How About Amnesty for Loyal,
Hardworking Americans?
Written by
Robert Klein Engler
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Most people realize that amnesty for illegal
immigrants to the U. S. will not solve our immigration
problems. It draws more illegal immigrants to the U. S. the
way a magnet draws up iron filings. The stronger the magnet,
the more it draws up iron. The more amnesty we grant, the more
illegal immigrants we attract.
Perhaps there
is a better solution to our immigration problem than granting
amnesty to illegal immigrants. Instead of giving amnesty to
those who break our laws and come into our country illegally,
let’s give amnesty to those hardworking U. S. citizens who
have had their lives irreversibly harmed by a flood of illegal
immigrants.
To start, we
could give amnesty to those police officers that want to
report illegal immigrants but can’t because political
shortsightedness makes the cities where they enforce the law
sanctuary cities. Then, we could give amnesty to taxpayers who
pay high property tax bills to educate and give health care to
illegal immigrants. What about amnesty on overdue mortgages
for those Americans who have lost their jobs because illegal
immigrants have driven them out of work or driven down their
salaries? That, too, would be a justifiable amnesty.
Tony Brown,
author of What Mama Taught Me, knows how Black
Americans are injured by illegal immigration. He writes, “the
U. S. Census Bureau reported in the NY Times...the poor Black
and Latino communities lose the most income of any group of
Americans, including all Americans who did not finish high
school and all Americans who are paying higher taxes to
subsidize welfare benefits for illegal immigrants and
businesses that hire them.” Let’s have amnesty for these
Americans, instead of Affirmative Action for Latinos.
Amnesty for
the overdue bills and high credit card interest rates for
those working in janitorial and public service jobs would help
many U. S. citizens, too. The Federation for American
Immigration Reform reports, “a GAO study found that a decade
of heavy immigration to Los Angeles had changed the janitorial
industry from a mostly native Black, unionized workforce to
one of non-unionized Latinos, many of whom were illegal
aliens...the employment of Black Americans as hotel workers in
California dropped 30 percent in the 1980s, while the number
of immigrants with such jobs rose 166 percent.” A similar
story can be told today of the garment industry, the
restaurant business, hospital work, and public service jobs.
Let’s have
amnesty as well for the working Americans whose neighborhoods
have been overturned because of an influx of illegal
immigrants. Margaret Bianculli-Dyber is one of thousands who
have felt the effects of illegal immigration. She is a
resident of Farmingville and President of The Sachem Quality
of Life Organization and could use some type of amnesty for
her disappointment.
Margaret says,
“...Because of a plentiful supply of cheap labor, my husband’s
wages are held down, and I have to work. Now, because of all
the Mexicans, my property values have fallen $18,000 in four
years. So, I can’t afford to sell my house for a profit and
move away” (Kamber, The Village Voice. August 8-14,
2001).
Even those
immigrants who were granted amnesty in the past do not want
amnesty for today’s flood of illegal immigrants coming into
the country. In his article on unskilled workers, Jerry Kammer
of Copley News Services writes: “Many labor economists and
immigration experts dismiss the notion that a shortage of
low-wage workers exists, saying Bush’s plan would help sustain
a glut of low-wage workers that is pushing down labor costs in
an expanding array of U. S. industries.” Kammer continues,
“Immigration of unskilled immigrants comes at a cost to
unskilled U. S. workers, particularly established immigrants
for whom new immigrants are economic substitutes.”
In the spirit
of reconciliation, maybe we ought to have amnesty for those
politicians who are mistaken, too. But only after they
institute better border controls! We hear these politicians
claim that the Arizona border with Mexico is no place for
citizen observers. They claim the border is dangerous. Armed
smugglers bring people, drugs and contraband across that
border into the U. S. all the time. The notorious gang MS-13
and “coyotes” control much of the territory.
Do our
politicians realize what they are saying? Do they read their
own press releases? The very argument against “vigilantes” on
our southern border is the proof we need to put the National
Guard there. If the border is as dangerous as our politicians
claim, then they are shirking their responsibility to protect
this nation by letting the border remain wide open. It is
duplicitous to condemn the volunteer, border observers, while
at the same time refusing to enforce the very laws politicians
claim all should respect. If they insist on amnesty for
millions of illegal Mexicans, then lets have amnesty also for
hardworking, U. S. citizens harmed by out of control
immigration.
About the Writer: Robert Klein Engler is an adjuct
professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a versatile
writer of op-ed articles, poetry, and philosophy. His newest
book, "A Winter of Words," is available from amazon.com.
Source:
http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=13928&catcode=13 |
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