Big media hide truth about immigration

[peejay 327]

Dobbs: Big media hide truth about immigration

POSTED: 1:39 p.m. EDT, April 25, 2007

By Lou Dobbs

CNN

Editor's note: Lou Dobbs' commentary appears weekly on CNN.com.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Bush administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are preparing to take another legislative leap at imposing a massive illegal alien amnesty on American citizens.

And the mainstream media are complicit in advancing this thinly veiled blanket amnesty. Instead of asking and answering important questions about why our immigration laws aren't being enforced and why we're permitting pervasive document fraud, the national media seem hell-bent on trying to obfuscate the issue, shamelessly playing with language, equating legal immigration with illegal immigration while obviously trying to preserve the illusion of objectivity.

Too often, the language of the national media describes illegal immigration as "migration" and illegal aliens as "undocumented immigrants," even though many of them have lots of documents, most of which are fraudulent or stolen. Some media outlets have taken to calling illegal aliens "entrants." Whether such language is meant to engender sympathy or to intentionally blur the distinction between legal and illegal, the mainstream media are taking sides in this debate.

The Arizona Republic, for example, used "undocumented immigrant" more than 80 times in 36 separate stories in the past month alone; the term appeared as many as 12 times in one article on "migration," according to our Lexis-Nexis search. At the same time, "illegal alien" appeared a total of only nine times during that span, with seven of the references coming from readers' opinions, one from a quotation and one from an editorial.

The mainstream media report as if America would no longer be a welcoming nation if we stopped illegal immigration. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why do the national media conveniently and routinely neglect to report that the United States brings in more lawful immigrants than the countries of the rest of the world combined? Each year, we accept 2 million immigrants legally. We give a million legal immigrants permanent residency every year. We bestow citizenship on 700,000 people a year and provide almost half a million work-related visas a year.

Illegal immigration, in fact, has the potential to change the course of American history: Demographers at the Brookings Institution and the Population Reference Bureau paint a troubling picture of the future of our democracy. As more illegal aliens cross our borders and settle in large states like California, Texas and Florida, congressional seats will be redistributed to these bigger states following each decennial Census. States with low levels of immigration will ultimately lose seats as a result. Unfortunately for American citizens, this seismic shift in political representation will be decided by noncitizens that cannot vote.

Congress will soon take up so-called comprehensive immigration reform, and a bipartisan House bill would probably admit 400,000 guest workers a year. And since any plan calling for eventual legalization would include family members who live outside the United States, the legislation would open our borders to tens of millions of people. The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector estimated that the 2006 version of the McCain-Kennedy bill would have added an additional 66 million immigrants over the next 20 years. The bill may change, but that estimate has yet to be refuted.

There's no question this type of mass immigration would have a calamitous effect on working citizens and their families. Professor Carol Swain, professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University and author of "Debating Immigration," would like to see more people speak up for the sectors of society most affected by illegal immigration.

"How many African-American leaders have you seen come out and address the impact that high levels of illegal immigration [are] having in the communities when it comes to jobs, when it comes to education, when it comes to health care?" she asked. "And often, these low-skilled, low-wage workers compete in the same sectors for jobs."

Let's have a vigorous open debate on illegal immigration in this country, and let's begin with the facts. Estimates of illegal aliens in this country range from 12 million to 20 million people. Why doesn't our government know how many there are?

Shouldn't this Congress and this president at least recognize that the industries in which illegal aliens are employed in the greatest percentages also are suffering the largest wage declines? And shouldn't there be an economic impact statement researched and delivered to this Congress, this president and the rest of us before any legislation granting amnesty is even considered?

Shouldn't we first bring the facts of illegal immigration out of the shadows?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/24/Dobbs.April25/

As usual...Dobbs is right on!

[mawilson 2,133]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

[ChristinaM 0]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

Why the heck not?

[GaryC 7]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

The solution is easy. Enforce the labor laws!! If we actively went after EVERY employer that hires undocumented workers and put them in jail the illegal immigration would stop! The ones that are here would go home on their own if they can't get a job.

[mawilson 2,133]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

Why the heck not?

Er.... because the humanitarian impact of mass deportation of 10 million people would be devastating?

Also because the deportees outnumber deportation officers 1000:1?

[kitkat1 5]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

The solution is easy. Enforce the labor laws!! If we actively went after EVERY employer that hires undocumented workers and put them in jail the illegal immigration would stop! The ones that are here would go home on their own if they can't get a job.

I agree 100%. This is the easiest, most logical solution.

And I abhor Lou Dobbs.

[mawilson 2,133]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

The solution is easy. Enforce the labor laws!! If we actively went after EVERY employer that hires undocumented workers and put them in jail the illegal immigration would stop! The ones that are here would go home on their own if they can't get a job.

Easier said than done. There are more employers in this country than there are illegal

immigrants. Going after every single one of them is just not feasible, just like it's

impossible for the IRS to audit every single person who files taxes. If everyone in

America decided to cheat on their tax returns tomorrow, the IRS would have absolutely

no way of stopping it. Of course, there's no need to go after EVERY employer -- just

make an example of a few of them.

[GaryC 7]

Easier said than done. There are more employers in this country than there are illegal

immigrants. Going after every single one of them is just not feasible, just like it's

impossible for the IRS to audit every single person who files taxes. If everyone in

America decided to cheat on their tax returns tomorrow, the IRS would have absolutely

no way of stopping it. Of course, there's no need to go after EVERY employer -- just

make an example of a few of them.

If a few CEO's do the perp walk in handcuffs on CNN it would send a very strong message to the rest. I would also support a "snitch line" where someone could report someone hiring undocumented workers.

I would even support a new regulation requiring anyone that is hired to prove their immigration status. We already do background checks for most jobs why not this also?

[Peikko 1,575]

You'd still be left with an 'underclass' of people if you don't amnesty those who are already here. It's all very well to say enforce labour laws and the illegals will return home, but the reality is that is just not going to happen. The real problem is the cost and the administration is trying to implement the cheapest practical solution. I don't think one should be suprised at that, whether you like it or agree with it is another matter but a financially practical alternative is proving elusive.

[Niels Bohr 72]

This would certainly cripple the US economy. Deporting 10 million illegals costs a lot of money. Giving out fines to employers will certainly reduce jobs, and bankrupt some companies. Terrible.

Hiring officers to prevent protest march from getting violent. Operational costs.

Edited April 26, 2007 by consolemaster

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I always have to laugh when commentators like Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly fluff on about "Mainstream Media", because they're totally not part of it...

[Niels Bohr 72]

Bill O'Reilly is the most hated reporter! Doesn't make sense. Don't uphold his words. Gives wrong information!

[GaryC 7]

This would certainly cripple the US economy. Deporting 10 million illegals costs a lot of money. Giving out fines to employers will certainly reduce jobs, and bankrupt some companies. Terrible.

Hiring officers to prevent protest march from getting violent. Operational costs.

It wouldn't cripple our economy at all. It would be good for our economy. We wouldn't be paying for education and health care for all those that are here illegally. If some company is basing their business on illegal workers then they deserve to go bankrupt.

[kitkat1 5]

Easier said than done. There are more employers in this country than there are illegal immigrants.

True, it wouldn't be easy. But no solution would be easy which is why deporting 10 million isn't a realistic option.

Since the root of the issue is work, (after all, that's why probably 90% of the illegal immigrants enter the country in the first place) it makes the most sense to cut off the option to work. If the options to get a job disappear, they will stop coming.

[peejay 327]

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

The solution is easy. Enforce the labor laws!! If we actively went after EVERY employer that hires undocumented workers and put them in jail the illegal immigration would stop! The ones that are here would go home on their own if they can't get a job.

I agree 100%. This is the easiest, most logical solution.

And I abhor Lou Dobbs.

How can you agree with 'Iniibig ko si Luz forever' and abhore Lou Dobbs when they pretty much say the same thing in this regard?

Seriously, other than the fact that you don't like the idea of another amnesty, do you have a better solution?

What do you do with all those aliens? You can't deport 10 million people, you know.

The solution is easy. Enforce the labor laws!! If we actively went after EVERY employer that hires undocumented workers and put them in jail the illegal immigration would stop! The ones that are here would go home on their own if they can't get a job.

Easier said than done. There are more employers in this country than there are illegal

immigrants. Going after every single one of them is just not feasible, just like it's

impossible for the IRS to audit every single person who files taxes. If everyone in

America decided to cheat on their tax returns tomorrow, the IRS would have absolutely

no way of stopping it. Of course, there's no need to go after EVERY employer -- just

make an example of a few of them.

If that is the case nobody should enforce any laws against anything. Oh gee...its all too overwhelming. We can't stop it so we'll embrace it. With a 2007 mentality like that we couldn't win WW2 if it started today.

Why is it that amnesty advocates only paint the silly and deceptive picture that it is either amnesty or mass deportation? Enforce the laws for a change. It took years of neglect to get to this point and it will take yearts of rigid enforcement of the law to get credibility back into law enforcement. In the mean time...screw amnesty and retarded pathways to US citizenship for lawbreakers.

These $10 hamburgers and $5 heads of lettuce that will result because we don't embrace illegal immigration will never happen. It is nothing more than smoke and mirrors that the illegal alien cheerleaders shove down the throats of the gullible.