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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (59805)	6/10/2007 12:16:41 PM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

"Right now we have near non-existent enforcement of immigration laws & numerous incentives for illegals to stay (social services, free education, health care, welfare, etc.). Remove the incentives & enforce the laws rigorously, sans the "wild west roundups" & you will see them head back to their home countries PDQ." The primary incentive for them to come is jobs. Second, in some cases, may be political. Social services like education for their kids probably adds to the attractiveness of coming, but that is paid for mostly with local sales taxes, which they certainly pay, and property taxes, which they pay as part of their rent - in both cases to the same degree that ANY low income family would pay. As for other services, there is little beyond health care that they can get and that's a humanitarian choice I think most Americans agree with - some basic level of care regardless of ability to pay. Besides, as I noted earlier, with citations, even the anti-reform think tank estimates are that they are far less of a net cost per household than other, legal, low income households. In any case, the only way to stem the flow in the future is by removing the jobs incentive for coming illegally. This bill does that by 1) making it possible (and required) for employers to verify - instantly - any applicant's work eligibility, and 2) removing or reducing the incentive for employers to cheat by making it possible to hire temporary immigrant workers legally. If, then, employers are no longer hiring illegals, they will stop coming. No border fence or army of border agents can accomplish much if you don't correct the incentives that draw people and the biggest incentive, by far, is employment. And just saying "let's crack down on employers, first" won't do it. Enforcement without providing the tools that enable compliance would be a legal nightmare for honest businesses and doesn't remove the incentive for dishonest ones to hire illegals anyway. As for "see[ing] them head back to their home countries PDQ", I don't think that law enforcement can do that without "wild west roundups" (the "operation wetback" approach) and I doubt any change of economic incentives that would be palatable to the rest of us would have the effect you describe. You have to destroy several million jobs in this country, but not in their home countries (note that when the US gets economically sick, so do our trading partners), and you can't exactly target a major recession/depression to hit only low income, immigrant-held jobs. No, the ones here illegally, but otherwise working and living normal, non-criminal lives, need to stay - for our economic well-being as well as their own. Finally, with the improved systems for employer hiring and enforcement, and with the huge incentive for coming forward, becoming legal and getting documented, the only ones left undocumented and still illegal will be the ones we really do want to kick out of the country. With far fewer employers willing to break the law to hire them on purpose (because they can hire others legally) and effectively none hiring them unknowingly (because of instant verification), they will have far less incentive to stay. And if they stay to engage in criminal activity, will be eventually caught and jailed or deported anyway. So, we could pass this bill and do all this, or we could stomp our feet and refuse to pass anything, and remain in the exact same position we are in today. I don't think doing nothing is a very good idea, but it appears that many on the angry, stubborn right do.