Illegal immigration –

We the people were told by our leaders that between 12 to 20 million foreign workers somehow (illegally) crossed our borders and somehow intertwined in our economy. If they produce something (or provide services), that means that they are needed. Governor Romney said that if he would become the president, he would bus all illegal immigrants to the borders and will get rid of all of them. He lost me there. What would happen if we would kick all of those workers out? What will happen to our economy if we will take out 12 to 20 million workers? Who will fill their places? We have 5% unemployment, and for all practical reasons there are no spare hands to infuse into the low paying jobs. We probably will have to beg them to come back, will bus them in and offer incentives.

Those people came here illegally. Those people broke our laws. On the other hand they didn’t come here to kill, sabotage or still from us. They came here to work…. but they came here illegally. Is it a moral dilemma? Yes it is. No, it is not. We allowed them to come here. No one in his/her sane mind would think even for a short moment that the Soviet Union, North Korea, German Democratic Republic and many others could close their borders in mid-XX century, but we, the mighty Americans, can’t. If we didn’t know how to do it, why we didn’t invite Israelis? Two presidents, Clinton and Bush equally to be blamed for this mess. We the people were also waiting for a long time to voice our opposition to the situation, we are also to blame. 

We know that many people are waiting for years to go though the red tape and get here legally. Tough luck. I am one of them, who was waiting for almost four years, and was very very lucky to get in. There are many things in life that are unfair and this is one of them. We have 12 to 20 million illegals in the country who work here, live here, get sick here, drive cars here, get married here, bore children who enter our schools, and all of those people are somehow out of the circle of our normal life.

Yes, they get sick here and go to hospitals. We pay for them. Their employers pay them bare minimums, then they go to hospitals and we the people pay their health bills. Who else? Not their employers, but WE. Then illegally immigrated children go to schools, and we the people pay for their education. Not they or their employers, but WE. We subsidize roads they drive on. We the people pay local administration, pay police, pay for light on the streets – they themselves and the employers (who profit from their labor) pay nothing. I want all people who live and work in the US to get at least minimum wages, with lawful taxes paid by themselves and their employers. This way they will pay for education of their children, medical expenses and everything else what the state provide to its citizens.

Ever more ridiculous idea o handling this illegal immigrations problem then the one that Romney came up with, I have heard from Senator Obama. He offered to make all illegal immigrants to pay back taxes for all years they worked here, At the same time he said that no worker in the United States who earns under seventy thousand dollars a year will pay taxes. So, will they pay… or not? Retroactively at what rate? Who will know how much they earned in previous years and how many years they were here? Another question is - would they want to came out of hiding to pay those back taxes? Do they have money to buy the US citizenship? Will we kick them out if they don’t?

This is what many of the people whom I discussed this problem are saying:

1. Enact laws/rules/regulations to make it a crime to hire people without proper employment authorization, with rather steep penalties for breaking these rules.

2. Expand and simplify guest worker program to allow demand for workers to be easily met. Make it very easy to understand and implement, and advertise in Mexico and other neighboring countries.

3. Amend the "birth rights" law, denying automatic citizenship to the children born in the USA to those parents who are not here legally.

4. Cut off free benefits, welfare, schools, Medicaid (keep only emergency healthcare)

5. Seal off the borders (to keep terrorists, criminals, drug dealer etc. out; normal folks will not go there because of 1,2,and 3, they will go to the American Consulate to get guest worker permit, as it successfully done for example in Israel.

There are not a lot of alternatives in front of us. We have to build a fence, not a joke we are building now, but a border that will be impossible to cross. We have to offer all illegal immigrants a solution that will make sense to us AND to them. They are part of the process and if they feel it is bad for them, they will try to hide and resist. And we have to implement very strict rules regarding punishment for the ones that employ illegals.

This or any other “tough love” solution will take time and effort. It will take courage that I am not sure our leaders have. McCain in his private life had & hopefully continue having courage (and a will) in his political life as well.

We have to resolve this situation that is not a wining situation for both us the people and the illegal immigrants. There is no other choice. Otherwise we are passing this problem to our children and grandchildren, who wil face not 12-20 million illegal immigrants, but 50-100 million or more.

Sincerely,

Leon A.Weinstein

Los Angeles, CA

leonweinstein@hotmail.com