Congress Hearings Must Embarrass Obama on Immigration Amnesty

[peejay 327]

Wow, such strong language.

In the first place the law has not changed. What's changed is enforcement policy. There are an estimated 12 million illegals in the country, and ICE has a total combined workforce of approximately 20,000. Obviously they need to prioritize their interdiction efforts. This is something any police force or DA understands intimately - you deploy your law enforcement and prosecution resources wisely, and prioritize. You can't put limitless effort on every case because there are limits. So you go after the most dangerous cases, the most egregious cases, the ones that most jeopardize public safety.

In the second place, I oppose any form of legalized work permits for anyone illegally in the country that ICE is moving down their priority list. We may not be after them, but that's no reason to give them a work permit. I agree with you on that. They are still likely to work here illegally but that's no reason to condone their being here or to encourage it or reward it.

In the third place, what's being discussed are WORK PERMITS, not jobs. They're being given a RIGHT to get a job, not an actual job. So calling this a "jobs program" is off base.

It's still a cheap sleazy political stunt I'd expect from a "community organizer". To ignore the motivation for Obama's actions is to be blissfully ignorant of the character, judgement, and mentality of the man. Giving out work authorizations to thousands of deportable illegal aliens with millions of US citizens unemployed? Totally absurd and outrageous.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

They are already here working. They aren't going to go away.

Make them legal so they will have to be paid a fair wage. Then American workers can compete with them.

It is not rocket science.

[Pooky 3,876]

They are already here working. They aren't going to go away.

Make them legal so they will have to be paid a fair wage. Then American workers can compete with them.

It is not rocket science.

And your hypothesis is fatally flawed. Make them legal, they claim a fair wage, get let go because they're now too expensive for the sleazebag employers who were taking advantage of them in the first place, more illegals come to take their place at rock-bottom wages and the number of illegal immigrants in this country rises ... again.

[scandal 951]

And your hypothesis is fatally flawed. Make them legal, they claim a fair wage, get let go because they're now too expensive for the sleazebag employers who were taking advantage of them in the first place, more illegals come to take their place at rock-bottom wages and the number of illegal immigrants in this country rises ... again.

And yet here you manage to pile hypothetical upon hypothetical.

I'm against issuing of work permits for the simple reason that I believe everyone needs to respect the law. Everyone. It's very bad policy to reward lawbreakers simply because it lowers everyone's confidence in the impartiality of the law and its application.

As to the economic impacts however, I think it's an open question whether the net impact of more immigration is a net positive or negative. Regardless of how they've come to join the American workforce every new person is competing for jobs and services, but is also a source of demand and consumption and productivity. All things we need in our economy. On balance, looking at long term American history, we do quite well absorbing large numbers of immigrants. I'm quite optimistic that this our future as well.

[Pooky 3,876]

And yet here you manage to pile hypothetical upon hypothetical.

Hypothetical? Hardly.

The proof is the increase in immigration following every previous amnesty. That's not a hypothesis. That's proven fact.

[scandal 951]

Make them legal, they claim a fair wage,

Hypothetical #1. That legality = ability to claim higher wages. Wages are set primarily by supply/demand forces in the marketplace. Workers have mobility to choose other jobs regardless of their legal status. And plenty of workers, legal as well as illegal, earn low levels of wages because that's all they're skilled for or able to find in their local conditions. They do so in the above-board workforce and in blackmarkets and graymarkets where they get paid cash, don't declare their wages for tax purposes, and pay no heed to minimum wage rules or OSHA standards. None of that changes with legal status. Would that it were true that the mere fact of having a legal right to work automatically translated to higher wages - there are millions of Americans who wish your hypothetical were true but who know that it's not.

get let go because they're now too expensive for the sleazebag employers who were taking advantage of them in the first place,

Hypothetical #2. They will be laid off because they've demanded higher wages. So, every time I get a raise, I'm going to be laid off? Does not compute.

Hypothetical #3. All employers who hire illegal aliens are "sleazebags" who "take advantage of them". Take advantage? Sure, in the sense that anyone hiring a worker benefits from that relationship. But it's a mutual relationship. That's what any business transaction is.

more illegals come to take their place at rock-bottom wages

Hypothetical #4. That illegals enter the country because of the house of cards you've built from Hyp #1, Hyp #2, Hyp #3. They enter the country because, again, of basic economic supply/demand, which ebbs with America's own economic prospects. Right now in a stymied economy, inbound flows have slowed to a trickle. Nothing to do with amnesties or ICE enforcement and everything to do with the need for construction workers and related services in our moribund housing market.

and the number of illegal immigrants in this country rises ... again.

Hypothetical #5. See #1, #2, #3, #4 above.

[Pooky 3,876]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

History, and 7 previous amnesties, provide enough evidence.

But this country never lets facts get in the way of political manoeuvering.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The House Republicans waste taxpayer funds to stage events aimed at embarrassing the administration? How is that news?