Illegal Immigration Fine!
Well, no it isn't. But, that's the message we're sending with the laughable enforcement efforts on businesses who hire illegals. How many businesses were fined for this in 2004? Three. Yes, in the entire USA, in 2004, only three businesses were fined for hiring illegals. The chart is at the link below, in a Lou Dobbs column from CNN. Dobbs says to the president, "Do you take us for fools?" Apparently so. Dobbs writes:
Reports this week that the Border Patrol is notifying the Mexican government of the locations of Minutemen volunteers are being denied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. True or not, the Bush administration continues to follow absurd policies on both issues of border security and illegal immigration.President Bush continues to push his guest worker program and amnesty for anywhere between 11 million and 20 million illegal aliens, and he insists still that nothing less than what he calls comprehensive immigration reform is acceptable.
And the lies keep coming from both political parties. This president is not enforcing the immigration laws enacted by Congress, and this Congress is failing in its duty of oversight to demand that those laws be followed.
Only a fool, Mr. President, Sen. Kennedy, Sen. McCain, would believe you when you speak of new legislation. You don't enforce the laws now.
Would you do so if the law were more to your liking? Would you secure our borders and ports? Would you halt illegal immigration? Those are rhetorical questions, only, I assure you. The answers are obvious; obvious because of your conduct.
As many as 3 million illegal aliens continue to cross our border with Mexico each year. Enforcement against illegal employers of illegal aliens in this country is all but nonexistent, Mr. President. How do you explain that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have all but ended their investigations and inspections of employers that hire illegal aliens? Again, only a rhetorical question, because we all know the answer.
> Only a fool, Mr. President, Sen. Kennedy,
> Sen. McCain, would believe you
These guys aren't our leaders, they're our hired help. The hypocracy isn't theirs... It belongs to the millions of voters who exploit the cheap labor and then whine about the stress on social services. These government types are doing what they're told.
Also, and perhaps more importantly, Lou Dobbs is full of shit.
* Dobbs is F/S Exhibit A: http://tinyurl.com/zxfn2
(That's an excerpt. The entire article is brilliant. If the link to the whole article fails, send me an email and we'll work something out)
* Dobbs is F/S Exhibit B: http://tinyurl.com/z9mds
OK, maybe Dobbs isn't worth picking on. But I'm almost 50, and we've been mocking TV news people my whole life. It's always amazing when these people are ascribed any credibility at all... They never actually seem to have built anything or studied anything in their whole lives. But all those promos with Bochco-style tinted footage of them toiling and sweating in the newsroom seem to convince us that they know what they're talking about.
They don't! They don't, they don't.
markcridland@Hotmial.con
Crid at May 11, 2006 10:17 AM
Punishing businessmen who illegally hire illegal immigrants isn't going to do any good now. It might have been a good deterrent if it were used before the problem got out of hand. But it's too late. The illegal immigrants who are already here aren't going to leave, and so many companies hire illegals that you could only prosecute a handful of them.
This story also illustrates why it doesn't matter a whit what Congress does about this immigration problem. Within a year, whatever they pass will be forgotten and unenforced, just like the laws against hiring illegals are now.
Gary S. at May 11, 2006 9:10 PM
It's entirely unpatriotic, and frankly, creepy, to hire illegals...since I doubt many people pay them what could be considered a reasonable living wage.
Why wouldn't punishing businesspeople who hire illegals do any good? If somebody said, "Yo, jailtime if you hire illegals," I bet that would have an effect. Prosecute as many companies as you can.
"These government types are doing what they're told."
Yes, they are -- by the largely uninterested electorate. An interested electorate wouldn't have had Kerry and Bush running in the last election -- both disgusting and unqualified in their own special ways for the office of president (or any high office, for that matter).
Amy Alkon at May 11, 2006 9:40 PM
> punishing businesspeople who hire illegals
It ain't always businesspeople. At the new Home Depot in Burbank, there's a sweet outdoor lounge area (kinda like a picnic shelter) for immigrant laborers, though the sign says something like "Temporary Workers." Anyway, I listened to Prager a few weeks ago and he talked about how Valley housewives feel perfectly safe picking up a truckload of these guys to bring them back to the house to install the new garden shed or whatnot.
Today's LA weekly has a passage in wihch a black guy concerned with the fate of black construction workers in LA complains about America continuing to bring in slave labor. It's an important point... But apparently, we need the cheap labor to make this run. Another thing heard on the radio last week was that 40% of Mexican laborers IN MEXICO are working for American wages.
Crid at May 12, 2006 12:06 AM
Thanks, Crid...I meant them, too.
Amy Alkon at May 12, 2006 12:14 AM
The concept of immigrant legalization through statehood has never surfaced. If all these people want to be citizens of the US, how about starting a debate on the pros and cons of Mexico, or parts there of, applying for statehood.
Bill Faber
Bill Faber at May 22, 2006 7:18 PM
Leave a comment