Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Illegal? No problem?
Immigration policy has been in the background of the news lately with the driver's license laws in California and the out-of-control Citizen's Boarder Patrol. The rights of illegal immigrants have come into question several times . I don't believe illegal immigrants should be able to collect the benefits of citizenship or legal immigrant status, including a free and public education. I also don't believe that the children of illegal immigrants should be able to participate in government programs even if they were born in the United States. The only real consequence for being illegally in the U.S. is to be deported, unless, of course, the person is of middle eastern origin (that is a different matter entirely). Only emergency medical care should be provided to those in the country illegally. For everything else, they're on their own. There is no reason why some people should be able to chose to bypass the legal immigration system and reap any kind of benefits. How do you feel about illegal immigrants receiving government services?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
I know, and that's wrong. If their parents are going through legal channels and arein the US when the kids are born, they should be citizens, but if their pasrens are here illegally, I think they should all be sent back to their country and the kids should recieve no benefits.
would it change your view if you knew that the u.s. only issues a few thousand work visas per year to manual laborers?
the u.s. needs these people, our businesses are begging them to be here, yet we force them to go through illegal means to get here.
i think u.s. immigration policy is totally screwed up, and not only for central american immigrants. for example, i think we need more smart people from places like china and india. our country has already benefited emmensely (sp?) from these folks in the past, yet it is harder than ever for them to stay here.
when i was in dc, i had many chinese friends who worked at the national institutes of health as researchers. they were always afraid of going back to china because immigration officers could hold them up there even if they had a valid contract with the n.i.h. same goes with graduate students.
these guys would love to live in america, and many perservere through the whole process, but i'm just thinking about the tens of thousands that decide to stay home where opportunities are growing, especially for smart entrepreneurs.
I already know how many visa are issued and it doesn't change my opinion. There are Americans to fill those jobs. If there is a need, they will be filled. Maybe the work visa policy needs to be revamped and more people need to be allowed in on work visas. I have family here on work visas. I also have family who can't get into the country to come to a wedding because the amount of vacation visas to Latin America has been reduced because people stay illegally and because people come into the country illegally.
It's a problem that needs to be addressed. Just today I read about a young man who just returned from Iraq who was turned down for instate tuition here in Texas, where he has lived all his life. Instead for charging him $500. for in state tuition the community college wanted $ 2,500. for out of state tuition. Now heres the kicker, illegals are allowed to get in for instate tuition. This was voted in about three years ago. Now, do you see something wrong here?
I have seen illegals get free health care when regular citizens, that don't have health care, are denied health care because they can't pay for it.
Our states are paying for the children of illegals to get free schooling. The California school system is in dire trouble because of educating over 1 million illegal children. The problem here is that the illegals are not paying taxes like you and me. Their "non-tax dollars" are not helping to educate their children.
I have a friend who's father lives in El Salvador and he comes to the US when he needs surgery and it gets paid for by Medicare. He's not even a US citizen.
I don't mind people coming into this country legally, paying taxes and doing just like you and me. They need to pay their share.
The last two, maybe four, presidents have turned a blind eye to the immigration problems. I still am baffled about that.
Lucy, Welcome!
I have family who are immigrants to this country and they work hard. Becaue they're spanish speaking, people assume they're illegal. We've run into a lot of other problems as well, and most of them stem from the large population of illegal immigrants in this country. I don't know how to solve the problem, but something has to be done. Our government is hemorraging money because of it.
I don't agree with illegal immigrants receiving free government services. However, I'm undecided about their children. The reason is because these children actually have a shot at a decent life for themselves if they can stay in one place, get a good education, and not be uprooted only to start over somewhere else and lose ground. I've seen it happen too many times and it makes me sad. It's not the children's faults that the parents made the decision to come here illegally.
It's hard to deal with the kids, and I wish there was a beter way, but we just don't have the money in our social programs to grant citizenship to the children of those int he US illegally. We have enough problems with the children of those in the country leagally and all of our citizenry. I know it's selfish, but our government needs to take care of its citizens first, and those in the country legally next. For illegals, we should only be spending money on emegergency medical care if they can't pay and the cost of deportation. If we stopped supporting illegal immigrants, we would be able to actually support our troops.
PC - Wow. I was totally surprised you have the position you have. I totally agree with you. When I saw the title of your post, I thought we'd have to agree to disagree on this one, but I'm totally in agreement with you.
Illegals are a huge problem here in Southern California. They drive up our insurance rates. They drive around illegal cars that don't come close to passing smog. Their kids are bringing down our test scores so that dumb No Child Left Behind program is raining fire on our schools here. It's a huge mess.
Also, they bring a lot of gangs and violence to SoCal. This place used to be so beautiful. People don't believe me when I tell them how gorgeous it was in the 70s. Now it's bumper to bumper traffic.
polanco wrote: "There are Americans to fill those jobs. If there is a need, they will be filled."
i agree with the second sentence, but not the first. immigrants have long come to the u.s. and done tough, manual labor for peanuts. that's the american way. it was that way with the irish, with the chinese (before the exclusion act), with the eastern europeans (think of sinclair's "the jungle")
... those people were allowed to enter legally because immigration law realized the need for such workers. our current immigration law is not realistic. i say change the immigration law and you will solve the problem from here on out. of course, there is still the problem of illegals here NOW, but the least we can do is make sure it's not a problem going forward.
Zombie, why are you so surprised?
TS - Americans don't fill those jobs because of arrogance and they know someone will do them. We could more than fill the job market if illegals weren't working. I have no problem with LEGAL immigrants filling those jobs, but not in the place of an eligible American. We need to take care of our own people first. There are enough people on government assistance who can work but don't to step up and take these positions. If they decided they're too good for these jobs, they shouldn't get government funds. This, if course, does present a childcare issue, but I hae ways to solve that, as well.
Clear -
True, and I was going to mention tthat, buit I didn't want to deal with the shitstorm that could possibly follow. I agree, our kids need responsibility and a good work ethi. I've worked since I was 13, and so has my husband. All of my friends had jobs by 15, and we all had savings accounts and money to spend in college.
PS - as my students are no longer reading his, feel free to cuss away, but let's no direct it at each other.
Let me also point out that as a result of working, my grades were better because I had to finish homework before work, I stayed out of trouble (no drinking or pot until I was in college), and I NEVER had to ask my parents for money. I only did it once and got a lecture on money management and $5 to fill the car with gas to get to work. For the next two months my mom closely monitored my spending, then she sat down with me and worked out a budget.
I have no problem with LEGAL immigrants filling those jobs, but not in the place of an eligible American. We need to take care of our own people first.
PC - you rock! I'm surprised the Political Correct police haven't stormed on your door for saying that. Here in SoCal, they'd have a cow.
Why is it that everyone else is allowed to take care of themselves, but when an American says we need to take care of Americans first and everyone else second, people go apesh*t?
My industry has been in the gutter for years now (software engineering). They laid off all the Americans and kept the H1-B visa people simply because 1) those people work for cheaper, 2) they're desperate, so they'll put up with all kinds of crap Americans won't put up with, like working 70 hours a week.
Thanks for this post, PC. You really made my day, and you did a wonderful job defending your position too.
Thanks!
"they laid off all the Americans and kept the H1-B visa people ..."
hey, they can sponsor an H-1B or offshore it. take your pick, zombie.
the president of the american electronics association has a good article on why america should be encouraging immigrants to work in the IT sector. it was published on siliconvalley.com yesterday:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12405675.htm
Ts - If I were running this country, I'd end the H1-B visa program and tax outsourcing. It's that simple.
H1-B visa program was setup to undercut American workers and everyone who works in the IT industry knows that.
I have a good friend who's here on that program, also a cousin. I also disagree. As much as I love them both, we are outsourcing too many jobs and have too many Americans out of work for them to be taking those jobs.
I talked to my brother (foster, the "good friend" mentioned above). I refer to him as a friend because we're not blood, but he is most definitely my brother. Anyway, we discussed this and he agrees hat Americans need to take care of themselves even if this means he's out of a job. He also asked me to point out that he had to pay to advertize his job in the paper in case an eligible American wanted it.
Post a Comment