EckerNet.Com

As both the 2007 legislative session and the 2008 election machines begin to wind up, it\’s likely you\’ll hear all manner of talk on illegal immigration. In fact, McCain and Kennedy are expected to introduce the latest attempt at illegal immigrant amnesty this week. Alot of it is the same talking points over and over, and I understand that many people are not familiar enough with the issue to understand these talking points and the truth behind them.

Therefore, I thought I\’d throw together a quick guide on countering immigration/amnesty talking points and other phrases you are likely to hear from amnesty proponents.

\”…immigrants are just doing jobs Americans won\’t do… \”

To prove this false, one only needs to look at parts of the country where there is not a high concentration of illegal immigrants. If it were true that there are jobs that \”Americans won\’t do\”, then how do all the agricultural, construction, and service jobs get done in these parts of the country. Simple…Americans do them.

Plus in the wake of each raid by the INS, hundreds of jobs are left without workers. In every case, Americans have swarmed to fill those jobs.

There is no job American\’s won\’t do….for a fair price.

\”…there is a labor shortage in the US…\”

Unemployment is at a very low roughly 5% right now, which is not a historical low, so we\’ve been here before, and our economy managed to survive just fine. Even considering that, this unemployment rate means there are still 7 million people out there without jobs. This also doesn\’t account for persons over 16 not in the workforce, or people who are only part-time employed or underemployed.

\”…it\’s not Amnesty…\”

This is a favorite phrase for politicians like McCain, Bush and Coleman. They know that \”amnesty\” is not a popular term so they\’ll do anything to discredit it\’s use. But putting lipstick on a pig doesn\’t change that pig.

Amnesty is essentially forgiving a past offense. So far any comprehensive immigration plan has included confering legal status on illegal aliens, this is Amnesty. Granting a legal status to someone who has committed a crime is amnesty.

Pro-amnesty proponents claim that these illegals have to go to the back of the line and pay a fine. This of course ignores the fact that they get to stay in the country while \”at the back of the line\”, while those who follow the rules have to wait outside the country. It also ignores the fact that a paltry fine is not the legal punishment for breaking our immigration laws.

\”…undocumented person…\”

An illegal alien is not an undocumented person. An undocumented person is a kid who mows his neighbors lawn but doesn\’t report the $20 he earned. An undocumented worker is a pizza delivery person who doesn\’t report his tips. These are legal workers that simply work \”off the book\”, hence undocumented.

\”…we need to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows…\”

This conjures up images of bringing the boogie man into the light of day. But do you really think violent felons and/or potential terrorists are going actually come out of the shadows? They are exactly where they want to be now.

Plus even the harmless illegal aliens have incentive to stay in the shadows. By becoming legally recognized, illegal aliens become part of the system, and can demand things like minimum wage. Which destroys the entire reason employers were hiring them to begin with. It won\’t take too many employers that drop their newly legal workers in favor of illegals still in the shadows for our illegal population to get the message. That message is \”Stay in the shadows if you want to keep your job\”.

\”…we need a guest worker program…\”

Occupations with the largest immigrant influx tend to have the highest unemployment rate amongst natives. So when the jobs comes at the expense of those already here, no we don\’t need a guest worker program.

By creating a artificial surplus of labor, we destroy any incentive employers might have to raise wages, enhance benefits or improve working conditions. This in an industry that has seen stagnant wages for years. The hourly pay for blue-collar manufacturing and non-managerial service work has fallen by 3 percent in real terms since 2003.

Plus artificially increasing the supply of workers removes any incentive towards innovation, whereas a tighter labor market would force employers to gravitate towards a more efficient mode of operation.

\”…secure our border…\”

We don\’t need a \”comprehensive immigration plan\” to secure our border. The laws already on the books would allow us to secure the border. The 700-mile fence Congress already approved would help secure the border, but that fence has not been built. This despite the fact that an identical fence by San Diego has been an overwhelming success, reportedly reducing crime by 50%. Securing our border has never been part of the plan, or it would have been done already.

\”…illegal aliens are decent people…\”

I have no doubt many are decent people, but the problem is that this unregulated method of illegal immigraiton means that along with some decent people, we get alot of bad ones as well. For example, in 2004, roughly 27 percent of the federal prison population was comprised of illegal aliens, though illegals account for only about 4 percent of the overal U.S. population. When the fence went up in the San Diego area of the border, crime plummeted 50 percent in that area. The human cost of illegal immigration is huge.

That doesn\’t even take into account how many terrorists are coming in through that method. Which begs the question of why we bother inconveniencing people with elaborate security procedures at airports when our back door is wide open.

\”…illegal aliens are a hardworking people…\”

And American aren\’t?? This statement is ridiculous to the point of being offensive.

\”…we can\’t deport all 12 million illegals…\”

Nobody says we have to, but making them legal isn\’t the answer. If we provide incentives for them to leave on their own, they\’ll self-deport. And if we secure the border, they will eventually be deported by mere attrition.

And it should be pointed out that if it is in fact true, that 12 million illegal aliens is an unmanageable numbers, how do you expect to enforce their \”temporary\” status as guest workers??

\”…racist!!…\”

This has never been about race. Whether they are illegals from Mexico or France, they are illegals and do not belong here. While, it is true that hispanics get most of the attention when the illegal immigration is discussed, that is mostly because more of the illegal immigrant population is from south of our border. Already one tenth the working population of Mexico is here in the US.

\”…temporary worker…\”

There is no such thing as a temporary worker. They\’ve already shown that simply having an illegal status is not an incentive to leave. Once they\’ve been here for years and laid down roots, what motivation do they have to leave if they won\’t leave already? To believe that you can have a temporary worker is to ignore our current problem.

If Washington does not have the political will to enforce our immigration law, why should we believe they have the political will to enforce a temporary status?

\”…illegals contribute more to the economy than they cost…\”

Wrong.

Based on Census Bureau data, it is estimated that in 2002, illegal alien households used $10 billion more in federal government services than they contributed in taxes….and that\’s only counting the federal government. And if illegals were granted amnesty and started paying taxes and using services at the same level of legal immigrants of the same education, their deficit on federal government services would increase from $2700 to $7700. So while they are already costing us money, granting them amnesty would only make it worse.

\”…cheap illegal immigrant labor keepsthe cost of goods down…\”

We\’re heard horror stories of $10 heads of lettuce. But they are just that…stories. A study out of Iowa State, entitled \”How Much Is That Tomato In The Window?\” determined that the effect on retal prices would be minimal (3%). The cost of labor is such a small portion of the overal cost, that an increase in wages would barely be noticed.

When it really comes down to it, we don\’t need another amnesty for illegals. We\’ve tried it before. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but SEVEN times. An eighth doesn\’t seem likely to be the solution.

[Sources Include But Not Limited To the Following: ]

• http://www.numbersusa.com/index
• http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/guest_worker_amnesty.pdf?docID=841
• http://www.cis.org/articles/1996/back296.htm
• http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/
• http://www.theamericanresistance.com/articles/art2004jan04.html
• http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalrelease.html