Immigration: Making Illegals Legal

Even though the "gang of eight" is hard at work trying to fix a "problem" that has been a "problem" for well over one hundred years, I have little faith that anything meaningful will come of it. First off, people are never a problem. Even habitual criminals have rights in this country. The taxpayers feed them, clothe them, and house them. On average, it costs us $24,000 per year, per prisoner (statistics vary wildly). There are 2.5 million people incarcerated in the US, and of those, 62% of them are either non-violent, or petty drug offenders; most of whom do not belong in a place that offers no healthy social structure, no meaningful education, and no chance to produce something of value to society. By the numbers, American taxpayers -unwillingly- spend $60 billion per year on the imprisoned. If we were able to sort the 62% of prisoners from the ones that should be there, and set them free, we would alleviate the incarcerated population by 1.25 million. My calculator told me that we could save over $30 billion per year. That's quite a few billions. What could be done with this money?

That kind of money could easily be squandered by our elected, but what if by some act of magic this money could be invested into the immigration issue? Before I address that, there is another expense that we are footing the bill for; border patrol. The US has spent $1.4 billion on border patrol agents in the last six years. The US government also had a "fly me home" program. Illegals caught crossing the border were loaded on jets and flown back to Mexico. This cost us $100 million over a seven year period. It has since been suspended. That is $1.5 billion so far. Next we have the drones. Homeland Security has been using drones to patrol our Northern and Southern borders for some time now, and they cost $18-$20 million apiece, plus hundreds of millions to maintain them. So far, the drones have found the most evil of Mexican border hikers; the pot traders. :O Good job guys. The numbers of illegal border crossings have dropped some through these efforts, but is still essentially ineffective.

Historically, Mexican immigrants have been not only neccessary, but also welcomed into our country. It started around 1850, with ranch/farm hands on land that was essentially still theirs; Texas. The need for labor spread through the Southwest to California from there. The need for labor stayed consistent until WWI, while a huge segment of the workforce was overseas. This created a huge gap that had to be filled; immigrants from the south. This happened during WWII as well. Both of these events led many Mexican families to settle here permanently. They were pushed out to a great extent during The Great Depression, but aside from that, the only thing preventing illegal border crossings are the systems we already have in place; with eleven million illegals, it doesn't work.

On average, the migrant worker earns around $11,000 per year. If they were all legal, they would not be paying taxes. They are also blocked from the Social Security system, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, and decent living conditions. The funny part of that, and the less funny hate for these people is that they are exellent agricultural workers, and many are skilled tradesmen. Having worked in a skilled trade, I know first-hand that there are very few boys growing up thinking about becoming a plumber or an ironworker. They generally want to have desk jobs, if any job at all. The need for agricultural and skilled labor in the US is reaching a critical level. The "illegals" are more than happy to fill these positions, even if it means living in squalor. I would even venture to say that the work-force that Mexico is offering has a superior work ethic where these "less desireable" trades are concerned. The abuse of illegals in agriculture is still a huge problem, but that falls in the laps of the Americans who employ them with the intent of abuse. Still, the opportunities in America are worth the risk of not only crossing the border, but also worth the abuses of unfair pay.

I grew up in the Southwest, and the town I lived in had a diverse mixture of cultures. The Latino population was no different from the whites, Navajos, or Utes. We all lived in the same small town. It is possible to accept other cultures in our melting pot, right? I don't have the phone number of my friend in Arizona, but I bet he would have something to say about the direct effect of border crossers. The general consensus is that crime rates are climbing, and that they are crowding emergency rooms. This uncomfortable situation can only be solved by our government apparently. Ironically, Americans are a little divided on that issue. They want the Libertarian dream of self-reliance, but refuse to do so. This defaults to the government due to inaction on the part of society. They will consistently answer with militance and expensive projects that are doomed to fail. Oh yeah, you're footing the bill for those exploits.

So what do we do? The first action needed is to make an easier way for the illegals to obtain green cards, which could lead to citizenship. A requirement to learn English is preposterous and uneccessary. My 14 year old speaks Spanish. There are millions in this country who barely speak a word of English, and they are doctors, shop keepers, construction workers, and so on. That requirement is unfair.

I propose that the government give us the hundreds of billions they are wasting on poor, ineffective legislation, and give us a shot at helping ourselves. We have to remember that these are human beings we are dealing with, and not some scourge that is destroying our framework. The answer to societal ills always lies in education. If a man crosses the border with his wife and kids, they should be able to easily find a non-hostile, non-police kiosk or office where they can obtain an identification card/tax number, and have his family listed under his name. This could be an easy first step toward eventual citizenship. This man's children should be allowed to attend school. The challenge of learning a second language is far easier when everyone around you speaks it. These are intelligent people, and they have the same thirst for knowledge as any other human. Next, they should slowly be integrated into our social net through good work history, and civil obedience. Eventually, they could be incorporated into the social security tax so they can have at least a small sense of security for their future.

The money: How many bi-lingual schools could be built with $30 billion? How many offices could be set up to register these people in a fair, non police way? It seems like taking the fear out of coming to the US would encourage more migrant workers to follow the proper channels. I blame the media and the government for the border hysteria. We should take this "problem" back from these groups, and make it work in real life. As far as the people who are already here, they should be granted easy access to legality. Instead of opening more paycheck advance stores, we should be opening immigrant awareness/legalization offices. Surely the government would subsidize that. The offices could even charge a small, income based fee. Our government already subsidizes uninsured, income based clinics. You can get a tooth filled for $30, among other services. Everyone needs healthcare at some point. This licensing program could grant access to these clinics that already exist, and any health department. If they have a baby, they can go to a hospital and get charged the $8,000 I paid once for making too much money for Medicaid. Nobody pays their medical bills anyway.

Ultimately, this is a human issue. There are many reasons for Latin American people coming to America. Opportunity is a magnet that we are all attracted to. As soon as the "perceived threat" of immigration is diminished, and after the "gang of eight" has produced a pile of crap on this subject, we should all seriously consider our equality and do it for ourselves. I know that civic groups and churches would follow suit behind government money; the money we gave them to do as they pleased, and failed with.