I wanted to repost this (it is from September) because I think it is still a very pressing issue and didn't want it to get buried...
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I could go on for hours about the current immigration debate. The part of this that really shocks me is the disregard for humanity: the way that racism and 'us vs. them' mentality has made a group of people become inhuman in the eyes of many Americans.
However, I am also really frustrated about how the discourse surrounding immigration as first: 'they are taking our jobs', secondly: 'their governments need to do a better job so they don’t come here', and thirdly: 'they use our services and don’t pay taxes. We pay for them to be here". (note the 'theys'- that drives me nuts too).
What we forget, in all of this, is that most of the jobs that are being 'lost' in the US are jobs are being done because corporations are trying to exploit people as much as possible in order to make a profit. Outsourcing may be a larger culprit. For example, according to Forrester Research, as many as 3.3 million U.S. jobs and $136 billion in wages could be moved to India, China, and Russia by the year 2015. Similarly, Deloitte Consulting estimates that 2 million jobs in financial services alone will move from the United States and Europe to cheaper locations. Moreover, they believe that the export of service jobs across all industries could be as high as 4 million. (Not to mention all the other industries!).
Regardless, the companies and the U.S. government that allows corporations to behave in this manner should be to blame. (Look at the situation in Chicago where the city passed a living wage ordinance and the mayor vetoed it because Walmart and Target didn't want to pay 12/hr).
In regards to the 'their government should do better' argument, my question is: how can we expect a government and a people that is so limited in resources to find ways to eliminate poverty? Many nations that immigrants come from are so weakened by the practices of U.S. trade policies that they can't possibly afford to raise the standard of living. NAFTA and CAFTA have been so harmful to Latin American nations (although there are almost as many illegal immigrants coming from Asia) that, until we think about changing our trade and economic policies, emigration out of certain states into the U.S. will continue. We are profiting off of their poverty - we are maintaining the system that encourages immigration. (For example, renowned - and free trade supporting - economist Joseph Stiglitz says that NAFTA and CAFTA will increase poverty because they prematurely open markets to (subsidized) US goods. This causes local farmers to be unable to compete with imports. Unfortunately, the nations affected by these policies cannot bear the costs of switching resources and poverty results.)
Finally, in relation to the amount of money illegal immigration 'costs' Americans - - the media is totally misleading us. Illegal immigrants pay sales taxes like anyone else. If they own a house, they pay property taxes like anyone else. For those that have legitimate jobs, they pay income taxes. However, illegal immigrants do not use any social services. If they were to register for food stamps or welfare, the government would have to know they were in the country. People aren't that stupid. While it is true that people who immigrate here illegally may send their children to schools, but the amount that their labor benefits the economy far surpasses the cost of education. (The National Research Council, in a report to the U.S. government, discovered that "the average immigrant pays nearly $1,800 more in taxes than he or she “costs” in public benefits such as education and healthcare". Further, in the Economic Report of the President, it is predicted that, over the next 50 years, legal immigrants will add $407 billion to the Social Security system. See the president's report at http://www.ailf.org/ipc/economicsofnecessity.asp. Also, Coyle (2005) is a great resource on the economic beneifts of immigration).
Regardless of all of that I don’t understand why we have such strict national lines in general. I hate the idea that we don’t want 'them' here, as if 'they' are different then 'us'. I just wish white wealthy people would lose power so they can finally see what reality is like for most people in this world. I’m made sick by this system that is set up to maintain itself – set up so that wealthy people with no compassion, no empathy, and a complete inability to be in touch with people of working class backgrounds stay in control of our country. Their tyrannical control is not only maintained in politics, but in the media, economically and socially. I feel ill at the thought of the way that institutional racism maintains control over this country and there is a need for articles like this to continue to be written.
I agree with Robinson (here) that people who happened to come to the US illegally "damn sure got human rights...There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."
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