Pondering the Immigration Issue

I've been thinking quite a bit about this issue. I don't like the evidently prominent Dem position that I heard Harry Reid articulate yesterday from the Take Back America conference: just let them pay a fee, learn English, "go to the back of the line", etc. Expand guest worker programs.

I know something about immigrants. I married one once. I taught ESL. I've known more than one who came here under questionable circumstances. I know many people come because US government policies have messed up their countries, and I can sympathize with their plights.

However, I realize we have a problem. It is my conviction that globalizing forces have sought to export as many jobs as possible, and to dilute the labor force here in the US to drive down wages. This doesn't bode well for the future of the middle class in America, and I believe this is why so many Americans are angry about illegal immigration.

If the economy was booming here and we had lots of great jobs, we probably wouldn't care so much about this issue. But it's not, and we don't. And many people in trades such as construction have been tangibly hurt by the government refusing to enforce immigration laws.

I think that Thom Hartmann (see article here) is the most reasonable person I have heard address this issue and I think that if the Dems were smart, they would start here: strengthen enforcement against employers, and a lot of the problem will go away. Reputedly, one of the first acts Bush took upon gaining the Oval Office was to dissolve the IRS group that enforced Social Security number integrity--i.e. they checked the numbers to see if they matched names and other vital statistics. If there was a discrepancy, they gave employers time to correct the error, and then that was it.

I think we should go after the employers: the people who exploit undocumented immigrants. Aggressively. For example, fine them heftily, and lock them up if they persist. And wait and see what happens. Then we can talk about other measures. But unless we start going after the people who offer the jobs and not the people who are desperate enough to take them, I believe the problem will only continue to plague us.