March 31, 2006
News Bits!
- President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox continue talks today over the immigration issue. Bush is urging a program that allows more immigrants to take on jobs in the US. The heated debate over immigration is causing many to publicly protest, including local area students.
- Former San Antonio Spurs player Alvin Robertson is getting in to trouble with the law again.
- Ryan Seacrest and Teri Hatcher apparently 'idolize' eachother. (I know. I know...boo, hiss.)
- This morning, a series of earthquakes in Iran have killed at least 66 people and the number is expected to rise. The US has already offered humanitarian aid to the areas most affected by the disaster.
- As one of the most prominent oil-producing countries in the world, Iran claims that it won't use that as leverage to defend itself. Iran denies allegation of having any kind of nuclear program.
- Even if Massachusetts allows gay marriages, the state will continue to uphold a law that prohibits the validity of any marriage of nonresidents "if the marriage would not be recognized in their home state".
- The job market in Austin isn't so bad. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas' economy is as healthy as ever.
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http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_thom_har_060329_today_s_immigration_.htm
That's a very interesting article. I'd be interested to know more perspectives from our readers on the immigration issue.
"The simple way to do this today is to require that all non-refugee immigrants go through the same process to become American citizens or legal workers in this country (no amnesties, no "guest workers," no "legalizations") regardless of how they got here; to confront employers who hire illegals with draconian financial and criminal penalties; and to affirm that while health care (and the right to provide humanitarian care to all humans) is an absolute right for all people within our boundaries regardless of status, a paycheck, education, or subsidy is not."
This paragraph is a good example of how many issues are being conflated in this immigration debate. As to his first point, I think most "illegal" immigrants would try to become "legal" workers if the legal quotas for Mexican immigration were not so low and out of touch with the high demand for them. I mean, seriously, I think we can agree it's safer to come in legally on a Mexicana flight than ride a coyote across the desert and then cross the Rio Grande. Second, there ARE pretty stiff penalties for knowingly hiring undocumented workers. The notion that big, huge corporations are hiring illegal workers in droves is exaggerated. Most companies are way too scared to knowingly hire illegals. I know this from my mission trying to get hotels to hire Spanish-speaking undocumenteds. The truth is most illegals do small scale sporadic work and deal in cash and would never try to get work at a big place. They are not punching a time clock at Wal-mart. Finally, as to his last point, since when is health care an absolute right for all people within our boundaries? That's news to me. I understand the lament about the eroding middle class -- you and I have discussed this very point -- but you can't lay it at the feet of illegal immigration, at least not all of it. Illegal immigration has become (in the last week it seems) the scapegoat du jour for the growing divide between rich and poor in the US.