Yesterday, Governor Kaine hit the nail on the head regarding immigration and Virginia's future.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine warned yesterday that Virginia needs to avoid succumbing to demagoguery in the immigration debate or risk losing foreign-based companies that want to do business here."If we have global connections as a commonwealth, it's going to help us succeed," Kaine said, speaking to a membership luncheon of more than 150 people at the 72nd annual state convention of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. "But we can't be as successful as we need to be if we ever send out a message that people from different parts of the world aren't welcome here or that we don't want them."
Governor Kaine has got it exactly right here, both in content and in tone: if Virginia is going to succeed moving forward in the 21st century, we have to be inclusive, welcoming, and open to diversity -- not fearful of it or hostile. That's why Kaine warns that "we have to be very careful about demagoguery or having the debate in a way that suggests we're not open to the best talent in the world because if we do, we'll end up hurting ourselves."
Sure, we have to crack down on any quality of life issues that arise related to immigration, such as overcrowding in houses or loud noise. I would add crime to that list as well, except for the fact that it's now been definitively demonstrated that crime rates have actually been DECLINING as immigration has increased. We have also seen that it's mostly the immigrants themselves being victimized by violent crime, not the existing white, black, Asian or Hispanic communities.
Unfortunately, we've seen politicians -- mostly Republicans like Corey Stewart -- do exactly what Kaine says NOT to do: "sound like the beating up of people because their skin is a little different or their accent is a little different or they have a different kind of name or maybe have a different kind of religion." This is nothing more than cheap demagoguery, emphasis on the word "cheap," because none of these politicians have put their money where their (big) mouths are. Why not? Because they don't HAVE the money or they are terrified of raising taxes to do the things they threaten to do. That, in my book, is the worst kind of politician; believe them at your own risk.
For my part, I'm 100% with Governor Kaine on this one: the Federal government needs to set and enforce immigration laws in this country, including protecting our borders. The states and localities need to focus on what they can do and not overreach into areas that are not their purview. That's what we've seen with Corey Stewart in Prince William county, and that's the exactly wrong approach for Virginia if we want to move "Forward Together," as Mark Warner says.
[UPDATE: "Real Virginians for Webb" supserstars Annabel Park and Eric Byler are featured in an Asian Week article, "Immigration and Political Grandstanding." Also, see their YouTube channel for more.]
Yeah, well so is a moving violation, but that doesn't mean I get all worked up about it. Now, armed robbery and murder, as is being done to Hispanic immigrants...now THAT is serious crime worth getting worked about.
Back to this thread: jiacinto is simply stating what many of us see as a flaw in the progressive stance on illegal immigration. To hold that everyone is welcome regardless of how they got here is a position that is bankrupt politically, socially, and economically. It flys in the face of immigration laws democratically enacted in our country and it is inherently unfair since some immigrants enjoy the advantage of a common land border with the US while others are half a globe away. There is nothing racist about opposing this open-door stance; there are just racists who exploit an otherwise reasonable arguement.
Speaking only for myself, I believe we need orderly, well-enforced immigration laws that correspond with reality and American values of decency and pluralism. I also believe we need public policy in general that promotes the common good and the general welfare. In practice, that means we're not going to deport 12 million undocumented workers, so we need to figure out how to integrate them into our society after they pay whatever penalties we deems appropriate, learn English, etc. We certainly should not penalize innocent children of "illegal" immigrants. And we need to deal with the employers (and exploiters) of undocumented immigrants -- either enforce the law vis-a-vis corporations (that would constitute a huge change, btw) or scrap it.
I agree with you also about cracking down on the employers who hire them. That is part of the reason why I am very skeptical of the PW County Board of Supervisors. I have a feeling that they will bash Latinos publicly, while quietly looking the other way after the election when their supporters in the construction industry return to hiring illegals. I am fully expecting that they provide police with the tools to check the status of every criminal suspect.
I am sorry but you need to go look in a mirror and repeat what you have just written.
And then there are the children who are born here and by law they are citizens. Does the Gov. send those parents back and keep the children here. Just who is suppose to raise them? Now the states have to support them. Just what ever one is trying to prevent.
And don't forget they are citizens, no matter what their parents have done, so they better have a home here.
I just reject the positions advocated by the apologists for illegal immigrants. To me it's just not fair to reward them with amnesty and citizenship at the expense of those who have played by the rules.
I'll give you an analogy -- the drug war. The American public has decided, through its representatives, that it does not want some types of narcotics to be available to the public at large under any circumstances, that the danger of these substances to public safety or public morality is so high as to warrant banning them altogether. So, possession of and trafficing in heroin, cocaine, marijuana, acid, crystal meth, etc., etc. has been deemed illegal, and the federal government has spent hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars trying to combat these crimes. However, in so doing, the federal government has created an enormous black market that makes it more profitable in fact to produce and traffic in these illicit substances, has militarized a giant proportion of our law enforcement resources, has sent huge numbers of Americans into the criminal justice system where they generally become even greater risks to society upon serving their sentences, and has, in fact, not AT ALL ameliorated the problem at hand -- these drugs are still available in every American city. SOME SOLUTIONS ARE WORSE THAN DOING NOTHING (see, also: Iraq, invading and occupying).
The illegal immigration problem is very analogous. There is a supply of something (in this case, blue-collar labor) that Americans would like to restrict. However, wanting something and being able to do so in a cost-effective manner are two different things entirely. When a system of economics is set up as to reward actors that exploit and profit from huge supplies of dirt-cheap labor, no amount of government intrusion will curtail or end the activity until the incentives in the system are drastically rebalanced. This is a genuine DEMAND-side problem, and until this demand is reduced, there is no realistic way to stem the tide.
Building a wall from sea-to-shining-sea, or six walls, or walls and barbed wire -- this is impracticable.
I am all for increasing resources for patrols in the most heavily trafficked areas, including to prevent the deaths of illegal immigrants trying to enter this country. I am for the government deciding upon what our level of legal immigration should be such that everyone benefits.
But, to me, the progressive solution is: work with Mexico and Canada to create some kind of common labor market and guest worker program so that Mexicans and other Central Americans that want to work can do so without the creation of a permanent black market labor underclass; try and increase job opportunities in Mexico, Central America, and the US so that all citizens can find jobs that allow them to take care of their families; create fair trade conditions and strengthen American labor so that working class Americans can regain what they've lost over the past 20 years in terms of income and life stability; and, yes, trying to gain control of the border in cost effective ways, understanding that the US border is too large to ever 'shut it down.'
I think most progressives and Democrats believe in some iteration of these policy proposals. You are misreading a concern that well-meaning people have that the remedy employed, the remedy the die hard conservatives espouse, will in fact not solve the problem in any meaningful way, but will instead increase prejudice and xenophobia in our multicultural populace, will increase crime, will cost enormous sums of money, and will alter our country in very bad ways that cost us some of our national character.
I agree. Unfortunately, we're also sending out the "unwelcome" message to tourists from other countries. I was in England recently, and a couple of folks told me that they had considered coming to the US on vacation, but that there was just too much time and paperwork bureaucracy involved. This is due to rules put in after 9/11, not directly related to illegal immigration, but the message is the same: You're not welcome here.
I am also concerned that inconsistent local ordinances could send a message that the Commonwealth of Virginia is not a place that welcomes new Americans. All of us can agree that message would not be an accurate reflection of who we are, or how we have conducted ourselves since those first British visitors landed at Jamestown 400 years ago this year.
Federal law requires our public schools to educate every child presented at the schoolhouse door, and that is reasonable and appropriate. In addition, there are common-sense reasons why the Commonwealth should provide emergency medical services to those individuals who seek treatment for communicable diseases, regardless of their citizenship status.
Please be assured that our administration will be working closely with the General Assembly on a bipartisan study of the ramifications and benefits of immigration through the remainder of this year. I urge you to participate if you choose in what will be an open, honest and robust debate about these issues during the upcoming 2008 General Assembly session.
Sincerely,
Timothy M. Kaine
Republicans are bad bad people.
The boogeymen your mom warned you about?
Most likely republicans!