Cavanaugh on Ron Smith Radio Show Now

Talking about immigration reform. Listen here.

Comments

[Paul Hackett]

Punish the law-abiding foreigner and reward the criminal? Welcome to our hypocritical NEW immigration reform. It sounds like 1986 again.

Law-abiding foreigners pay $100 to US Consulates around the world for the PRIVILEGE of APPLYING for a TOURIST visa, and then are judged whether or not they can pass a background check, are of fine upstanding character and are financially qualified to ONLY visit our mediocre country. Forget a work-visa, you have to wait 10 tens because an illegal already has their job in the U.S.

On the other hand - completely unidentified illegal aliens, who have no right to be in the country, simply walk or swim across the border and get work at the nearest fast-food restaurant, hotel, construction site or farm of their choosing, so that they can increase the owner's bottom-line profit by 20%.

If this is "progressive thinking", then I'm going back to the dark ages....or maybe Singapore, do I need a visa?

[Ken Shultz]

Mr. Hackett,

I agree that the way we enforce immigration law in this country seems absurd.

"...get work at the nearest fast-food restaurant, hotel, construction site or farm of their choosing, so that they can increase the owner's bottom-line profit by 20%."

I'm not sure all of that trickles into an employer's bottom-line. While some of it, surely, goes to employers, some of it gets passed as savings to customers. ...and the thing about illegal alien workers is that they tend to spend a large portion of their money on mere sustenance. A big part of what they earn, that is, gets cycled back into the economy.

...also, I think "business owner" probably isn't the right word for many of the people doin' the hiring of illegal labor. ...some of 'em are women who work and need someone to watch the kids. ...people hire illegals to do yard work. Single moms and old people don't really make a 20% profit when they find someone who'll watch the kids or mow the lawn for cheap.

It's my understanding that the average income per capita here in the United States is greater than it is in other developed countries with more restrictive immigration policies. ...The unemployment rate, or so I understand, is much lower here in the United States than it is in other developed countries. ...I would think, inflation must be lower than it would be with higher priced low skilled labor.

I guess I just don't see the problem. ...and I live in Los Angeles. My understanding is that one of the reasons the economy has done so well here in California over the last five years or so, even when it was kinda slow elsewhere, has to do with all the immigration--legal or otherwise. I'm all for making immigration enforcement sane again, but I sure don't want to kill the goose that's layin' the golden eggs.