the loss of numerous endangered species. So, why are eco advocates largely ignoring this? Why aren’t they marching on Washington to force politicians to solve the problem? Better yet, now that protesters have come down from their redwood tree-forts, why not head south to form a human border fence to stop the destruction?
Why? Besides Global Warming Climate Change consuming most of their angst, protecting border lands would anger the Hispanic community, which largely votes Democrat.
Below is a video from motion-detection hidden cameras on the border capturing the destruction first hand.
Narrator: “These mountain habitats are already suffering. Sometimes the trash dumps left behind are a football field in size!”
What a conundrum for Democrats. Either they tick off Hispanics or tick off the Hippies, pick your poison. Either way, they are now in the same crux Republicans have been in for years when it comes to solving this festering issue. Maybe now something will finally get done.
Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to use this as a means to provide a solution to the illegal immigration mess. Here is this hobby blogger’s three point solution to illegal immigration, all of which I believe must happen to solve the problem:
- Consistently and aggressively enforce immigration laws, across the board. Crack down on companies hiring illegal immigrants, which have exploited people into a serf class of workers to save a few bucks on labor. When this underbelly and immoral job market dries up, ‘illegal’ immigration will likely drop dramatically. At the end of the day, this is a human rights issue of exploitation, not one of hate.
- Reform the INS and immigration processes, procedures and laws to make it easier to become an American. It is just plain wrong to make people who want to come here for good reason navigate our existing gov-ldygook albatross to become a citizen. What happened to eight hours at Ellis Island? In some cases, immigration these days takes 7-10 years and thousands of dollars! It is no wonder poor economic refugees skip it and take their chances crossing the border. I would if I had to feed my family at any cost. Compassion and understanding is needed here. Reforming this broken system is the moral and right thing to do and will largely take the sting out of aggressive law enforcement.
- Deal with the 15 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. in a compassionate fashion. If 1. and 2. are done, this becomes very easy. When the work dries up, illegal immigrants have three choices: go home, get in line or get deported. If the INS is reformed to be an easy, compassionate process, most will flock to the lines to become legalized. If not, they risk deportation from aggressive law enforcement. Here’s the compromise: forget about penalizing them. Lack of past law enforcement and open encouragement of illegal behavior by businesses (employment), government (sanctuary cities, providing free services) and politicians (pandering) makes America an accomplice to the problem. It’s like an alcoholic blaming his addiction on the bourbon. Understanding this in any reform effort is the moral and right thing to do.
There is a difference between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ immigration. Democrats have successfully and wrongly painted Conservatives and Republicans as anti-immigration haters over the issue. Many on the right have not helped this any by pushing goofy Mexican invasion conspiracies and crying for assimilation. Immigration is a wonderful thing and is the only way America will grow in the future as birthrates decline. The true majority ‘American’ culture that exists is that of a mish-mosh, evolving melting pot of present and past immigrants. We need not yell at new immigrants to assimilate but encourage them to bring on their traditions. Heck, I can have just as much fun drinking green beer on St. Patty’s Day as I could partying on Cinco de Mayo or Fat Tuesday. Also, I believe the only true Americanism is freedom, democracy and patriotism – the rest sorts itself out in the marketplace of ideas. Believing otherwise is akin to French traditionalism, which many Americans ridicule for being uppity and stodgy. This is a position Republicans should take in the future in order to survive. It is right and Conservative.
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I personally don’t like illegal immigration, and there are many useful and reasonable ways to handle America’s need for labor. It is one thing to say you’d like the problem fixed. It is quite another to just post misplaced blame.
Once again this blog takes a problem that the Republicans under Bush did nothing to fix and tries to place blame on Democrats.
Although I would say that democrats are the party that can get things done and Republicans are the party of sitting on their hands, so maybe Dems might just fix this problem too, just after CO2 and Health Care.
Democrats have been obstructionists on the issue and Republicans divisive, which I also criticize. And yes, all I am doing is blaming. That is why I offered a three part solution for Republicans, because I am just blaming.
Bush did as much on immigration reform as Obama has on health care reform. Both plans were/are unpopular, Bush’s was killed, Obama’s is soon to be. Always about Bush with you. He’s not in office anymore.
Nice examples. They don’t look too successful at getting their agenda implemented, even with super majorities. They are just as bad, but keep your faith!
I applaud and can agree with your suggestions on illegal immigration.
Your premise was based on Democrats as obstructionists and how Republicans can use this issue now, well within your right as a partisan blog. Partisanship invites partisan comparisons.
I don’t necessarily buy the argument that Democrats are faced with a Latino v Hippie set of competing groups. That is an incredibly single dimension view of Democrats. Single dimension thinking invites partisan comparisons.
The states that have the most significant illegal immigrant populations are states that are operated by Republicans: Taxes, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, and Colorado. New Mexico and California are the others. You could call California a Republican state, but I’ll call it mixed.
I am not trying to belabor the R label here. I am just trying to point out that item (1) above could have been solved and wasn’t. A state could impose serious fines and solve the problem within their state. They don’t because corporations, particularly agriculture and cattle are very powerful.
Actually, Mike, Colorado is a Democrat-controlled state. And I think that you made a Freudian slip when you called Texas “Taxes.”
Also, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (2000 field report) estimates that California has the most illegal immigrants (2.2 million) and with the exception of the governor, California is run by the Dems. Other Dem-controlled states with big immigration problems are New York (ranked third with 489,000) and Illinois (ranked 4th at 432,000). So three of the top four states (Texas was ranked 2nd) with immigration issues are run by the Dems.
Personally, I feel that the Dems are soft on enforcement of immigration because they want to 1) do the “compassionate” thing and 2) provide amnesty to immigrants to curry favor and ensure that they remain in power. I don’t think that supporting illegal activity and trampling the rule of law is compassionate. I also disagree with pandering to and appeasing criminals in the hopes of staying in power.
Buzz,
Whatever the problem is, you think that Dems are (a) soft and (b) currying favor to stay in power. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, you happen to just have a one sentence answer about Dems. Excuse me if I don’t (a) believe you, and (b) believe you are capable of analyzing how other groups make policy decisions.
First, illegal immigration is hardly a democrat issue. Clinton passed IIIRA which mandated employment verification. There was significant push back by corporations. Bush made a mild attempt to enforce IIIRA provisions, but eventually abandoned the project, again due to corporate push back. (Yes, I can post links).
These facts go against your theory of dems as soft on immigration.
I don’t think there is a single Democrat who believes for a minute that we should not enforce the law. Democrats believe that the law should be enforced at the employer (verification) as it increases competition and equal pay.
I am opposed to enforcing the law through raids – although I suspect that you favor it. A business may not always know that it has illegal employees. Raids are very disruptive to businesses and they split families.
One way to insure we solve the illegals problem is to allow them to register, give them a guest worker pass for 1 – 3 years, and do significant identity verification in businesses.
Most democrats would agree with me. They want enforcement.
Most businesses, many run by Republicans, don’t want that.
Both the Dems. and the Reps. better wake up and get the illegal aliens out of this Country. Illegal aliens are destroying this Country, and if they can’t see that, they are nothing but blind to the fact.
I can’t say the ILLEGAL ALIENS are completely to blame for the shape of our economy, but they are a BIG part of the problem. The ILLEGAL ALIENS send BILLIONS upon BILLIONS out of this Country every year, money we will NEVER see again. Does this help our economy?
How about the BILLIONS the American taxpayers fork out for the ILLEGAL ALIEN BABIES, the schooling of them, the medical care and the list goes on, and on, and on.
How about the MILLIONS upon MILLIONS paid to jail ILLEGAL ALIENS for the crimes, then the cost to deport them. Does this help our economy?
Then you have these activist groups, the Catholic Church and the ACLU that want AMNESTY for these ILLEGAL ALIENS. It would be absolute suicide for this Country if AMNESTY were granted to the 20 million or so ILLEGAL ALIENS. We have more and more people out of work everyday and they want to add another 20 million to this Country? I say, “NO”!
If AMNESTY were ever granted to these 20 million ILLEGAL ALIENS, you can bet big money that 3 years from now, there would be ANOTHER 3-5 million ILLEGAL ALIENS demonstrating on our soil for AMNESTY.
An end MUST come to this illegal immigration. The perfect tool we have so far is E-Verify. It MUST be used by ALL businesses and Government Social Services. EVERY employee must be checked! If they are illegal, they are to be dismissed!
I believe it is time for all 50 States to pass a State law, like Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and a few others. It is time for these ILLEGAL ALIENS to go back to their home Country and get out of this Country. The problems they are causing will not go away until the ILLEGAL ALIENS are out of this Country. I think that is plain to see.
It’s time for ZERO TOLERENCE with these ILLEGAL ALIENS. It’s time for them to get back to their own country where they belong. when we get rid of the illegal aliens, we will get rid of all the problems tha go with them. THAT IS A FACT!
I have to say, I am always entertained by the facts yoga that continues in the comment section.
To start, I like Viking’s approach to the problem. I think that moving, those three suggestions could change the landscape, and solve 90% of the illegal problems. I am open to regularization without penalty as soon as 1 and 2 are implemented. Until then, the law is the law, and “breaking up families” will only occur if some choose to stay in the US when the person who should not have been here in the first place is sent back.
I could let Buzz handle this, but even a lego as dumb as I am can see that you are over simplifying here. This is a partisan blog, as you know, so it is not a shocker when we see that side of the issue.
The US form of government does not allow the President to pass anything, nor directly participate in the legislation process, but we do give Presidents credit when they sign bills sent to them by Congress. This bill was passed by a GOP Congress, and I have no doubt in my mind if the Dems were in control then that piece of legislation would never had been on the President’s desk. Your “proof” does not prove that Clinton was tough on illegal immigration, just that he was attune to the political realities, just the opposite of Obama on Healthcare.
Please. There are plenty of Democrats who do not support sending illegals back to their country of origin, which is enforcement of the law. That is just the tip of it. Plenty of Democrats (such as Gavin Newsome) have talked openly about disobeying the law and creating sanctuary cities. Oversimplification on your part? Maybe.
I know we have argued this before, but will add only that splitting up families is the choice of those separated. I agree with Viking that if I needed to feed my family, I would do what it took, including working illegally in another country to do it. But I could not say when I am caught that I did not break the law and should not face the consequences that I knew would come. If deported, they can take their families with them. They choose not to, and then live with the consequences.
Raids are one of the only ways of enforcing the law. The checking of ID’s by HR at hiring time is not enforcement, but a front-end check that is often rampant with fraud and abuse. Would we apply this standard this to other crimes? Check your bags at the airport, but if we miss the gun, then we can not prosecute if you pull it on a pilot? Check licenses at the door of a bar, but if you are 18 and drinking inside, then what me worry? Give sexual harassment training, but ignore the behavior if it occurs? No, none of that would work in other areas of enforcement, so why would we do it here too? No, raids are the only method of doing this, although it is distasteful to some.
This is a good idea we have had here as well. Guest worker programs benefit all. I don’t believe that if there is a person willing to do a job for $8 per hour that we should be forced to keep the position unfilled because the local population refuses to work for that amount. Economics is a good thing, and supply and demand can only be artificially reduced, and so someone’s detriment (unemployed low skilled workers, consumers forced to pay artificially high prices, businesses forced to sell inflated priced items reducing demand)
No one likes illegal immigration, as above said guest worker programs benefit all. Keep yourself and the world healthy and go green.
On Buzz’s one line solution to everything…
I know you gents believe in logic above partisanship. Logic dictates addressing facts and not platitudes. Logic also says your arguments are empty and devoid of logic is platitudes is the only thing you can offer.
Clinton signed IIIRA…
I should correctly said that Clinton signed IIIRA. The role of the President is to veto legislation he would find unacceptable. He obviously didn’t veto it and therefore gets credit. I don’t have time to look at the actual votes.
Employee verification such as with IIIRA is not new. It was initially introduced in 1971 under Peter Rodino, Democrat NJ, so the history of it is not Republican. Republicans eventually embraced and championed the idea.
Deportation, Raids, …
The US should do more to enforce the laws before hiring illegal aliens. This is a clear case of the old adage of “teach me to fish and I’ll eat every day.” A raid stops a few workers at one company; document checks at employers solves the problem everywhere and forever. It is much more economical and effective.
Some of you still think it is important to justify raids cause a guy who wants to feed his family needs a job. Reform to register and be a guest worker is far more effective.
So the debate is not about the right to deport: always had it, always will, no debate. It is about how effective is it as a strategy. I say reliance on raids is a waste of tax payers money.
And I think that you, Viking, and I probably agree with each other 90-95% on this one. Buzz seems to align well as well. Only Archie is silent to date.
I have nothing else to add to the discussion, you guys have covered all the important points. The article mirrors my own thoughts very closely.
Good post Viking.
I don’t think we’d need raids if we required an HR employee to personally sign off on every hired employee. Then make a law that provided for a 10-year prison term for that HR employee every time they hired an illegal alien.
I don’t care much for corporate fines, as the stockholders and consumers will ultimately pay the price. But, start locking up HR reps and you’ll see some change that I can believe in…
Buzz,
you would run an excellent police state. Quite efficient in your mind, no one else’s. You should consider running for dictator.
Another loony conservative idea gone wild.
Rampant population growth threatens our economy and quality of life. Immigration, both legal and illegal, are fueling this growth. I’m not talking about environmental degradation or resource depletion. I’m talking about the effect upon rising unemployment and poverty in America.
I should introduce myself. I am the author of a book titled “Five Short Blasts: A New Economic Theory Exposes The Fatal Flaw in Globalization and Its Consequences for America.” To make a long story short, my theory is that, as population density rises beyond some optimum level, per capita consumption of products begins to decline out of the need to conserve space. People who live in crowded conditions simply don’t have enough space to use and store many products. This declining per capita consumption, in the face of rising productivity (per capita output, which always rises), inevitably yields rising unemployment and poverty.
This theory has huge implications for U.S. policy toward population management, especially immigration policy. Our policies of encouraging high rates of immigration are rooted in the belief of economists that population growth is a good thing, fueling economic growth. Through most of human history, the interests of the common good and business (corporations) were both well-served by continuing population growth. For the common good, we needed more workers to man our factories, producing the goods needed for a high standard of living. This population growth translated into sales volume growth for corporations. Both were happy.
But, once an optimum population density is breached, their interests diverge. It is in the best interest of the common good to stabilize the population, avoiding an erosion of our quality of life through high unemployment and poverty. However, it is still in the interest of corporations to fuel population growth because, even though per capita consumption goes into decline, total consumption still increases. We now find ourselves in the position of having corporations and economists influencing public policy in a direction that is not in the best interest of the common good.
The U.N. ranks the U.S. with eight third world countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China – as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050. It’s absolutely imperative that our population be stabilized, and that’s impossible without dramatically reining in immigration, both legal and illegal.
If you’re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, I invite you to visit my web site at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com where you can read the preface, join in my blog discussion and, of course, purchase the book if you like. (It’s also available at Amazon.com.)
Pete Murphy
Author, “Five Short Blasts”
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