"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME..."
by Charley Clements

1/30/2004


A rose by any other name is still a rose, but the same holds true for a pile of horse manure.

The recently proposed "non-amnesty" amnesty programs suggested by President Bush, and now being worked on by Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress, all have a distinct aroma -- and it ain't rosy.

Our government is now telling us that our borders are out of control (big surprise), illegal entry into our country is unstoppable, the huge number of illegals already here is impossible for immigration authorities to deal with, and the only way to solve the problem of all those illegals is to --believe it or not-- just legalize them.

At a time when millions of American workers are either unemployed or under-employed, our government has just guaranteed that the flood of illegals pouring across our borders seeking jobs will increase exponentially before any of the proposed legislation is even voted on. In the three week period following President Bush's initial announcement, the number of illegals crossing the border was reported to have increased by 15 percent, and you can bet your boots that the numbers are not going to decrease while congress fiddles around trying to make the eventual legislation smell better.

With all due respect to President Bush, some of the statements that he made in his announcement are a living testimony to the absolute disconnect between the average citizen and the political elites in government.

The president said that new immigration laws should serve the economic needs of our country, and if an American employer is offering a job that American citizens are not willing to take, we ought to welcome into our country a person who will fill that job.

First of all, you need to understand that when politicians talk about the economic needs of our country, they are referring to the economic needs of big business and the corporate fat cats -- not the economic needs of Joe Citizen. There was a time when it really was true that "what was good for General Motors was good for the country" -- but that time is long past. The big corporations of today save millions of dollars by exporting American jobs to third-world countries whenever possible, and importing low cost foreign workers to fill the jobs that have to be performed here. Welcoming into our country foreigners who will take jobs at lower wages artificially depresses wages and results in unfair competition for the American workers who might be more than willing to take any job. To add insult to injury, out of work engineers, programmers, skilled craftsmen and other American workers desperate for some kind of paycheck to feed their families are repeatedly rejected for low paying jobs because they are over qualified.

Exporting American jobs overseas and importing foreign workers --illegal or otherwise-- to fill what jobs are left is good for the economy of big business and foreign nations, but it does nothing to help unemployed Joe Citizen feed his kids.

By the way -- did I mention that more than a few of those millions of dollars that the large corporations are saving go for campaign contributions to both of the major political parties? Do you reckon that might have something to do with why Joe can't find a job?

Aside from the fact that middle class America is doomed to extinction within a few short years unless drastic steps are taken to protect American jobs, there are other serious issues related to our government's new proposed "come on in, y'all" policies, including protecting the safety of our citizens and preserving American values and our way of life.

At a time when we are still reeling from the shock of terrorist attacks against our citizens on our sovereign soil by foreigners who shouldn't have been allowed here in the first place, and at a time when we still live in daily fear of another such attack, wouldn't it stand to reason that our absolute highest priority would be to secure our borders and severely limit entry into our country? For those who would say " that wouldn't be the American way" or "such drastic measures are uncalled for" I would simply reply "Tell that to the families of the 911 victims." Our borders should have been locked down the day after 911. Testifying before the Congress in 2002, Immigration Commissioner Joseph Greene said: "Information available to the INS indicates terrorist organizations often use human smuggling operations to move around the globe." And Mexican national security adviser Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said in May 2001 that "Spanish and Islamic terrorist groups are using Mexico as a refuge." I would suggest that our "war on terrorism" has no credibility what so ever until and unless we secure our borders.

Life in America has changed since 911, but even if the events of 911 had not happened, and even if terrorists no longer existed, life in America is changing. Defenders of "open doors" policies and "open borders" are fond of saying that America is a nation of immigrants, and that America still needs immigrants. Both of those statements are only partially true. As of the moment, the majority of Americans are actually descendants of immigrants rather than immigrants, and there is a real question as to the number of new immigrants that we actually "need" -- or can even tolerate. And there are also real questions as to the definition of "immigrants" and what we as a nation should be able to expect from them.

To begin with, illegal immigrants are not immigrants at all -- they are criminal trespassers, and they should be dealt with accordingly.

Immigrants are the people who come to our country legally, with our permission and our blessings, and we have every right to expect that they come here with the intentions of becoming Americans -- eager to learn our language, our history, our customs, our morals, our values and our American way of life, and eager to fit in and make their contribution to our society.

We have absolutely no reason to welcome or even tolerate those who come here to colonize our cities, bankrupt our health care, welfare and education systems, and can't even be bothered to learn to speak our language.

President Bush is right about one thing -- we do need immigration reform. But that needs to begin with a lock-down of our borders and the deportation or incarceration of every single criminal trespasser in our country. Then and only then should we proceed with putting into place a new immigration program that will allow us to selectively invite and welcome immigrants as our needs dictate and our means allow.

Unfortunately, our government is poised to do none of the above. President Bush has outlined his suggested policy, and the Republicans and Democrats in congress are working on their version, and somewhere down the road some sort of new legislation will be voted on.

Whether it will benefit the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, big business and the corporate fat cats, or Joe Citizen, and whether it will be good for India, Pakistan, China and Mexico, or America, is a foregone conclusion -- unless all the Joe Citizens across this nation stand up now and scream like a stuck hog. And I do mean now, and I do mean scream.

Write, call, fax and email your congress critters and while you're at it, write President Bush and tell him you would like to see some of that "compassionate conservatism" directed at us for a change.

And let them all know that we don't expect life in America to always be a bed of roses, but we are getting pretty fed up with that constant smell of horse manure.


Recommended reading:

Immigrations Human Cost
Federation For American Immigration Reform
Center for Immigration Studies
Project USA
U.S. Immigration Reform Pac
NumbersUSA Action
Contact Your Representative
Contact Your Senator