Posted by
daddontsk8 on Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:18:16 PM
Illegal immigration is one of the hottest issues of the current political season. Illegal immigration offends union members, it offends the sensibilities of those concerned about homeland security and terrorism, it offends taxpayers. Many Americans are looking to the federal government to solve the problem, but Congress has been unable or unwilling to debate the issue this year because of the upcoming elections, and the President is hamstrung on the issue because his own party is divided on the issue.
Even if Congress and the President can agree on an immigration reform measure that includes border security, a "path to citizenship" or some combination of both, individual Americans have an opportunity to virtually solve the problem overnight.
Each of us has the ability to enforce our own position on the immigration debate by our own actions. Immigrants, legal and illegal, come to this country for the opportunity to improve their lives and the lives of their families. They come here for economic opportunity, educational opportunity, and for the social services that are designed to lift the poorest families in this country out of poverty. The key is economics. More money and first world lifestyle is a vast improvement to the abject poverty and lack of government services that many who are here illegally are trying to escape.
What would happen if the economic opportunities that this country offers is significantly reduced? If a potential illegal immigrant knew that there are few opportunities in America, would that potential illegal immigrant think twice about coming? One could argue that the poverty the potential illegal immigrant is escaping is so stifling that anything would be better. But from the perspective of the potential illegal immigrant, they have three real options to improve their economic position.
Option one: do nothing and remain in abject poverty.
Option Two: move to a part of his own country that may have greater economic opportunity. For Mexico that might include the northern part of the country.
Option three: spend everything you have to hire someone to get you to America, where your economic opportunities are now much more limited than in years past.
If the economic opportunity in the US is reduced, classic economic theory would suggest that the risk-reward ratio would be too high for many wouldbe immigrants and they would elect option two.
Fewer people attempting to enter the US for economic reasons means a greater percentage entering for other reasons like harm to the homeland. Border patrol will have a better ability to protect us all from those seeking to do this country overt harm.
So how can each of us have an impact on illegal immigration? Stop supporting illegals by not hiring them to mow your lawn, clean your house, watch your children, cut your hair, paint your house. Do not hire any company you suspect hires illegal immigrants AND tell them why you are not using them. It won't take long for businesses to get the message. Not everyone would support this kind of economic freeze-out, but if businesses lost even 25% of their business over the issue, hiring practices would change almost overnight. Many here illegally might eventually be convinced to go home of their own free will. Many more wouldn't even embark on such a dangerous journey.
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