I am working on a much longer post about the current immigration “reforms” being bandied about, but until I go did up a paper I wrote 2 years ago tearing Bushy’s temporary worker program to bits I thought I would spout a little from the top of my head.
First, I am tickled pink by the good people in LA and DC who have protested this atrocious bit of legislation. The LA Times has an article about how a local DJ brought the people to the streets
Second, the temporary workers program basically creates a slave class of foreign workers with no legal rights. The bit that makes it a felony to not follow every single one of the complicated immigration rules retroactively means that most of the legal immigrants, even ones who have become citizens would be felons.
Finally, we rely on illegal immigrants more than anyone wants to admit to. Without them our food would be much more expensive and they contribute more to society than they actually take from it. I am working on the numbers and will explain more when I’m not just spouting.
Till then Vivan Los Immigrantes!
I agree that illegals and immigrants (I almost called them immies), helps save us billions, but I also agree with the minority wing of the Sierra Club that by allowing immigrants entry we allow countries to ignore their own problems. One reason so many Mexicans come here is that their population is growing faster than ours and faster than Mexico can create jobs. By producing more people these nations put ecological pressure on the entire planet.
Another aspect to consider is that the illegals do allow us produce cheap food and lead to overproduction that, again, puts pressure on the entire eco-system. I know I would killed if I said that maybe cheap food is not such a good idea, but I just said it.
Another thing to ponder is that illegals perform jobs that most Americans deem beneath them. I.e., the jobs don’t pay enough. Essentially, this keeps wages low across the board and continues to put power in the hands of the mega-rich who control the economy and thus the entire political process.
I am thinking this comment might be better in the main blog. What do you think?
We agree on a lot of points, but short of a major overhaul of agriculture subsidies and international trade practices that make the same jobs illegals are doing here profitable in their own countries the system we have for now actually works in a way.
Wow- could I have qualified that answer anymore- actually, kinda, in a way. Damn. I’ll try to be more succinct in the future.
My selected lessons from the protests:
1) Immigrant labor is like crack cocaine to agribusiness, the hospitality industry, and (what’s left of) the garment industry;
2) Given their numbers, we have no hope of deporting the illegals, regardless of whether we want to;
3) Red Queen is correct that without agricultural subsidy (and land ownership) reform, it will be impossible to “keep them down on the farm”;
4) Such a huge potential pool of new , “eternally grateful” voters has both parties salivating so much that no plausible long-term solution will be seriously debated, and we’ll be revisiting this issue again sooner than we would wish and with even more severely limited political options.
Free movement of labor across international boundaries is the last frontier of globalization. Multi-national corporations are quickly making national governments meaningless.
The Sierra Club is right about the effects of unregulated immigration on the environment but their economics are fuzzy. We have two choices, export the jobs, or import the cheap labor; otherwise, we can only maintain locally consumed services and production of perishables and agricultural commodities. The environment will suffer either way.
-M
I am aware of the impracticality of returning illegals. “Hey, Senor Presidente, we have a deilvery for you!” And I do not expect a sudden shift to help labor move equitably across borders, but that part of the equation should be part of the conversation.