Talk of immigration has already started to heat up in the GOP debates. Here are what the candidates are saying about immigration:
It will be interesting to see how the immigration debate changes once the GOP decides on their presidential candidate. Just watch, they are going to soften their tune in the general election because they know they can't win without the "Latino vote." Interestingly, Perry has has the softest stance and even offered in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants in Texas.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There are several things I don't get about the immigration debate. First off, I honestly don't understand why the language debate is so important. People who move to the country expect to do unskilled labor that requires minimal knowledge of English, and their children generally go do American schools to learn English. So within one generation, any given immigrant family eliminates the language barrier. Why demand that the parents learn perfect English as well? Because it is somehow fundamentally superior? If we expect people to learn English because we expect them to contribute more to society if they do, why don't we make more of an effort to TEACH them English? You simply can't learn the language well enough in Mexico if you're already desperate enough to come here for a low-paying job. Expecting all immigrants to learn English on their own would be a lot like telling poor black children that it's their responsibility to learn calculus on their own without investing in education improvement. (Wait... that's kind of like what we already do.)
ReplyDeleteBut beside that, the question of whether we CAN secure the border seems much less significant to me than whether or not we SHOULD. Out of all the issues we can direct our resources toward, why is that one so important? Even if you would like to have the border closed, it takes a LOT of resources to build hundreds of miles of fences, and train and arm soldiers to keep the entire border area secure. Is it worth it?
I propose a third, rarely considered option. Why don't we make it easier for people to immigrate legally or participate in migrant worker programs, and THEN crack down on the people who still try to cross the border illegally? Many people come here and have to stay because they know if they go back it will be difficult to cross again; if we allowed more migrant workers, less people would take up permanent residence, cutting down on the amount of tax dollars being exploited by them. If we made it easier for people to immigrate legally, they might be able to find better jobs and contribute more to our society like we magically expect them to do now. We tell people to "come in through the front door," but the fact is, the front door is a myth. Many good people who want to contribute positively to society simply can't do it, so they come in through the back door and then we complain about them. Let's build a front door, and then worry about closing the back door to the reduced flow it would have to face.