Immigration

The twin specters of terrorism and tough economic times have brought the immigration debate to the forefront of American politics in a big way. The average citizen sees the flood of immigrants entering the country as a symbol of the lack of border security in the midst of a particularly dangerous time for America. In addition, the growth in illegal immigration is seen as diluting the value of citizenship, cheapening the labor pool and leading to a lower standard of living for actual citizens.

Some of the rhetoric surrounding the debate has unfortunately resorted to ethnic bigotry, but the fundamentals come down to jobs and security. Thus, the reaction to the current wave of immigration has been similar to those of prior waves of migration: The new lumps in our stew froth and steam, and sometime bubble over, in the melting process that is American society. Read more...

Scripture says that the meek shall inherit the Earth.

Guess what? It is already happening.

Among richer, more secular countries, the birthrate is not at the rate of replacement. Maintaining a steady population requires a birthrate of 2.1 In Western Europe; the birthrate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below replacement.

In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birthrate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower, at 1.2. At that rate, the working-age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy. Read more...

In the days after yet another major defeat for Republicans, there will be a lot of soul-searching within the party's leadership and I, for one, am content in knowing that they will probably take away all the wrong lessons from this momentous occasion. I'm just pleased-as-punch to see social conservatives looking for every chance to get in front of the television cameras to gloat about how their party dropped the ball by ignoring traditional values. I can barely suppress a grin when they trot out the line that we're still a "center-right" country. Read more...

Is justice an anomaly in the illegal immigration debate?

If you live in a sanctuary city it certainly is. In regard to the police, a sanctuary city is premised on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy.

How does this play out in practice? If an illegal immigrant is arrested, no one will know because immigration status will never come up in the conversation, resulting in the release of dangerous illegal immigrants on the American public. The Shaw family of Los Angeles knows this scenario all too well. Read more...

Ten states in our great country allow illegal aliens not only to attend college in their state, but to do so at in-state tuition rates. This means that aliens can break all sorts of federal laws, come into our country illegally, and then go to these states and pay cheaper tuition than citizen students from out of state. Are you kidding me?

This college tuition issue came to light recently when about three dozen students in California filed a lawsuit against the University of California, charging that it had violated federal law by allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at its campuses while maintaining higher rates for out-of-state students. Read more...

During this stage of the presidential race, you don't hear Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Barack Obama (D-Ill.) giving much attention to the illegal immigration crisis that continues to plague our nation.

There is no more important domestic issue facing America than illegal immigration, and yet we continue to avoid resolving the problem. The dilemma is that millions of people are streaming across American borders in the hope of improving their lot in life, but only a few of them are going through the proper channels to become legal citizens or documented aliens. Thus, our country is full of people who for all intents and purposes do not exist — they don’t have voting rights, they don’t have proper identification, they don’t serve on juries, and they don’t pay taxes. Read more...

Crime is the sleeper issue of this campaign, especially in Republican-leaning districts.

While on a nationwide basis violent crime is actually down, in smaller cities it is up by double-digit numbers. For example, in Indianapolis violent crime is up 27 percent, and in Jacksonville it’s up 22 percent. There are many other examples.

I have had a working theory for quite a while that the anger towards illegal immigration is only partially explained by job security. The biggest reason that many Americans dislike illegal immigration is a fear of crime.

The Democrats now sense this and are outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement, with a special emphasis on deporting people convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes. 
According to one news report, “A Homeland Security budget bill now moving through the House Appropriations Committee specifies that at least $800 million be spent after Oct. 1 to identify and remove the most violent and dangerous criminals from the U.S.” Read more...

It's time to get real. Let's ignore the politicians with their nibble-around-the-edges happy-talk "solutions" to our biggest problems, and let's talk about what it will actually take to solve them.

Why start with illegal immigration and try to ignore the bigoted hang-'em-high shamefulness of the Republican candidates? Maybe one answer is that employers need to offer wages that will attract citizens and others who are here legally. What they do now is fatten their profits by paying substandard amounts to undocumented laborers who are so desperate to stay hidden they'll accept any pittance they can get. Maybe by doing away with this shadow economy, the jobs that cause so many to sneak across the border will not be waiting for them. Read more...

As the Senate votes to proceed on the so-called DREAM Act — which will give undocumented immigrants a chance to attend college and, next week, may amend farm legislation to allow undocumented agricultural workers to win legal status — I wanted to use the history of this country as a backdrop for thinking about this debate.

To many Americans there is an easy comparison between the plight of illegal immigrants in this country today, including discrimination and lack of legal recognition, and the plight of black American sharecroppers in the South in the early 20th century. Both of these groups were essential to American businesses (and farm production) in that they provided a cheap, reliable, and relatively stable labor force. Read more...

Since Sept. 11, 2001, many states are looking for a more effective way to keep terrorists out the country. One of the major issues is whether or not illegal immigrants should be granted driver's licenses. There are millions of illegal immigrants in this country presently driving without a driver’s license or car insurance and putting many that are legal in this country in harm's way.

This does not, however, mean that state legislatures should issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants believing that it will make our roads safer. Maybe we should take a moment to define illegal. Merriam Webster defines illegal as unlawful/illicit — not morally right or conventional or not according to or authorized by law. If they broke the law to get here, they will more than likely continue to break our laws by driving without insurance, and obtain other benefits using false names. Read more...