Caught in a bad place of our own making

When I started this new site I made a conscious decision to avoid most of the usual politics but for some reason, probably induced by the several beers I had tonight I decided to make an exception. Originally published on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at my old site. I figure I will piss off some but as usual along with many other issues there is nothing black and white here.

A lot has been written and talked about concerning the issue of illegal immigration and its affects, both good and bad, on the United States. By now the professional talking heads have talked to the point that they are blue in the face and a lot of people, like me, are dizzy from lies, half truths, and honest points that they have brought up.
My take on this is that this country has really placed itself into a box and there are no easy answers. All parties involved in this situation had better really think long and hard on how they precede before making this even worse. But as usual, political jackals have infected every position concerning the future of immigration in this country seeking to further their position at the expense of everyone else and the cost of this will be paid for by the country as a whole.
A great many wanting the illegal’s forcefully removed do not seem to understand that estimates say there are at least twelve million illegal aliens in this country. Can anyone really envision families being herded up and forced out of the country? Anyone remember how the Nazis herded up the Jews? And this is ignoring the fact that while the mom and dad might be in this country illegally any children they had while in this country are Americans. What do we do in those situations? Send mom and dad home but place their AMERICAN kids in foster care?

But on the other hand every country has the right to control who comes into its territory and uses its services. While many immigrant groups down play the issue the medical and social services of many border states are straining, at best, to keep up with the influx of the new population. Even here in South Carolina the rise of new immigrants to many areas has caused a huge increase in indigent care provided by hospitals. The cost of such care is passed along to those that can pay raising healthcare costs for all. A great many immigrates are hard working, law abiding people just looking for a better life but that just does not give them a right to walk into this country and demand benefits and services. And what about those individuals in other countries who legally apply and wait for their chance to come over here. And the one item that really bothers me is that some states give illegal aliens in state tuition to their colleges and universities. As a middle class family we will be hard pressed to make tuition for my son and daughter to the college my wife would like them to attend outside of South Carolina.
As far as the duel arguments about illegal’s either stealing jobs from Americans or doing the dirty, low paying jobs that keep the economy afloat I’m going to be infuriating to many and say that both happens. Cheap labor provided by illegal’s are bringing down the wages of construction and some technical service jobs that at one time did have decent wages. Of course, this dove tails back to the to business types, who without any pressure from organized labor are more than willing to take advantage of this cheap labor. My next door neighbor who a few years back owned a small lawn maintenance and irrigation pump repair business was forced out of business by bigger guys with cheaper labor. Because of this, his attitude toward this issue is far closer to wanting all illegal’s removed and given how his life was overturned I’m hard pressed to argue with him. This attitude is not limited to angry white guys, many African-Americans I work with feel that this cheaper labor is going to undercut many of the gains they have achieved.
The other half of this argument is also true. Riding past the several farms that still exist in my area at harvest time you will find only immigrant labor doing the very hard work so that cheap food makes it to Wal-Mart and then your table. The same can be said about many meat and poultry processing plants that allow the BurgerClown and clones to sell its wares. I almost would like to see the immigrant labor factor removed from the equation just to see the reaction of people as the cost of food goes through the roof because farms have to pay what those services should receive.

With both business and the politicians not interested in doing much beyond what it takes to protect their interests this problem is left to fester and be influenced by those who are mainly playing for power by dividing us along social and ethnic lines. Needless to say this is not a path to any real answers, just more anger and frustration which is the last thing this country needs right now.

I'm afraid that neither those who want the illegal’s removed or those that want an open border can have their way. While it will be a major pain in the ass, some sort of wall will have to be built to at least slow the flow of immigration into this country. The size, scope, and effectiveness of such a monument will no doubt be compared to the Berlin Wall and other infamous barriers but it can be done. I find the idea of building such a wall repulsive but we have to regain control of our borders which every country has a right to do. But to upset the other side there is no way to remove those illegal’s already living here so a liberal guest worker program is the only possible solution. Well, that is my input on a nasty problem that this country has put itself in.