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PoliticsOL.com Editorial - Week of September 9, 2001
Amnesty for Illegals Will Benefit All
But, Only If U.S. Takes Back Control of Its Border
Few issues inflame the passions of Americans as that of illegal immigrants, or undocumented workers, as the PC crowd refers to them.
Recently, President George W. Bush proposed that those immigrants in the United States without legal status be allowed to remain -- amnesty. He has hedged back on his initial idea after an uproar from the conservative wing of his party and is now talking about a guest worker program, code words for cheap labor.
The descendants of the Know-Nothing crowd of the mid-1800's decry any proposal to allow those here in this country illegally from remaining, arguing that they should be rounded up and shipped back to where they came from, Mexico mostly, they say.
Yet, these xenophobes barely make more noise than a mouse munching on a piece of cheese when it comes to criticizing the companies that hire undocumented workers. Why?
Then, there's those on the left who favor blanket amnesty, but rarely support the other end of the equation: that the United States has a sovereign right to protect its borders.
The business community, for the most part, has no problem whatsoever with high numbers of illegal immigrants. They argue that undocumented workers are willing to "do the jobs that Americans are unwilling to do." Rarely do they discuss, however, at what wage such Americans are unwilling to do such work for.
So long as there is a flow of cheap help that will be afraid to complain about working conditions for fear of being turned in to the INS, the business community is content with the status quo.
What American citizens and legal immigrants need to understand is that if this supply of cheap labor is turned-off, by better controlling our borders and, in part, by granting legal status to those illegals already here, the service industry will be forced to raise wages across the board.
McDonald's may not knowingly hire undocumented workers. But, if the hotdog stand down the street has to pay the legal minimum wage to their help, McDonald's will be forced to raise their wages to attract better workers.
PoliticsOL.com reserves the right to shorten or to edit letters for clarity. Only signed letters will be considered for publication. (i.e., include name, city & state of residence)
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