Saturday, October 1, 2011

Immigration

I wrote this some time ago, but I feel it is as important today as it was then, please read and comment.


The New Colossus reads "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

The current government has made immigration such a near impossibility that it makes many people who were living and working here suddenly illegal. It gives them no recourse or realistic manner in which to stay legally, nor has it allowed a realistic number of immigrants to come forth to fill vacancies requested by those very business who have depended upon their labor, which in turn we have depended upon for our basic substance. This is nothing new. For centuries, immigrants in various nations have always filled those spots which were considered beneath its own people with immigrant labor -a sort of rite of passage, if you will. However, what this does is free up your current citizens to work other, more lucrative jobs, which is a strong reason why America blossomed so quickly and profitably, setting a standard for the rest of the world. More current places to use this idea for obvious wealth include Dubai, where its citizens are guarentee'd college as well as higher job, while Immigrants make up the lower work force again, freeing up those within to succeed.
Under the current law it essentially subverts your Fourth Amendment rights 
and gives power to the government to stop you and to question you on a whim. This was something that the founding fathers were adamantly against, thus to prevent it, was put in writing . With this comes more violations against your civil liberties. Now, you will say, "So what, I have nothing to hide." -yet it was only a few short years ago when we all questioned cameras on the streets along with other invasive measures that we now accept as every day life. The constitution under Section 8 also clearly states that citizenship shall be decided by Congress, not individual states. Up until around 1928 there was no "legal immigration," you merely signed on the dotted line and in you came. During that time, the same arguments were perpetuated by the "natives" and the "non" by those who believed they had larger entitlement than those coming here anew. That is again where we are now, a country that has forgotten its basic principles and is now following along a long list of other countries which enslaved its people (most notably being two who fought under the axis- the Nazi party and the Fascist party, both who felt only "nationals" should have rights and lead their countries in that way). Now that was something our grandparents fought against, many of whom were themselves immigrants, many who spoke poor English, who joined the military because they believed in America and what it stands for, and that was a place where we have a right to voice our opinion, where we are not stopped and questioned for merely being outside, where we have the ability to pursue work, travel, and business, where in the end, the government is small and non-oppressive.
So to me the problem is simple, you create a realistic Immigration Policy not bound by the normal federal red tape which is nearly impossible for the layman to understand. You actually enforce it upon the arrest of someone committing an actual crime, which is not simply breathing on this soil. You have a strict and swift judicial system against gangs and cartels which are a very real threat and actively pursue the death penalty in those cases. You have slots that can be filled much like our current immigration lottery program, except you trade those who want to come and work with those who are already here and are unwilling to work and are continually abusing the system.