Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Protests Whip Up Backlash

One thing Monday's demonstrations by illegal aliens and their supporters accomplished....it beamed a spotlight on enabling employers. Like Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN) who closed 12 meat processing "factories" due to understaffing.

Hello....Washington.....Bush....lots of illegal immigrants. Will Tyson have to pay fines, or are they and their lobbyists among the D.C.-protected corporate darlings?

Everyone agrees, without the lure of being hired as low-paid labor, many Mexican illegals might stay home and try to fix their own country. And who knows how many illegals were breaking in for nefarious reasons....drug running, terrorism, reclaiming territory for Mexico, an easy ride.

Besides the obvious security problems posed by our porous southern borders, ponder this from Washington Post's Harold Myerson, "Perhaps the most economically significant shutdown came at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach--combined, the nation's largest harbor and its primary entry point for Asian-made imports-- where roughly 90 percent of the almost entirely immigrant workforce of truckers who drive those imports all over the country stayed off the job."

Can we then assume that many illegal immigrants, working with the Communist Chinese government at their LA area port operations, are driving all over the country! Do we have a Homeland Security administration?.....an Attorney General?

But one thing the May 1 in-your-face protest did, it woke up lots of citizens to the reality and dimension of the illegal immigrant invasion. An example. According to a spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Texas spends $2 billion a year on health care and education for illegals. And, that is just one state.

So how will our government in D.C. contend with this budget-busting illegal immigrant problem? Who knows, so far they have pandered and dithered....and, since action is needed, individual states are stepping up to the plate.

Maybe the Bush administration should follow the example of Arizona, a state under siege. They will soon enact a proposal to set fines and penalties for companies that hire undocumented workers. Other proposed bills include an 80-mile fence and multimillion-dollar radar system along the Mexican border and a requirement for police to check the citizenship of anyone stopped for a traffic offense.

It's a start. It half-bakes the hot potato singeing the Bush White House and Congress.

In the meantime, we have Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday, to grin and bear this Friday. Except for 22 states where protests against illegal immigration have been planned.

It's usually not a good idea to rouse a sleeping giant.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi TH,

You make some good points. If I might extend your logic:
1. Do you ever purchase anything made in the Communist People's Repubic of China?
2. Do you ever eat any food prepared by illegal immigrants, sleep in any hotels where they make your bed, etc.?
Please give us an intellectually honest appraisel of how you contribute to this problem.

Anonymous said...

"obvious security problems posed by our porous southern borders"

Oh how conveniently we forget: we have an equally porous border to the north, and lemme point out that some of the 9/11 murderers entered the US from Canada.

And this "invasion" you speak of!? Jeesh, I understand about hyperbole, but get real. It's simply a rather ridiculous claim to make, considering these undocumented immigrants actually create an overall net plus for our economy.

Anonymous said...

Vox Mia said...
“…undocumented immigrants actually create an overall net plus for our economy.”

THIS IS AN ABSURD STATEMENT!

The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican illegal immigrant is NEGATIVE
- 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

- Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 29% are on welfare.

- 40% of all workers in L.A. County (L.A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.

- 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

- Over 2/3's of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

- Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are illegal Mexican nationals.

- Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal aliens.

You need to re-check your facts before trying to impose your wonderful “south of the border” ethics in this country!

Anonymous said...

To Anony

This reads a lot like thruthiness -- Colbert would be proud to read this, specially since appears to be rooted in fantasy.

It's quite curious how the immigration issue is a recurring theme in American history, and how certain types -- those that buy into thruthiness (look it up, if you don't know what am talking about and include Colbert in your search) can always be counted to react in the same knee jerck fashion that you have. You say that we Americans would've ignored the border issues, if it hadn't been for the damn Mex'cans getting all uppity, consequently, we're not demanding that the borders be closed. Well, I guess you've forgotten about proposition 187 back in the 90s here in California, and how we can always count on the reactionaries, xenophobes, the easily mislead and the malcontents to be manipulated into scapegoat some out group: in this case, it looks like it's the damn immigrants turn once more. And in the next election cycle it'll be the gays again, then the blacks, and poor, and so on and so on, as long as some folks continue to be xenophobes, reactionaries, knee jerk voters swayed by truthiness.