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Apr. 11th, 2006 09:35 amI am bemused and bewildered at the sudden attention immigartion is getting, as if it was an issue that's suddenly appeared. As though 11 million Mexicans tip-toed through the desert one night and showed up on people's lawns.
And what strikes me about the whole, racist mess is that everyone's looking at it the wrong way around -- criminalizing poor people who are trying to make better for their lives and their familes, as if they themselves are the issue.
If you want illegal immigration to cease being a problem (and I'm not terribly sure it is, at least as such) -- then crack down on the businesses that exploit illegal immigrants. Don't bother on the ones that pay a living wage and just don't check much paperwork -- focus on the ones that pay slave wages and create subhuman working conditions. These are the people that are creating problems and weakening our labor laws. Hit them.
And then, if you want to really solve the problem, work on bringing the standard up in Mexico. The U.S. created half its own problems when NAFTA allowed U.S. companies to move operations South of the border for cheaper labor, without insisting that those companies meet the same standard before moving. This, to my mind, was criminal, and dealt a blow to labor both here and there.
If everyone can be brought up to the same standard, then the rest is bureaucracy.
And what strikes me about the whole, racist mess is that everyone's looking at it the wrong way around -- criminalizing poor people who are trying to make better for their lives and their familes, as if they themselves are the issue.
If you want illegal immigration to cease being a problem (and I'm not terribly sure it is, at least as such) -- then crack down on the businesses that exploit illegal immigrants. Don't bother on the ones that pay a living wage and just don't check much paperwork -- focus on the ones that pay slave wages and create subhuman working conditions. These are the people that are creating problems and weakening our labor laws. Hit them.
And then, if you want to really solve the problem, work on bringing the standard up in Mexico. The U.S. created half its own problems when NAFTA allowed U.S. companies to move operations South of the border for cheaper labor, without insisting that those companies meet the same standard before moving. This, to my mind, was criminal, and dealt a blow to labor both here and there.
If everyone can be brought up to the same standard, then the rest is bureaucracy.
