What a week it has been. We may or may not have just elected our first woman president. Congratulations? But it’s not over yet, and I say fight it out for as long possible. Trump has been fighting ever since he defeated Hillary four years ago, and I bet he still has some fight left.
The election is however not what this week’s blog is about. I thought about doing some fluff piece since the last couple of weeks have been stressful enough with the hurricane and learning about almost half of the country’s counties and their voting records. But I ain’t no candy ass, and neither are you, so immigration it is.
Immigration is an issue that demands serious consideration. It is no exaggeration to say lives are at stake. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice to come to or to get their children into our great land. The American Dream is something most of us take for granted, while many foreigners yearn for it. And still there is a small but very loud group screaming that the United States is the worse country on Earth.
Just seeing what people do to get here sings a different tune altogether. Some of the most patriotic people I have met are first generation immigrants. Most of us are descendants of immigrants. The horrible truth to the matter is how despicable we have been towards immigrants.
Just look at how we treated the Irish, Italians, and Chinese. This what some politicians like to call our growing pains. Much of our infrastructure was built in blood by immigration labor.
We must first understand that we should not demonize people who truly want a better life. I am sure that there is a small percentage of immigrants who just want to take advantage of our system. But I am equally sure that the majority want to come here and work hard for a good life. Our country is great, and it was made great by self-made individuals. With just a little bit of luck and whole lot of hard work, anyone can be an American success story.
So, what to do about immigration? First, we should identify the problem. There are three main issues associated with immigration: safety, high costs that puts a strain our government, and driving down the cost of labor.
We deserve to live in a safe society, and we expect our government to keep us safe. That is something we can all agree on. Do immigrants pose severe safety risks? Yes.
I am not going to bog you down with statistics of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants. For one, it’s hard to find consistent numbers. You can look at 30 different websites and get 30 contradicting numbers.
Most arrests, as it concerns illegals, is for immigration violations. If you take away immigration violation, the arrest numbers for violent crimes are still bad. One way to look at it is this is to ask the question, what is the acceptable violent crime rate for illegal immigrants?
This may seem callous, but that is the way most decisions are made anyway. Marines are told insanely acceptable casualty rates before going into battle, and those numbers will really test your nerve.
I am not a big fan of acceptable rates of failure. Manufactures are sometimes given an acceptable rejection rate of 3 in a 1,000. That may be fine when it concerns a computer component. But we are not talking about components; we are talking about lives being lost or destroyed.
So again, what is the accepted violent crimes rate of illegal aliens? At what point should we say enough is enough? 500? 1000? I am of the belief that all deaths should be that of natural causes.
There will be those who will point out that most violent crimes are committed by Americans against Americans. Should that make us feel better? I hope not. We all know there is a crime problem here, and we will get more into that down the road.
But what can we do since ICE is already pushed to the limits? I say we free them up from going after the good, hardworking people who want a better life for their families and let ‘em loose on the riff raff.
So, what about the strain on our government? This is yet another number that is hard to pinpoint. Depending on where you look, the costs to local governments is somewhere between 50 and 250 billion dollars a year.
Again, compared to the trillions we owe, that’s not a lot. Some say that because they use fake socials and pay taxes it makes it somewhat alright. That kind of mentality is very flawed.
Shame on the department of Social Security for being so incompetent that they allow this to happen. We are a leader in the free world and cannot detect fraud in our own backyard. It is disgusting.
But we shouldn’t hate the player, just the game. The two things it does hurt are the schools and hospitals. At some point we must put our children and healthcare first. We can do this and still allow immigrants to pursue their dream.
Several years ago, there was a great episode on South Park where the town was overrun by illegals, and the mantra was “they took r jobs”. We are nowhere near that, but there is a problem. It starts with businesses that routinely pay for undocumented workers.
It is hard to blame these people for working for these companies, but it is wrong. Plain and simple. When people are willing to work for nothing, it gives no incentive for businesses to pay a fair price.
Immigrants, illegal or documented, have no problem living in large households and pooling their money together to survive. That’s the only way to survive on a buck or two an hour. It is something to be applauded. Although I do not believe in a livable wage, I do believe in a fair minimum wage.
It has also been said that these are jobs Americans are too proud to do. Hogwash! Every job has a price.
When you circumvent that by paying below fair wages, you do not allow for the market to adjust. People are willing to work if you are willing to pay them. While it is illegal to pay anyone, including illegal immigrants, below the minimum wage, we all know it is going on.
One problem is that illegal immigrants have very few people to complain to. It would be like calling the cops because your dealer sold you same crap weed. The point is, we are allowing businesses to take advantage of people who just want a better life.
This is not new information, and neither is my solution. It is just a simple solution, but it would involve competency by our government. So, it may not be that simple after all.
Temporary social security cards and a probational citizenship. Instead of paying 6.2% into Social Security these new immigrants would pay between 10 and 12% for 15 years.
They must also not be convicted of any violent crimes during that period. The probational period would not give them all rights of American citizens, but most of them.
The right to vote for instance should not be given until they earn full citizenship.
They should also be required to perform a sort of community service during this period, for I feel this would go a long way to become acclimated to our society. I am not talking about picking up trash on the side of the road, more like volunteering at hospitals and libraries and such.
As for the businesses who hire undocumented aliens, there should be a meatier fine than the current 5 thousand dollars per illegal. I suggest a fine of a hundred thousand dollars per illegal and a one-million-dollar fine that would go to whatever schools are in the district of the offense. You must make punishments feel like punishments.
The wall. To build or not to build?
That’s an easy question to answer. Yes, because walls work. They are not perfect, but they do work. If not, why do people live in gated communities? In real world terms, we all live behind walls. A house is nothing more than walls and a couple doors. We could use that same concept here in the States, strong walls with a few accessible doors.
Bring us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. We want to welcome you to America; we want you to prosper. Immigration is what made us, and immigration is what is going to keep us great. We just need a way to do this in a way that makes sense.
Well, that’s about it folks, and please don’t hate your neighbors, friends, and family because of their ideology. Engage with them and you might learn something, or you might learn them something, or maybe, just maybe, y’all can find a better ideology together and it can change the world.
No matter what, the sun always rises, and the Falcon blew a 28-3 lead. Have a great week and remember Jimmy V’s three things.