Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Doesn't Immigration Reform Require More Immigration?

Some more thoughts on the immigration reform bill being debated in the Senate.

Once we legalize all of the illegals in the country and they become citizens, don't they defeat their own purpose in the economy? If it was cost-effective to have American citizens doing those jobs, with all of the rights and restrictions placed on hiring people in the US, wouldn't we have hired Americans in the first place? Once Joe the Cabbage farmer in Napa has to pay all of the disability, Social Security, health care and so forth on these workers, he will have to raise the price of his cabbage. At some point, cabbage grown in Mexico or elswhere becomes cheaper and Joe and all of his Mexican-American friends lose their jobs.

How much did it cost to combine the two Germanies once the were re-unified? How applicable are those lessons here? If we suddenly take on 20,000,000 new citizens, most of which are at a great disadvantage, how much will it cost to bring them up to our standards? Once they becomce citizens, can't they form civil rights groups and demand all kinds of reparations and goodies?

How come we can't manage to build a fence?

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