I don’t remember a time when we haven’t been talking about Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Both political parties use the term and at different times each party has proposed legislation that ultimately failed to pass both houses of Congress. I don’t know whether the content of Republican sponsored reform compared favorably with Democrat sponsored reform.
The fact that both parties drafted legislation would suggest there is common ground worthy of keeping the negotiations going. So what were the sticking points that prevented completion?
Why do we call it Comprehensive Immigration Reform? Why don’t we just call it Immigration Reform? So what’s wrong with our existing Immigration legislation?
From my perspective there isn’t a problem with our existing policy. There might be some issues with the number of folks we allow to emigrate from foreign lands, but the process appears sound. That would suggest the issue isn’t immigration reform at all.
In the context of the national debate the two issues are Border Security or a lack of it on our southern border and the large number of Mexicans who have entered our country illegally and have been allowed to stay for many years with the full knowledge of the government. The justification being the need for workers willing to do jobs “Americans” wouldn’t do.
The truth is the old system worked well for Mexican workers who came over the border to work for the season with some sort of seasonal work permit and then returned home for the winter. The agriculture interests needed seasonal workers and the permit system was one solution that worked but was abandoned in the 1980’s.
I had personal experience in the 1970’s of working on a corporate farm in Central Oregon where there were migrant workers who started in the spring harvesting something in Arizona and worked their way to the Canadian border as the harvest progressed north. In my case we had a couple dozen Mexicans harvesting potatoes. The important consideration was the fact that there wouldn’t have been work for those guys before or after the harvest. They would have been temporary hires for a couple weeks and they would have been laid off. The temporary worker permit system worked.
For me, the bigger issue is a lack of border security. The vast majority of illegals who cross are Mexicans but there are some folks other than Mexicans who also cross whose intentions are not just working in America but maybe harming America. Border security is a high priority for most countries in the world. The penalty for illegally entering many countries is incarceration for lengthy terms.
On our southern border we don’t send you to jail when you enter America illegally, we send you to college.
In my view the Comprehensive part of Immigration Reform is the dilemma of ten million illegal aliens who have lived here so long their kids are graduating from high school and college and who are now finding themselves in the spotlight. What do we do with all the folks who have been well behaved illegal aliens who have become contributing members of our society?
Once again it’s my view that people who enter this country illegally can never become citizens. We might grant Mexicans resident alien status that allows them to live and work here but if they didn’t enter through proper channels they can never apply for citizenship. How we might deal with foreigners of other origin is up for discussion.
And because these illegal aliens came into the country illegally they are classified similar to convicted felons in that they are never granted the right to vote or own a fire arm. I don’t insist on calling them felons but the restrictions we put on felons should apply.
Amnesty is not an option for me. There must be consequences for jumping the line and breaking the law which might also include a monetary penalty.
The bottom line for me is we don’t have to kick all of them out of the country but we do need to identify them and give them proper identification that includes fingerprints and or DNA so if they mysteriously disappear into the country there will be some way to identify them when they do turn up. The argument that aliens of any kind should not be required to have proper documentation on their person at all times when they are in public doesn’t work for me. The feel good folks would have us believe that it’s inhumane to characterize illegal aliens as criminals but we don’t hesitate if the person breaks into our house or damages our property. What is breaking into our country?
If all they want to do is work and raise their families in America and give their kids the chance to realize the American Dream the restrictions I outline here shouldn’t be a problem. The alternative is to uproot their families and go back to Mexico where the kids might be treated like foreigners.
The opportunity to become a US citizen should be a privilege reserved for aliens who entered through proper channels.
No Loss for Words 
CHINA: Ally or Adversary?
by Steve DanaWatching the drama of Hong Kong unfolding, it makes you wonder how they got into that predicament. The agreement China made with the UK was for fifty years after which China would have full control over Hong Kong. We’re only twenty years into the agreement and China is already cheating. Makes you wonder if China can be trusted to fulfill any agreement they sign. The basic answer is that China will say what it needs to say to get what they want in the long term. If it requires that they cheat on an agreement, they don’t have a problem with that.
When China was allowed into the WTO it was with the understanding that they were good citizens. Over the past 25 years, China has revealed its true character (if you didn’t already know it, they are not).
Tienanmen Square was an indication of how China deals with a population objecting to the boot on their neck. A heavier boot on their neck. China of today is as brutal a dictatorship as it was during Mao’s years in control. They dress it up on the surface for Western sensibilities. They learned to make nice with western countries only for the purposes of exploiting the West with their ridiculously cheap labor. They learned from westerners how to go back to China to turn what they learned against their teachers.
China realized after Mao that being like North Korea wouldn’t serve them in the long term. The billion people in China are a resource that can be put to work for the benefit of the state, so China became a place for cheap labor.
Later, they learned that by giving the people the chance to be capitalist on a small scale, their productivity skyrocketed. Socio/Economic policy in China has evolved into a capitalistic dictatorship. The people can have their own businesses in partnership with the government. That opportunity gives the people at least a chance to improve their own standard of living. They can drive a Mercedes car but have no voice in their government or say in how other aspects of their lives are managed.
American manufacturers were led to believe that China would be a great partner because they had a billion people available to work and a government that greased the skids to facilitate production. Did any of the companies that dumped their American workforce ever look at the human rights conditions in China before they moved? Not likely! In the effort to produce cheap crap cheaper, American manufacturers screwed American workers while forming partnerships with the devil to satisfy corporate demand for better margins. The American government allowed strategic industries to collapse in the US in favor of suppliers in China. Did anyone wonder if there was a confrontation with China, would they continue to supply steel or other strategic goods to a rival?
America is at a crossroads in our relationship with China.
Our challenge is to decide whether doing business with a country that abuses the population like China does, that wages war against trading partners with their cyber tactics, that dumps surpluses of manufactured goods on the market to weaken competitors, that regularly steals intellectual property from trading partners, that manipulates their currency to create a competitive advantage, or that charges tariffs for goods coming into China to prevent competition for Chinese companies? Do we want to be business partners with a country whose military is aggressively harassing neighbors while doing little to assist in efforts to rein in North Korea? In my view, China is a bad actor and yet we’ve intertwined our economy with theirs. Why?
The government of China should be considered hostile. Trade with China should be considered in that light. Let’s see how well China will fare without US markets.
In typical government fashion, it will be determined that trade with governments that want to defeat us is okay. China is not the only culprit in this discussion. Our neighbor to the south, Mexico is in the same boat.
The big question is, “Should the United States of America be a trading partner with a country committed to undermining our national security?” We cannot commit to trading with a country like China, then think about their human rights record or their treatment of their neighbors. Most of us as citizens think about the reputation of a vendor before we hire them to work for us. Why wouldn’t our government do the same before promoting China as a preferred trading partner?
The elected leaders in our country were seduced by China with cheap labor to produce cheap consumer goods. At the expense of our national security. Our country has no obligation to develop labor markets for companies without allegiance to the United States. Companies with only an obligation to the bottom line will do business with anyone. Aren’t we better than that?
What kind of idiots run our country?
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