Small Town America - Dying A Second Time
 |
| A view of Kennett Square, Pa. “Mexicans are leaving, and that’s bad news for everyone,” an employer said.Craig Warga/Bloomberg, via Getty Images |
I actually feel sorry for these people, I truly do. The United States has done a gigantic head fake to these Mexicans and Central Americans. Since Reagan's 1986 amnesty program legalized approximately 3 million illegal immigrants, the US policy has been "talk loudly and carry a small stick". For two decades, the border remained porous and enforcement of labor and hiring laws was lax to non-existent. The past decade has seen increased enforcement by the Obama Administration and maximum enforcement by Trump's.
(I never really understood Barack Obama's immigration stance. On the one hand, he claimed huge deportation numbers which I believe were misleading because they counted turnbacks at the border as deportations. On the other hand, he was very accomodating for children and for those who actually breached our border, absorbing them into the years-long judicial process and releasing them into our nation on their own recognizance awaiting trial. Hey, what could go wrong there?)
Our political system is broken, terribly broken, when it comes to immigration policy. This is nothing new. I wrote my treatise earlier this year and referred to a piece I wrote 10 years ago. It still stands as something I truly believe could work if enacted. Check both posts out, they are a quick read.
President Trump is in a position to get some truly monumental legislation passed during his first term. I doubt that he will do anything before the mid-terms but if he is as smart as he seems to be (I know this is anathema to my liberal readers and friends, but you have to admit that he get a lot of things done in spite of his "Trumpiness") he will telegraph his intention in the month before the election. The haters won't care, but the fence sitters (no pun intended) and those with a dog in the hunt will take notice.
His tell could be something as simple as him saying the following while he is stumping for Republican candidates, "and I promise you this: If you return to me a Republican House and a Republican Senate, the first thing we will do is pass a sensible immigration policy and the Dreamers will not be left hanging. These are fantastic people and their issue needs to be taken care of. We are a compassionate nation but we are a nation of laws. We will fix our broken immigration system, it is truly broken folks..., do right by the Dreamers, take care of our nation's businesses by allowing them to hire workers who are willing to work and, while cutting off the illegal flow of drugs and people at our border, we will fast-track those who are coming here to work. No more waiting ten years to enter the US legally."
As I have stated, citizenship and immigration should be decoupled. Just because you show up here doesn't mean you should become a citizen. No other nation in the world works that way. Voting is important, but involvement in your community can actually provide a greater societal benefit than voting. I am a citizen of the United States and Virginia but if I own property and a business in another state, I have zero rights in that state unless I change my home of record. Sure, I can contribute to a politician in order to focus his/her attention on something I need, but I cannot vote them in or out of office. Is this fair? No, but it is how the rules are set. Same with immigrants. It may not be fair but those are the rules.
Bottom line, I implore President Trump to take up this immigration mess and fix it. The solution really isn't that difficult. Sure, he will alienate some of his base (sorry, Ann Coulter) but it needs to be done. The criminals can go. The freeloaders can go. The national ID card will come as close as humanly possible to stopping voting irregularities. The American people (well, at least most of them) will agree and he will probably make 11-20 million new friends. And to make things easy, I have already laid out the plan for him.
Comments