Melting Pot Or Witches Brew?
By Randall Nunn (11/07/03)
A few weeks ago federal INS agents raided a number of Wal-Mart stores and rounded up 300 illegal aliens. According to reports, the federal government is investigating Wal-Mart to determine if the giant retailer was aware of the use of illegal aliens by some of its subcontractors. What makes all this confusing is that just a few weeks ago, the Governor of California signed into law a bill that gives California drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
There was no federal government action or outrage directed against the state of California for giving a valuable privilege and a useful identification document to illegal aliens but there was instead this notice of a federal investigation of one of the country’s largest employers to determine if Wal-Mart had unofficially and possibly unknowingly assisted the employers of illegal aliens in providing work for them. California, unlike Wal-Mart, knowingly and with malice aforethought gave lawbreakers the keys to the state and is viewed as progressive in some quarters for such action, while the resources of the federal government are brought to bear on a barely culpable party who appears to have acted without any official knowledge, if indeed, any knowledge at all. Something is definitely out of whack here.
There is a basic issue here and that is, whether the U.S. government has the intention to enforce the law with respect to illegal aliens and to secure this country’s borders. After the September 11 attacks, making this country’s borders more secure and carefully controlling immigration should be a high priority. We all know that this country is a "melting pot" where immigrants can come and be assimilated into our society and seek a better life. But the ingredients of that melting pot need to be carefully controlled to keep terrorists and other criminals from spoiling the brew. The federal government appears to be doing little at this point that is aimed at effectively closing our borders to illegal aliens. And while many are criticizing the federal government for weak and ineffective enforcement of our immigration laws, the state of California is actively encouraging the flow of illegal aliens into that state without regard to the serious threat to this country’s security or to the California economy posed by that state’s recent actions. Clearly, many of California’s actions in this area have been driven by an attempt to increase the Democratic voter base by the liberal Democrats in the state. While many residents of California were outraged by the driver license law, the liberal media and the liberal interest groups and constituencies have had nothing bad to say about this cynical ploy aimed at propping up the regime of Governor Gray Davis. What better example of the existence of a "culture war" in this country than the illogical and inconsistent actions by federal and state governments with respect to illegal immigration?
There have been a number of studies which indicate that the net fiscal drain attributable to illegal immigrants is larger than the benefit estimated to accrue from having illegal immigrants in the U.S. labor market. Nevertheless, politicians of both political parties are reluctant to speak out strongly against the problems and dangers to our society posed by illegal aliens. In the case of some politicians, they see potential votes from illegal aliens and from members of ethnic groups that perceive a soft policy on illegal aliens as favorable to their own long-term prospects. Other politicians may be opposed to illegal immigration but are too intimidated by the liberal media and interest groups to speak out forcefully for fear of being labeled as an insensitive bigot or racist. These words are freely thrown around today by many liberals any time one opposes illegal immigration, as though the only reason to oppose such illegal immigration is because one does not like the ethnic group involved. However, if one looks as the fiscal crisis in California and the role that illegal immigration has played in contributing to that crisis, it should be evident that the economy of the entire United States is likely being affected as well.
Lawful immigration has worked well in the past in allowing people from other countries to come to the United States, assimilate into our culture and become productive, loyal Americans. If that model has worked well up to the present time, why should it be changed so as to give illegal immigrants benefits that were previously obtainable only by those complying with U.S. immigration laws? There does not appear to be any logical answer other than that politicians are shamelessly pandering for votes among the associated ethnic groups and the cultural far left favors anything that in their estimation weakens the influence and power of the Euro-centric majority in this country. The desire to be well-liked and politically correct has caused many who intuitively feel that illegal immigration is wrong, as well as costly, to mute their criticism and "get along by going along." But the time is coming when other states and the country as a whole will have to consider whether the societal cost of illegal immigration is worth the supposed benefits of cheap labor and the melting pot. It just might be that the idea that these illegal immigrants perform jobs that no one else wants is more myth than reality. And it might also be that the threat to this country’s security requires a tightly controlled immigration policy that is developed and implemented without being driven by political correctness and a focus on public relations. The concept of America being a melting pot is still valid, but the output of that pot is still an American citizen, not a mixture of ethnicities that lack an understanding of American concepts of liberty, equality of opportunity and a free economy.
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