Immigracion

There's been a lot of post-election analysis that's said the GOP desperately needs to modify it's 'anti-immigration' stance because doing so caused them to lose 60ish% of the Hispanic vote this year.

I'm sure there are some out there who are opposed to immigration in large numbers in and of itself, maybe because they think that immigrants take jobs of people who are already here. I think that's a pretty microscopic view of the system, seeing as how everyone's families who came here at one point potentially 'took' a job that might have been filled by someone who was already here. I also say employers have every right to hire whoever they want (I refuse to use the word 'whom' in any form, ever) and pay them whatever they want. As long as that person is willing to do the job for that pay, let them do it. If they're the best applicant for the job, go ahead. And if an immigrant is better at it or will do it for less money than someone who's already here, go ahead. The person who's already here shouldn't complain about it-they should instead get to work on making themselves more marketable-there's a job out there for everyone. And if you can't find one, start up your own thing. Steal my idea to make toaster van toasters and get to work.

But the thing that bothers me is that legal immigration often gets confused with illegal immigration, and GOP people who are strongly opposed to illegal immigration are typically labeled by the Democrats or the media (but I repeat myself) to be 'anti-immigration.' I think a lot of immigrants tend to now just think the GOP is opposed to immigration entirely-either that or these people are in favor of illegal immigration and will vote for the party least likely to prosecute them, as if anyone on the planet gets prosecuted for immigrating here illegally. Worst-case scenario, you get a free temporary bus trip back across the border and are out of the country for 2 or 3 days.

On illegal immigration I take Dennis Miller's position on it. "I'm unequivocably for legal immigration. I'm also unequivocably opposed to illegal immigration. Why? Because it's ILLEGAL."

Tonight I went with my in-laws to a real soccer game (thanks again!) and we had to walk through metal detectors and anyone with a bag was searched. Why? So someone couldn't walk into a stadium of 20,000 people and, say, ignite a dirty bomb. We're safer with security checks-why shouldn't getting into the country be the same way?

I know people who are very much in favor of open borders. I just don't think that will work-someone very dangerous and very bad will get in and something very dangerous and very bad will happen. And if you can just walk in, how will you ever pay income taxes? You'll use everything here and not have to pay for it. Roads, public services, medical care, etc.

So the fix is this. Simplify the immigration process. Give everyone a background check who wants to come in. If they're just visiting, make sure their visa checks out. Make the whole thing shorter and actually achievable-there's a reason so many people immigrate illegaly and it's not because they really like to ride in the hood of a truck. And for crying out loud, GOP, start communicating this to voters directly-the media's certainly not going to get your message out for you. Get out to hispanic communities and tell people that everyone on earth is welcome in America-we welcome you and we love to have you, and we're going to do it the right way. Let's get you here, let's get you a job, let's get you paying taxes, let's get everyone who wants to to contribute to the society of our great country. The GOP needs to be the voice of the individual, not the collective-talk to people directly. They'll listen as long as they don't perceive you as an enemy.

Amnesty-most conservatives hate the concept. I hate it too-it rewards people for breaking the law. But if we continue to oppose it we will be out of power forever-people will not wake up tomorrow and become honest, and hispanics are the largest growing ethnic group in the country. I'm not saying all hispanics are dishonest, but so many of them are either here illegally or are close friends or family members with someone who is that they now no longer feel like they have any choice in the matter. If your mother were here illegally, would you vote for the party who wants to ship her back to Dirt Clod, Mexico? Maybe things will be different with the Dems controlling all 3 branches of gov't-if there's another terror attack or if the effects of illegal immigration hurt the economy enough, maybe they'll do something about it. But until then, they'll just continue to get mileage out of it by blaming the GOP.

So if you don't like it, GOP, too bad. Find a way to make it your own. Say "OK we'll do it but we're starting with the legal immigrants first-they're the first who get citizenship. Everyone else who did it the wrong way will have to wait their turn." And then you say 'day 1 is amnesty. Day 2 is where we put into place the presto ez-immigration process. 1 background check, a $25 processing fee, a basic citizenship class and test, and you're a US citizen in 4 weeks or your money back.' People by nature don't WANT to break the law-most will do it as a last resort, or if they have an urgent family need (or if they just don't feel like jumping through all the hoops to do it correctly). So give them an incentive to do it correctly, because it's become so poisonous at the ballot box to negatively reinforce it that that's just no longer an option.

Amnesty doesn't mean having to let convicts in. Make up some rules-if you have a conviction with, I don't know-2 years or so?-then you're out. You'll get credit for being open-minded enough to be flexible and you'll be seen as reasonable enough you won't get (much) flak for keeping out felons or people with terrorist sympathies or ties. And if you can't stomach it, guess what: amnesty is pretty much already happening right now. Say you're an illegal immigrant-walk into a sherriff's office and say "I'm an illegal immigrant." No one will do anything to you. So if it's already more or less happening, you may as well get credit for it.

In closing, I leave you with a picture I drew a few years ago of a hispanic guy I saw once who was jogging through a rainstorm with a plastic bag on his head.