Jun 3, 2007 Immigration
I was having a conversation with Ms. Underestimated and she indicated that she was wondering why they say that ILLEGALS do the jobs that Americans will not do when we have people on welfare who could do the jobs. She indicated that instead of paying people to sit at home they should be doing those jobs. Yesterday, while I was at my family reunion, we were discussing the immigration bill and someone said something about jobs Americans would not do and my sister commented that as long as we had people on welfare we had people we should force to do those jobs. These two sentiments are closely related and merit discussion because I believe that as long as taxpayer money is being spent on welfare then we have people who can go to work.
The first thing to do is look at welfare and the poor in America. Prior to welfare reform there were about 6 million or so people on welfare and since then (when Bill Clinton reluctantly signed the Republican bill) there are about 2.1 million. Obviously, 2.1 million people will not fill a gap that would occur if 12 million people were deported even if a quarter of them were working. There are, however, still people out there who we can force to do these jobs and help get them off welfare. We also have a number of people who draw unemployment who should be forced to work these jobs that Americans will allegedly not do. Obviously, we have fewer people available than the number of jobs to be done but that does not mean those jobs should be filled by ILLEGALS when we have able bodied people whose only exercise involves walking to the mailbox to get their government check. A guest worker program is a viable alternative and very important to keep the jobs filled if we do not have enough folks (rather than just unwilling) to do them. However, those who support giving our country away miss the point about the law and their argument is often “What will you do when you have to pay more money for produce?” or “Who will pick your fruit?” These people miss the point that as we deport those here ILLEGALLY we can bring those who have legally registered to be guest workers in here legally and continue doing the jobs. This way people who did things right are rewarded.
I do not want to abandon the welfare idea because I think it is valid and workable. Before some whiny liberal gets his panties in a wad, we are talking about able bodied people on welfare and not those with a legitimate need such as a disability. However, we need to remove people who have some trumped up problem that allows them to be disabled. Alcoholism is not a good enough reason to be disabled and sitting home drawing a check. Put them to work and they will not have time to sit around getting drunk at taxpayer expense. But back to the point. I think we should exhaust our resources before we rely on guest workers or before we make broad open statements that they are here to do jobs Americans will not. I have thought about Ms. Underestimated’s and my sister’s comments and I believe that this is a start but that we should expand this to the prison systems.
The prisons are full of able bodied people who are there for breaking the law and the only difference between them and the lawbreakers Congress wants to reward is that the ones in jail were rewarded for their crimes with a stint behind bars. Society foots the bill to keep them locked up. Our tax money pays their room and board, their food, their medical care and just about anything else a liberal activist judge deemed was important beyond the basics. How about we bring back chain gangs and use the inmates to pick fruits and vegetables? California has a large prison population that should be bussed to the fields each day to work 10 or 12 hours in the hot sun gathering the food that will feed the nation. These are assets we have and can force to work. The farms can pay them a dollar an hour that is put into an account for them for when they are released. The farms can provide fruits and vegetables for the prison system in return for the labor and that will keep food costs down. Maybe this can help defray part of the costs that we taxpayers incur for holding malcontents and those with anti social behavior in jail. Working them hard each day might make them tired enough to stop the fights and riots. It might also make them want to get out and stay out.
The idea that we need to have 12 million ILLEGALS here to do jobs that Americans will not do is ridiculous. Most of the ILLEGALS are family of the actual worker and with a wife and a number of kids per worker the actual number needed is far fewer than 12 million. The balance are those who suck the most blood out of our society and hurt our economy. By using welfare recipients and inmates we might be able to make up a large number of those jobs done by ILLEGALS and reduce our need thus allowing us to deport them without all the tears and excuses from the left. We can then have a guest worker roster that would be more easily managed and provide workers who come here when WE say and go home the same way.
This is intriguing and could work. Regardless, it has to be better than the Senate plan that President Bush loves because it is simple, requires no amnesty, gets rid of lawbreakers, makes criminals earn their keep, and removes even more people from welfare hand outs. Best of all, the plan would require far fewer than 1000 pages and would not be larger than the Bible.
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