re: #99 bloodstar

I’d say it sucks to be Lou Dobbs right now, but I imagine the xenophobics will find all sorts of justifications and excuses for him to employ illegal immigrants.

I hear the people on the right complain about the elites and that somehow the left are full of people who think they’re better than the average person. And then I see all the people on the right who claim to be just like the average guy, engaging in behaviors that would get a normal person drummed out of town. Or doing things that they feel are immoral, illegal, or just plain wrong, and then acting like somehow the rules and demands they make on the rest of us don’t apply to them. Oh no, they’re too important for that. The real elites aren’t on the left anymore. The real elites are the heads of of the conservative movements. The same conservative movement that makes such big noises about being just like you and me; all the while when they think no one is looking, doing the very things they demagogue and spit on.

And you know, personally, I don’t care that Dobbs did employ illegals, and am a pretty big proponent of a more open immigration policy. I figure if we let more people in legally, but have a rigorous vetting program, it’ll actually reduce stress on the open borders. How you ask? Because at that point the number people crossing illegally for jobs will drop, which means that our INS and LEO can have more confidence that the people who *do* cross illegally are in fact drug smugglers or engaged in some other illegal activity.

I don’t care that Dobbs did it, I care that he’s tried his best to spread hate and fear about illegals. That he’ spent years using them as a whipping boy to drum up a frenzy, and then he did it. That’s really shitty behavior.

They’re ALL engaged in at least one illegal activity: border crossing without permission. This is not a triviality. The United States, like every other nation, has a perfect right to limit who may live here. People wishing to come and live in our country are not entitled to do so just because that’s what they want.

Some prospective immigrants have a lot to offer. When they do get in, they win and we win. Other prospective immigrants have less to offer. At some point, the balance tips into negative territory. We have our own poor, who must find work in the low-skill sector of the economy or turn to public assistance. What can be the point of making these, our own poor, face ever stiffer competition for those jobs?

Mixed in among immigrants who just want a job [and at that, a job that some of our own people could use] are those with other motives and with a dangerous skill set. The larger the flow of relatively innocent, but unhelpful, illegal immigrants, the more difficult it becomes to detect and capture the truly dangerous ones.

We are a desirable destination. We are in a position to pick and choose who we admit. Why not put however much it takes into border enforcement, and admit, instead of illegal immigrants who may or may not bring us any real benefit, legal immigrants whose skill set fits our needs?